Redoing Kitchen and flooring in new house--Need some opinions

[Uppie1414]

ATers

Thanks for reading! I just purchased a house and I'm about to move in (July 1st, August 1st if I don't get my items done in time). Here's what needs to be done:

1) Electrical all redone--I have people coming for bids and I have a buddy who can do it
===Any ideas on good track lighting/fixtures for the living room? Anything I should add while I have an electrician there?

2) Kitchen being completely gutted/area widened
===Thinking about putting in an IKEA kitchen--does anyone have one/review??
===Walls need to come down, just some door frames...should I have someone do this/how can I check to see if they're load bearing? Best way to do this (house inspector confirmed I could take them down)

3) Floors will be redone
===I'm going to do the kitchen/electrical 1st, then do this. Any ideas on the best value for hardwood/dark floors? I'm going to go to lumber liquidators I believe.


Thanks!!
Dane

 

[zerocool84]

I think track lighting is tacky and ugly. I recently put in recessed lighting and it looks much better. If you are able to do that, recessed lighting with a dimmer switch is about as good as it gets.

Are you thinking about putting hardwood floors in the kitchen??? You didn't say where they're going.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I think track lighting is tacky and ugly. I recently put in recessed lighting and it looks much better. If you are able to do that, recessed lighting with a dimmer switch is about as good as it gets.

Are you thinking about putting hardwood floors in the kitchen??? You didn't say where they're going.

Agreed, track lighting sucks. Put in some cans instead.

I have hardwood in my kitchen but that's the nature of my older building. I'd much prefer a hard surface in a kitchen area like tile or polished concrete.

 

[Geekbabe]

don't do hard wood kitchen floors, all the women I know with hard wood flooring in their kitchens have come to hate it over time.

 

[Train]

My company did a website a while back to help pick out flooring. Its got some cool concepts, even thought its kinda slow and running on a bad server, it's more of just a demo since we never commercialized it. It can be fun to try stuff out though...

http://www.flooringvision.com/flooringvision.cfm

 

[zerocool84]

If you really want hardwood, you have to think about it cus hardwood is an investment that needs care. Do you have kids? Pets? What if you have a water leak in the kitchen? How anal are you about keeping your floors clean? These are things that you need to be thinking about with hardwood floor cus they can last forever if taken care of but if not, they won't last long at all.

 

[amdskip]

I would do flooring in the kitchen just after you remove the cabinets. Install the flooring and set the new cabinets on top of the flooring. This way you will not have any issues with the dishwasher fitting, etc. I will also agree with everyone on the recessed lights.

Personally I would never use ikea cabinets but there are a couple members on here who did and like them. I think they are low quality and would much rather have a good box that will last over time.

 

[joejld1]

Hey, congratulations. I'm doing some renovations myself. I bought a house 2 months ago and it's been a lot of excitement but also a lot of headaches.
House info:
SoCal house
3 beds
3 baths
2100 sqft
with a pool, detached garage

Here's what I've already done:

Roof - ($11,3000, Contracted) - Tore-off woodshakes from main house and garage. Replaced with asphalt shingles, 30yr type. Looks really good now compared to what it was before. Have you thought about putting in a solartube? I've seen a couple of kitchens with them on and they are really nice. I was going to put some on mine but I was out of budget (they run around $300-600 per tube)

Electical - ($6000, Contracted) - Complete rewiring. I added 14 6-inch recess lights. 8 in my living room\dining room area, 4 in the kitchen, 2 in the bathrooms. They are the way to go. Don't get track lighting. The recess lights gives the room even lighting and it looks more elegant. Don't forget the dimmers on them (you can get CFL bulbs that are dimmable also). Think about outdoor outlets for convenience and some outdoor lighting with motion sensors.

Floors - (so far $3000, myself) - I bought $1.49/sqft 12mm laminate floors from a flooring store in Ontario, CA. It a strip mall with 4-5 flooring stores (including Lumber Liquidators). They're really nice floors and I don't have to be too careful with them unlike hardwood floors. I also tiled my entryway. I've yet to do the kitchen but I'm going to put in tiles or either linoleum. I was thinking about putting in laminates in the kitchen but I'm too afraid of having water spills on it.

Plumbing - ($4000, Contracted) - complete repiping to copper. all vertical and horizontal lines. All gas lines and the main line to the street. Still not done.

Walls and Ceiling (??? I haven't calculated what i've spent on this, probably over $1200, myself) - Textured most walls and ceiling using a rented texture-machine from HomeDepot. New paint, baseboards, trims and crown moulding. Still not done.



I have alot more to do with this house (bathroom reno, pool reno, patio reno, landscaping, outdoor paint, kitchen reno, laundry room reno) but I'll slow things down after this month is over.