Remodeling the kitchen

[Allaboutwaiting 2,500]

40 minutes ago, millefleur said:

It's definitely an issue. Knock on wood, so far I've been lucky with my contractors but my sister and one of my close friends have been scammed. It seems like there are a lot of dubious people out there who want to take advantage.

Absolutely! I know more horror stories than successful ones.

We don't want to end up needing more work done because a pseudo-contractor did a shoddy job.

[mam521 1,742]

I know a bunch of people are knocking IKEA, but you might be surprised to find many high end kitchen designers tied to a budget often use IKEA cabinets (at least the boxes).  Why?  Because they are budget friendly, frameless, and the hardware IKEA uses is made by Blum, so you can pay the Blum price, or you can pay the IKEA price.  There are a number of places like Semihandmade which allow you to put custom fronts on the cabinets and make it look custom.  And a limited 25 year warranty - that doesn't happen many places!

 

My rental home for 18mo  while I was waiting the endless immigration wait had IKEA cabinets and I didn't even clue in until I was on hands and knees cleaning like 6mo in and noticed an IKEA logo on the side of a drawer. It was a beautiful little kitchen.  

 

My friends did a rip down to studs remodel of their kitchen about a year ago with IKEA cabinets and it turned out beautifully.  They are super hard on everything (3 kids, 2 teenaged boys and a tween girl and 2 dogs, the bad one thinking he needs to climb up on top of the counters!) and it still looks like new.  The cheap stools she bought to pull up to her peninsula - not so much.  She did pay for an architectural design consultation where they came up with 2 layouts.  The lady offered to do the remodel as the general contractor, all in for a WHOPPING $112,000 CAD!  My friend said hard pass. She GC'd the job herself, found a cabinet contractor to assemble the flat packs, modify one of the cabinets and install, electrical contractors and flooring contractors and ran the job.  They budgeted $55,000 CAD and managed to come in $5K under and that included extra electrical to run wiring for a hot tub and extra to lay LVT throughout the main floor.  She did have to run the useless tiler off the job when he tried to show up drunk, but she found an even better guy for slightly less money to replace the drunk, so it ended up being an annoying inconvenience that worked out positively.  

 

My 23 year old house has the original kitchen with the cabinet boxes made of MDF and the fronts of wood.  Without going custom, that's how an awful lot of cabinets are put together still to this day.  We just did a laundry room renovation and hung 6 IKEA refrigerator cabinets (we wanted the 24" depth), 2 of which we modified, to organize and hide our #######.  It turned out fantastic and I get a lot of complements...about a stupid laundry room, no less!  

 

So, be cautious of your contractors.  Choose wisely.  But, don't be afraid of IKEA cabinets as such, but do be cognizant of lead times on some of them when you are ready to pull the plug, if you go that route.  If you can aim your renovation so the weather is good and you can rely on outdoor appliances (BBQ, smoker, charcoal), definitely also helpful.  Or if you have a camper and are excluded from a lame HOA who complain if your camper is in your driveway, pull it up and use as your kitchen quarters.  

[millefleur 5,038]

On 12/7/2021 at 12:22 PM, mam521 said:

I know a bunch of people are knocking IKEA, but you might be surprised to find many high end kitchen designers tied to a budget often use IKEA cabinets (at least the boxes). 

My sister had to bail on IKEA for kitchen cabinets. It was her first choice but due to Covid, they were not even letting people come into the store or look at anything in person. Getting appointments was impossible due to "Covid risk." IKEA has also been having major supply issues lately. Fully agree that IKEA is great but Covid has really thrown a wrench into their operations.

 

I really, really wanted to buy this one sleeper couch for IKEA but after going back to the store multiple times over a period of about 4 months and every time being told "we don't know when it will be back in stock," I had to ditch IKEA and buy a couch elsewhere. Love IKEA but I really, really hope one day things will go back to normal there.

 

General advice with contractors is: never give anyone a check up front. That's how my sister got scammed. In some states, contractors are in short supply right now and there are a bunch of scammers trying to take advantage of desperate home owners.

Edited December 8, 2021 by millefleur

[mam521 1,742]

Supply chain is an issue all over the place, irrespective of store. But, IKEA is having some issues for sure. That said, the Sektion boxes are made in the US, so it could also be a labour issue, too. In our case, it’s a compounded issue of a really crappy managed Houston IKEA store.  It’s literally easier to go to Frisco and buy things. Seems nothing makes it south of Dallas! 
 

General rule is never to pay fully up front, look for insured contractors and know whether or not you need permits. Lots of scammers out there!

[nykolos 711]

I've been building custom cabinets for over 40 years, started when I was 20...

 

Pre-fab cabinetry like IKEA or other brands found at Home Depot may look nice, but the quality and fit can never compare to custom made cabinetry.

 

 

  

[nykolos 711]

On 12/8/2021 at 1:58 PM, mam521 said:

General rule is never to pay fully up front, look for insured contractors and know whether or not you need permits. Lots of scammers out there!

Agree on not paying in full up front, I get 1/2 up front and the other half upon completion of the project.

 

Pulling permits and hiring a licensed & bonded contractor does NOT guarantee you'll receive a quality kitchen, it's actually the opposite in most cases, where the licensed contractor acts as the General, hiring unlicensed subcontractors to perform all phases of the project.. Sell high, pay out low and profit the rest, and he doesn't have to pound one nail. 

 

My General rule to consumers is to get referrals from Friends, Family or Neighbors and actually SEE the quality of work that was performed, because that's what you'll be getting.