Getting Ready to Pick Contractor (long)

14 years ago

Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the great ideas and discussions.

We're getting ready to start on our kitchen renovation. We have a 19-year old house that we had built, and while we don't want to make major changes - we really like the kitchen, it's a pretty big project for us. Here are a couple of as-is pictures (I already posted these to the kitchen island thread).

The big decision for us is if we want to go to a 30 inch oven from our current 27. We're definitely replacing the single oven with a double (probably Electrolux). In order to get the 30 inch oven, we need to move the pantry wall (behind the refrigerator approx 3 inches. It's a lot of work to get a 30-inch oven, but we're still leaning that way. If we don't move the wall, we'll go with a new 27-in double, and everything else is the same as the other plan.

Other changes will be to replace the Sub-Zero Refrig-Freezer with a Sub Zero All Fridge. We have a side-by-side in the pantry that will be replaced by a freezer. We plan to move the microwave into a built-in cabinet next to the fridge. The DW, sink and trash compactor will move down one cabinet space to the left, and that cabinet will move to where the TC is. We might replace the gas cooktop with induction, but right now, that's in the nice-to-have category.

We're going to replace the formica countertops (in amazingly good shape) with granite. We're thinking Jup Bordeaux or possibly Russian Sable (still looking).

Faucets, hardware and lighting will be a combination of copper and oil-rubbed bronze - somewhat difficult to find in contemporary styles, but they're out there (I'll probably have more posts on that subject).

The cabinet fronts all need to be refinished, and no matter what we do some new cabinets will need to be made (at least new oven cab, and fridge enclosure). The riser on the island will change, but we're not totally sure how yet.

We're thinking of replacing the pendants we have with a monorail system of pendants and spots.

We've interviewed two contractors, and feel like we could go with either one. One is Interior Designer/GC who comes highly recommended from several folks we know. The other is design/build firm that is rated tops (although not a lot of ratings) on Angie's List.

Even though it doesn't look like a real big job, I've identified 35 discrete items that need to change, and I'm sure we haven't quite thought of everything yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: More as-is pictures

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Comments (4)

steff_1
14 years ago
It's amazing how much there is to an update. Your list is certain to double before you're done. The most important trait in the contractor you choose will need to be flexibility because you are not doing a full demo and
rebuild.

Your cabinets are so beautiful, hopefully you can refinish and match without replacing. The monorail combo should be perfect for your style.

We just finished changing out an 18 year old 27" GE double oven for a Bosch 30" oven and microwave in an existing cabinet. We found that we did only needed an additional 1.75" instead of the full 3". I have used the new, larger oven a couple of times and it makes a big difference. Hope these pictures help:

The starting point:

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Progress 1:

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Current:

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We still have to finish off the cabinet, but you can see what a difference the new oven makes.
elizpiz
14 years ago
Hi there - here's a link to a recent post that might be useful.

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Pick a Contractor
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hgluckman
Original Author
14 years ago
It looks like your cabinet walls may have been thicker than standard (nice on an end cabinet like that). Unfortunately, we're pretty hard up against a wall. We've thought of reducing the size of the window, and moving the cabinets, or cutting down one cabinet. However, we keep coming back to moving the wall.
One of the things I didn't mention that we want to do in either case, is to put a pocket door on the entrance to the pantry. Right now we have no door, and a kludged-up shoji screen over the pantry itself to keep our cats out. I think putting in the pocket door is nearly as much work as just moving the wall (except we won't have the floor damage to deal with).
hgluckman
Original Author
14 years ago
We had a second meeting with the Design/Build firm, and we told them to give us a proposal for the design work, based on the owner's estimate of 10-12 hours for the design. When we got the proposal the next day, it really didn't match our project at all, and the estimate for the design jumped to 15 hours.
In the meantime, we came up with a plan we really like that gets us the 30-inch oven with no wall moving. We have to do some cabinet re-arranging, and lose a bit of countertop, but we're happy with that plan, and sent that to the contractor prior to them coming up with their proposal.
I'm sure this is just the first point of miscommunication for the project not the last, but I wasn't expecting it quite so soon.