Kitchen remodels

[ny biker]

Honestly, I'm not sure why, either. DH and I were watching a show on the local home improvement channel recently ("Love it or List it" I think), where the whiny couple who just absolutely had to be green about everything absolutely did NOT want granite. You would think from the way the woman reacted, she was being poked with a cattle prod. Anyway, Yeah, the planet is mostly rock - but it is heavy to cut and ship around the globe. Maybe that was her gripe? I dunno.

Production process (quarrying) as well as transportation, according to this article:

http://greenhomeguide.com/know-how/a...he-environment

I watched Love it or List it once and wanted to throw things at every person on the show. Never again.

[Thorn]

Interesting thread. My tastes run a little less than most here, but the one thing we did that we both absolutely love is a counter top that is 2" higher than standard. I'm taller and I wanted a slightly higher counter top in one section of the kitchen for food prep. DH is 5'6" and, now, the major chef in the house, and he thinks that counter is the best place for chopping and kneading bread. Were we to do the kitchen again, all the counters would be that height.

[snapdragen]

I miss my double ovens. Now we have a single, which most of the time is fine. But when I making a big dinner for all the family, I'd sure like to have that second oven. We have a corner cabinet with a turntable inside, it's great. (Don't spin it too fast!)

We have tile counters, which I hate, and crown molding above the cabinets, which I also hate. Oh, and the big assed light the contractor talked us into. It will be replaced soon.

[divingbiker]

Love my granite countertop, and wish I'd put it in years ago. I was told it doesn't need re-sealing for 10 years.

Love the quiet dishwasher.

Love the water/ice dispenser in the freezer door.

Love having a convection oven so I can roast two cookie sheets of veggies at the same time.

[missjean]

We did our kitchen many years ago so much would change if/when we remodel, but I will keep the big triple window over the sink. We sacrificed some cabinet space to put it in but it was worth it for all the light.


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[OakLeaf]

Oh, and if your budget is big, I totally covet a gas range/electric stove. Best of both worlds in terms of temperature control.

I don't think I can overstate the hardness of tile. Yeah, if I drop something glass or even Corning glass, I expect it to break no matter the surface. Plastic, granted the little shards aren't as dangerous as glass shards (and the other thing about tile is, the glass shards will scatter over a much larger area), but that spatula was not the first plastic thing I've shattered by dropping it on our kitchen or bathroom tile. (Yeah, I know I should just hold onto things tighter. )

[emily_in_nc]

Yes on cabinets that go to the ceiling -- no dusty cabinet tops (been there).

Yes on stainless steel appliances -- they do need fingerprint cleaning, but not so bad with just the two of us, and they are pretty. We'd had white for 12 years, so I was ready for a change. I do wish some other options would come out, though...wonder what the next big thing will be. We had black in one house, but I never really liked them as I tend to be a light color gal.

NO NO NO on speckly tan Corian-copy solid-surface countertops. We'd had white Gibraltar (another copycat) and speckly real Corian before, and both barely showed scratches. This stuff, whatever it is (can't recall) shows every scratch and looks bad after just 1.5 years. It was as expensive as granite when we made our choices while building our condo. The only two granite choices were SO ugly, though (black with orange-ish and orange-ish with black) that I just couldn't choose one of them. Now I wish I had -- especially since the potential buyers of our condo are lamenting that it doesn't have granite and are going to to want a concession to replace the countertops. Urg. Next time I'll either choose granite or quartz or silestone or soapstone or concrete -- no more solid-surface.

No on tile floors -- the wide, rough grout catches food and stains. And as everyone has said, it's so hard underfoot. Had hardwood for a decade before this and much prefer it. Cork sounds great too -- will strongly consider it for our next kitchen!

[emily_in_nc]

Yes on cabinets that go to the ceiling -- no dusty cabinet tops (been there).

Yes on stainless steel appliances -- they do need fingerprint cleaning, but not so bad with just the two of us, and they are pretty. We'd had white for 12 years, so I was ready for a change. I do wish some other options would come out, though...wonder what the next big thing will be. We had black in one house, but I never really liked them as I tend to be a light color gal.

NO NO NO on speckly tan Corian-copy solid-surface countertops. We'd had white Gibraltar (another copycat) and speckly real Corian before, and both barely showed scratches. This stuff, whatever it is (can't recall) shows every scratch and looks bad after just 1.5 years. It was as expensive as granite when we made our choices while building our condo. The only two granite choices were SO ugly, though (black with orange-ish and orange-ish with black) that I just couldn't choose one of them. Now I wish I had -- especially since the potential buyers of our condo are lamenting that it doesn't have granite and are going to to want a concession to replace the countertops. Urg. Next time I'll either choose granite or quartz or silestone or soapstone or concrete -- no more solid-surface.

No on tile floors -- the wide, rough grout catches food and stains. And as everyone has said, it's so hard underfoot. Had hardwood for a decade before this and much prefer it. Cork sounds great too -- will strongly consider it for our next kitchen!

[luvmyguys]

Production process (quarrying) as well as transportation, according to this article:

http://greenhomeguide.com/know-how/a...he-environment

I watched Love it or List it once and wanted to throw things at every person on the show. Never again.

We call it the "WHERE DO THEY FIND THESE PEOPLE?????" show.

[Irulan]

re dual fuel stoves, yes, that might be in our budget. We had a gas line run a couple of years ago in anticipation of this someday project.
re going out of your way to use green products. It can be a good choice, but I have a friend who wanted to import ultra green interior paint from Europe for their green remodel. Let's not factor in shipping cost from Europe, shall we? How green is that?

Anyone have any good design resource websites? After sharing my "as-is" photos on another site, I've gottten some great ideas that I never would have thought of.

[pll]

Anyone have any good design resource websites?

You might be already familiar with this one: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/categories/kitchen
Here's an Italian manufacturer of kitchen cabinetry: http://www.recordcucine.com/eng/

Anyway... I love this forum! It's so much fun.

[tulip]

Anyone have any good design resource websites? After sharing my "as-is" photos on another site, I've gottten some great ideas that I never would have thought of.

Houzz. And Pinterest, but I've never looked at Pinterest so I can't tell you if it seems useful or not.

[7rider]

re dual fuel stoves, yes, that might be in our budget. We had a gas line run a couple of years ago in anticipation of this someday project.

We put a Jenn-Air dual fuel downdraft range in our island (which I refer to as "a small continent" because it's so big!). I love it. A perk - even if power is out, you can still cook on the stovetop (just need a match to light it). Been there, done that. We went with a downdraft because we didn't want a big hood hanging down from the ceiling in the middle of the kitchen. It keeps the whole space very open.

[Possegal]

A new kitchen is on my short list right now. I have a nice 'footprint' as they say, but the cabinets look like every rental apartment I've ever lived in. The corner one, I practically have to climb into to get to the back of. They don't go to the ceiling - wasted space. UGH. My appliances were the original ones. Fridge went, so I replaced it. Now dishwasher is going. Stove is hideous so I'm thinking of going ahead and replacing both of them, and then may as well go with the over the stove microwave, to free up more counter space. If I thought my remodel would be totally rearranging the layout, I'd try and hold off. But it won't be.

But one thing I did recently was an Angie's List special where for $99 a local company comes in and helps you design the kitchen. You get a 3-D rendering of the new kitchen - cabinets, floors, counter tops, lighting. And no obligation to use the company to do the remodel. I would like the new kitchen to have some of the newer gadgety things to help me organize. Organized and me, seldom used in the same sentence.

So thanks for starting this thread. I'm enjoying the advice and feedback!

[Irulan]

Angies LIst? What is the name of the service? I am a member, I might have to go look that up.