apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You gutted the kitchen before you had a plan to rebuild it?? It must have been REALLY ugly.

A good way to start -- before looking at layouts -- is to ask yourself how you plan to use the kitchen. Do you cook a lot? For how many people? Do you like to socialize in the kitchen, or just use the room to microwave leftover coffee? Is it an open-plan space, so that kitchen design spills into the main room, or can you simply shut the door?

If you figure out what works for YOU, you'll be well on your way to a good design.

I'd go with IKEA - even of you don't like their door styles, you could have some door-drawer panels custom-made to fit the cases.

We had custom cabinets made, but I wish we went with Ikea. Especially since I heard their furniture is formaldehyde free. I've seen some photos on AT of amazing Ikea kitchens, in all kinds of spaces. We could have saved thousands of dollars too.

I think the only problem with IKEA is that the quality of the cabinet carcasses is not great. It's made out of particle board - you know, the stuff where if the laminate comes off then it's all over. It gets wet and there's no repairing it. Particle board also doesn't hold screws very well.

If you want quality, then go with plywood carcass. It holds screws and if it gets chipped then it's no big deal - it wont just fall apart.

So my opinion is the other way around - I quite like the look of some IKEA kitchens, but you could get the doors from there but carcasses from somewhere else.

That's if you care about quality and you're not just doing a flip.

I’d go check out Poliform and Bulthaup (both showrooms are located in the River North Neighborhood North of the Loop). Both of these places are very chic (expensive) kitchen designers, but they have friendly showroom staff how will let you browse the showrooms and are there to ask questions. (And you don’t have to commit.) This is a nice relaxing way to check out the latest in kitchen design without having to pay for it.

Also, if you have specific questions I am an architect who has worked on residential design in tight urban spaces. I would be glad to help out with some space saving tips.

Congratulations Matthew!

I hope to be able to give someone like you professional design advice one day. I am a chef who is seriously considering design school so that I can combine my interest in cooking and design in order to expand my business.

In the meantime, I'd love to be able to knock around a few ideas with you.

First of all, I think you made a wise move by gutting the kitchen straight away. Don't get used to something you don't want to live with. But save yourself some frustration by setting up a temporary dishwashing station in your bathroom.

Second of all, do not rush into anything! This is going to be a huge expense and one that you will be living with for the rest of your time in the house. But, do talk to the right people soon and make your kitchen build-out a priority because the turn around time for its completion will be anywhere from 4-16 weeks and sometimes longer.

The more information you can provide to your potential kitchen designer, the better.
Even though you are "low budget" you should try hard to establish a budget that you are comfortable spending for your kitchen. It may also be helpful for you to separate the cabinet budget from the appliance budget.

For the appliances: Ask yourself what kind of appliances you want and need. Refrigerator, oven, stove, microwave, dishwasher. These are the basics. Do you want basic appliances, gas, gas and electric, stainless steel, white, black, etc. This is rather easy for you to figure out on your own. Almost every make and model with price is available online with the exception of high end models which you must call the dealer directly for as they will figure out how much to stick you at that point.

One variable with appliances is width and depth. If you want your appliances to appear to be "built-in" to your cabinetry you must order "cabinet-depth." For example, do you want a refrigerator that has a little area that sticks out to be covered in magnets or do you want your fridge to be flush with the cabinetry.

You can go to Best Buy or Home Depot and pick out a whole "suite" of appliances and get a good idea of how much everything will cost.

For the cabinetry: A few important considerations:
-is your kitchen stubbed in for plumbing, gas and or 220v.? Also, since you have a house, does it appear to be easy to move the gas and plumbing around if you have to? If these services cannot or you choose not move them, to save money on a plumber, the cabinetry will need to be designed with the location of these services in mind.

Now, measure the wall or walls where your cabinets will go. Also, measure an island area if you think you will have one. Finally, measure an upper wall area if you think you will want upper wall cabinets. These are all just simple left to right measurement. For instance, 12 linear feet of lower cabinets, 12 feet of upper cabinets or a 7 foot island.

Now, try to draw a very, very basic plan of your space. A box with walls, window openings, doors, water pipe, gas pipe. Include these linear measurements.

Since you now have a rough estimate of your linear footage. You can expect to pay, roughly, anywhere from $100-150 l.f. (Ikea) to $300 l.f. or higher (Kraftmaid) and the price can go as high as you could imagine from there. I would encourage you to talk to a local cabinet maker who could custom build a kitchen for you and really integrate it with a design and materials that flow with the architecture of the home. I have the name of one local cabinet maker if you are interested in getting a quote.

I hope this makes sense and helps you out. To make a long story short, the more information that you yourself know about your space and how much you want to spend will really help you out during any consultation. Designers love to spend money so try to know as much as possible.

A couple of resources to help you out:

-This website! search the archives. I kept bumping into this site as I was searching the web for resources for my own house. Now I'm a junkie to say the least. (I need help, I know).

-The live modern forum on dwell.com. Lot's of discussion about renovations and prices.

-An akurum kitchen guide from Ikea. This guide lists all of their cabinet carcasses and dimensions. You can play around with them and plug them into your space.

-Digital camera and Flickr. Tons of photos of renovations, kitchen projects, etc. It is also a great place for you to post the progress of your own project and to document situations you may want to share with your designer or contractor.

Have fun!

I second CateNell's suggestion of checking out the Merchandise Mart, Bulthaup, etc. for ideas. These are the highest-end kitchens you will find. They are on the cutting edge of kitchen designs and their display kitchens are decked out with features you may have never seen. These are the places to get inspired for your design.

I also agree with the plywood carcass comment. Valcucine's cabinets are constructed with marine grade plywood. Of course, Valcucine is not low budget. If I owned a house, house, you may want to consider in plywood carcasses. However, the high end laminate carcasses will not become damaged during our lifetime either. If you were to go with a local cabinet guy, he could do plywood cabinets for a reasonable price I would imagine.

"If I owned a house, house, I would probably consider plywood carcasses."

Just thought of this Matthew,

Some of the professionals might argue with the ethics...

Register for a trade show:

http://www.kbis.com/kbisshow/index.jsp

The Kitchen and bath Industry show will be in Chicago this year, April.

You can buy a badge for your, er, mid century house renovation company, and check out what's happening in the kitchen and bath industry. You don't have to go to the panel discussions (unless you really want to) so a badge for the main floor is all you would need (something like $35 or $50. I think you still get a break on registration if you register soon.

You can spend a Saturday just roaming around checking out the latest fixtures, appliances, surfaces, green options, sip espresso from built-in machines, get amazing ideas for your bathrooms. Get the idea?

If your kitchen is small or odd shaped, don't waste time looking at ikea. The range of sizes of their cabinets is very limited, and you'll end up losing a lot of valuable space with filler pieces. But if you have a nice open layout, then by all means you can save some bucks at ikea.

the best thing we did was hire a kitchen designer, one not affiliated with a manufacturer -- amazingly, we found ours in the yellow pages. she did an amazing job, can't say enough great things about her!! she was very sensitive to time, and came up with great solutions to fit in our many requirements.

the kitchen designers affiliated with showrooms are just able to sell you their stuff --- our designer had worked selling many of the top ranges (Italian and german lines), but wanted to work with custom cabinet makers too, so she really knew her stuff.

start checking the yellow pages, and get recommendations

oops! meant to say that she was very sensitive to BUDGET, and her work was always, always on time (we wasted 2 months waiting for just ideas from an architect we were thinking of hiring)

and a third thought -- if it is a complicated design, it means that your spaces are tight -- start checking out the European appliances (especially fridges and ovens), as they make all the difference. sure, they are more expensive, but maybe you'll hit a year-end clearance sale at this time of year...

If you have already ripped everything out, you actually use chalk or tape to make outlines on your floor to give yourself an idea of what you want and where you want it. As for getting a kitchen designer, figure out a realist budget first and then shop around for one. It's pretty easy to figure the cost of appliances and even the range for the sq ft of cabinets you need. The tricky part is if you need to have plumbing or electricity redone. Also write down a list of everything you must have in a kitchen (walk in pantry, eating counter, large sink, etc), then write down what you would like and finally things that you can't stand. Alot of things that look good in designer kitchens turn out to wasted space or not needed by many people.

Matthew, I feel your pain.

15 months ago, we were in the same spot with our own Midcentury ranch kitchen—hideously bad cabinets and a configuration that simply did NOT work. At all. I spent hours upon hours online researching and here's what I found:

1. IKEA Cabinetry—It has received GREAT scores from Consumer Reports. As far as quality/value goes, you will not find better. Someone mentioned particle board but the reality is that virtually everyone that's not "high end" is using particle board, even the Kitchenmaid's Velencia line. Granted, putting together an IKEA kitchen isn't child's play, but if you're looking for a $15,000 look for $5,000- price tag, that's probably your best bet.

Sadly, we didn't have access to an IKEA back then, so we went the next route...

2. Custom But Local—There's a really good chance that you can find a local, talented carpenter/handyman to build your "boxes" and then you can order facades and/or doors from another supplier. If budget is a concern, don't even bother with a "big kitchen place." Seriously.

3. Home Depot Off the Shelf—Not the sexiest of cabinets, but it's ready to go and you could "work with it" by installing new doors and such.

As far as configuration goes: Buy a grid pattern note book, and draw your kitchen to size. If you have a computer and you'd like to build it via a program, which is what I did, try ConceptDraw. It's $50, but well worth it, I think. (Google other programs to see if there's shareware that works for you.) And, of course, you can incorporate IKEA cabs into a custom job, which would also save cash.

Finally, a word of caution: Make sure that whomever you use pulls permits and understands codes. It would be horrible for you to build an island or something only to find out that you need an extra outlet.

Anyhoo, lots of luck!

I just wanted to say thank you for all of the comments. Our kitchen is a very odd shape so my wife and I just put together a simple design that creates work zones. We spent money on the appliances but got some really great deals on Jenn air oiled bronze fridge, double oven, dishwasher and a fisherPaykel 36in cooktop. It all came out cheaper than the GE Profile range of appliances. I liked the move away from Stainless Steel, but still keeping a metal look. We also went to iFloor and bought some cork flooring and are installing it ourselves. We went with a basic black Silestone counter from EXPO. Did I mention how great EXPO is? I know it is Home Depot, but it has a lot more options. Our kabinets are the Kraftmade. I do not remember what kind, but they are from Home Depot and cant wait to get them. I will post some pictures when we get the kitchen in. Thank you all a lot.

Good god....before you go to Expo do a little research...They are notorious for screwing expensive projects up. I should know...I worked there for years..(Oh the horror stories I could tell) Good luck with them....Google them...there is a 16 page list of complaints at Consumerist.com.
Go to a reputable source NOT Expo.

Looking forward to the progress pictures.

I have to agree with hdtex on HD installers, not the best reputation.

Do your homework though, many items from EXPO can be ordered online for a better price. I did buy a faucet from them though, their own manufacturer, for a better price than anywhere else.

OMG that google sketch program looks awesome. i didnt know they have that. thanks for headsup and i'm def going to check that out for other diy projects.

as for the kitchen... i think the ikea one works really well. give it a try.

Thanks again. The only stuff that I got from expo were the counters in black silestone. I have a friend who is a contractor and is very good but very board at the moment who is going to help me with the flooring and installing the cabinets and counters. He is also helping me with the tile work for the backsplash. It is nice to be doing a lot of the work myself, but it is also nice to have someone there who really knows what they are doing. There is no way in hell I would let HD or expo people install that stuff.

Y'know, you don't HAVE to have built-ins. Other than the sink-dishwasher unite, everything else could be freestanding. (I've seen French kitchens with armoires and dressers instead of built-ins, and they looked fantastic.)

If your house is MCM, it might be cheaper -- and vastly better looking -- to buy, say, several Eames storage units instead of cabinetry. You'd get a fantastic unique look, and save all the extra costs of customized work for an odd layout.

"Sink-dishwasher unit." Can't type before my second cup of coffee.

P.S. I know Eames units cost more than Ikea, but you save on professional installation costs. Plus, you can take 'em with you when you leave.

Ikea's service is not completely refundable, but a portion of it is if you buy a kitchen there. We did our kitchen reno with Ikea cabinets and sink- it's worked out well so far. But I wouldn't trust the durability of it with a large family. As far as appliances go, there are a lot of energy efficient models out there for a reasonable price. Even if they are a little pricier than your average, it is worth it in the long run.

Check out ours on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/illmethinks/sets/72157603923976184/

http://portfolio.fatbrain.ca

I'm doing a similar reno right now, converting a bland older home into a budget-friendly architectural. For me it's all about light, how you personally use the space, and staying true to the environment as possible. Style is how you see the world and in quality, thoughtfully selected materials, not in brand names. Go with what makes you comfortable!
/diane

nice looking kitchen illmethinks.

If you don't mind me asking,

how much does a bamboo countertop cost per foot?

@SFGail,

The photos always look better than the real thing.

@Lisa Hunter,

I would be hesitant to start re-purposing furniture, especially expensive Eames furniture, which is not intended to be in a working kitchen, as kitchen furniture. There could be serious water issues as well complicated alterations to fit the right size appliances.

I agree with you though that kitchen cabinetry should be looked at more as pieces of furniture rather than just "maple, 42" upper, blah, blah, blah.

There are few kitchen cabinet manufacturers though that do specialize in free-standing elements for the kitchen. Bulthaup's System 20 is the classic free-standing kitchen comprised of combination water and stove elements and an oven/dishwasher element. Valcucine has also rolled out a free-standing system and Fagor has a version as well.