Kitchen renovation: just beginning, and already overwhelmed

I also wanted to add - if the smell is from the cabinet base under the sink, you can probably replace just the bottom piece of wood.

Whoever "upgraded" my kitchen to pressed wood cabinets is tormenting me until I can re-do my own kitchen. Stinkin' flippers...while the old look may have been dated, I would've preferred whatever funky cabinets were there to the contractor's special I have now. Paint won't even stick to the veneer.

I will say, the Habitat for Humanities ReStore has done wonders for this house. If you ditch your old cabinets, please donate them so someone like me can use them :)

I didn't re-do a kitchen, but I did my bathroom. I bought new doors and drawer fronts from Home Depot, painted them and the vanity white. It looks good, and is a huge improvement over what was there. They have different levels of wood quality for the doors/drawer fronts, depending on if you want to paint or stain them.

I painted my cabinets several times. "Several" because the paint did not hold up. It became worn behind the knobs so that the original finish showed. They became irreparably stained from hot food spills and clean ups (anything that cleans well will also remove finish after awhile.) I don't have kids, so they weren't exposed to overuse. If you're going to paint, make sure you have a small can of the color handy to do touch ups a couple times/year, especially if you're going from wood to a light color.

NB - I did an expert job each time, removing existing finish with hand tools & chemicals, primed, used the BEST paint every time that was made for heavy use. If you live in as condo, this will be an additional pain. I had a garage to stage the work, so I could lay out the doors to work on them & let them dry.

Hate to be a wet blanket, but it just didn't work too well. If you want a quick picker-upper for a couple of years before you can afford Tulip's bamboo cabinets, it could be an answer. But I would not do it again.

I will be remodeling soon & plan to use a local store. It will be more $$$, but shoddy workmanship makes me nuts.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

Actually, install the new cabinets before the floor, unless it is a subfloor we are talking about. No need to put new flooring under cabinets, and putting in floors before cabinets just means you have to worry about damaging floors while putting in cabinets.

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Sure - if you want to economize. If you are guaranteed that the new cabinets will be exactly the same size as the old you might be able to get away with this. But there are some things to consider first - height difference of the 2 floors, matching up the cabinets with the old cabinet line. Location of heat ducts - do you have/want heat registers in the toe kicks? Height of the toe kicks.

But the biggest issue is the mold - likely caused by a leak sometime in the last 40 years. The sub floor under the existing cabinets is probably compromised. When you remove the vinyl or whatever the current finish floor is you may find rotted areas, mold, and very inviting area for termites. You need to fix the root problem before you apply cosmetic solutions.

You really don't want to have extra seams for future spills to seep into an already rotting subfloor. Knock a glass of water off new countertop, it spills onto floor, water runs to nearest seam and penetrates the subfloor. You can not clean that up. And say it was coffee with cream and sugar, or a soft drink. Now you are continuing to create a lovely environment for mold, mildew, rot, and bugs.

Maybe your floor isn't rotten - but then where is the odor coming from? Is your crawlspace properly sealed and insulated from the 1st floor of your house? If it were me, I'd be pulling the old floor under the cabinets.

Whether you salvage your existing cabinets or not is up to you - we've not seen them and can not attest to their condition, if they are standard sizes, or even if they are level and square. Nor do we know if they fit in your vision for the new kitchen - for example, if you are looking for a modern, urban, or Euro style they are probably not going to contribute much to that design.

Remodeling a kitchen is not as easy as some might think.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

When all this is done, I'm planning to have white cabinets, blue walls (paint color will be C283 Banff from C2), white subway tiles for the backsplash, black counters with little sparkly bits of recycled glass (Starlight from Eco by Cosentino) and marmoleum floors (dove gray).
Thanks!!!

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Pictures, we need to see pictures of the before so we can really back seat drive. This is even better than helping people bike shop, all the fun, none of the dust and total disruption of your life and YOUR money :)

Am moving this discussion here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=24819

Thanks to everyone for your replies!!