Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kitchen remodel

Granite is great, durable, lasts forever

Wow, that’s decent money for floor and trim.

As far as the kitchen, if you like vinyl put in vinyl. They make some nice looking durable vinyl that will last. Don’t overlook quick order cabinets from lowes, that’s mostly what I use on rehabs. I use Formica counter tops, they make some nice styles. I have granite in my house because I’m married, but they don’t do much for me. The biggest thing is layout so it works for you.

We did this three years ago, gutted the 34 year old kitchen down to the bear studs.
Because I work in the building field, I relied on the builders I work with, the interior decorators, installers and suppliers for a lot of their input.
Quartz counter tops, C.T. backsplash, all plywood cabinets, 3/4" pre-finished hardwood floor, direct vent to the outside range hood, under counter kitchen sink. Wall cabinets and trim run to the 8' high ceiling, no bulk-head, no top of cabinets exposed, added elect. outlets so there was one outlet every 3' of counter and two outlets in island. Canned lights in the ceiling and dropped lights over island Added a water supply for the new frig.
Your budget should cover this.

We did a total remodel on our kitchen a year ago. We ended up going with quartz countertops due to the ease of maintenance. Sunken large bowl stainless sink which is nice. So far we really like it. We have tile floor that looks like old reclaimed barn board, you would never know it is tile. The grout is a dark brown that you don't notice and does not show dirt. My wife loved it but I was nervous about it before it went in. We love the floor and have received numerous compliments on it. Knocking out a wall and a new peninsula with decent cabinets and new appliances put us just about at your budget for the same size and style kitchen when it was all said and done.

thanks for all the input so far guys. what is a good kind of cabinet to get? we want oak finish. i would assume an oak plywood cabinet would be what i would be looking at but not sure about what to look for in joints, hinges, fasteners etc. i drew it all up today with visio so i have a good idea of layout.

Oak will be be your least costly wood option. There are lots of different grades of cabinets with varying quality. I would stay away from "builder grade" and look at mid to upper range cabinets, in the upper end range I would look at Starmark. Most mid range cabinets will have hardwood faces with particle board boxes, some will have melamine printed ends with with an option to go to a finished plywood end. Soft close hinges, and soft close dovetail drawers are nice to have. Sink top outs and a soft close trash rollout are nice options as well.

Have renovated about 80 kitchens in the past 22 years. I always advise against hardwood in kitchens. Even if you don't have any accidents with leaking plumbing (dishwasher, fridge etc), the exposure to moisture from mopping will make hardwood look like crap in a few years. I always pushed for high quality porcelain tile, the bigger the better to avoid too much grout. Nu-heat or Ditra-heat will keep it toasty underfoot. I was always biased against vinyl flooring because it looked so cheesy, but the newer higher quality vinyl plank flooring looks great and we're using it more and more these days. It will survive water spills and seems to hold up quite well. Aesthetically, I prefer granite for counters, but the man-made materials like Quartzite, Caesar Stone, etc are a bit more practical. The newer ones look great. DO NOT use marble counters in kitchens because stains are difficult, if not impossible to remove. Your kitchen is too small for an island. A peninsula would be much more practical. Pre-fab cabinetry (like Ikea) looks good at first, but the quality is typically crap and you'll be replacing it soon if the kitchen gets any real use. I would suggest finding a good cabinet maker in your area who is experienced in kitchens and who will take the time to figure out the best layout for your intended use. I also advise clients to go with a lot of pot lights to avoid shadows. Use LED bulbs and put them on a dimmer. Also LED undercabinet lighting. You can't have too much lighting when your're working in a kitchen, and the dimmer will let you turn them down when you don't need full brightness. PM me if you have any questions. I can't help with pricing (rates in Vancouver seem to be double those in the States since we don't have illegals driving down prices, and lots of money coming in from China), but I can advise with layouts and materials.

A guy that I work with has a cabinet shop as a side job. He said he could always beat box store prices and have a lot better quality product doing it. Might pay to look at what some local shops to you can do. Around here there’s several small shops building cabinets.

when i say island i guess i really mean a peninsula. in other words a counter/lower cabinet combo where the wall and counter are now. i want the wall between the dining room and hall and living room blown out and replaced with a counter with cabinets underneath.

i am also going to see about pot lights on dimmers and other lighting options. my wife and i know what we want more or less we just need to see what it costs and adjusts wants from needs from there.

we have two appointments set up with kitchen guys that come highly recommended. i want to get on their schedule for june-ish so that my wife can be home to drive them nuts while they work.

He would be right. I got a quote to remodel a bathroom 2 weeks ago to pull a tub and make it a walk in shower, $10k, with 6k of it being the shower alone. I fixed the water leak and put a new toilet in myself for $200. That quote alone was over $1k.

A few things to look for when cabinet shopping.

Slab drawer fronts or 5 pc drawer fronts.
Raised panel doors or flat panel.
- if raised panel, are they veneered or solid wood?
Box construction: particle board or plywood, ask about thickness of either.
Standard overlay or full overlay, if you go full overlay make sure that your your design does not have clearance issues with doors, drawers, knobs and pulls. Fillers are your friend.
Corner cabinets: revolving door lazy Susan's, easy reach LS, super Susan's, or blind corners.

The most important thing in most kitchen designs is centering the sink on the kitchen window, your window center is one of the first things you should measure.

showers are not cheap, especially when you're starting from the bare studs, but its one of those things that the saying you get what you pay for holds true.

We're scheduled to start on remodeling our kitchen sometime around the first. It started with new counter tops. Then went to new cabinets, appliances, floors and paint. Don't ask about cost! We chose Quartz for the counter tops. Going back with tile flooring but it will be a corse surface and probably installed in a different pattern than the current floor. We'll be doing away with a built in desk that we don't use as much as we thought we would, adding a built in broom/mop closet, one cabinet space will be book shelves. Going with a commercial quality gas stove/oven. Still have to decide on lighting. I hate under cabinet lights but that may happen.

this is why its hard to give advice to some one, without setting down and finding out what their ideas are...….you are happy with a toilet that costs under $200....a toilet for the jobs I do would start at 4 or $ 500.....for the toilet......bob

good tile guys are hard to find....a shower done right, is money well spent...….bob

I try to talk all my clients out of hardwood kitchen floors. Some listen, some don’t. The hardwood kitchen floor movement was started by cheap-azz builders looking for another way to save a buck. Hardwood and water don’t mix, ie laundry rooms, kitchens, baths, and mud rooms. If your tile was too slippery, pick something with a bit of texture. Have the tile set with a 1/16” grout line, and make sure the grout is DARK.

^ no way way i'd use hardwood in a kitchen or bath, or if you have dogs indoors.

We remodeled our kitchen 2 years ago. A few things that we did that my wife really likes are 1) putting 2 lazy susans in the corner cabinets, 2) using slide out shelves, and 3) using dividers in the large drawers for things like plates and bowls. There are tons of options on cabinets so look around a little. Our kitchen is on the small side so we tried to make the most out of the cabinets that we have.

G23

I just did a lot of LVP for a cabinet builder a couple weeks ago, fixing to do his carpet later this week. gave him him a good price, hope he does the same for me when i'm ready.

Does that 1/16” grout line work well even with the larger tiles?