Tales from a Kitchen Designer (Photos)
View photos of my kitchen remodel currently in progress. The most recent photos are at the top of the page.
Tales from a Kitchen Designer (Part 2)
Well, Valentines Day came early to our house. Last week our contractor called and asked if he could start our project sooner than we had planned. Originally he was to start on Monday, Feb 14th. That would allow us a week to clean and pack after the baby shower my wife was hosting. After talking to her, we decided why prolong the inevitable, so we decided that Monday Feb 7th would be D-Day. as soon as the party was over Saturday night, we frantically started packing up our kitchen. While plates, dishes and breakables were carefully wrapped and boxed, the kid’s plastic plates and Tupperware went flying.
Bubble Wrap: A Tale of 2 ladies.
About a year ago, I got a call from 2 nice ladies who said they had a client who wanteded her kitchen remodeled. They were referred to me from another client. This is the kind of call I love to get.
As it turns out, this was not what they do every day, but in fact they apparently often do just about anything their clients ask of them. Their names are Patti Beck and Mianna Harlepp. Their company name is “Bubble Wrap” which I thought was unusual for my industry, but we proceeded to meet and plan for the new cabinetry to be made.
As it turns out, this was not what they do every day, but in fact they apparently often do just about anything their clients ask of them. Their names are Patti Beck and Mianna Harlepp. Their company name is “Bubble Wrap” which I thought was unusual for my industry, but we proceeded to meet and plan for the new cabinetry to be made.
Tales from a kitchen designer (Part 1)
T-25 days until work officially begins on remodeling our kitchen. Given that we have been in our house 9 years, my wife can hardly wait. While we have talked about it for years, the funds to actually proceed with the project as well as my urge to do it came to reality about six months ago when I made an innocent little comment. Something about “if we are going to spend X amount of money on the house, I’d put into the kitchen before I spent it on flagstone steps and landscaping.” That of course led to the question of how much will our kitchen cost? Well, four months and about a dozen designs later (yes it took that long to figure out my own kitchen) we finally had a plan and idea that we both love, and it fits into the price range we could afford. About mid December the cabinet order was placed, and on January the 4th, the cabinets went into production. Since that time, my wife has done holiday baking, birthday cakes and treats for our two young sons, and we entertained her family for Christmas, (as a fitting send off, my brother-in-law cooked a fabulous Prime Rib in our old and aging Hot Point oven) and at every step she was imagining where things would be in the new space.
A Fresh Start (Part 2)
We are well into 2011, and despite my attempt at getting my new craft room finished for the New Year, we are pitifully behind schedule. All of the pieces of cabinetry I had designed for the room has not yet arrived. (The Winter Holiday is the time for cabinet factories to shut down completely and for all the employees to take deserved vacation time.) I still have yet to get the wallpaper border removed. The Christmas decorations have been taken down and tossed in there and the door closed to keep the cats out. Oh well.
A Fresh Start (Part 1)
It has become clear to me that I have a major design dilemma at my house. I used to love to sew when my daughter was small. (She’s 26 now) At that point in my life, I also wasn’t as busy and had more time for this relaxing pastime as well as so many other crafts I enjoy. I realize even now, I could be enjoying it more if I wasn’t inclined to avoid this messy space.
Mid Continent Updates
Mid Continent is a production line of cabinetry that we've used for many years. We've seen them expand their offerings over the last decade and continue to maintain a very attractive price point. In a letter we just received from the Vice President's of Sales, Jack Laninga and James Buller, it looks like Mid Continent will continue to bring more new products to market in 2011 while maintaining good cost control.
Some of the new product offerings we saw in 2011 included:
· Ten new door styles
· Five new finish options
· Hundreds of new cabinet types, sizes, and accessories
· New programs including custom backs for islands and a new vanity program
Mid Continent will also continue to offer their promotions and incentive programs through April 29, 2011:
· APC – 33 percent off
· Decorative doors – 15 percent off
· Free Glaze finish
· Solid Center Panel doors – 5 percent off
· As always, standard paint colors have no up charge
If you are interested in seeing a full array of Mid Continent products please stop by our showroom in Merrifield Virginia.
Some of the new product offerings we saw in 2011 included:
· Ten new door styles
· Five new finish options
· Hundreds of new cabinet types, sizes, and accessories
· New programs including custom backs for islands and a new vanity program
Mid Continent will also continue to offer their promotions and incentive programs through April 29, 2011:
· APC – 33 percent off
· Decorative doors – 15 percent off
· Free Glaze finish
· Solid Center Panel doors – 5 percent off
· As always, standard paint colors have no up charge
If you are interested in seeing a full array of Mid Continent products please stop by our showroom in Merrifield Virginia.
LuxGuard by Crystal Cabinetry
Exclusive to Crystal, Lux Guard is the new top coat with enhanced depth of color durability and a touchable silky feel like no other. Crystal has been hard at work along with Valspar to develop a coating that gives their finishes a hand-rubbed effect with more depth and luster. The new coating offers a better coverage than ever before, increasing the actual thickness of the finish - you can really feel the difference! The LuxGuard coating is applied to all of Crystal's stains and Signature paints in standard or flat sheen.
New Slate Stain - Crystal Cabinetry
Looking for a unique stain color? We are excited to introduce Slate, our exclusive new stain for maple! The stain has a gorgeous, dark-grayish tone, giving the wood an almost silvery look! Available in all product lines for every budget!!
Crystal Cabinetry continues to develop unique stains that are also eco-friendly. They have also recently introduced 4 new lighter maple stains - Fawn, Prairie, Toffee and Prailine. We will be getting samples of all the new stains for our showroom soon. Until then you can have a closer look at the Crystal website.
How much would a new kitchen cost? (Part 1 of 3)
This is a question I rarely get asked. Clients who visit our showroom to look at cabinetry often are either nervous about this question, or they already have a good idea about what these things will cost. Sometimes people go into shock when they hear me tell them what they might like to budget for the cabinetry portion of the project. This can vary wildly in what percentage of the overall cost of entire project runs. I have seen cabinetry exceeding half of the entire budget, or using only about 20% of it. This certainly is determined by the level of quality that a client is expecting and which items are priorities to the client as well as how large the room is and how many cabinets there are. If the budget is tight, but the client wants commercial grade appliances and exotic stone for the countertops, there may be only enough money left for cheaper cabinets. The truth is, people usually want better cabinetry, and many are surprised to hear that what they thought was good quality often is less so.
"Production quality" is good for many remodeling projects. This product is a money and time saver as the cabinets are produced quickly (literally 2 days in some cases) and shipped quickly. Depending on the brand, there can be many beautiful door styles and the choices in finishes continue to get nicer looking as these factories do battle with each other to get your business. The fact is though, that if you intend to stay in the house for over 5-10 years, you may want to look to one of the next levels which we call semi-custom and full custom. For the sake of today's blog entry, let's focus on the production variety.
These cabinet companies often print expensive gorgeous literature and hire excellent designers so that the visible parts of the product are great looking, mainly the doors and the drawer fronts. This is what you find in the Big Box stores in a variety of quality levels.
The least expensive has particle board in various thicknesses as the main construction material including the drawer bodies, sides, bottoms, tops, and shelves. Purchasing these cabinets for your project is a great way to save money on getting a home ready for quick sale (flipping), although due to the nature of the construction, these are more liable to suffering shipping damage.
"Production quality" is good for many remodeling projects. This product is a money and time saver as the cabinets are produced quickly (literally 2 days in some cases) and shipped quickly. Depending on the brand, there can be many beautiful door styles and the choices in finishes continue to get nicer looking as these factories do battle with each other to get your business. The fact is though, that if you intend to stay in the house for over 5-10 years, you may want to look to one of the next levels which we call semi-custom and full custom. For the sake of today's blog entry, let's focus on the production variety.
These cabinet companies often print expensive gorgeous literature and hire excellent designers so that the visible parts of the product are great looking, mainly the doors and the drawer fronts. This is what you find in the Big Box stores in a variety of quality levels.
The least expensive has particle board in various thicknesses as the main construction material including the drawer bodies, sides, bottoms, tops, and shelves. Purchasing these cabinets for your project is a great way to save money on getting a home ready for quick sale (flipping), although due to the nature of the construction, these are more liable to suffering shipping damage.
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