Thursday 1 December 2011

Hanging Cabinets!

After the kitchen floors were installed and had time to set - and after a camping/cottage trip or two, as this was back in August - we were ready to start assembling our cabinets!

Oh wait, first I primed the walls up...

(the stack of boxes were our bamboo floors)

We bought our cabinets from IKEA during their kitchen event so that we received 15% back in gift cards (and bought an over the range microwave with it).  We loved the Adele White doors, and they were pleasantly one of the more economical choices too, so that made it an easy decision.  We had also gone to Home Depot to compare and their prices were quite a lot more money.  We had also seen in a flyer that they had $99 cabinets for any size, so we checked those out as well, but they were very basic and on the low end in terms of quality.  So we're really happy we went with IKEA.
No strangers to doing things ourselves thus far in our renovations, putting together 10+ cabinets was a money saving no-brainer for us (you can have IKEA people come and assemble and install them for an extra cost).  My job was to assemble all of the cabinets, so for a while my work station was a sea of cardboard packaging, tools and cabinet pieces...




...while Darryl was using a laser level to mark up the walls...


Soon we had some boxes put together and up on the walls...


That black plumbing pipe is what is running our temporary kitchen upstairs, but it will be removed, very soon I hope! The same goes for all of the wires, they too will be gone at some point.


It actually took us longer than we thought it would just to get all of the boxes hung.  So much time was spent measuring and levelling, which is all important, we just didn't realize how long it would take.

We didn't want to put the doors on the cabinet frames until we had installed the countertops, to avoid any dents and bangs.  We bought the countertop about a week or so after the cabinets bases as we were not yet sure what type of countertop we wanted - we knew granite was not an option for us, even though it is so gorgeous, we didn't want laminate but decided we still had to consider it and see what was out there and what prices they would be going for, or we could consider butcher block type counters...decisions, decisions! 

So I'll be back in a couple of days with a countertop post and then soon after that the cabinet doors! 

What kind of countertops do you have?  Are you happy with them or looking to upgrade? 



6 comments:

  1. We went granite, and we knew from day one that we wanted granite. But, as I said in a previous comment, it feels like we're almost stuck with granite or marble in this area - that's what gentrification does! Every single open house we visit is outfitted in the stuff. We'd potentially lose out on resale by not having the same finishes. However, we stuck with a low-end granite with a very basic profile. And managed to find one that we love!

    I know you've already finished this up, but I always tell people not to discount granite completely because you think it's going to be too expensive. Some granites are cheaper than a high-end laminate!

    Can't wait to see what you guys ended up going with!

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  2. We have granite in our kitchen - but we bought the house with it. I love it because we are so NOT careful with it. Hot pots right on the counter, no worries about stains etc.

    In a dream kitchen of mine, I'd have either carrera marble or soapstone :)

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  3. You're right, Nette, some of the laminates we checked out were shockingly pricey! It's definitely a purchase you have to research.

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  4. We'd really prefer, and love, to have granite or some other hard surface counters...maybe in our next house!

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  5. I'm so glad to see someone else with a kitchen project! I love knowing we are not in this alone. I'm interested to see what you chose for counters!

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  6. I've been following your kitchen projects too, can't wait to see how it all turns out - and all with a baby on the way!

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