Basement Scope Creep

 The scope of our basement remodel keeps increasing.  Unhappy with TV consoles to put under our rather-large TV, we decided to put built-in wall cabinets underneath it.  So they should come out about 14" from the wall vs 20 or so with most TV consoles, buffets, credenza's etc.  

I bought an unfinished maple cabinet from Menards that is Shaker style like our kitchen.  I'm painting it as a test to see if I can get an acceptable finish (to keep costs down).  My hope is I can avoid (at this point in my life) learning to spray paint cabinets (including getting all the equipment, space, etc.)

^--- A 12" wide unfinished maple cabinet as a test case

^--  Using quality primer and paint

^-- Seeing how it looks under the TV.  

We'd put in two 36" wide cabinets centered below the TV

^-- The maple cabinets have maple veneer ply sides

Bench seats for the 4-season Porch

We decided that our 4-season porch needed some bench seats which would double as storage areas.

Before...

Planning...

Installation...

Result...

Another angle of the finished result...

Kitchen Remodel: Cabinet Installation Part II

The second day of kitchen cabinet installation went well. For the most part the cabinets are installed (the have to return one more time for some minor finish details). The installers really had to work on a couple of spots to get the cabinets to look right (as it would seem, most houses do not have perfectly square and straight walls). Here's some photos of the kitchen now. Note the crown molding is installed too.

From the living room looking into the kitchen...

From the dining room looking into the kitchen...

From the dining room, again looking into the kitchen...

Veto inspects the new recycle center...

Kitchen Remodel: Cabinet Installation Part I

Today the long awaited event began -- the installation of our red oak quarter-sawn Shaker style kitchen cabinets. Paul put on a quick coat of Sherwin Williams Porcelain (SW 0053) before they came (they arrived at 7:30am). We were really impressed with the two installers, really nice guys who seemed to know what they are doing. They didn't finish today, so they will be back at 7:30 come this Monday morning. The Corian guy who will make the counter top template can't come until Wednesday. But so it goes...progress!

The cabinet maker's installers arrive!

Work begins!

Piecing it all together...

Our 17lb cat Veto inspects the work...
...from where he shouldn't be...
...where the counter top will be!

The refrigerator will go in the middle...
...we feel that we made the right decision to buy a cabinet depth refrigerator...
...so all the cabinets on this wall will be the same depth...

Another view of the cabinets on this wall...

Kitchen Remodel: Final "texture" Choices

The next step in our kitchen remodel is to put in the drywall. But while we wait on that, here's the (almost) final "textures" that will be going into our kitchen...

The cabinet wood will be quartersawn red oak...
...with a natural finish...

Cabinet hardware will be satin nickel...Amerock BP53030G10 3" Pull Mulholland, Satin Nickel

The faucet we purchased is...
...the Kohler Essex in brushed nickel...

Bucking the granite counter top crowd...
...we are going with Corian Abalone...

Our corian sink will be bisque in color...
...the 902 model...

Our tile will be 3"x6" bisque subway tiles...
...with an accent line of two 1" high rows of glass tiles...
...here's an approximation with the Northstar Ceramics White Blend11T...

Kitchen Remodel: And the winner is...

A local cabinet shop...

After looking at a number of options, we decided to go with new cabinets. Home Depot wanted over $11,400 to reface our existing cabinets (no joke!). So we obtained some local quotes on refacing (half of what Homely Despot wanted but with better quality). In the end the uncertainty of what it will actually look like when re-finished turned us off.

From now on, I'll shop at Lowes before Homely Despot...

We are going with a local cabinet maker who has an excellent reputation (he won us over with their cabinet quality and design). Quartersawn red oak will be the the wood of choice with a shaker style cabinet (as we like the look and it reflects our red oak flooring through out the house).

This is the original plan we chose to go with...
...the cabinets on the far right will face into the dining room...
...the final measurements have been made...
...and we bought a new refrigerator...
...so will post the final layout...
...eventualy...

Narrowed the list to (from l. to r.)...
...natural maple, natural oak, qs red oak, qs white oak...
...on a piece of our misison style furniture...

...the order preserved, our choices on our red oak flooring...


...our final choice...
...quartersawn read oak with a natural finish!