General > General info Somewhat hot tub related

kitchen remodel- opinions

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anne:
I'm remodeling my kitchen, but still in the planning phases. Hope to be ripping everything out in less than 2 months, but i want EVERYTHING decided and purchased/ordered by the time I do demolition.

Anyone have granite counter tops, and dislike them for some reason? Any one have "engineered stone" like Silestone, or Dupont Zodiac? I'm leaning heavily towards one of those last two, so that I'm not ripping out mother nature's beauty just to stick it in my house.....but I love real granite. Reminds me of backpacking and mountain air.

Anyone used Kraftmaid cabinetry?

Anyone have a bamboo kitchen floor?

Anyone have a sink with just one big bowl rather than split in two bowls?

I'll make this hot tub related by stating that I REALLY need the tub to wash away the stress of making all these choices!!!

Chas:
Well, fwiw, we did our kitchen a few years ago. We bought cabinets at Lowes, and hired a friend to hang them. Crown molding on top, and a light rail on the bottom. He did an excellent job. We had an electrician friend wire the whole thing as soon as we tore out all the old, so we have more circuits and better lighting. We put lights over the counters all the way around, and we paid a little extra to get incandescent light fixtures so we could put them all on dimmers. Very nice.

Our new microwave is way more powerful than the old one, and we would have had a real problem if we hadn't put in a new circuit just for that.

We didn't put any lights up over the cabs, as my wife likes to keep a few odd things up there.

We chose to go with a plastic laminate which looks just like granite. I needed to get things done, and the stone guy let us down. We figured we could just buy the counter tops ready made - ours are just two straight lengths with no fancy turns or islands - and it was a fraction of the cost of stone. In fact, we figured that it cost us less to buy and have our friend install them than just the labor to install stone counter tops. But we figured we would do 'real' counters later, the cost was low enough that we figured we would use these for a year and then redo.

It's been several years, and the counter tops look as good as the day we put them in, and the money is still in the bank.

We put in a dual bowl sink - but one bowl is big and the other is just a small one for the disposer. We sure had a bunch of gunk in the sewer line behind the sink - be sure when you open everything up that your plumber cleans that line out well. Better yet, replace as much of it as you can while things are torn up. That is a real common line to have trouble later.

We went with tile floor. A tile guy owed us a favor...

 8-)

Campsalot:
When it comes to kitchen cabinets, I have one suggestion only; IKEA!  These guys make some great stuff in cabinetry and it is very, very affordable.  I'm not sure where you live Anne, but checking into where your nearest IKEA is located and then visiting the store would be great start!

Ruby:
Anne,
We JUST finished my kitchen last week.  I did a ton of research on all of the questions that you just asked and I found a lot of great information at the GardenWeb kitchen forums site: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath/  

I ended up going with Formica countertops (figuring I could upgrade later) but I doubt I will because I really like these.

A double sink with a larger one on one side and smaller on the other.  I'm too used to having a dish drainer in the sink and not on the counter.  

Cork floors which I absolutly LOVE!

My rustic maple cabinets were custom made because I wanted too many odd things like toe kick drawers, etc.

If I can manage to do this right, I'll post a link to my before and after



Well, from what I can tell, If you click the photo, it will take you to my album of the rest of the photos.  If it doesn't work, PM me your email and I will send the album to you.  Good Luck!

Bonibelle:
Anne, You have selected a Masco product, so you are safely within the somewhat hot tub related guidelines!  Kraftmaid cabinets are beautiful and a good choice that is available at Lowes (if that is where you are looking). If you are going to have the cabinets installed, talk to the installer first. I selected Kraftmaid cabinets but when I finally found an installer that I was satisfied with, he only worked with Welborn.  It worked out fine because most cabinet makers have similar styles and stains.  Before you decide on your counter top, select your wood type (maple, oak, cherry) and cabinet style.
Granite is beautiful but it has limitations. For example, (I was told) granite can have fissures that are not visible. If you would put a hot pot on that area, the granite can crack. I love the look of granite in the right setting, but for my kitchen I wanted something that looked a bit warmer. Quite honestly,my kitchen didn't warrant granite.
I ended up selecting natural maple cabinets, a tile floor and Corian counter tops with an integrated sink.  I love my integrated sink because it is so easy to clean. It is a dual sink, a small one on the left and the large one on the right. I like that configuration because you can use the small sink to wash vegetables, (or bird dishes  ;D) while the large one can be used for other things.  If you are thinking about changing the whole configuration of your kitchen, try putting masking tape on the floor to represent the new design. I added a large island and I had to imagine traffic flow and how the island would change the way that I use my kitchen. The tape helped me to determine where the island would go and how large it would be.
You might also want to think about things like roll out shelves and a slide out trash/recycle container.
My kitchen came out really nice, and I have to say there isn't anything that I would have done differently. My sister and brother-in-law just did their kitchen and I was amazed...they copied my kitchen almost exactly!!!  :o :o Have fun, a new kitchen is a very exciting home improvement project!

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