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like I'm 5...kitchen renovations (puppy?) PIPs added!
So, I said I wasn't going to do anything to our kitchen for a year. I lied. We've been in the house 2 weeks and I'm already researching, and we're buying a new fridge next week. Oopsies.
Here's the deal: I want the wallpaper stripped, walls textured, cabinets painted white, and new countertops. We won't be doing granite, because we most likely won't recoup the cost when we sell due to the neighborhood comps. We will already have SS dishwasher, fridge, microwave. Which brings me to the big issue...
The previous owner was a chef and installed a commercial range. But it's older, puts off a ton of heat, and will cost a ton in utilities. I want to get rid of it an install a normal gas range. This will require some cabinets being rebuilt and the exhaust hood reworked.
1) How do I go about starting this process? Who do I contact first?
2) Those of you who have done renos, ballpark me a figure you think this would cost total. (minus the new range)
Pretend you're talking to a five year old.
Re: like I'm 5...kitchen renovations (puppy?) PIPs added!
Can't speak on cost, but we had some cabinet work done to accommodate an over-the-range-microwave/vent hood. It wasn't entirely expensive. We just contacted a contractor that we knew, told him what we wanted to do, he told us what would need to happen, and we picked out some cabinet doors from his catalog to replace the ones that were going to be too big. Then, we took the old doors, got them paint-matched at Sherwin-Williams, and when it was all painted and ready, he came and installed everything for us.
It was probably the easiest thing we've done to the house.
I have a friend who's a really good contractor/construction guy, and I can forward you his information, if you'd like. He works on homes in Nichols Hills and other nice neighborhoods, and I've seen his work on Facebook. He does good stuff. And you can tell him I sent you. You can also just go to Home Depot, talk to their cabinet people and get a feel for the cost.
Cabinet re-facing could be of a benefit here, if the existing cabinets are in good shape. They would do the work and it wouldn't require you to paint so much. Painting cabinets is not fun.
Onto the range -- is the current range gas, as well? If not, putting in a gas range where there is currently electric will cost you money to run a gas line if there isn't currently one in the wall.
Hope this helps! I hope to do some work to my kitchen in about a year. We've got a big living room project coming up (once we get the doors installed) and after that, when school's in, I'd kind of like to take a little break, except for some painting here and there.
I need to have more babies...
Okay, what kind of gas range is currently installed in the kitchen? I doubt it causes your utilities to increase - we have a commercial range (dual fuel: gas cooktop, electric oven) and I have not at all noticed a change in our bills. I have noticed a difference in the way that I cook though, you have to be VERY careful with the gas on a commerical range because everything cooks must faster.
The issue with it putting off a ton of heat is because it isn't properly ventilated. Look at a Ventahood - this is the only type of hood that will suck that heat out of your house - but it has to be ventilated through your attic and outside. Regardless of what kind of range you have, having your vent ventilated outside will make a huge difference in the comfort of your home when you are cooking regardless of the type of range you invest in. A Ventahood runs around $700- $5,000 at Metro depending on which one you get. They will tell you the kind that you need based on your range. Of course, stainless steel is more expensive but if you have your contractor build a wood wrap around, it won't matter if it is white, black or steel. I think ours was $1,200. I freaking love it. Best.Investment.Ever. It is possible that investing in a proper ventilation system will be cheaper than trying to fix the cabinetry issues that come with removing the current range plus buying a new range. And your vent should be ventilated outside anyway if you have a gas range. When I make fried chicken, I turn that baby on and NEVER smell it in my house again. It is unbelievable.
You can strip the wallpaper yourself. It isn't that difficult but a subcontractor will charge you an arm and a leg to do it for you. You can buy this stuff at Lowe's for $10, mix it with some water, spray, wait 15 minutes, spray again, wait 15 minutes and the wallpaper will peel off. Most fabulous builders in Oklahoma don't bother to properly prepare the drywall before wallpapering, so it is possible you will have drywall issues. So, I would budget around $1k for drywall repairs, texturing, and painting.
As far as painting the cabinets, that needs to be professionally done. They will have to be completely sanded down and it is best to have them sprayed, not hand painted. Painting them with a brush will leave streaks and will look miserable. I am not sure how big your kitchen is...maybe $1,500 - $2,000 to have the cabinets sanded and sprayed. It is a huge, messy job, so demand that the subcontractor hazmats off that part of the house.
Personally, I would "do" granite anyway. Granite prices have dropped considerably in the past few years. People are granite crazy and without a doubt, if you have a nice kitchen with granite, your home will sell faster. I would look at a 2cm granite - with white cabinets, something dark like verde butterfly or uba tuba (uba tuba is my personal favorite) would look fantastic. Depending on how your countertops are laid out, you may be able to use remnants which would be very cost effective. Check home depot - we used the HD in Norman when we redid our first kitchen and to be honest, that has been our best and easiest experience yet. They often have sales and you can buy $200 off coupons on ebay for $5. HD contracts out the labor with a local granite installer and they use a wholesaler in Guthrie. It is all local. However, you can't pick out the exact slab that you want. If you aren't comfortable with HD, check out Tops by Cops. They buy from quite a few wholesalers around town - AG&M off of Broadway extension carries a ton of 2cm granites. The owner of Tops by Cops is VERY VERY nice and accomodating and they have tons of remnants. A dark granite without a lot of movement is very easy to match - only your checkbook will notice.
White cabinets + dark granite = SWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOON.
Are you redoing the floors? Installing a new backsplash? New hardware? Electric? New sink? I would add about 20% to any bid you receive.
I can send you the name of my contractor. Obviously, we love him. He is very knowledgeable, so nice, and can gently walk you through the process.
Good luck - so excited for you - please post before pics!!
Oh my God...did you talk to the owner about this? We have used them for our entire house and have never had any issues. I am so sorry. You need to contact him to have the job uninstalled and reinstalled properly. His name is Tyler.
Yeah, we contacted him. Then they booked two more appointments that we were stood up for. So we gave up. They did do a reinstall. The first counter cracked at one of the seams. They replaced that but then didn't finish the edges correctly on the second try. They came back out and "fixed" it but it still looks crappy.
Puppy, the problem with the range is that it has a flat cooktop that is constantly hot. It heats up the whole kitchen. We tried to turn out the pilot, and you can't do that because you can't turn out the gas. I'm not very knowledgeable, but DH, myself, and MIL all tried to figure it out and were unsuccessful. I'm going to post some pics below to explain. The guy took it out from his restaurant and installed it in his kitchen.
Thank you for the wallpaper info. I figured I would probably butcher the job, and mess up the drywall...but it sounds like that it's a given I would need someone to do drywall work anyways. So I can plan on needing to hire out drywall and texturing. I can paint the walls. And NO FREAKING WAY am I doing the cabinets myself. I do not have the time or energy.
I guess I just assumed granite would be out of our price range/not worth it, but you are absolutely correct people are granite crazy. I don't see that changing anytime soon. I think I surprised our realtor when I said I didn't care about granite and SS appliances as a top priority item.
Not redoing the floors or backsplash, no new appliances, no new sink. Just walls, countertops, painting the cabinets, and possibly new range and building some cabinets.
There is a breakfast room not shown that is entirely wallpapered.
Okay, in looking at your pictures..yikes, I agree, paint those cabinets. Sorry.
You can definitely sell that range for some bucks, so I would put it on CL. You will need some backsplash work done when you take out the old range and install the new one. I would install the new range where the flat top piece of the current range is located. It does look like a standard cabinet could fit in the space on the other side...are the current cabinets original? I would be a tad worried about matching the doors but it will work out fine.
Your kitchen has a lot of potential. I think you could get all of that done for less than $5k? But I, personally, would replace the backsplash completely especially since you will have to have the backsplash work done above the new range. Check out Metro for a range...we have really had the best luck there.
You have a huge kitchen. I wonder if an island would fit in there?
Well, I can see why you dislike them! But you need to call again, get Tyler to come out, view the issue and demand they pull it all out and replace it.