When I bared my soul several weeks ago, sharing my kitchen woes and the subsequent plans to remodel, why didn't somebody say something? There must have been some soul within the sound of this blog that knew what was going to happen. Someone . . .Andrew and I were in Lowe's kitchen department and had briefly spoken with a salesperson who, when asked, estimated new kitchen cabinets and counters to run between $5000 and $8000, installation included.
"Piece of cake," thought I.
"Very reasonable," said he
We made an appointment to sit down with the Official Kitchen Designer the following week. We were in for a surprise. After two hours in The Chair and discussing such details as blind corners v. lazy susans and solid surface v. quartz we were handed an estimate that touched down somewhere $7000 north of the previous estimate. Way north.
$15,000???? Just for new cabinets and counters? The price included $2000 for installation and $1000 for removal of our old beauties--which, it turns out, isn't free. And it doesn't include handle pulls, a sink, faucet or tiled backsplash. ACH!
So here I sit, in catatonic Sticker Shock thinking that I really should get in there and make some decisions because after January is over I no longer will be eligible for Lowe's free sink they're offering this month. As that seems to be the only thing in the whole package that is complimentary I really ought to take advantage of it.
I still plan on getting a new kitchen--either now or later, it's still going to be expensive--I just didn't expect it to hurt so much.
At least I now have a working garbage disposal.
If you're interested in saving some money check out Amy's freebies at The Motherload. There are some good ones this week.
Technorati tags: Alaska, kitchens, motherhood, appliances
22 comments:
Let me just say, I would do just about anything for a garbage disposal right now! We have a nice kitchen here in London but no one has garbage disposals...CRAZY! I really miss it.
Just thought I would point out that you are very blessed to have one of those! hehehe. Now, go pick out a great kitchen so they can throw in the sink! LOL.
Have a great weekend!
Yikes! I am in complete sticker shocker with you. I would have thought that $7-8,000 would be more than enough to put in a new kitchen. I guess I am out of the loop as far as construction or remodeling goes. I was kind of sort of wanting to put in a new kitchen floor, and possibly counter tops, but now....I'm almost afraid to know what that might run.
Kitchens are expensive huh? I would love to redo mine, but I probably never will because of the cost. I hope you can get yours done cheaper than $15,000 even though I think that is pretty normal. I have a friend that is redoing hers and it is going to be like $25,000. Crazy! Good luck with it.
Wow! We are yet to be home owners ... that is an amazing price ... I would be happy with a dishwasher hehe!
Ouch! However, I have known several people who have redone their kitchen, and they were all pretty pricey.
Good luck! At least look at it as investing in your home. When you redo your kitchen, you are making the value of your home increase even faster ... not that that always helps for the here and now.
Kitchen Remodeling is expensive. I design new kitchens all the time. The only thing is, you only remodel once, do it right the first time.
If you price around, sometimes you can find a custom shop that will do the whole job for cheaper than Lowes and you'll get real solid wood cabinets. If you want stone tops, remember that marble and granite are coming down in price due to popularity and will probibally run 1/2 the price of corian (and they will always look awesome!)
Truely, look for someone other than Lowes, forget the sink in the long run it'll save you lots of money.
oh boy. that's a lot and now i'm dreading it and crying inside! we have to redo ours too! maybe we'll have to put that on hold for a while. let us know how it turns out!
wow. clearly on your first visit to Lowes you were talking to someone who normally sells garden hoses and knows NOTHING about putting in a new kitchen.
You poor thing!!!! I'm in sticker shock with you as well. Why in the world do things cost so much!!!? Hang in there...maybe go and eat some chocolate..you'll feel better.
dawn
Two words: second estimate.
It surely cannot hurt to shop around....
Yikes! We are about to embark on a bathroom remodel that is coming out where my husband expected (thank heaven) but a couple thousand more than I anticipated. I feel that big pinch too.
ACK. HOly cow. We got countertops this past fall. Lowe's contracts alot of that stuff out. Find out who the subcontractor is. You might get a better deal going through them yourself. We found that out too late.
Also, remeasure. We were almost charged far too much. Plus, we got rid of the counters ourselves. If the counters are in decent shape, you can donate to Habbitat for Humanity.
Are you a handy person at all? I usually subcontract work and do part of the work myself. In my first house, when they told me it was going to be $500 to knock the cabinets out, I took them out and sold them. I do my own painting and that kind of stuff too. Do you have an IKEA? I think they have more reasonable prices than Lowes.
Wow you are all so knowledgable about this sort of thing. There are some great suggestions here, my brother in law has access to wholesale prices on counters and cabinets and has offered to price some things out for me through his supplier. So all is not lost. I'm just procrastinating on this thing too much.
I think we can take out the cabinets by ourselves. Destruction? No problem, it's the reconstruction that I have a hard time with.
Yeah, I agree on the do-it-yourself demolition. That's the best part! It's a good opportunity to take our all your frustrations.
When you're looking at the sinks, I recommend you take a serious look at a black one. We did some major work in our kitchen a couple of years ago and I LOVE (love, love, can't express my affection strongly enough) my black synthetic-granite sink.
"Why didn't I say something"?
I thought you had a small kitchen or somethin. :-)
my dh and his friend put in our kitchen. cost a fortune and we did all the work ourselves!
good luck shopping around, you'll prob save a lot of cash doing some of the work yourselves.
WHOA!! That's expensive! I hope you'll get your dream kitchen soon. Unfortunately, we don't get to have the garbage disposal b/c we have septic system. What a shame!
Ouch! That would really hurt your budget! You know, I love to read Meredith's blog because she has redone her kitchen for a fraction of most remodeling jobs (LikeMerchantShips.Blogspot.Com) using materials that she has gotten from her local Habitat for Humanity Home. Check through some of her archives- it really is inspiring, even if you don't have a resource like that.
Maybe someone who sells the cabinets or countertops directly might be a better fit for your budget?
We are resigned to just deal with what we have. The countertops are neautral, but horribly done as were the cupboards. We are going to refinish our cupboards and try and put up a tile backsplash to cover the shoddy work someone did. Whoever owned our house was not handy at all.
Good luck and thanks for the linky love, Michelle!!
Same question, different asker: Do they have Ikea in Alaska?
Kitchens in France come with a sink. Thazzit. So this doesn't surprise me.
What I've found is that the doors of the cabinets are probably what's hiking the price up.... Them suckers are expensive. i'd say get a detailed quote and then see what you can pear down.
And do as much of it as you can yourself. You can get some really nice stuff at Ikea... No lie.
Post a Comment