You have many kitchen cabinet choices, but you can break it down to three basic approaches, with a fourth option you may not have considered.

• At the top end, you can go with completely customized cabinets. You hire a custom cabinet builder to build you tailor made cabinets from scratch. This is the most expensive category, and can easily start at $20,000 and up. With this approach, everything depends on the expertise, fine craftsman skills and experience of your cabinet builder. If you have an unusual floor or space plan, or you’re interested in some unique cabinet designs, this may be the best way to go. By the way, we have many years of experience with custom cabinetry fabrication and installation at Z.Z Daily Construction.
• Premium brand pre-manufactured cabinets from companies like KraftMaid.  Premium brand cabinet manufactures can offer excellent quality, choices of materials, a variety of hardware options, and  with many designs and styles to choose from. Most cabinets come in standard dimensions and sizes, so you have a little less flexibility than with custom cabinets when it comes to odd sizes and dimensions to fit your ideal kitchen plan. Kitchen cabinets in this category typically run between $10,000 and $20,000 for the average kitchen remodel.
• Budget priced kitchen cabinets from the big home improvement centers like Home Depot and Lowes. Many customers start here when shopping for cabinets, most likely because of the familiarity, and a sense that this will be the money saving choice. We generally don’t recommend the home centers for kitchen cabinets. These cabinets tend to be fairly low quality, inferior materials and construction, and poor hardware options.  In the end, many folks don’t actually save that much money with the home center cabinet choices.  Worse yet, you can end up stuck with kitchen cabinets that leave you dissapointed everytime you step into your kitchen, and you may have to live with this choice for years.

A fourth option, which you may not have thought about, is Ikea for kitchen cabinets. Ikea Kitchen Cabinets offer solid quality, good materials, durable construction, nice hardware upgrades and are available in many styles and designs.

And Ikea cabinets are easier on the budget, coming in at substantially lower prices than the premium brands. Sometimes as much as a 1/3 the cost.

In fact, in some cases, people have found Ikea cabinets lower in price than selections at the home improvement centers, and Ikea kitchen cabinets are definitely better quality than what you’ll find at outlets like Home Depot.

There are thousands of satisfied customers that are delighted with their Ikea choice, and we’re happy to recommend Ikea if you’re thinking about going in this direction.

One important consideration when choosing Ikea for your kitchen cabinets. Find a qualified Ikea kitchen cabinet installer. Z.Z. Daily Construction has a lot of experience installing Ikea kitchens.

If you’re looking for a skilled and qualified company out here in the Ventura, Ojai and Santa Barbara area to help you with your Ikea kitchen cabinet installation, be sure to contact us at Z.Z. Daily Construction. We’d like to help make sure your next kitchen remodel comes out a huge success!

Make sure you do your home remodel planning first

Proper planning helps you avoid the rush. Most homeowners underestimate the number of decisions they need to make before they even get the construction underway. When you don’t give yourself sufficient time to plan up front, you’ll tend to make hasty decisions that you’ll either want to change later. Or worse, in your hurry to get moving, you’ll overlook an important consideration that can cost you much more after you’ve started to build.

A rule of thumb to remember; Anything you have to re-do a second time to get it right will always cost more than doing it right the first time.

Whether working with a designer or consulting with your contractor for ideas and advice, the variety of decisions you’ll need to work through will add up quickly. You’ll do better if you give yourself the proper time to cover the planning phase up front, and go in with a positive attitude. Enjoy the planning steps and make it fun.

Choosing appliances, materials , plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, cabinets, windows, skylights, flooring, paint and colors, etc., is a time consuming process and a lot of ground to cover. Having a professional designer or an experienced contractor to lean on for advice and ideas and help guide you through the maze of choices, options and costs can truly be a life saver.

When you give yourself the proper time up-front, you’ll have several advantages:

• You give yourself a better chance to take advantage of great sales and seasonal specials.
• You can talk to family and friends for more input and advice. Don’t be afraid to leverage the experience of those you trust.
• You’ll have the time to call and visit the references furnished by your contractor or designer. There’s nothing better than to see their work first hand.
• Remember, you’ll be living with your home remodel choices and decisions for many years to come.

Home remodel planning – next steps.

Once you take the first pass at your set of choices, preferences and ideas, your first round of project bids may come in over budget. This can kick off a whole new round of choices and decisions. You may need to alter designs, re-draw some plans, make some alternate materials choices, choose some different appliances, or simply defer some of the work into a later phase.

And don’t forget murphey’s law. If the unexpected ever applied to anything, it definitely applies to complex jobs like a home remodel. It’s almost a guarantee that sooner or later, something will come up that you don’t expect. Always build extra time into your final remodeling plan, and allow for the unexpected including an illness, bad weather, delayed permits, supply and materials backorders, etc.

Setup for an enjoyable home remodel

It’s unrealistic to expect you won’t encounter problems and challenges along the way. But there’s no question, you’ll preserve your sanity if you take the time to put a sufficient plan in place up front.

Stay ahead of things around a home remodel project from the start. With proper planning in advance, you’ll be better able to enjoy the remodeling process along the way, rather than feel like you’re struggling and trudging through to get to the finish line.