So when we took the plunge and bought 2 kitchens in order to make 1 big kitchen, I was confident and feeling like a million bucks. We have a good kitchen, granite, knobs, and its ready to go. What made me feel even better is that the kitchen layout of the main kitchen we bought was exactly like the kitchen in our blue prints.
But, here is my warning. Building new is a whole different ballgame then putting one of these floor kitchens in an already existing kitchen. Luckily for us, by taking out the wall and removing the door, we were able to get a pretty open concept space to work with. That said, our kitchen didn't have a dishwasher built in (because it was for show only). So right away, we knew we needed to account for that. Second, our room had a double hung window over the sink..... Our kitchen layout, did not. Our floor model kitchen came with an amazing stove hood, that really fits a 36 inch oven. The price of a 36 inch oven was enough to make me decide 3 inch spacers on each side were fine.
Now, when we put it all together, we ended up rearranging the cabinets and only had to put in 3 spacers - not bad. We were able to use all the cabinets and for the most part, I would say it looks designed for our space. My only exception is two doors that I think would look better swinging in the other direction.
The real problem was the granite. We had $2000 worth of granite and because of the slight tweaks, it too needed some slight tweaks. Here's my warning or something to think about. I recently called a granite person to come assess our situation. I had gone to Home Depot where the granite was purchased and they basically told me that any changes and alterations meant they would not guarantee the granite. So, I went to someone my Dad works with. He was very honest and said, almost every time tweaking doesn't work and after labor, its cheaper and/or more worth it to start from scratch.
I can see it, we have a super common granite, not expensive (Giallo Florito) easy to find.
But, the variation in granite is great. I really didn't quite get the difference until ours was pieced together. Plus, in order to tweak, you need to cut here, piece together there. All in all, we were fortunate to use all of ours!! Yay!! What this meant, is that there are 3 seams, which we were okay with. At each of the seams you can see the difference in the granite, one side is darker and it isn't the smoothest of transitions. But, once again, we didn't care. We were able to use our two big main pieces, seam in a 3 inch piece over the filler next to the stove, and use our last piece at the end.
Seam 1:
Seam 2:
Seam 3:
For me, this is worth it. I know we could have used the granite for something else, bathroom sinks, or an outdoor grill area, but honestly, we couldn't then afford an extra $3K+ to get new granite for the kitchen. So we'd have great bathroom vanity tops and a cheap kitchen counter.
Finished piece using all old granite
In the end, the granite is going to cost us $1400, that is with all the labor to cut, and piece together the old as well as bring in a new slab for the island (which is over 6 feet with a 10 inch overhang on two sides) and a new piece for the cabinets to the right of the stove. But, we will have used all our $2000 worth of granite which makes the price of the kitchen we bought worth it. If we bought the eggshell kitchen for $5K with no counters, it is still a good deal, but definitely not as much.
So, if you want to replace your kitchen for the cheap, definitely look into it, but be aware that its not a one size fits all situation. If you can't use the countertops or all the cabinets, is it still a good deal? Would you get more bang for your buck designing a kitchen made for your existing space?
As it is, we aren't able to use the crown molding that came with our kitchen. But crown is a topic for another post... I'm just satisfied today to have half my granite installed!
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