- Remove those old cabinets and replace them with glossy white cabinets from Ikea for a minimalist and modern look.
- Remove those brand new quartz countertops the sellers have just slapped onto the old cabinets to sell the place. I hate wasting things, so some of those countertops and cabinets are going to the garage to form a workbench. Details TBD..
This is what the cabinets and countertops look like today. Not bad actually.. but I don't want to remodel once I move in..
- That wing wall at atrium entry.. I just don't like it. If that wall wasn't there, then one standing in the kitchen could have seen the atrium, and there would have been a much better flow: atrium->kitchen/family room->backyard through those nice floor to ceiling windows. I ideally would remove that entire wall, but my wife wants to keep some of it as it is used as a backer for high cabinets. She has a very good point, we actually need to live in this kitchen, so here is our solution: We'll cut half of the wall, get some more openness and still maintain some cabinet space.
Who is going to do all this work? Well, I was initially planning DIY, but then I chickened out and found a great contractor. Michael and Celina (husband and wife team) from Michael Pellegrino Construction are going to do the demolition, wall removal and install the new kitchen. What am I going to do?Assemble some Ikea cabinets.
Did I tell you that Ikea cabinets look great at a fraction of the cost of custom cabinets? All cabinet shops told me that Ikea cabinets will not stand against time, and won't last 10-20 years. I figured I can replace my kitchen with Ikea cabinets every 10 years and still save money compared to custom cabinets across a span of 30 years.
Ok less talking, more planning, let me go back to re-measuring the kitchen so that cabinets actually fit!
You might want to carefully remove and donate your original cabinets, they look to be in good shape, and some Eichler purists would love to have them.
ReplyDeleteOur Ikea cabinets are of decent quality, especially for the price. I was not happy with Ikea's install service (Traemand) so if you've got a decent carpenter who has installed kitchens before, I'd recommend going that route instead.
I don't believe these are the originals. The originals with zolatone finish was removed by the previous owner and some was saved as garage storage. Either way, I agree the cabinets are in good shape, and my contractor wanted to keep them in his garage for storage.
ReplyDeletei'd recommend ikea kitchens in a heart-beat, but they take quite a bit of care and craft when assembling them. when we assembled ours, we glued all of the panels (construction adhesive on the plastic and wood glue on the wood) as well as used const. adhesive between the boxes... something that an installer wouldn't do. i've also found that the quality of the doors themselves vary greatly... the glossy melamine are an accident waiting to happen whereas the wood veneers (the nexus line) hold up quite well. there are also shops that will make doors to fit (custom wood veneers) that seem to be a nice middle ground between custom and ikea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Hunter. I've started assembling the cabinets, and will go get some glue per your advice. Not with cabinets, but with other ikea hardware in the past, I've seen that the fastening mechanism with the 90 degree rotation nut sometimes loosens up for no reason. We certainly wouldn't want that to happen after the cabinets are installed with no access to those nuts!
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