<p>Our (Dacor) oven began bellowing its death tones a few months back by beeping an error code at odd times, but it seems to prefer the middle of the night. Add in a cooktop (again Dacor) with a downdraft that doesn’t work, Kenmore dishwasher that works okay but the front panel and interior racks are falling apart, and modern cabinets that I’ve never liked. We do have an older (albeit well working) Subzero with hideous looking panels, but I think I can just switch them out. Right now we have only electric, no gas, in the kitchen.</p>
<p>So… The floor plan is good. We have granite countertops we like (but the radon concern in the marble/granite thread gave me pause). Can we install new new doors and reface the cabinets and keep the granite? The cabinets are good quality, just not our style. Thinking induction for the cooktop and possibly a KitchenAid double oven/microwave/convection combo. Open to dishwasher recommendations. We live in a higher end area so don’t mind buying Bosch or Miele, but with the kiddos being off to school I find the double dishwashers intriguing. </p>
<p>I’m certainly not a gourmet cook, but it seems like holidays and family celebrations tend to come our way and DH & I would like a functional kitchen. When did going high end work for you or when did you buy a lower price appliance fulfill your needs? How did you fit new appliances/cabinets in your existing floor plan?</p>
<p>aMacMom, it sounds like you might wind up being one of those less-than-$30,000 kitchens I keep hearing about. I’m jealous!</p>
<p>Yes, you can easily reface the cabinets. When DH and I moved into our current house six months ago, it was obvious that’s what the previous owner had done. And they were quite decent and (if that was your taste) attractive. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for us, we wanted/needed to move some walls and widen some doorways and change around a bathroom, so we wound up spending a lot of money. Because of that, we didn’t go super-high-end on the appliances. I wound up spending around $10,000 on mine – KitchenAid fridge, DW and double ovens, Thermador cooktop (propane), and Vent-a-Hood range hood. You can easily spend twice that if you wish. Since you already have the Subzero, even if you buy very high end appliances you won’t come close to $20,000. Well, you can if you really try, I suppose.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re not making any layout changes, you can absolutely keep your existing granite. </p>
<p>I was just visiting a friend and her refaced cabinets are beautiful. I know two people who did this and we’re very pleased. In both cases, they liked the layout and cabinet configurations they had. Both added trash drawers where there had previously been cabinets, as well as nice crown molding.</p>
<p>RE Induction cooktop: I have heard from friends that all you really need is one induction burner and the newer models seem to come with this option. I almost got one of the all burner models, but found out a) I would need all new pots/pans and b) I currently have a drawer under my stove top and because of the depth of the induction top I would have lost this. </p>
<p>SIL refaced oak cabs to an ivory matte enamel, got new door fronts and and got new drawers with self closing drawer slides. </p>
<p>We just replaced out a Bosch dw with a Miele. I wanted the top rack for silverware, liked the solid feel of the rack pullouts and I liked that the Miele had a tall “handle” to pull out the bottom rack. Well, I do not like my top silverware rack. It is a pain to load and hard to fit anything wider than a spoon on its side- though it is a dream to unload, I like the extra space down below and I can put tupperware type items on the bottom. I think I could have save a $1000 and gotten the Bosch.</p>
<p>I have never used the convection part of my oven - though I hear some folks swear by it.</p>
<p>We are in the final planning stages of our kitchen remodel. We are mostly keeping the original footprint because it works well, however we have beaten the day lights out of the cabinets so they need to be replaced. The 14 year old subzero freezer and 8 year old fridge still work as does the 14 year old Viking range, but with an eye toward resale they are also being replaced. What I was most determined to get in the remodel were new Bosch dishwashers, and a steam oven. I adore the Bosch in my lake home. I considered induction, but wanted steam more, and couldn’t make them both fit into the plan.
After going through different appliance permutations we decided on all Thermador because of package deal that Thermador is offering. I forget how Bosch and Thermador are related but they are. We had intended to keep the granite, but at the last minute my husband decided to add an island and we could not come close to matching the current granite and a different granite on this new island was not an option for design considerations. I am another trash pull out fan. I have an additional one for dry dog food.</p>
<p>We have other friends who added an island. They too could not match the granite so the island has a gorgeous maple countertop. Looks like a beautiful piece of furniture.</p>
<p>We wound up putting in two trash pull-out drawers, each with two pails, so I have four pails all together. One is for garbage, one is for recyclables, one is for soda cans (get a nickel for each one) and one is for beer bottles (rare in our house, but also worth a nickel). I also dedicated one lower cabinet with pull-out trays to newspaper recycling.</p>
<p>ditto what thumper said. We have a friend who put walnut butcher block on her island and left the original granite on the existing cabs. Gorgeous!</p>
<p>Does anyone have a dual drawer dishwasher? Fisher Paykel & KitchenAid both make them. I like the concept but they get meh reviews.</p>
<p>Going to rethink the cooktop because I don’t want to lose the drawer space underneath. </p>
<p>VH, I’d like to put in a new floor, is tile right now… again, it’s fine – just not my style. If I change it out it would have to include a hallway, bath, breakfast room & laundry room. May not be in the (yet undetermined) budget, as I’m the only family member who doesn’t like it. What flooring do you all like?</p>
<p>laketime, I’ve been told that the older subzeros hold up better than the new ones. ymmv.</p>
<p>I like the idea of self-closing drawers. We have a pull out trash drawer and most of the lower cabinets also have pull out shelves that are very useful.</p>
<p>In our case the new island is on the perimeter of the kitchen overlooking the family room and has a sink, so a wood top is impractical. The center island is partially wood and I did not want to introduce a third counter top element, thinking mixing painted and stained cabinets and three different countertops might get a little busy visually!</p>
<p>aMacMom, I really like hardwood floors for the kitchen. They are so much easier on the feet than tile and feel much warmer in the wintertime (I like to walk barefoot). I have light-stained maple, which is a fairly finicky wood, but it kept really well and still looks great after 13 years. The trick is to have a mat by the sink and under the cats’ water dishes. :)</p>
<p>I also have and have always had light-stained maple hardwood. Agree about the mat by the sink. Maybe every five to seven years, you get the floors done.</p>
<p>I like the look of hardwood floors too. But would that work in the bathroom (has an enclosed steam room/shower combination) and laundry room? And can you combine it with woodgrain cabinets? Or are woodgrain cabinets out of fashion now? Looking on Houzz (now there’s a time zapper…) it seems like there’s a lot more painted cabinets, mostly white. Our house is a typical Southern California tract, circa 1975 – very Brady Bunch. The kitchen was redone around 1995 and is very modern, or was at the time – not so much now. We’re just calling our style “eclectic” and working around a color palate DH & I both like. </p>
<p>The kitchen definitely needs some warmth. Our appliances are now black. I’m looking at stainless steel appliances which don’t really go with the off-white matte laminate cabinets… Or can they if I add some interesting pulls and knobs???</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your input. Seems like dishwashers are very subjective. There’s a place not too far away where you can “test drive” appliances before buying (bonus: they feed you with the outcome from the oven/cooktop demos & tests). May just need to give it a visit.</p>
<p>I don’t think wood floors in a bathroom are a good idea – especially if it’s more than a powder room. In fact, for the beadboard my guy installed in the powder room, he recommended using pseudo-wood – I think it’s made from PVC – so when people – ummm – miss the toilet, it doesn’t get crummy.</p>
<p>Wood floors in the kitchen can mix with wood cabinets, even a different wood. I think oak hardwood floors are neutral enough to go with anything.</p>
<p>FWIW, we are doing white painted cabinets in our new kitchen, with brushed nickel hardware, stainless appliances, and light oak floor. I love the bright sunny feel to it all.</p>
<p>I found the AJ Madison website to be a good resource for appliance “window shopping”</p>
<p>Question to previous remodelers. Our tile floor was installed BEFORE the cabinets were put in. If i wanted to change out the floor, do they have to move the darn base cabinets? Or do they have some sort of a saw that would go around the perimeter and occasionally take a chunk out of the woodwork as they merrily go along???</p>
<p>I suppose we could keep the tile in the bathroom or maybe just the toilet/shower part (it’s separated by a pocket door from the sink/cabinet area and not in direct sight from the hallway). What about wood floors in the laundry room – doable?</p>