In preparing my Seller's property for the San Diego Housing Market, it does take some courage on all of our parts. Why I say courage is that there are many unknowns that may and likely will be discovered as work is being done. Especially if someone is paying attention.
In a recent remodel of a worn out kitchen, it was my job to design the new replacement Kitchen on a strict budget. In my previous design days before real estate, space planning and design went hand in hand. The new Kitchen could not be just a simple redo of some cabinets and counter top. The Kitchen did not function well as there was too little counter space and the lighting was poor at best.
I went about visiting cabinet shops to see what things were available on a tight budget. As I came to find out, not as much as I expected. The cabinets and counter tops ( even discounted ones ) were just too expensive.
I went to IKEA and and it became clear that if designed well, their solution might work. I proceeded to spend as much free time as I could to learn about the way they do their Kitchens. I discovered that the engineering was nothing short of amazing. One big problem though. Planning takes an inordinate amount of time to get it right.
I completed the design and had it checked for completeness and with a few modifications we were ready to order and then to have a professional cabinets installer begin to assemble a myriad of parts. Oops, I forgot something. The Kitchen has to be demolished and cleaned out first before the cabinet installer could begin.
Fortunately the out of area Seller had a contractor that could come down from the more northern part of the state and demo the Kitchen. While he was there I mentioned that there needed to be extensive electrical work as I intended to light the banks of drawers ( nice feature offered by IKEA Kitchens). All to be finished off with a beautiful white on white caesarstone quartz counter top.
Once the contractor got involved, a lot of other things that needed updated became a possibility. The Seller liked my ideas and the place was slated to be upgraded. The market would accommodate a beautiful remodel if the budget stayed on the reasonable side.
The long and the short of this is as the demo was done, plumbing and electrical both needed to be updated and partially redesigned and the contractor knew how to do it right and cost effectively.
So here is where we started in the old Kitchen and the next photo shows you the completed remodeled Kitchen.
Below, the added feature of lighted drawer banks.
Comments(37)