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amother
OP
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 Sun, Oct 24 2021, 11:06 am
I want to change the layout of our kitchen.
The cabinets and appliances are in good condition. We will have to change out some cabinets to accommodate the new layout, but can't afford new cabinets right now.
I'm thinking of doing the main work now - moving some plumbing and wires, etc, but not getting new cabinets. I'm fine in the meantime just putting up raw shelves, putting a curtain instead of cabinet door (lower cabinets). I'm even ok with just laying down plywood for counters and sealing with epoxy until we can afford the quartz counter I really want.
Has anyone done this? Done the basic work and had raw unfinished parts? Did it look terrible? Was there any difficulty in using the kitchen that way?
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amother
Daisy
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:01 pm
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I have never done that. But when I was growing up my parents got a little screwed with the kitchen guy they were using. We ended up having plywood counters for about a year and a half. It honestly did look odd when you came into the kitchen but at least it was functional until we got the rest of the cabinets.
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SDmother
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:01 pm
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You are asking for a disaster! Construction always cost a minimum of 20% more than you were expecting. This means that you will end up with even less than what you were planning on doing. Do not do anything until you have enough money plus 30% extra to complete the job.
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:28 pm
| amother [ Daisy ] wrote: | | I have never done that. But when I was growing up my parents got a little screwed with the kitchen guy they were using. We ended up having plywood counters for about a year and a half. It honestly did look odd when you came into the kitchen but at least it was functional until we got the rest of the cabinets. |
Sorry about your parents' experience. Thanks for the info.
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:33 pm
| SDmother wrote: | | You are asking for a disaster! Construction always cost a minimum of 20% more than you were expecting. This means that you will end up with even less than what you were planning on doing. Do not do anything until you have enough money plus 30% extra to complete the job. |
I know construction always costs more than one thinks it will cost. But in this case, most of the kitchen is fine. I'm just switching out 4-5 cabinets (of 25+) and changing sink locations (hence the need for new counters. Once we're getting new counters, I want to upgrade from Formica to quartz)
It's not like the whole kitchen will be raw. Just these few spots. Do you still think it will be a disaster?
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amother
Green
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:48 pm
| amother [ OP ] wrote: | I know construction always costs more than one thinks it will cost. But in this case, most of the kitchen is fine. I'm just switching out 4-5 cabinets (of 25+) and changing sink locations (hence the need for new counters. Once we're getting new counters, I want to upgrade from Formica to quartz)
It's not like the whole kitchen will be raw. Just these few spots. Do you still think it will be a disaster? |
Yes. Plus each step will cost more and be more of a headache since you’re not just paying one person at one time from start to finish.
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Rubber Ducky
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 12:55 pm
If you're OK with the look and are acting as your own general contractor, you can do this.
Meaning you are hiring your own plumber and electrician. When you are ready to purchase the cabinets then you can have a handyman do the installation.
Countertops are not normally handled by the GC anyway and it doesn't sound like there is any framing work.
One question I have is whether you will be able to match the cabinets you already have. Even within the same brand and style, colors can shift as they age.
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 1:16 pm
| Rubber Ducky wrote: | If you're OK with the look and are acting as your own general contractor, you can do this.
Meaning you are hiring your own plumber and electrician. When you are ready to purchase the cabinets then you can have a handyman do the installation.
Countertops are not normally handled by the GC anyway and it doesn't sound like there is any framing work.
One question I have is whether you will be able to match the cabinets you already have. Even within the same brand and style, colors can shift as they age. |
Thank you so much for your response!
Yes the main work is plumbing - changing location of the sinks. We may need to demo a built-in pantry. We currently have workers in our house for something else, so I might ask them if they're interested in demoing it.
About the cabinets - that's a good question. The old cabinets are not very old, 10-15 years. We recently replaced a drawer. I took it to home Depot, and they matched the new one exactly, you'd never know. So I think we should be fine.
I think my main concern is the counters - have you ever heard of someone using temporary counters until their real ones came in? What did they use? It might be 1-2 years, so I'm thinking w should get something that's somewhat waterproof.
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A_Mother_First
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 1:24 pm
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Not to 'hijack' this thread, but what is average cost for doing an average size and average quality kitchen these days? I desperately need to do mine.
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Rubber Ducky
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 1:24 pm
| amother [ OP ] wrote: | Thank you so much for your response!
...I think my main concern is the counters - have you ever heard of someone using temporary counters until their real ones came in? What did they use? It might be 1-2 years, so I'm thinking w should get something that's somewhat waterproof. |
Go to a store that carries laminate postform counters. They come in different lengths up to 10 feet long. Cut to size (or have a handyman cut to size) and paint the edges for some protection there.
Link: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Ki.....1bygt
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 1:29 pm
| A_Mother_First wrote: | | Not to 'hijack' this thread, but what is average cost for doing an average size and average quality kitchen these days? I desperately need to do mine. |
From asking other people, it sounds like it's a huge range, 10k-50k+. It really depends on how many cabinets, new appliances and plumbing/electric you need done. You can usually have a contractor come to your house and quote you a price, but it sounds like then you need to assume 20-30% more.
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Rubber Ducky
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 1:34 pm
(Note: I'm a Mod on this forum and accidentally deleted the OP's following quoted post:)
| OP wrote: | Thank you! I like this idea
Haha, these were the "real" counters in our first apartment. |
Yes, although postform laminate is very inexpensive, very few of my kitchen clients opt for it. I have a client now who plans to get postform laminate. First one in years!
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amother
Natural
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 2:04 pm
When we moved into our house we didn't have the money to redo our kitchen so we bought new sinks and counters so it would be kosher. The laminate counters were very cheap. Counters anyway aren't done by a contractor, they are done by the counter place.
In terms of cost, if you are going to get stone counters and appliances you're talking a minimum of 20k and probably closer to 40k and up.
We really tried to keep costs down and we still ended up spending 30k
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amother
Razzmatazz
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 3:04 pm
| amother [ OP ] wrote: | Thank you so much for your response!
Yes the main work is plumbing - changing location of the sinks. We may need to demo a built-in pantry. We currently have workers in our house for something else, so I might ask them if they're interested in demoing it.
About the cabinets - that's a good question. The old cabinets are not very old, 10-15 years. We recently replaced a drawer. I took it to home Depot, and they matched the new one exactly, you'd never know. So I think we should be fine.
I think my main concern is the counters - have you ever heard of someone using temporary counters until their real ones came in? What did they use? It might be 1-2 years, so I'm thinking w should get something that's somewhat waterproof. |
Can you just remove the sink and place a large wooden cutting board over the w
hole it leaves, instead of using temporary countertop all over?
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amother
Pear
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 3:20 pm
| amother [ Daisy ] wrote: | | I have never done that. But when I was growing up my parents got a little screwed with the kitchen guy they were using. We ended up having plywood counters for about a year and a half. It honestly did look odd when you came into the kitchen but at least it was functional until we got the rest of the cabinets. |
Oh my! Are you my sister?
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 3:57 pm
| amother [ Razzmatazz ] wrote: | Can you just remove the sink and place a large wooden cutting board over the w
hole it leaves, instead of using temporary countertop all over? |
That's a great idea! I might do that, though I would have the wood cut to fill the hole, and grout/caulk all around to make it smooth.
The reason for removing the old countertops is that 1. They are warped in several places, mostly around the sink and 2. It's not just the sink that we're moving. Also the fridge, stove. There will be several large gaps that now need counters.
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amother
OP
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 3:59 pm
| amother [ Natural ] wrote: | When we moved into our house we didn't have the money to redo our kitchen so we bought new sinks and counters so it would be kosher. The laminate counters were very cheap. Counters anyway aren't done by a contractor, they are done by the counter place.
In terms of cost, if you are going to get stone counters and appliances you're talking a minimum of 20k and probably closer to 40k and up.
We really tried to keep costs down and we still ended up spending 30k |
Thanks for the info! The appliances are fine. We're keeping them.
Do you know how much you spent just on counters? And roughly how many feet of counter your kitchen needed? That's the one expense I haven't researched yet.
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amother
Natural
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 4:13 pm
| amother [ OP ] wrote: | Thanks for the info! The appliances are fine. We're keeping them.
Do you know how much you spent just on counters? And roughly how many feet of counter your kitchen needed? That's the one expense I haven't researched yet. |
4k on counters
30 linear feet (counters are 2 feet deep)
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amother
Narcissus
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Sun, Oct 24 2021, 4:16 pm
| amother [ OP ] wrote: | That's a great idea! I might do that, though I would have the wood cut to fill the hole, and grout/caulk all around to make it smooth.
The reason for removing the old countertops is that 1. They are warped in several places, mostly around the sink and 2. It's not just the sink that we're moving. Also the fridge, stove. There will be several large gaps that now need counters. |
I know you didn’t ask - but please speak to a rav about moving an oven.
It’s not a simple thing are there are precautions you need to take when moving an oven.
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