Kitchen & Bathroom Reno's

[highfive]

Nice fridge Ferra!

All appliances or anything nowadays will break sooner or later. Best to buy warranty. Keep in mind your visa provdes you with one extra year I think.

I have a Rinnai at my parents house for 10 years and still working. One issue is that it'll take a long time for hot water to arrive. Combining it with a hw tank will help it apparently. You can take hot water from the tank and have the tankless refill the hot water inside. That's pretty much the set up for most new houses in Vancouver.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Price is around $3500.

Check Emco and see how much the boilers cost. I don't think they sell rinnai but they do sell veissmann and few other brands.

Ikea is the go to cabinets if you can put it in yourself. One door scratched or break later on? Just replace it. Everything will look brand new when you sell it.

[Hondaracer]

That's why I'm leaning towards IKEA for our kitchen even though I'm not entirely sold on the overall build quality.

I've dealt with enough cabinet companies, and even "big" ones like Canterbury etc where if you need a replacement door it takes fucking FOREVER, like a development of 100 units it takes 3 weeks to get a fucking door there are 250 of on the site...

As you said, IKEA, you fuck somthing up? Walk in and buy the exact same part no hassle

[murd0c]

I bought my cabinets from a new company called Prime Kitchen in Poco, life time warranty and the pricing was perfect. I like how the doors are solid wood and they are using 3 hinges instead of two.

[Hondaracer]

ill add to the thread as this is more of a one-time post until i really ramp up and do my kitchen, most likely next summer.

the people who reno'ed this house and put in a new foundation did a piss poor job as they seemingly jacked up the house and excavated a few inches of material out in order to pour the new foundation slab.. they should have gone another foot deeper and it could have been a regular height ceiling.. anyways, i have plenty of gripe with the people who did work on this house prior to me..

So.. this structural beam was put in place seemingly to support the joists of the main floor when the house was lifted and placed back down on the new walls.. shitty thing is with the height of the basement floor, this beam was right at head level for the main "living" area which will eventually be the suite.

So decided to install a flush beam to gain that headroom, it was a bit of a process and you never know what to expect dealing with a 100+ year old home, but it went relatively smoothly and i'm happy with the results:

before:





it begins:







ended up doubling up all the joists in question as my kitchen is going to be sitting right overhead, i dont know if the floor was as fucked as it was prior to this, but whenever i put down new flooring i have about a 3/4" dip over 4 feet around this beam lol.. if anything this improved the situation so it has seen some settling in the past 100 years

[murd0c]

wow you must of snapped when you found that out, at least you are doing it right but talk about a large unexpected expense.

[fliptuner]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. The life expectancy of my dishwasher is just over 81 years.

[yray]

old houses might be a PIA for an ikea kitchen

source: i got fired from ikea kitchens

references :iceboy, merro and smoothie

[murd0c]

the place I bought my cabinets from actually beat the Ikea kitchen pricing and they have a special but the cabinets and you get free quartz countertops which was beyond wicked.

Just received an email from the company last night and they are shipping next week so they will be here before xmas.

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

That's why I'm leaning towards IKEA for our kitchen even though I'm not entirely sold on the overall build quality.

I've dealt with enough cabinet companies, and even "big" ones like Canterbury etc where if you need a replacement door it takes fucking FOREVER, like a development of 100 units it takes 3 weeks to get a fucking door there are 250 of on the site...

As you said, IKEA, you fuck somthing up? Walk in and buy the exact same part no hassle

I actually compare a few custom kitchen places.
The drawers and hardware in ikea kitchen cabinet actually seems much nicer than many other custom kitchen shops I checked. (smooth and solid) Many of those places charge a lot more as well.
There is no comparison vs the builder standard cabinet i got.

Few downside going with ikea...custom sizing is a bitch. I have "non-standard" fridge, so to get the cabinet above the fridge, I have to modify the standard cabinet by trimming it down and redrilling the holes.
The door for them also needs to be cut/routered and the edge repainted. (hence why the door are still missing in my kitchen )

For the top cabinet, I didn't like the 45' angle at the corner they offer, so I had to modify the standard stuffs to get a straight 90' corner.

For ikea kitchen, the door choice significantly affects the prices. Good thing I wanted a simple painted white cabinet which is fairly cheap. Some of the other door choice would double the cabinet cost (from $5K -> $10K)
If i wanted something $10K from ikea, i would probably go with a custom kitchen shop and have them install it. (Most place quoted around $10-14K for my kitchen cabinets, incl. install)

One thing I love too is the cabinet built-in lighting. The drawer would light up when you open them.

Feel free to ask if anyone is doing or thinking of doing their kitchen. There are certainly a few things I wished I had know before i started.

[Ferra]

Also, if you are picky. Make sure you get a "counter depth" fridge.
I had no idea what that was when i started, and I bought a standard 36" samsung fridge with lots of volume.
Turns out the fridge is huge because it stuck out from my cabinet like 10" (They got all those extra space with more depth). It looks horrible, so I got the electrolux all fridge that is the same depth as my countertop.

And FYI, these are some approximate cost for the whole kitchen:

• Ikea Cabinet $5K
• Quartz Countertop $5K (expensive..but I actually got a pretty good deal already, there are almost 120sqft of countertop, they had to use 3 full slab to make the countertop incl. the waterfall side on the island, the island top itself is a whole slab @ 4'x10')
• Ikea Double oven $1.5K (lol tbh, this is more for decoration. Haven't used it once.)
• Electrolux fridge+freezer $4K
• Bertazzoni Cooktop $4K (definitely overpaid here, don't think it is worth the high price, i could've got a simple induction for $1.5K)
• Costco Range Hood $250 (I got it on kijiji from some guy's truck, new but probably returned item)
• Chinese Sink from Lowes $300
• Chinese Faucets from HD $200

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by murd0c

the place I bought my cabinets from actually beat the Ikea kitchen pricing and they have a special but the cabinets and you get free quartz countertops which was beyond wicked.

Just received an email from the company last night and they are shipping next week so they will be here before xmas.

congrat
I lived on plywood and no kitchen for almost a 3 weeks when I was doing the reno.
the good thing about hiring someone to do the work is, they will finish it completely before they leave.
I have a shitty habit of doing 90-95% of the work and leaving the rest when i DIY

i started to doing my closet (ikea too) last month before my kitchen was even finished

[underscore]

For kitchen cabinets we got ours through Rona, they were made by some company in Quebec. I don't remember the exact brand but they were built and arrived 2 weeks early, even though Christmas was in between when we ordered them and when we got them. Installing them ourselves required some creativity to get everything to line up properly since no house is ever built square.

Originally Posted by Ferra

I have a shitty habit of doing 90-95% of the work and leaving the rest when i DIY

i started to doing my closet (ikea too) last month before my kitchen was even finished

It's been nearly 2 years since I did my kitchen and I still haven't finished it 100%

[murd0c]

Originally Posted by Ferra

congrat
I lived on plywood and no kitchen for almost a 3 weeks when I was doing the reno.
the good thing about hiring someone to do the work is, they will finish it completely before they leave.
I have a shitty habit of doing 90-95% of the work and leaving the rest when i DIY

i started to doing my closet (ikea too) last month before my kitchen was even finished

nice looking clean closet, I like how it matches the floor as well. I bought a custom closet for my master and spare bedroom as well and had it painted black to match my bedroom set.

it was actually pretty cheap to have the cabinets, countertops and the master closet organizer installed $1200.00 and we didn't have to pay PST which was $950 so it's close to breaking even. I just wanted to go that route to save the hassle since we are already spending so much cash.

Shit is stressful when it happens so quick but I can't wait until it's completed.

[blkgsr]

nice closet....what's the quality of the wood?

standard shit mdf they use for most of the furniture or is it proper hardboard?

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by blkgsr

nice closet....what's the quality of the wood?

standard shit mdf they use for most of the furniture or is it proper hardboard?

ikea ain't giving u solid wood lol
I am happy it is mdf and not cardboard (i had 1 of their TV cabinet before, i broke it when i step on it and inside is literally cardboard...)

It is more or less the same mdf and veneer you find in the most of their furniture.
I like it cause when i put their panel against my wood floor, it matches almost exact. (White washed oak)

I did an L-Shape in my walk in closet (12x8)
I think after everything it was about $1100. The drawers are the expensive part. I have 16 drawers and each one is about $35-$40.
So if you are okay with hanger and shelves you can probably do it at half the cost.

[Hondaracer]

imo it's hard to beat the look for the price of Ikea in building a closet like that

to have custom solid wood stuff built it would be 10k+ for a closet like that.. Hell, for the most part fancy looking closets are build out of solid MDF with a veneer anyways.. just a higher step up from ikea for 5-10 times the price.

[highfive]

Ikea mdf is still better than local cabinet guys. Their board are veneered around the front. So it's not sharp on the corners.

Basically you can get a pretty cheap cabinet anywhere locally. They all buy doors from a 3rd party. They only build the boxes, stain/paint, assemble and install.

Ikea only gets expensive if you end up going with Modus to install it and not do it yourself.

[yray]

Ikea is money when you get drawers.

I know some people that buy kitchen boxes from Ikea and got a carpenter to do custom doors.

[murd0c]

I can't stand Ikea for anything especially kitchen cabinet's which get so much abuse with the non-stop opening and slamming. That being said if you are looking to flip a house then they are perfect.

[yray]

but that 10 year warranty

The drawer front will fail before those blum drawer rails and hinges fail. Ikea kitchens is in a different realm compared to the rest of Ikea. They design the line and will milk it for 25+ years before switching to a modified new product line.

[murd0c]

That's not bad if that's a case but I still don't trust the products. and what's a 10 year warranty when I get a life time warranty as long as I keep the house

[Ferra]

I think the ikea kitchen stuffs should hold up pretty well.
Aside from the hardware feeling really sturdy to me...they also display their kitchen cabinet in their showroom, with hundreds of people banging on it everyday and they seem to hold up for years, even the drawer auto-light. (I recall seeing the same kitchen cabinet in their showroom for at least 2-3 years, unless they secretly fix them when we don't notice lol)

The painted MDF door i picked certainly doesn't feel durable (hence why it was one of the cheapest choice, their laminate door feel much harder tho), but I liked the look. FYI I had a painted solid wood maple door from the builder. It really doesn't feel anymore durable than the painted mdf. Both will ding and nick quite easily)
I damaged one during the install by dropping a screwdriver on it. But it costs me $10 to buy a new one off the shelf.

I actually like the original kitchen I had from the builder, but the cost to "extend" it from the original kitchen company was more than buying a whole new set from ikea.
Before pic:

[murd0c]

wow its a massive difference, very nice choice with what you went with and it explains why you were able to sell it for $3000.00

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by murd0c

That's not bad if that's a case but I still don't trust the products. and what's a 10 year warranty when I get a life time warranty as long as I keep the house

yea but your warantee is kind of like a roofing warantee.. unless you're dealing with a bigger company who's to say they will even be around to honor it.

The kitchen in our apartment is 30 years old and had some of the dumbest hinges i've ever seen.. melamine doors but euro style hinge install.. all still works though so i'd say in general shit can last if you treat it right

[murd0c]

started work today at 830 and just finished. Ended up tearing off all the drywall in the kitchen, ripped up some of the floor, plumed in the dishwasher and dryer full and got the pet pipe setup for once the cabinets are installed.

The last two pics are of my basement ceiling, I had to rip down all the drywall so the electrician can feed the wires through easier.

Not bad for a days work I think and just think all of these work has been done the last 3 Saturdays. Going to Calgary next weekend so thankfully I have a short break after today.


The kitchen floor sucks, theres lino, then particle board which is of course nailed down with tons of nails all over and then more lino underneath that.