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krycek1984

11 years ago

We are redoing our kitchen. This includes a new replacement window, a new replacement exterior door, an entirely new door to the yard, and we are creating a pass.through to the dining room about eight feet wide.

We are not sure about our next steps. I have received a quote from Lowes and home depot for the cabinets. We really liked the kitchen designer at Lowes. We have not gone farther though, I.e. installation costs.

We received two quotes for the kitchen from design/build contractors. One was 30k, one was 23k. The 30k was unrealistic. Those quotes include all the work mentioned above.

What should our next steps be? We are thinking about using Lowes for the cabinet installation and countertops, and a family friend who is a licensed contractor to do the windows doors and pass through. My main concern is the pass through and how its exact measurements will relate to the counters and countertops.

We are thinking just using the one contractor will help with this kind of issue, but on the other hand, we can do it for about 5k cheaper using Lowes for cabinets and counters, and the other contractor for the other work...what are everyone's thoughts? What worried me a little about the 23k contractor is that his quote budgeted only 4.2k for cabinets while our quite from Lowes for kraftmaid was 5.2k. I asked how this was possible he said they get lower prices?

Our kitchen design is a simple galley kitchen, 15x9.5. We know the cabinets we want, the floor we want, our appliances, and the counters.

Comments (6)

superpoutyduck
11 years ago
Our galley is 10x23 or so, and the cabinets installed (semi-custom) are going to be $17k, while the gutting, electrical and plumbing is another $17k or so. $5k for cabinets sounds like a steal to me.
angie_diy
11 years ago
In what way did you find the $30k quote unrealistic? Unrealistically high, or unrealistically low, in your opinion?
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live_wire_oak
11 years ago
I'd have to say, for the amount of work being done, it's probably a bit on the low side. Putting in a passthrough of that size entails almost as much work and engineering as actually taking down the wall. Plus, there isn't any real mention of the electrical that needs to be done for a modern kitchen. Or permits......etc.
krycek1984
Original Author
11 years ago
30 to high. They were unable, or unwilling, to provide a breakdown. The other was and the numbers made sense.

Electrical is not in the equation - my partners dad is a retired licensed electrician. The plumbing is staying in the same spot.

We are not sure what to do next. Should we get a quote from Lowes too? There are just so many moving parts.

For example we could have one company do windows and doors and another company cabs counters and hole in wall. Another company is already going to do floors since the same floor is going throughout house.
suburbanrancher
11 years ago
We had a couple of people out for estimates and one also did not provide a breakdown.
I live in Maryland about 30 minutes west of Baltimore. The contractor gave us an estimate of 12K for install of cabinets, a floor and window (he provides window and floor only); we provide appliances, cabinets, hardware, etc.
We will be doing the renovation ourselves (keeping same footprint).
Our kitchen is U-shaped 12'x14', the cabinets will be 12K, the appliances are ~7K, the floor (Marmoleum Dual tile) is 1K, the electrician will be ~2-3K, various sundries will bring the total to ~30K with us putting in the floor, installing the cabinets, having someone install the appliances and countertops. Hope that helps.
stealthecrumbs
11 years ago
You are asking if you should get a quote from Lowes too? I don't see any reason not to do so. I understand the paralyzed by where to start feeling! Oh boy do I understand that. I wish someone would put together a checklist- with a timeline- for this kind of project. It is overwhelming to think about cabinets, counters, tiles, lighting etc. while also thinking about electrical, plumbing, interviewing GCs. But you sort of have to have all your ducks in a row. Anyway, on the one hand, it might make your life less stressful to have fewer people involved in this project- i.e. to let one of the design/ build contractors do everything. On the other hand, you seem to like the KD and the cabinets from Lowes. Do you like the cabinets offered to you by the 23k builder? What about ordering your cabinets through Lowes and finding a contractor who can do both the installation and the other work you want done? Most of the KDs I'm considering offer installation too but if we ended up with someone like Crown Point, I would have to find someone to do the installation so I know there folks out there who will install + other contracting work without requiring that you buy through them.