Barndominium/Shop or "real" House?

[ning]

I'd caution against setting up kitchens for resale value - there's a really good chance that the buyer already has a certain kitchen in mind, and it won't be yours, and so they're going to budget tearing it out and putting in their own regardless of what you put into it.

Plus, unless you're remodeling for an immediate flip, "tastes" will likely change and what you put in five years ago won't be on the magazines any more.

If it's not for an immediate flip, make the kitchen functional and how you want it, because five/ten/twenty years from now nobody's going to think "oh they just spent $100k on this that makes it worth it" instead they'll say $700k for this house, minus the $100k I'll need to remake this pseudo-stylish kitchen into something that doesn't remind me of every magazine"

 

[WM75Guy]

I know one thing, my kitchen is not going to be as fancy as a lot of you are showing.

Being functional for you is what counts, everybody's needs are different. I came up with our house design, with input from my wife, and hired a professional designer to draw up the blueprints. We both like to cook so I spent lots of time on the kitchen. For example, it took the better part of a day with the cabinet company designer to lay out the cabinets. Selecting the right color of granite was 1/2 a day. But we enjoyed doing it as we knew it would probably be our last custom house. Our contract with the GC was cost + 12% so we controlled the budget to some extent. They were his contractors, but I worked with them to add or subtract features from what our original estimate was to control costs.

 

[ETD66SS]

I put in the shower pan today, seemed to go in ok.

 

[ETD66SS]

I was concered about the pan a bit, as the directions said to mix the mortar quite wet. The pad slogged around a bit if I pressed on it in certain areas after I had it set in place and put in set screws above the lip to keep it from floating up. I was worried some parts would not be fully solid after the mortar started to cure.

Checked on it yesterday and the pan seems to be very solid in all places, no weak spots where the tiles could move and cause grout to crack.

The instructions also showed how to calculate the mortar thickness, I calculated it at 2", and there was supposed to be a 1/8" gap between the bottom ribs of the pan and the subfloor when the pan was fully pressed into the mortar. I ended up with about 3/16" - 1/4", so a bit more mortar than stated (or I had it mixed drier than the instructions). I watched a few YouTube vids on installing these and mixed the mortar like the guys in the vids. Not sure if that is an issue or not. Kind of too late now...

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

Two things sell houses: kitchens and bathrooms. That is where we put the money when we built our house, even though we don't plan on selling anytime soon. Our kids will benefit from it.

Your first sentence is correct but not the last one. Kitchens and bathrooms go in and out of style too quickly. We're in the process of selling our house right now and our realtor wants us to paint the solid ash cabinets that were in style 30+ years ago. People want sleek looking painted MDF cabinets. Fortunately we remodeled our master bath a few years ago because the tile, countertop, lighting, mirrors, etc, still look modern. In 10 or 15 years they'll look dated and will not be the selling point they are today.

 

[LouNY]

Sc

Your first sentence is correct but not the last one. Kitchens and bathrooms go in and out of style too quickly. We're in the process of selling our house right now and our realtor wants us to paint the solid ash cabinets that were in style 30+ years ago. People want sleek looking painted MDF cabinets. Fortunately we remodeled our master bath a few years ago because the tile, countertop, lighting, mirrors, etc, still look modern. In 10 or 15 years they'll look dated and will not be the selling point they are today.

Screw painting good wood cabinets, I just put in Hickory cabinets a couple of years ago. The only wood that should be painted in a house is garbage looking wood or wood byproducts.

 

[Duds13]

Sc

Screw painting good wood cabinets, I just put in Hickory cabinets a couple of years ago. The only wood that should be painted in a house is garbage looking wood or wood byproducts.

100%

 

[hayden]

This has not been my experience at all. I have had it in my house for a little over a year and a half with no stains whatsoever. My sister has had hers for 15 years with no sealer, other than what was put on it when it was installed and hers looks like the day she got it as well. She also raised 3 kids using that as the main eating and project area for them.

We were warned by every countertop manufacturer that quartz stains more than granite. They all said quartz is a really good, hard surface. But if you are going to actually use a kitchen to cook and get dirty that granite would be a better choice. They said the same thing about quartzite, which is a natural stone that is typically the lighter "granite".

My mom has Corian in her kitchen. It has also held up well but is a little scratched up. It can be re-surfaced though.

Same here. 25+ years with a granite countertop and no stains or issues at all.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

Sc

Screw painting good wood cabinets, I just put in Hickory cabinets a couple of years ago. The only wood that should be painted in a house is garbage looking wood or wood byproducts.

I agree. That's the one update the realtor wanted before listing that I said no to.

 

[sandman2234]

I agree. That's the one update the realtor wanted before listing that I said no to.

I am not as nice, as I would probably have told the realtor if they wanted to paint the cabinets, then buy the house (at my price) and then they could paint the cabinets and see how much money they made from what I would consider a stupid mistake, but in today's styles, they may have the right idea, it just wouldn't be done in my house!
David from jax