Can we talk about WIDE reach-in closets?
5 months ago
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- 5 months ago
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can we talk about cabinetry pricing?
Comments (21)peytonroad: it's very funny you should mention contractors seeing the house before they bid as we don't let them! as a matter of fact, we don't even tell them what town we're in. we've had the same discussion with neighbors for years about how never to disclose too much info. the price goes up before they even know what the job is. as it turns out, our GC is a good friend who lives around the corner so we've had it easy up until this point. i sent out several emails to carpenters the other night and got one response telling me he wanted to come and measure "to get a better idea of the space". i let him know my measurements were accurate and the only person needing a feel for the space is me. it's not only that i don't want people jacking their prices up based on where we live, but i also don't want too many people coming and going ...school hasn't started yet so my children are home. call me overly cautious but i just don't feel comfortable with it. meanwhile, i rec'd a very encouraging quote from an online vendor with wood doors which come in a painted finish, which i like. they are sending me a few different door samples and they worked up the cost based on my drawings. the total cost of the laundry room will come in at around $1950, including shipping. my GC will install. while speaking with him about the situation he said he could work out the mudroom and pantry and anything else we needed. he just doesn't want to have to make too many drawers ...which i understand. i can easily use baskets in place of the drawers i have spec'd for the mudroom lockers, so that's probably what we'll end up doing. if anyone is interested, this is where i got the very reasonable proposal on the laundry: http://newarkcabinets.org/default.asp?page=antiquewhite while this business of building a house can be stressful, i am challenged daily and i rather enjoy it! whatever it is, bring it on ...just not too much!...See MoreCan we talk about The order of Window Treatments?
Comments (19)Oh, I've been so busy, haven't been back on here. Thanks to all for your opinions. And for all those nice compliments. Soon, I will reveal the Living Room, in all of its Wasabi-glory. Jan, the woven shades I have are all from JCPenney. I have them in Walnut. They are 72" wide x 72" long, so they are a bit wider than my windows & slider. But I do a lot of "smoke & mirrors" in my decorating....That's why I have the panels, to fool one into thinking that the blind is much longer and to lead you to believe that the window must be huge. I do have the blinds all mounted up at the ceiling height to cover up that space above the window. (I have always hated that space looking naked). They are long enough to cover my entire window if I let them down. I never ever put the one on the slider down, and I do not believe it would reach the ground if I did. I do plan on putting the sheers between the drapes and the blind, and pushing them behind the drapes when not in use. I am thinking of possibly using the sheers from Ikea with the birch trees on them....why? I have birch tree wallpaper in my powder room, and real ones out the window so I thought it might look "fun" and not too serious. My problem is that I need to find a curtain rod that is thin enough to fit between the blind and the wooden curtain rod that is up there. I couldn't do a double curtain rod because the one that was closer to the wall couldn't fit in front of the blind. I'm sure I'll come up with something creative. As much as I LOVE the idea of a traverse rod, I don't think I can do it with the space available. Plus, it would have to blend in since it is going in front of the woven blind. Only place to hide is behind that wooden pole. I'm thinking of using the wired system I've seen at West Elm or Ikea. mom2seth, thanks for asking about the color in the family room/kitchen. It is Coastal Villa by Valspar. The dark wall is Italian Leather on the same strip. deeinohio--not sure where Pal got those, but just to let you know I saw something similar from JCPenney.com while I was searching for my elusive curtain rods. Here is a link that might be useful: For jan, here are the shades at JCP...See MoreCan we talk closets here?
Comments (12)Ice cube trays! What a wonderful idea, colorcrazy! Ideally, I would be able to have shelves that are on drawer glides for my earrings and rings so that would work perfectly. I don't believe I will end up with any actual drawers because I would want to just place whatever I fold on an open shelf for easy access. Does anyone have any ideas on controlling the temperature in an attic closet? Mine has historically been blistering hot in the summer and ice cold in the winter, neither of which is very appealing to me!...See MoreHey Aliris - can we talk about countertop depth?
Comments (6)Hey Roseio - sorry to be asleep at the switch. That would be because the kid decided to swim at 5 in the morning ... wha???? Countertop depths. I don't really even have too much more to add to the excellent comments above. If I could have I would have put 30" deep counters everywhere. People I spoke with seemed to think I was crazy to want the depth; I can't begin to understand why. I know I'm messy and stuff just winds up on the countertops. But -- well, I know it's not true; I was just about to say "isn't everyone" but definitely they aren't. I know someone with an absolutely huge kitchen, massive, with not an anything in sight. Kinda eery, actually. And she is a rather gourmet cook so it's not as if the place isn't used. Ahem, off-topic. I think I mentioned that the countertop to the right of my fridge is 30" deep and low, about 31.5"h I think. I use is as my "baking counter" but it winds up being the food-unpacking counter, and food wrapping counter, and mixing, etc. My cabinets are all-custom, though in a factory (as opposed to "Joe's" shop). So the additional cost of making extra deep drawers is due mostly to the hardware as opposed to materials or labor. I really like the deep drawers aesthetically as well as from a utilitarian perspective. I know you can pull 24" drawer boxes out to 27" and put your counter on top of that and have a "deep" counter. It feels silly to me; all that wasted space in the back. That's just me. And some of my drawers ended up with a lot of space in the back that I realize now I could have and should have extended. Grump. Hadn't thought about it. So the thing is, I wanted a 36" super susan corner cabinet but if I made that deep then a bay window adjacent to the cabinet would have forced the counter expanse to have been really massive; cleaning problems and window-opening problems, etc. So I kept that stretch of the countertop at 24"; then later down the L close to the range it goes back to 27"d. You asked: "How deep are your countertops anyway? Why did you decide to do this? What advantages have you discovered to it? Any disadvantages? Does it cost a lot more for deeper countertops? Is it harder to reach into your uppers?" I decided to do this because I had the space to and I can see no reason why you wouldn't want more rather than less countertop, frankly. I also asked for the overhang to be 1.5". This caused major conniptions among many even though I'd asked for this all along and had gotten bids, I thought, including it. It was ridiculous -- I just don't get why you'd go to all the trouble of making gorgeous cabinets and not extend the countertop adequately across the top of them to protect the cabinets beneath. For some reason the standard this person, who works with the cab makers, uses is more like 7/8"-1"; I think it looks silly and is even more so functionally. What I would up with is 1 3/8". Again, it's a win-win - more protection, more workspace (if you can squeeze it out of your floor plan). They actually ended up threatening to charge me more for the extra 1/2" because it wound up adding for square footage, sort of. They haven't yet. I didn't ask for a deduction for the square footage I lost due to their error though at this I was tempted to! Anyway, I'm digressing again.... So advantages are: (a) more acreage on the countertop; that could be seen as a disadvantage if you don't need or use it - it does cost a little bit more. (b) better protection for cabinets beneath. (c) More real estate for sticking deeper drawers into if that's of use to you or appeals. That will cost more too, not lots more but some. And everything adds up. Note that the deep counters can be had without additional deep drawer expense (just pull drawers forward and leave space at the back). (d) Some activities, like rolling out pastry, really benefit functionally for having a deep work area. (e) If you have a monstrous fridge it actually helps hide the size (hadn't thought about this in advance; just happened); that depth is sort of defined already by the fridge and sort of lost when you don't stick the countertop up to it. Indeed I think the 24" relatively short countertop depth may serve to emphasize the deepness of the fridge. Disadvantages: (i) extra cost (can be mitigated in various ways mentioned already). (ii) lose aisle room or whatever; it can be a tradeoff of where you want to use your kitchen layout, in counterspace or aisle space - depends on how much space you have of course. (iii) as mentioned, if you're shorter you may have more trouble reaching to the back of the counter and also up to overhanging cabinets. (iv) Also, if you're older these may be more of a concern. (v) And I bet if you have 27" counters coming in to a corner, that edge could get a long way away (like, 38", which really is a long way away). I do have 15" uppers over my deep counter. They are 17" above a 37"h countertop, and are set at the same height on the wall above my low countertop, whatever that comes out to. There is absolutely no problem reaching the uppers for me or my kids (shortest is, I dunno, 4'9" maybe?) but ... I also have a corner below that upper where the counter goes back to 24" so you can access the upper cabinet from closer, if you follow. My uppers are very tall and there's no way I can get into them at the top or even middle back without a step stool. I'm using that all the time and plan on keeping it *very* handy in a nearby coat closet. This doesn't bother me at all as I'm fairly healthy, middle aged. If I were a tad less hale it could perhaps be a problem. (When I say "all the time" I mean at the moment while still moving in. I'm not storing things I need ready access to that require a step stool!) One thing about my countertops being 1.5" -- and that measurement is from the cabinet *door edge*, not cabinet box. Note very well this distinction -- the makers of these things seem stuck on this erudite measurement from the box which is completely impractical. As an "end user" I don't care what the measurement is from the box, I care what the "take-home" measurement is, what I see and use, the measurement from the *door front*. Be careful to clarify with your workmen this distinction so that you're both communicating about the same measurement! Anyway, insisting on having 1.5" from the drawer front countertops resulted in there being a gap between the bottom of my countertop edging and the roughtop they set on the cabinets to support the stone. Probably this doesn't have to happen, but it's what my guy, who doesn't often make countertops this deep, did. I thought I wouldn't mind, but it is actually kinda cheezy. In retrospect, he should have *listened* to me saying I wanted 1.5" overhang (and I should have clarified I meant from the drawer front, not box), and he should have had the guys cut roughtop not to the box edge but a little bit larger, I think. Alternatively he could have made his edging deeper. I don't know what's standard but this could be an issue you might want to look into. HTH! BTW, I think TopSolutions may be usually right, but I've seen several different ways of pricing things. YMMV for sure....See MoreRelated Professionals
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