Shopping for kitchen cabinets... SUCKS!!!!

[jonnyGURU]

A while back, my kitchen flooded.

When the insurance adjuster came, he only estimated the replacement of the lower cabinets. He said, because the uppers weren't damaged, he couldn't write an estimate to replace all of the cabinets.

Understandable, but you can't really go out and buy just bottom cabinets and leave the uppers alone when the cabinets are 40 years old.

I took what the insurance company gave me and put it in the bank.

I haven't been able to use my kitchen to it's full potnetial, so I decided to see what's out there.

There's a local home improvement store called "Bay City Plywood." They advertise real wood cabinets for the same price as MDF at the big chain stores. The only problem is they don't offer any of the same finance plans that Home Depot and Lowe's offers (you know, 0% for a year, etc.) and my friends keep telling me that really good quality MDF cabinets is about as good as plywood anyways.

So I go to Home Depot, not realizing I need an "appointment." I ask if I could get an estimate, but they tell me I can't have a sit at the computer because they work on appointments. The gentleman attempts to give me an "off the top of the head" guestimate. He figures on $5000-$7000 for the MDF cabinets, $1500 for granite tops.

I then went home and sketched up my kitchen and headed over to Bay Area Plywood. They gave me a quote of $5000 for real wood cabinets, $1175 labor and $1739 for Corian tops. I'm thinking "hmm... Even if Home Depot's quote didn't include labor, I can get granite for less money than Corian! I think Home Depot is the way to go."

I took my drawings back to Home Depot (after making an appointment) to get something more than a "guestimate" from them. After whipping things up in the computer it turns out that for real wood cabinets there it would cost me $8600! $6700 if I did laminatied doors instead of all wood! Labor was another $2000 and the counter tops were $2200 whether I did Corian or granite! WHOA! What happened!?

I then went to Lowes. I usually get better prices at Lowes, but Lowes doesn't usually have as good of selection as Home Depot. For the cabinets, Lowes sold the same brand, so I thought happy thoughts.

Scratch that.

$8830 for the cabinets at Lowes, $2200 labor and $3452 for the Corian counter tops.

Sigh.

 

[UsandThem]

You need to get a 10% coupon for Home Depot. You can't use it on granite or Corian (because installation is included in the per foot charge), but you can on most of the cabinets, sinks, etc.

There should be some coming up soon.

 

[KoolAidKid]

Also you can go to www.lowesmoving.com and sign up for a 10% off coupon. You should get it in the mail in 10 days or so.

 

[jonnyGURU]

I dunno. Even at 10% off, that's still over $6000 for cabinets with laminate, not solid wood, doors and I don't think they'll take anything off the labor either (same reason why they won't take the 10% off the Corian or Granite.)

Are there other options?

Is being able to finance something interest free for X number of months worth paying more?

Maybe I should just hit Home Depot and Lowes with a budget based on the quote I got from Bay City and see what I get. Who knows... I might like what I see.

I just don't want to "settle."

 

[Ornery]

Are there other options?

How long do you plan to live there? Are you now upgrading, instead of just putting it back the way it was before the flood?

Get some quotes from "painters", who may also specilize in refinishing wood. They may be able to get those lower cabinets back in shape, and match the upper ones perfectly. You can always add the wondrous Corian, granite or other tops to the existing cabinets.

 

[SouthPaW1227]

Buy Corian & support DuPont!!!!

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Ornery
Are there other options?

How long do you plan to live there? Are you now upgrading, instead of just putting it back the way it was before the flood?

Get some quotes from "painters", who may also specilize in refinishing wood. They may be able to get those lower cabinets back in shape, and match the upper ones perfectly. You can always add the wondrous Corian, granite or other tops to the existing cabinets.

It's time to upgrade. The stuff that there is sooooo old. The lowers can't be put back into shape. They were particle board so when they got flooded, they warped and seperated so hard core... it's just amazing. You can set down a bag of dog food and it'll fall right through the bottom. If it were not fir that, I would just look into a refacing solution and a new top (burning and staining has done in the old Formica top.)

I do plan to live here a while, but most all of Tampa is going up in value.. my house included. So if I did sell, this would be part of a the whole "investment" idea of owning a home.

 

[dman]

Do a search for cabinet makers in the yellow pages or go to a few developments in the area and find out who the builders are using. Then get a few more quotes. HD and Lowes are usually higher than the competition, on things I've checked in the past. Basically they end up subbing it out to someone local anyway...

Not going to be cheap, but, you can maybe save a bit.

 

[Ornery]

I'm surprised Home Depot is so high. I bought some of their "cheapy", unassembled wall cabinets, and the fronts look really decent. I used 'em in our den. People only really notice the fronts anyway, so they might work for you. I think they worked out to about $30.00 per foot. Probably 50% more for base cabinets.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well, I think I'm just going to go to Bay City Plywood and get the real wood cabinets there. It's only $86.47 per linear foot. Cheapest real wood at Home Depot was $109 per linear foot and that was with laminated doors.

The labors cheaper, the counter tops are cheaper....

So what they won't do the appliances. With what I'm saving, I could pay someone to come in and do the R&R of the appliances and plumbing and still come out spending less money.

I've got the down payment. No I just have to figure out how to pay for the rest of it.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

get MDF boxes with real wood doors....hire a carpenter on the side to install them.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Also remember that lowes has been offering a sweet financing deal lately...if you put it on the lowes card, they'll do one year, no interest.

 

[777php]

if you have a chinatown near you, I suggest going to one of the many hardware stores they usually have there. They have great deals on granite countertops since there are tons and tons of granite mines over in China and they can export them for cheap. Same thing goes for cabinets as well, you'll get real wood cabinets with a pretty good selection too.

 

[jonnyGURU]

I guess Mikey, Scarpozzi and 777php needed Cliff notes

The MDF boxes were marginally less at Home Depot. About 15% less than the real wood and still more expensive than Bay City Plywood.

I know about Lowe's no interest for one year, but I don't think paying twice as much is worth no interest for a year.

And going to "Chinatown" still puts me in the same boat as going with Bay City Plywood. Better quality for less money... but still no way to pay for it.