A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall ...so you've bought a house....now what???

Why you move in and remodel of course!!!
Stephen is repacking our 17" box trailer and we're taking it down to the house and parking it on Friday evening. We're recruiting people to help us unpack the trailer and in return for their helpfulness, we're going to feed them lunch from Stephen's new grill (his father's day present). We're hoping to sleep in the new house on Saturday night so that we don't have to rush as much to get to church on Sunday (the new house is only 5 minutes from the church instead of 30 minutes!).

Remodeling...
The first thing that is going to be done is building a fence in the yard to contain the dogs. We've figured out where the fence is going to go and I think the hardest part will be digging the holes for the posts (Stephen's job). We're going to attach some kind of wire mesh to the inside of the posts and then we'll put pickets of some sort on the outside of the posts....so basically it will be a one sided fence. We decided to do it this way so that the fence will be usable right after the mesh is attached and the dogs will be able to run in the yard even if the pickets aren't attached yet.

Next thing that will be worked on is the kitchen. We need to pull down the tiled ceiling in the kitchen to make sure that the floor from the second floor that is drooping is only drooping because the house is old and not because there is a different problem. If all is well, we're pulling off the paneling that is on the walls and framing and drywalling the room to make the electrical work easier. The house is plank construction, so there aren't any studs in the walls and I'm not sure how you'd hang cabinets on a wall like that!!!

So that leads me to my question for you (...if you've gotten this far through my post!! ) If you could put something in your kitchen, what would it be?? We are looking at unfinished cabinetry and since granite and most other stone is expensive, we'll probably be getting corian counter tops (I have heard it isn't as pricey but haven't looked at prices yet). Is there a specific type of cabinet that you like or don't like? ....like a corner cabinet with a lazy susan or a pantry cabinet. Is there a kitchen feature that you absolutely love? Fill me in and give me lots and lots of ideas!! We've got our budget set and are trying to figure out what things to add and totally need your help!

find a place that isn't wide enough for a cabinet and put 2 of the slender ones that hold cookie sheets verticaly. i've seen 2 houses with them and envy them so much. uses useless space and takes care of the oversized sheets i like. kate has one.

Oh man Jenn, we did our kitchen on a TIGHT budget and it turned out great. We got the unfinished cabinets from Lowe's and they turned out great, and we also got the Corian countertop.

took link out, it didn't work

Not sure how Shutterfly works, it takes me there but I'm logged in and it's my album.

Anyway.....the cabinets you can upgrade with some nice hardware. We have a lazy susan in those cabinets and to tell you the truth I never use it. The shelf inside is plastic and it just feels sort of flimsy. The old metal ugly cabinets had one and it was metal and was sturdy, so I thought I'd like another one there---but like I said, never use it.

Mark said that our kitchen remodel cost around $3000 for everything. We gutted it too. So that includes drywall, cabinets, lights, faucets, sink, trim, countertops, paint, floors. So it CAN be done cheap and look good.

It's sort of exciting starting from scratch. Can't wait to hear more how it goes.......

Here's the right link:

kitchen remodel

a above counter corner cabinet is wonderful--I store all my 'tuppeware' in mine---(grocery store plastic as well) this is not the lazy susan.--I have 2 of theses and so far they are holding up but I know peolel who have had trouble with them as well--so I guess it dependes on how well they are made--time will tell here.

and if it works out so do not let any space go unused---my cabinerts in my old house turned the corner--so I ended up with unused space in the corner--well no it became a blind cabinet---the doors open but you can reach way back into the empty space to one side or another. It had shelves like any other cabinet --I used it to store all my large appliances & kitchen items that I would only use occasionlaly--like my stationary mixer, my ele skillet and my big soup pots--if you do not use it often sitting down & cleaning out the front part of the cabinet to get at the back is no big deal--I loved having access to my stuff.---

and of course if you have high ceilings spend the extra money I have cabinets that are one shelf higher than the conventional ones--this very highest shelf can be used once again for storage--and believe me you will never have enough storage. these higher cabinets have a name but I cannot recall it now--but if you do this you will most likley not have to put in a soffet & so the money you save on the soffet making can be used on the extra height of the cabinet.

Things I'm thinking about for my kitchen when I have the money.

As far as plank construction you can put up two nailing board before you drywall so that you have a good place to nail your cabinets to.

I like the butcherblock countertops and that's what I hope to do when my time comes but then I'm older and don't have any kids. I also want the stone floors they are cheaper than the hardwood and are easier to maintain. And with a dark mortar they will look great for me, I think.

Definitely the vertical storage for the thin pans. I also like a breadbox, a potatoe and onion bin, and an undercabinet for the trash. Don't forget to put the childproof hooks on the cabinet doors. Including the upper ones. My daughter was a mountain goat at age 2 1/2. And a broom closet if there isn't one somewhere else in the house. I don't have one and I'm tempted to take out one of the floor to ceiling cabinets that is divided in thirds and put in one that is shoulder height and then a short upper cabinet. That would work so much better for me.

I also like built in cutting boards but they have went out of style. Which is really to bad because those didn't take up counter space when I needed to chop something up. And with my Galley kitchen that is a consideration.

Don't forget under cabinet lighting. I'm going to add some florescents under my upper cabinets where my breakfast knook is. I'm thinking the little battery operated ones for my space but since you are taking out your existing cabinets you might want to think about recessed or something else. It's nice as mood lighting and really helps when you working at the counter. At least I think so.

A rangehood is really nice get one with a light in it would be my suggestion. That's what I plan to do when I replace mine.

Build in your microwave so it isn't taking up counter space if you can would be another suggestion.

I don't like the cooktop stoves that have the burners under glass. But that's a personal preference. Definitely go for self cleaning.

Refrigerators are more energy efficient if they have the freezers on top so if you don't have a preference I would go with that. Spend alittle more and get all energy star appliances. Frost free of course. I don't think they make any other kind anymore.

If you can get a garbage disposal, trash compactor, and dishwasher. They won't fit in my tiny kitchen but if they did I'd have them.

spend the money to get solid wood don't let anyone talk you into the lamenants. There is to much humidity in a kitchen and they warp quickly. Ask my last landlord. Talk about the wrong tenant for that kitchen ooooops.

If the stove isn't built in get those spacers that will keep food and grease from getting between the stove and the counter.

Enjoy your remodel.

I thought I was satisfied with my kitchen until I read tammy's posts.

Now I want lights, butcher block, bread box etc.....

Tammy had very good points. yes DO NOT but fiberboard cabinets-----they will give & bow with the weight of your dishes.
--and make sure the shelving has extra supports in the middle of the shelves and not jsut hooks at each end--this helps prevent the bowing as well. .---

leave an empty space for your dishwasher if you do not wish to spend that money now & add it later---for now you can store your potaotes and bottled drinks down there. I was not going to add that feature having only small kids at teh time---my friend said well carol they are storage for your dirty dishes----and was she ever so RIGHT!!!! Not to mention when they are bigger it sure saves you time.---

And then there is the sanitary aspect of a dishwasher----we had less viral infections in the house once I had the dishwasher.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and thoughts. We will be remodeling the kitchen fairly quickly since we are ripping out the ceiling to look above it. We've set the budget to $5,000 and are hoping to be able to buy a dish washer (we both grew up with one and are spoiled!!). Stephen would like a cook top stove, but he wants a gas one, so that would mean putting a propane tank at the side of the house and piping it in...nothing too hard there. If we can get a cook top, then we'd be getting one or two ovens that go into cabinet thingers on the wall. They are at arm height, so no bending down, but I do not know if we'll have the room to do that. If not, then a regular gas stove is in order. I also like the vertical storage for cookie sheets and such and that is a requirement for me. I'm not overly concerned about storage for everyday dishes and such. We are going to be building a china hutch from cabinets (sounds weird but I saw one somewhere and LOVED the idea). I will be popping out the center panel of the cabinet doors and putting glass in them instead so I can show off some of my Stangl....I have a HUGE set (nearly complete) of the Country Garden theme and want to use the colors in those designs as my accent colors in the kitchen. Anyways, I don't think we're going to be getting a new refrigerator right now, but we are hoping to put the one we have in a spot that allows us to get one that we want later.

We were at Lowe's last weekend and looked at their kitchen show room thingers and I saw some ideas that I like and saw others that looked nice in a catalog but were an awful idea once I got to play with them. I picked up as many free cabinet catalogs as I could and we have spent 2 or 3 nights just looking at the pictures and thinking about what we want. i'd love a bread box and places to put potatoes and onions......but we don't eat alot of bread and almost never eat potatoes, so for us it wouldn't work. I am, however, going to have a section under the counter that is just 2 or 3 extra thick shelves and I think I am going to put some nice baskets on those shelves for onions and potatoes(for when we do have them in the house). I am also hoping that our ceiling is high enough that I can put short cabinets (like 14" or 15" height) on top of our wall cabinets. Those would have glass fronts on the doors and lights inside of them and I can use those to show off my tea pots and other Stangl. Oh...I have already told Stephen that we will have under cabinet lighting. We will probably go with an LED rope lighting type of style....LED are cheaper and supposedly better for the environment than florescent. And if one bulb goes out I won't have to replace it to get light everywhere else.

I have drawn a scale layout of the kitchen and will try to get it scanned in the next day or so to post for other ideas. Need to go for now...the kitchen ceiling is calling (it wants to be ripped out!!!)

Loz~ we have been looking at those unfinished cabinets at Lowes......can you take a picture of the inside of the doors for the wall cabinets??? I need a good detailed picture so I can see how the panel is installed in the door. I want to know how easy....or hard....it will be to pop those boogers out and put glass in. :)

jenn, about the onions and potatoes. i have a basket that is 3 tiered wire mesh that hangs over my sink, just out of the way. it holds 5 pounds of potatoes in the bottom,3 pounds of onions in the middle, and what ever in the top (usually garlic and junk :wink: ) but it keeps the potatoes and onions with air flow and reminds me to use them before they go bad

I have a 3 shelved unit that I keep the tv on.....it's a potato/onion bin. Has wire mesh panels in the front of the doors. My sister got it for me for a wedding present years ago, it's cute. Unfortunately it's full of "junk" and not potatoes/veggies. I should fix that huh?

BTW Jenn, I'll take a pic of that for you tomorrow. I do not regret getting the premade cabinets. Mark did an excellent job finishing them and you'd really never know they were premade ones.

I have glass fronted cabinets in my overhead cabinets betweent he kitchen and breakfast knook. I don't care for it. But then I don't have any fancy dishes to put in it either. The reason I think it is a pain is because they just get dirty quickly and it's the greasy dirty not the dusty dirty so it takes some work to get them clean. And I hate housework lol. Again that's just me being lazy. This house is so big there is a lot of cleaning that needs to be done and that cuts into my gardening time. and you can imagine it's grrrrrrh on that.

I'm so excited for you.

We bought our oak doors at a cabinet company...do you know most places have a yearly sale on all their overstocks and extras. All solid wood doors were clearanced to $10-$12 a piece...we were shocked. We then bought oak boards and made the outsides and such.

Total cost for oak cupboards, kitchen island and countertops was $1000. Mind you..the labour was free

I am so sorry that I never bought more at the time...

I have a lazy susan in our bottom corner cabinet with a lazy susan in it and I love it! Mine is metal though. I saw that you didn't like your plastic one Loz! I also have a small cabinet like Jiffy talked about for cookie sheets and such! That is a great thing to have! The rest of my bottom cabinets have pull out shelves with a ledge around them (basically a very shallow drawer)! This is great! I never had them before and now I wouldn't give them up. When you are digging for a certain pot or bowl or whatever it may be it is so much easier when that pulls out and you can actually see everything that you have and it makes it easier when you are putting dishes away! My mother-in law has a cabinet door that stores spices in the door and I like it. I wish I had one! Those are my ideas! Good luck Jenn!!!

The best part of my kitchen is probably one of the smallest things.

After all the cabinets were put in we ended up with a 3 inch filler strip in one corner. I found a company that makes narrow wire, pullout racks for base cabinets. They go from the counter to the floor. We could use the piece that covered the space as the front of the pullout so no one can tell it was added later. I use it for spices because the shelf is just wide enough to hold spice bottles.

cool what's the name of the company if you don't mind my asking?

It's called Rev-A-Shelf. They have a website. I was lucky they have a warehouse in Louisville and the company that put in my cabinets could just go there and get what I wanted.
What I got is in under "fillers and pullouts". I only had a 3 inch space so I was very happy to find something to fit.

Sounds great Glenda...I have lots of spice bottles that would be better served if they were on a rack or such.

Me too--I made sure my DD hade nice spice racks when she got married--
but me --no--
mine are on a rubbermaid double shelved turning rack thingy--(if you know what I mean----)
---if I had of designed this kitchen I would of gotten myself a in door spice rack--I think those are so cool, or perhaps the small 12 inch cabinest that can go on each side of the stove--those are perfect to place spices in.

This is what it looks like in the corner



This is what it looks like opened.

Oh Glenda--I am so impressed---that is perfec---i am so glad you found it.

very nice kitchhen BTW

Wow, now that is a beautiful kitchen.

Thank you both very much.

I hope the pictures show a great use of wasted space.

wowww Glenda I like that!!! I could use 2 or 3 of those!!!!!! I have seen where they have the flip doors on the front side of the kitchen sink to hold sponges, pot scrubers, small bottles of hand lotion., and anything small that you'd use right there at the sink, , , I thought that was pretty cool because that's a space noone utilizes either, there is usually just a panel there with about 3-4 inches behind it,

Well, we have finally sat down and decided on a layout for the kitchen. The stove, sink, and refrigerator will be on the same wall, but there was no way around that, so we had to totally scrap the "work triangle"....oh well. On one wall of the kitchen which is a small wall with a doorway at one end of it, we are putting in what we are calling the bar area. It is basically a combination of 12" deep cabinets. The wall cabinets will have glass fronted doors so that we can display some nice glass ware that we have. On the wall opposite this one....which is 17 feet away from it....we will have a somewhat matching china hutch that will also be made of cabinets. All of the higher cabinets will have glass fronted doors so that I can display my Stangl. After measuring the ceilings, we've decided that I probably won't be able to display my Stangl on the tops of the other kitchen cabinets, so it was important to me to have the hutch...and it will only cost us about $500 to make it if we get the unfinished premade cabinets at Lowes. We are going to be looking at some discounted cabinet stores that we know of to see if we can get cabinets any cheaper than the premade unfinished ones from Lowes, but as it stands now, we are looking at $1200 for a total of 15 cabinets. We're still trying to decide what to do about the floor. I'm going to have Stephen pull up the linoleum that is in the one area to see what the plank floors look like. If they aren't nice enough to refinish and seal, then I think we're going to end up going with ceramic tile on the floors. I think we'll have to put a plywood subfloor down if we do that tho because when we walk though the kitchen we can feel "holes" under the linoleum. I'm also looking at all of our counter options. I wanted to go with Corian, but I'm finding that granite tile might be the cheaper way to go and I kind of like how that looks. I found a site that has what they call a "modular system" for the tile and they even make tile that has the bull nose edges which gives the counter a nice finished look. I'm trying hard not to put in laminate counters because it is hard to do some of my baking on those....the dough sticks to the laminate alot and that drives me nuts!! Anyways, we went to Lowes yesterday and prices sinks, cabinets, lighting, dishwashers, and toilets. We were there for like 2 hours and Maddie did sooo well in the cart! I found a track lighting kit that I love and we have put two of those kits into the budget...I'm super excited about that.

What else is going on in the remodeling realm.....Stephen is digging post holes in the back yard for the fence. We are putting a rush on the making of the fence because the dogs got loose this week and ended up killing 3 of a neighbor's (about a third of a mile away) chickens. That cost us $18....not bad for 3 chickens, I thought....wish I could buy the equivalent of 3 chickens for $18 at the store!

We are going to buy carpet tile for the living room....and probably for the rest of the house too, eventually. We can get it for as low as 99 cent a sqft, so it is the cheapest way to go and if a tile gets stained, you just pull it up and replace it...pretty easy.

I'm hoping to get paint for Maddie's room this coming week. I want to paint the room in a non-childish way and then decorate with her childish things...if that makes sense. I want to look at wallpaper borders to see if any jump out at me. What I'd like to do is paint the bottom 3-3 1/2 feet of wall one color and then the rest of the wall another color and put a nice border over the section where the paint meets. I'd really like to do a nice dark chocolate brown on the bottom and a nice soft pink on the top. a friend of ours used those colors for her wedding colors and they looked really nice together and I think those colors will look nice with all of Maddie's teddy bears and such. I haven't decided on anything for Luke's room yet.

We went yard-saling last weekend and bought a dining room table and chairs, 3 dressers, a really nice wooden (old) card table, and a 'blanket box' (which is really like a cedar chest)....all for $600. All of the pieces are antiques and made of nice wood and are all sturdy which is the kind of furniture we wanted. I will be putting changing pads on top of the kids' dressers to use as changing tables. I don't see any reason to go out and buy a flimsy changing table that I'm going to have to get rid of once they're out of diapers.

that sounds awesome jenn. please remember to send me your new contact info, including the address. are you moved in yet?

Yup, moved in. There are alot of things still in boxes, but we don't have places to put those things yet, so in the boxes they stay. Lastnight was the first time I had internet in about 3 weeks because it took soo long to get our phone connected (a frustrating ordeal). I was greeted with 36 emails when I finally turned my computer on. I'll PM you my new info right now before I forget.