More on the kitchen (cabinets)

As reported in a previous post we're starting into details on key rooms and components. The architect is working on the main plan so I thought I'd save us some back and forth (and some money) by sketching out what we'd like the kitchen to be from his rough configuration and sketches. The girl and I were remarkedly on the same page (doesn't happen all that often) with our independent designs.

One of the biggest items in a kitchen for look and feel, cost, and overall theme is how one approaches the cabinets. We have agreed that we're not going to have wall hung cabinets but open shelving as we'll have sufficient storage and we both feel eye level cabinets make a kitchen feel heavy. We also do not want anything traditional and are quite intrigued by the newer glass and other glossy colorful models out there. Now those fancy Italian ones run you $25k+ just for the cabinets. Considering we're hoping the keep the whole kitchen around that price it ain't going to happen.

Then there is the more pre-fab (or what some call semi-custom) cabinet makers. This starts with Home Depot and Lowes and ends with my arch enemy, Ikea. Why do I despise Ikea so much? Let me list just a few reasons:

1) Their products are cheap crap. I know, you say you get what you pay for but do we really need more consumerism and more people buying stuff they're not really going to use and also having it be of poor quality. I am one these days to say buy fewer and buy better esp for durable goods. Same budget just don't need more stuff to clog your place.

2) Their stores are some of the most stressful experiences one can have shopping (and this includes many holiday jaunts to the local NJ mall). Don't know what I mean? Just go to one on a given Saturday afternoon.

3) They make doing business with them difficult. Try using their kitchen designer online. Try actually buying a few of their products that have to be assembled online. Take a bet on whether or not you'll actually get all the parts you need when you buy one of their DIY items.

4) Their employees want nothing to do with you and are stressed out in their stores. I guess this just reflects the whole customer experience.

I knew that many other of my friends held some of these views but I had always found myself in the extreme. Ikea seems to do a great job of creating this friendly accessible image which does brainwash people. The only better job in retail marketing I can think of is Target which has produced an amazing brand image for a store that is basically one very small step above WalMart.

In any case, when researching kitchens one always runs across the "Ikea Kitchen" idea. Given my thoughts I had rejected it outright. The girl does not loath Ikea like I do so she kept bringing it back up. And then our architect brought it up. Then I start seeing it more on the design blogs I read. Now here's the rub (esp. about their website), you see these amazing looking designer kitchens that are from Ikea including what we wanted. Then you go to their site and there is no way you can create that. It does seem now that they are picking up more modern door styles but again, you can't match the door styles and cabinets when trying to configure. Why? Because in their genius they keep their Swedish names when you are shopping but when you are configuring the kitchen they use English names. Who missed that one at ikea.com?

In any case, I have now spent many hours online reading about people's experience with Ikea kitchens. My main thanks is to Apartment Therapy (www.apartmenttherapy.com) and their community. Here are the general thoughts:

1) Ikea's cabinets are very solid and rival anything you'll get from HD/Lowes.
2) Their door styles have gotten better and more broad. Even so their hardware is standard you could customize there from a cabinetmaker
3) Don't use their countertops, sinks, or fixtures as they are crap.

So basically you get the frame from them, maybe the doors (we probably will), maybe the pulls, but get the rest elsewhere. Now this sounds like a reasonable strategy. They say that just on the cabinets you'll save significantly over HD/Lowes (and certainly the fancy custom places). Now the main advantage is for DIYers. Typically 50% or more of the cabinet costs are for shipping and installation. If you can do that yourself you really will get your kitchen cabinets for more like $5000 instead of $20k. I plan a lot of DIY and this is certainly within my skillset (so he says).

We're going to investigate Ikea in detail and get a real quote when our architect is done with the detail design so stay tuned.

A Builder

Things are moving along...Deliberately. We have preliminarily selected a builder: the one building a house on property near us. They were the first we met and have been the most responsive. We had a bit of an odd situation with them a few weeks back. We had arranged a joint meeting with our architect, the builder, and us. The afternoon the day before the builder (or more accurately his architect/manager) called saying they couldn't make it and that they really needed a commitment before spending any more time on our bid. This was a bit odd to us. We had some major open issues and the best they had provided so far was one big number and the idea of the meeting was to get more detail and refine the budget hopefully toward making that commitment. I convinced the builder to show after a phone conversation and we dragged out of him what the deal was. They just needed a bit of money $3500-5000 to make it worth their time to do the detailed bidding. I understood this and I guess it was just a situation they weren't use to since they mostly do spec houses.

That issue is now out of the way and on Monday we're going to sign a pre-construction agreement for $3500 so they're compensated. If we move forward with them that'll be credited toward the project. It is a good idea as this allows for all parties to work together to refine and get a more accurate picture of costs. Plus, they are still about $25k over our top budget which we need to find a way to pull some out.