Home Remodeling- Products and Ideas Headquarters

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Home Remodeling- Products and Ideas

This group is to highlight home improvement and home remodeling products/ideas. If you have any tips, tools, products, or remodeling secrets that you would like to share, let everybody know about it.



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Home Remodeling Tips and Products 

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featured lens Kitchen Cabinets: RTA Cabinets vs. the Name Brands

Comparing RTA Kitchen Cabinets vs the more expensive brands (Aristokraft, Kraftmaid).   Why buying Ready-To-Assemble Kitchen Cabinets can save you hundreds, if not thousands, on your new or remodeled kitchen.

featured lens Natural Stone Wholesale

www.meramecstone.com                     St. Louis, MO Meramec Stone is a quarrier and distributor of natural stone used in landscapi...

featured lens Kitchen Cabinets: Combining Functionality and Style in Your Kitchen

High Quality Materials and Special Add-On Features Help Create Kitchen Cabinets that Combine Both Style and Function

featured lens Decorative Bathroom Vanities: High End Furniture for your Bathroom

With our busy lifestyles today, people are looking for an oasis to escape to.  People are spending more and more money on their bathrooms creating ultra lush, spa-like environments.  Rather than putting an ordinary bathroom vanity or cabine...

featured lens Natural Bathroom Decor

Do you wish to change your bathroom? Does your bathroom feel old, outdated, or just not your style? You can add a sense of elegance to any bathroom with accessories made from natural materials. In this lens you will find bathroom accessories made fr...

Kitchen Cabinet Buying Tips 

Let's face it, the housing market isn't coming back anytime soon. For many homeowners the dream of upgrading to a bigger home or moving to a more modern house isn't in the cards right now. In order to make their current homes more livable and add value for when they eventually do sell, homeowners are turning to renovation projects that will bring a return on their investment. The easiest way to add value and create the feel of a new home, is to renovate your kitchen. In 2008, Americans are expected to spend over $295 BILLION on kitchen renovations alone!

In a kitchen renovation, the kitchen cabinets represent the largest expenditure in your remodeling budget. Since they are the centerpiece of your kitchen, many of the other decisions about your kitchen will be based off of your cabinet choice. Your countertop, appliance, and hardware decisions will depend on the style and layout of your kitchen cabinets.

The biggest issue with traditional, store bought cabinets is that it could take 8-10 weeks before delivery, so it is very important to make your cabinet selection prior to do starting any demolition or remodeling of your kitchen. There are cabinets available on-line, that could be delivered within 2-3 weeks, but it will depend on what style and construction you are looking for. We will talk about the differences in cabinets later on in the article.

Before looking at cabinets, it is important to come up with a target budget and a basic floor plan or layout. With the average kitchen remodel costing $40,000-50,000 it is important to accurately calculate all of the expenses involved with your project. While it may seem like a challenging project, even a DIY Homeowner with minimal experience can design and layout their own kitchen with accurate measurements and a couple of templates. This could save you a significant amount of money by not using a kitchen designer. In the event that you think this is a project that you are comfortable tackling, you can either use a kitchen designer or go to one of the home improvement centers and take advantage of their free design services.

There are several factors that are going to affect the cost of your cabinets: cabinet brand, construction, wood type, and features. It is important to research all of your options. What you will find is that a higher price doesn't always correspond with higher quality, and some of the lesser-known cabinet lines will actually have a stronger construction.

There are however, a few general kitchen cabinet buying tips that may help you in your kitchen cabinet research.

Kitchen Cabinet Wood Choices
Whether you are buying custom made cabinets, stock cabinets, or RTA cabinets, they will all offer a wide range of wood choices. Solid hardwood cabinets, such as Cherry, Maple, Birch, Hickory and Oak typically cost much more than laminate or veneer finished cabinets.

Kitchen Cabinet Construction
Face Framed Kitchen Cabinets
Face framed kitchen cabinet construction is the most prevalent kitchen cabinet construction type in the United States and usually it is lower cost. This construction technique involves the building of a kitchen cabinet face out of hardwood pieces. Typically the cabinet face is constructed using several 1"x 2" vertical and horizontal hardwood pieces. The face frame is then married to the front of a particleboard or solid plywood kitchen cabinet box. It is highly recommended that you try to find cabinets that use solid wood or solid plywood for the cabinet box. Particleboard and Fiberboard will have a tendency to sag or warp over time from moisture. Even mid-priced RTA cabinets are available that are made from solid Plywood sides. Hardwood or veneered/laminated cabinet doors and drawer faces, are then attached via hinges and roller mechanisms to the face frame and cabinet box.
Frameless (European-Style) Kitchen Cabinets

Frameless kitchen cabinet construction is becoming increasingly popular today as frameless kitchen cabinets are considered to be more contemporary. With frameless cabinets there is no face frame. The kitchen cabinet doors attach directly to the sides of the cabinet and are secured with pins and dowels. The advantages of this type of construction, is that there is wider access into the cabinet space and the hinges are completely hidden. Typically "ready-to-install" kitchen cabinets are constructed in this manner.

Kitchen Cabinet Finishes
There are many Kitchen cabinet finishes to choose from when using natural woods. Cabinet finishes include stain, paint and glazing options. In addition there are my types of distressing techniques that can also be employed on kitchen cabinet surfaces. Some options include Rasping, Antiquing and Rub-thru.

There are also many types of laminates that you can choose from.

Kitchen Cabinet Sizes
Kitchen cabinets come in a variety of standard shapes and sizes, however custom sizes can also be easily specified and manufactured - at a price. Standards kitchen cabinet sizes, known as stock cabinets, are usually much more affordable then custom or semi-custom cabinets and usually have shorter lead times. Most manufacturers, unless custom built, stock universal sizes so if you have a kitchen designed at supply store or by a designer it will usually be transferable to another cabinet line.

Kitchen Cabinet Quality
If you plan on living in your home for many years, do not skimp on your kitchen cabinets. They are constantly used and abused, and only the sturdiest will stand the test of time.

The best kitchen cabinets employ solid frames, doors and drawers and are fully self-contained (closed backs), with reinforced corners. As I mentioned before, it is important to look for cabinets that have a plywood box versus particleboard or fiberboard. This is why it is important to look at all of the cabinet lines that are available, even cabinets that are sold on-line.

Featured Lensmasters 

We are looking for Lens makers with the best home improvement ideas to highlight in this section.

Home Improvement RSS Feed 

I thought I would add some entries from a blog that I started to see if any of them spark up some conversation.

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New Group Discussion 

Remodeling Your Kitchen

Let's start this off right by starting with the most expensive room in the house. We are looking for any advice, war stories, or innovative techniques for remodeling a kitchen

Lensmaster

wrote...

Great lens! The lens is so useful and at the same time it is so informative.It has good projects about home remodeling.A big 5***** for you.
Feel free to visit my hardwoodflooringaid blog

ReplyPosted September 05, 2008

Brian Riddle
Lensmaster

Brian Riddle wrote

Great Lens. I'm a kitchen contractor and must say that you are spot on about just about everything. I just started a blog if you wast to take a look
/buycabinets.topicster.com">buycabinetsblog

ReplyPosted August 11, 2008

Lensmaster

PVCFittingsDirect wrote...

Hello all. My company specializes in PVC Pipe Fittings, so I thought we might be a good fit for this group. We've created some great How-To type lenses about how to cut pvc pipe, how to paint pvc pipe, and more. Take a look and let me know what you think.

ReplyPosted July 17, 2008

Lensmaster

renovator wrote...

I am encouraged to see how many folks are taking remodeling projects into their own hands. By taking the time and laying out good plans, and exercising follow through a homeowner can save a substantial sum, and devote some of their savings to purchasing better quality materials and fixtures.

ReplyPosted March 27, 2008

Lensmaster

Evelyn_Saenz wrote...

Thank you for featuring Natural Bathroom Decor . I look forward to reading all the other lenses in this group.

ReplyPosted January 03, 2008

 
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Remodeling Books- Which one do you recommend? 

We picked a couple of home remodeling books and we want to get your feedback. Vote for the book that you think would be most helpful for a new home remodeler

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by Nealon52

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