View Full Version : Buying my first set of Cabinets? Tips?
As the title says buying my first set of cabinets looking at shaker gray ceiling height we currently have 2009 vintage fix and flip Home Depot garbage. Garbage.
kitchen is small 13x9
plan is to buy all of the upper cabinets first and then the lowers as I need to do the floor too.
I have found ads for factory direct on cl but have not contacted them and I talked to Lowe?s cabinet designers.
install and if needed assembly will be done by me.
Break out the woodworking gear and make minimum wage doing your own?
How long are you planning on living there?
Great-Kazoo
01-15-2021, 19:45
By the time you do the floors, replacing the base cabinets. There's a chance that style may not be available. Or not same wood grain & color match
Break out the woodworking gear and make minimum wage doing your own?
How long are you planning on living there?
By the time you do the floors, replacing the base cabinets. There's a chance that style may not be available. Or not same wood grain & color match
Wulf I’ve built a set from scratch out of hickory and Baltic birch plywood for a buddies house once. It was back when extras used to have a great hardwood selection.
The amount of other stuff that needs done in the house makes buying a more viable option at this point.
Irving 3 more years minimum less then 10
Kazoo i have considered this but shaker seems to be the new new and hopefully be around for the 1 yr timeline I am looking at to have it all done
Are you installing the flooring under the base cabinets? That can be a hassle in the event of a water loss; especially if you go with granite counter tops.
Are you installing the flooring under the base cabinets? That can be a hassle in the event of a water loss; especially if you go with granite counter tops.
Wouldn't everything have to come out anyway?
Our new kitchen was installed over wall-wall new hardwood.
Wouldn't everything have to come out anyway?
Our new kitchen was installed over wall-wall new hardwood.
No, and even in situations like yours, often times they just cut out the floor up to the cabinet, as long as no moisture under the cabinet. Don't mean to high jack this thread though.
DFBrews, like any remodel project, try to spend below what will be returned in value at time of sale. Unless you just want to. That's always a good enough reason to do something.
Great-Kazoo
01-15-2021, 21:48
Wouldn't everything have to come out anyway?
Our new kitchen was installed over wall-wall new hardwood.
Or would it not be an issue with a leak. Where the flooring went up to the cabinets & dishwasher. Then find out one morning, gee this floor feels squishy. Since the dw was leaking for about 2-3 days, going under the flooring and not over it.
.
JohnnyEgo
01-15-2021, 22:28
I might build my own carcasses, but I'd probably sub out the doors. They are a hard-wear item and I'd rather have the consistency and durability of a fully cured production finish. Actually, building one cabinet is fun, building and installing a full kitchen kind of sucks. I'd probably just pay somebody to do it for me on the time value of money theory alone.
GilpinGuy
01-16-2021, 00:00
Hit up forum member Tim K. He builds custom cabinets IIRC.
encorehunter
01-16-2021, 06:54
Keep an eye on Craigslist and other sites. You can run across near new cabinets there for very good prices. There are also some good 2nd hand building material recycle stores in Denver, along with Habitat for Humanity. I have purchased a lot of new RTA cabinets from the Habitat store in Springs.
If your boxes are good, you could consider replacing the doors and painting.
I built a set of cabinets for my previous house. I hand laid over 2000 willows in the faces, it took months. They served me well for years. I bought a new house and turned that one into a rental. The tenant upon leaving kicked in the fronts that I have labored so long over.�� I was so happy to find out a year later that they were arrested on other charges.
buffalobo
01-16-2021, 08:20
If end up buying from factory or distributor, buy all cabs at one time. Factory may make changes to finish or other changes to cab line at any time. The size of your kitchen suggest approx 5-7 base cabs, order them at same time as walls.
In a remodel in which new cabs and flooring will be installed I always recommend flooring be run under the front amd open ends of base cabs, not just up to the toekick or side panels. Will make no difference with water leak or spill, water will get under the cabs. Flooring under bases will always finish out better.
Tim K is an awesome resource and Colorado has a few good distributors for big manufacturers.
buffalobo
01-16-2021, 08:23
Are you installing the flooring under the base cabinets? That can be a hassle in the event of a water loss; especially if you go with granite counter tops.Guaranteed to cost you more money and a hassle next time want to remodel kitchen.
If doing full remodel run the floor under.
Get with Tim K! Amazing work!
All of the basics, plywood vs particle board, good finger joints on the drawer boxes, the really nice ones I see on job sites have adjustable feet for leveling and so on. People seem to think the Ikea cabinets are good but I’ve never seen them in person. There are some good online manufacturers that you can buy direct from, pick your boxes and then your frame and door styles, they send them to you partially knocked down and you assemble or they can ship complete and so on.
leightoncash
01-16-2021, 10:31
I used to be a custom cabinet maker and I have made every cabinet in my house. I've also installed IKEA cabinets and cabinets from Cabinets To Go. Honestly, for a spec house or a flip, I would definitely look at options from those two stores. If they are assembled and installed by a good carpenter, most people would think they are awesome.
If it was for my own house that I intended to spend decades in, I would build the boxes and face frames myself, but order the doors unfinished from a door company. The time-saving there makes it totally worth it.
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I know one person who went with "assemble yourself" cabinets and he was happy with them. He said the cost savings were worth it. I don't recall the brand but it wasn't IKEA.
My brother has done flat pack cabinets with satisfactory results.
Tim k has done great work for me before too. I was trying to get him about 100 kitchens before I left my last company but they'd rather leave their 1990s salmon pink cabinets...
We got our cabinets from Tim about 6 years back and couldn't be happier. The advantages of custom in our tiny kitchen made the expense well worth it. Buy once, cry once.
Thanks for the tips so far
I quoted out cabinets express and it’s at 3500 which isn’t horrible but still a healthy chunk of change
Great-Kazoo
01-17-2021, 08:50
Thanks for the tips so far
I quoted out cabinets express and it’s at 3500 which isn’t horrible but still a healthy chunk of change
Anything wood related price wise has risen, more than most people realize. Until they need to buy it..
I'm getting ready to build a compressor shed, off the shop. While i have the siding and insulation, the 2x's have tripled in price, from the same time, last year
leightoncash
01-17-2021, 09:37
A sheet of OSB sheathing used to be about $9, now its like $30. That's ridiculous.
$3500 for your kitchen cabinets is great. If you were going custom or built to order, people often pay between $1k/box to $1k/lineal foot of cabinetry.
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A sheet of OSB sheathing used to be about $9, now its like $30. That's ridiculous.
$3500 for your kitchen cabinets is great. If you were going custom or built to order, people often pay between $1k/box to $1k/lineal foot of
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Just paid for a roof out of pocket and the contractor said that material prices are up 30-40% from 2019
Great-Kazoo
01-17-2021, 10:04
Just paid for a roof out of pocket and the contractor said that material prices are up 30-40% from 2019
they are. Woman in a local group i'm involved with said. The trusses for her house went up $5k from the original quote, till the actual build / purchase materials time.
leightoncash
01-17-2021, 10:31
Almost makes me a little sick to my stomach, because I just recently got the fever build a spec house. I think supply chain issues from covid are hitting. For a while it was hard to get stuff and now it's just more expensive. Hopefully we will see a return to a new normal in 6 months.
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Anything wood related price wise has risen, more than most people realize. Until they need to buy it..
I'm getting ready to build a compressor shed, off the shop. While i have the siding and insulation, the 2x's have tripled in price, from the same time, last year
This ^^ and it’s only going to get worse. Think of the number of homes that burnt this year across the western US in forest fires on top of covid related shutdowns that most supply industries have yet to catch up with. Things are already tight on the construction sites I work at and things are forecasted to get worse over the next year.
I can't imagine that the number of homes burnt down is even a drop in the bucket compared to the number of new builds every year. Especially since apartment buildings and strip malls use the same lumber.
Couple it all with the US spending as much in a year as it receives in four and a half with record monetary creation, and materials costs are only going to continue to rise. We wont see 2019 prices again.
Dinosdeuce
01-18-2021, 08:52
Hit up forum member Tim K. He builds custom cabinets IIRC.
He's right you know!!
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