Builder Basic to My Dream Kitchen (before & after)
Carrie H
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Before & After - Pictures of My Tiny Galley Kitchen
Comments (37)Thanks for all the kind words! GW was a great resource all the way through the planning and then the "doing"! Just a couple examples - until I posted a question about which mullions I should choose for glass front cabinets, it never had occurred to me that I had far more choices than plain glass. Now every time I open my cabinets, I smile - I do love the river ice! And because I had always had them, I started my plan with lower cabinets but thanks to GW I changed to all drawers. I love having all my pots, pans, mixing bowls, and small appliances in deep drawers. No more pulling everything out to get the one thing in the back. When we were house hunting, I dreamed of a huge eat-in kitchen with an antique butcher block, but I'm really enjoying cooking in this cozy space with everything so close at hand. mabeldingeldine: We're not Mainers, we just wish we were! We take a trip to the mid-coast area every summer. We got married there and got the Common Ground poster that year - it was also the perfect addition to my kitchen chicken collection! t-bird: Getting the Scherr's doors didn't save any money but I was able to get exactly what I wanted - I just didn't love the finish/materials on any of the white Ikea doors. I posted a breakdown of my costs on the "Under $20k Kitchens thread". I've still got some little paint touch-ups to do, and I need to put some trim where the backsplash ends but it's so nice to have a kitchen that really works. Here is a link that might be useful: Under $20k Kitchen Remodels...See MoreMy dream kitchen is crumbling down around my head.
Comments (19)Thank you all so much! The handholding helps more than I can say. Herbflavor: MA will certainly make the hood a custom size and in fact I am going to tell them to make it 16" high. mtnredux: I decided to leave it at 24" deep. There's a pic on the MA site where a huge hood of the same type I'm ordering is partially under a 24" soffit and it looks kind of neat. So I'm going with the "it will look interesting" idea, not because I don't want to make the GC redo it, but because as you suggested, I slept on it and decided in the am that it would be okay. April_Lorraine, mastiffmom and sioushi: I decided to go with the solid floor for the reasons that 1) once the island is in, we actually won't have a lot of floor space showing, and 2) the range and hood and island will have such big visual impact that I want to give them a nice pale surface to stand out against. I think I have to give up my beloved F&B Pavilion Blue as well (don't think it will go with the hood so much), so I decided that when I have some money again (HAH!) I will redo my foyer with Pavilion Blue and a checkerboard floor. Plus, although he wouldn't have fought me over it, DH slightly preferred the solid floor. willtv: Thank you! It is very helpful to hear from someone taller with even less space between the hood and cooktop that you don't bang your head. And I'm ordinarily not much of a drinker but I'm having a glass of wine right now and boy, is that some good stuff. V. relaxing. Sayde: I know 31" is within the normal range but it just seems so low to me that it bothers me! I'm sure it will be fine. blfenton: Hahaha! One of our cats does behave that way. The other one always has this slight startled deer-in-the-headlights expression. I guess I looked more like her at the time. rosieo: I know, I know...and I really do count my blessings every day and try to keep this in perspective (like, there are people with nothing to eat and I'm worried about this stupid sofft depth?!?). Normally I'm pretty unflappable but this was kind of a cumulative effect thing that got to me. I've compromised on lots of little details and over time it has a way of building up such that I feel that what I had planned and designed won't be anything like what I end up with. But truthfully you're right: It is, after all, just a kitchen. muskokascp: I think I was just exhausted. You're right...one thing at a time. It's tough, though, when you consider changing one major element and you have to think carefully through how that change would effect everything else. It's tiring. johnliu: No, I really haven't made that many changes. This was after we were waffling on the sink being next to the wall, decided to switch it with the DW, and I was so miserable over the thought of it all night that I switched it back in the morning. This GC has remodeled two baths for me plus installed a completely new one and painted my house, and for all those jobs combined, I made exactly ONE change (to replace a window molding that didn't match others in the adjacent rooms). This was just bad timing. SusieQusie60: Hmmm...I don't seem to be able to make decisions piecemeal. I am compelled to consider the whole package. Not sure if it's because I'm a graphic designer and tend to think in terms of "overall packaging" but I have to visualize the entire kitchen and how everything works together. Which unfortunately makes me terribly indecisive! I'm probably my GC's worst nightmare, and here I think I'm so easy to work with. *g* katkatf: Thank you! That helped a lot. I've decided this is like childbirth: It sucks while you're going through it but there's no other way to get there. Although hmmmm...I didn't have any drugs when I had a homebirth. I wonder if I could get my epidural now. aliris: Thank you, that was a great post! It's good to know I can both feel incredibly blessed and lucky and at the same time occasionally pull my spoiled princess act (as long as I don't do it too often). desertsteph: No, not really. I had meant to tell him earlier and just didn't. Lesson learned. I must say that he is a GREAT GC in terms of quality and competence and reliability. His crew has been with him for a long time and they're great too. It's just that most of the kitchens he does--and he's built some very high-end homes--are the same generic thing over and over. So he thinks I'm a whackjob when I propose some new thing he's never done before. Like I told him 15 years ago in another house that I wanted a wood floor in my kitchen and he said that NO ONE does wood floors. I also told him about radiant underfloor heating and he looked at me like I was from another planet. Fast-forward a few years and he's telling me that wood floors are wonderful in kitchens, or if I do tile, I should consider radiant underfloor heating. :-) He doesn't know about my secret weapon, the GW Kitchen Forum! I told him that while he thinks I'm crazy and always wanting to do something he's never done before, look at how much he's learning. (Currently he's telling me that NO ONE does marble countertops. Heh.) So thank you so much, everyone. All the electrical went in today and we're moving along. I'll just keep taking deep breaths and repeating "It's just a kitchen. IT'S JUST A KITCHEN."...See MoreMy Kitchen - Before and After Styling
Comments (24)I totally agree with Bee..I think a silver platter would be perfect behind the stove (here is one, its only $1850.00 lol, we need to go bargain shopping) and putting back your utensils to the right of the stove where you originally had it would help balance it off and be functional at the same time. I think the platter should be elevated somewhat too. If you look back at my cookbooks one of the stands elevates the book and one doesn't. I think the platter might look better off the counter if you can find something like that. I just noticed the large pieces you have in your glass cabinets on the right side. They might look nice on the shelves and give you more cabinet space. They look to be a good size for the shelves (maybe one might look good instead of the smaller bowls on the top shelf). Your kitchen is beautiful, I just love decorating everyone else's kitchens. When I go to my sister's house and they leave me alone I am always moving things around as I do in my house until we get it right....See MoreReveal - before and after NYC kitchen (basically done)
Comments (52)We did not use him but check with C & M Home Improvement (Matt). I wish we had used him. I cannot recommend our contractor. Not only was it a chore managing the GC and his team because they screwed up something almost every day from little things like using the wrong paint color in wrong rooms (and asking us to pay to replace paint, which we did not); to installing items incorrectly (drywall in shower instead of cement board); and using the wrong type of glue for our hardwood floor installation (thankfully, I caught that early & forced them to buy the correct glue per my flooring retailer recommendations); as well as trying to complete an 8 week project in 5 weeks (missed a lot of days due to other jobs booked). In the end, the GC tried to force us to make design changes to accommodate their schedule. We didn't. Instead, I pulled out the contract and reminded him of the $100/day penalty for them not completing the project on time & I had a record of all days that the workers didn't show up since we only moved down the hall on the same floor. The added frustration was using Google translate to communicate with the workers when the GC wasn't around. Only the plaster guy spoke English. I had to call/text the GC when there was an issue and he would call & translate to the workers or come by to translate. I resorted to using Google translate. Months later when it turned out they incorrectly installed an item, he suggested my husband fix it. This wasn't the first time that happened. During the renovation, the GC suggested my husband make adjustments although we were paying the GC for that work. We refused each time. A couple of weeks ago, he sent his dad to reinstall the item after the vendor sent us a free replacement & installation paperwork. A 10-minute installation job took an hour & 4 attempts since the directions, instead of being used, were strewn on the floor and upside down. I wish I did have his tile guys contact info. He did a great job and we gave him a cash tip. He took his time & our bathroom tile came out amazingly well, just as I pictured. If you need hardwood flooring installed, I recommend: Celso at Shine Star Floors shinestarfloors@gmail.com Office assistant is Lorrany http://shinestarfloors.com 109 Jersey Street, Harrison, NJ 07029 Tel.: 973-736-1346 Fax: 973-736-2096 They came with a crew of 5 to get the job done in 1 day but our GC wasn't ready so we ended up not being able to use him. However, I was pleased with everything from communication and customer service despite them not actually doing our floors. When we had an issue after the GC finished, Ceslo told us to buy a humidifier to stop the weird snap, crackle, pop noise we were hearing due to the building heating system drying out the floors....See Morecupofkindnessgw
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