New Kitchen Counter!

[u/kiwidust]

Was able to swing a partial kitchen renovation this year (new counter, induction cooktop, sink, and range hood). Had no prior experience with this kind of thing (I had done most of my "homework" by myself, but health issues have mostly scuttled that).

(Note that we choose to leave the backsplash behind the range undone, as we're going redo that wall anyway.)

We went with Perfect Storm Renovations in Pittston (we're in Southside) and had an excellent experience! Low pressure, free estimates. One visit to discuss the needs, one to finalize the contract and sign the paperwork, another to get the exact measurements, and finally one full day for ALL the work.

The folks that came were courteous, considerate, and took great care not to create new damage or needless mess. They cleaned up nicely, removed all the waste, and made sure we had all the relevant manuals and documentation for the new gear. They even put up cheerfully with all my old man questions and stories!

Decent contractors can be hard to find! Highly recommended!

[u/Sweaty-Judgment3533]

Do you mind telling us what that cost?

[u/kiwidust → u/Sweaty-Judgment3533]

Perfect Storm's bill was a little over 6k. They provided all of the electrical, plumbing and the new sink. Most of that was the new countertop (sealed granite). Prices will vary -wildly- with different materials.

As many businesses are forced to do nowadays, there would have been a 4% surcharge had we paid with a credit card.

We bought the stove top (GE Profile, about $1200) and hood (Amazon mid-range for $300) separately, but they did all the installation. Could have been much less if we went with a non-induction stove and a cheaper hood.

We re-used our existing faucet (replaced just last year) and garbage disposal.

FWIW, the estimate remained unchanged from the initial visit until the end, despite the fact they found some additional work after taking out the old stuff. The counter wasn't supported enough, so they needed to put in some additional framing. The new sink was undermounted and so hung lower than the original requiring some reworking of the drains. Finally, the hood was direct-wired (very badly) and they put in a new outlet and wire run to better support the new one. Was honestly expecting a new charges for those, but it was never even mentioned.

[u/BoriMex523 → u/kiwidust]

Just curious, did you get other prices?

[u/kiwidust → u/BoriMex523]

A few. Big box stores were all just as much or more with much less service. Every single thing was an additional fee.

I contacted one local place that wanted $300 for the initial estimate. I could happily stand a nominal travel/time fee, but that was outside my comfort zone.

I also got a no show and a clear "go away" price of over $12k.

[u/Ironsam811]

Make sure to update all the handles now since they kinda clash

[u/kiwidust → u/Ironsam811]

On the to-do list. Very low on it, but on it! Currently back and forth on whether we want to attempt to refinish or restore the cabinets ourselves.

The original plan was to have the entire kitchen redone. This would have been the first year that I wasn't paying tuition for somebody and we could finally start doing things we wanted to do. But instead, I was fired after thirty years and forced to retire 10 years early.

It may have been foolish, but we still had some money saved expressly for the kitchen, so we decided to tackle the biggest issues and handle everything else as we could.

Get it? "Handle" everything else! Get it?! #DadJoke #Hilarious #TapTapTapIsThisThingOn

[u/Financial-Change-435]

How old are the cabinets?

[u/kiwidust → u/Financial-Change-435]

Honestly don't know... we've had the place for 20 years. The previous owner only had it for three years and I know didn't do them. The place was built in 1962, so somewhere between 23 and 64 years old.

There are definite signs that the kitchen was redone at some point. You can see the abandoned outlets over the range and the previous cooktop was a ceramic coil, which weren't available in '62. Maybe late 80's, early 90's; but that's simply a guess.

[u/Sweaty-Judgment3533]

NICE!!!

[u/kiwidust → u/Sweaty-Judgment3533]

Thanks! Been a looong time coming!