Mysterious wires were sticking out of the attic into the kitchen. Where the heck do they go and what controls them? I'm cutting into the wall to solve this mystery.
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Wiring A New Stove- Part 1: Up and over
We're moving the stove location and I'm installing to install a complete, new circuit, up the wall and through the attic. I've got this.
Read MoreKitchen Remodel: The Missing Flooring Tile Challenge
Kitchen Remodel: Episode 3 We're planning on changing the footprint of our kitchen. The challenge is figuring out how to tile the areas where cabinets will be removed, since our current tile appears to be discontinued. Now what?
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Kitchen Remodel - Soffit Investigation: Good News / Bad News
Kitchen Remodel: Episode 2 Before I tear the kitchen cabinets and soffit down, what's up there, behind the ugly wallpaper? Hopefully, there's no hidden structure or duct work, just a nice ceiling,... and a cache of lost Confederate Gold
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Kitchen Remodel - Early Planning and Research
Kitchen Remodel: Episode 1 It's time to get serious. This 1979 kitchen is going down. It's probably going to take a long time, fast food, and paper plates as we phase this thing. I'm going to share the nuts and bolts of the journey as we go. Check out the early stage of the plan and the challenges we need to overcome.
Read MoreConsidering a counter depth refrigerator
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| Refrigeration Madness |
I understand those massive Sub-Zero beasts with cabinet panels are counter depth, but much wider than normal. They're also scientifically classified as "spendy" and thus beyond our humble means.
A casual visit to Lowes turned up four models, a couple side-by-sides and a couple of the awesome French door style, with the freezer drawer below. It seems that they all are about a 23.5-ish sq. ft. size, smaller than our current side-by side. The French door style seems to make more efficient use of space, so maybe it would be a good trade off. Samsung's current line looks pretty good. We'd probably try to buy all the appliances at once, to ensure a matched style, and hopefully get a volume discount.
We're going to flip the 'fridge location to the other side of the room. Either way, a full depth fridge cuts into the entry of the kitchen, physically and visually. It's even worse when I have the door open and am staring slack-jawed into the treasure trove of temptations.
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| The Cavern of Doom |
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with this class of refrigerator?
Cabinets to...No
We decided to take a trip over to our closest Cabinets to Go showroom, excited to find an economical solution for our impending kitchen remodel. It's about 45 minutes from our house, so we made it a family outing / lunch out.
We'd already perused the catalog they'd sent in the mail. It looked really good!
When we entered, they had a really nice looking selection of cabinets set up along with wall displays of hardware, vanities and countertop samples. Still good...
.. until I looked up close. Sure, it's wood & plywood, but it did not have a good fit and finish. There were gaps in the trim I could see through. The shelf pins were plastic clips. A big surprise to me was that it was held together with knockdown hardware, plastic from what I could see. The painted door fronts were cracked at the seams (Which I know happens due to wood movement, but it looked rougher than I'd expect.)
Awww nuts. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,...right? This stuff is IKEA-ish. It's probably slightly better, due to the solid wood,... I'll give it a rousingly solid rank of "decent-ish". Maybe it's even a good value for the dollars. But I can tell it won't last for the long run; I doubt the install would be pleasant.
We didn't stick around long. The lone salesperson was working with another couple, and never acknowledged our presence. Later, I looked at their website more closely. Although it had higher-end manufactures plastered across the homepage, we didn't see any of them. We had just seen the Chinese, assemble-it-yourself stuff. The fact that they are assemble-it-yourself is buried deep within the bowels of their website, under terms and conditions. Just read through those babies and decide if this is the type of outfit you want to work with on your beloved dream home. To me they say, very clearly, "RUN!!!" I couldn't find any reference to them being "ready-to-assemble" anywhere in their gorgeous, full-color 27 page catalog. It just feels intentionally tricky to leave such a detail hidden, or to bury it somewhere less than obvious. Scuzzy. I don't mind economy grade or doing assembly, but this marketing style is the old put lipstick on a pig routine.
I did a little follow-up surfing on the company. There appear to be plenty of happy customers, but just as many, or more, unhappy ones, really-really unhappy ones,.. downright pissed-off, plaster their complaints across the internet, everywhere they can find a text box ones. There are countless horror stories about poor customer service, shipping damage, missed delivery dates and endless replacement times. As I suspected, there are poor ratings from the Better Business Bureau. Enough to scare us off, even if we were still interested in the product.
Although we could save some serious coin, I just don't think it's in the cards for us. It's still a huge effort in time and money to settle for something of this quality. Maybe if we were flipping houses we'd think about it, but even then, I'd just buy in-stock from a big-box to avoid shipping issues and the risk of poor customer support.
I really wanted this to be a win. To good to be true.
We'd already perused the catalog they'd sent in the mail. It looked really good!
When we entered, they had a really nice looking selection of cabinets set up along with wall displays of hardware, vanities and countertop samples. Still good...
.. until I looked up close. Sure, it's wood & plywood, but it did not have a good fit and finish. There were gaps in the trim I could see through. The shelf pins were plastic clips. A big surprise to me was that it was held together with knockdown hardware, plastic from what I could see. The painted door fronts were cracked at the seams (Which I know happens due to wood movement, but it looked rougher than I'd expect.)
Plastered around the showroom were photocopied signs that the cabinets were "ready to assemble". Ok, wait,...what? I don't recall seeing that little detail anywhere in their flashy literature.
Awww nuts. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,...right? This stuff is IKEA-ish. It's probably slightly better, due to the solid wood,... I'll give it a rousingly solid rank of "decent-ish". Maybe it's even a good value for the dollars. But I can tell it won't last for the long run; I doubt the install would be pleasant.
We didn't stick around long. The lone salesperson was working with another couple, and never acknowledged our presence. Later, I looked at their website more closely. Although it had higher-end manufactures plastered across the homepage, we didn't see any of them. We had just seen the Chinese, assemble-it-yourself stuff. The fact that they are assemble-it-yourself is buried deep within the bowels of their website, under terms and conditions. Just read through those babies and decide if this is the type of outfit you want to work with on your beloved dream home. To me they say, very clearly, "RUN!!!" I couldn't find any reference to them being "ready-to-assemble" anywhere in their gorgeous, full-color 27 page catalog. It just feels intentionally tricky to leave such a detail hidden, or to bury it somewhere less than obvious. Scuzzy. I don't mind economy grade or doing assembly, but this marketing style is the old put lipstick on a pig routine.
I did a little follow-up surfing on the company. There appear to be plenty of happy customers, but just as many, or more, unhappy ones, really-really unhappy ones,.. downright pissed-off, plaster their complaints across the internet, everywhere they can find a text box ones. There are countless horror stories about poor customer service, shipping damage, missed delivery dates and endless replacement times. As I suspected, there are poor ratings from the Better Business Bureau. Enough to scare us off, even if we were still interested in the product.
Although we could save some serious coin, I just don't think it's in the cards for us. It's still a huge effort in time and money to settle for something of this quality. Maybe if we were flipping houses we'd think about it, but even then, I'd just buy in-stock from a big-box to avoid shipping issues and the risk of poor customer support.
I really wanted this to be a win. To good to be true.
The cave.
What are we going to do with this Kitchen?
Kitchen Remodel: Episode 1 We've got the ugliest, U-shaped 1970's kitchen. It's gotta go at some point. What are we gonna do?
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