What would TW do? Wood laminate or tile?

You can do laminate. Solid hardwood would cup because of the moisture content. Laminate is just a "picture" printed to look like wood.

Engineered hardwood is a real hardwood veneer (thickness depends on manufacturer) applied to a cross-ply substrate.

 

What are your ideas on color? Light or dark in a small house?

 

Sure you can. There are various methods, i.e. vapor barriers, etc.

 

Either. Light makes it feel a bit bigger, airier - darker makes it feel cozier (in general). Neither is better or worse, just depends upon the look you want. Our floors are all solid black slate.

 

I should have put the caviat I suppose. Yes you can, BUT you would need to put down a vapor barrier and a wood substrate to give the hardwood something to nail to. As stated before this would then make your floor 1.5-2" higher depending on the thickness of substrate you decided to put down.

Engineered is much easier to apply and comparable in price once you spend money on preparing an appropriate substrate for traditional solid hardwood.

 

That sounds interesting. I'd like to see pics if you have any.

 

I don't, but I've been meaning to take some. We are almost finished with a complete renovation. I do have a picture of our kitchen...

 

Hardwood - don't use laminate, a lot of people when buying a house look down on that for some reason.

 

What kind of wood are those cabinets, Hickory? Also, what did you go with for counters? My head is spinning, we met with a kitchen designer and are leaning toward the quartz counters but am looking for some other opinions and options.

 

This is a great option for your house if you want wood. The surface of these is real wood so it can be sanded and refinished just like a normal hardwood floor.

I would not do laminate, we just bought our first house and anytime we saw laminate, that went to the top of the list of renovations for each potential house. This is personal opinion obviously, but the realtor seemed to have the same opinion.

 

I had to redo my dining room when my upstairs flooded. We had a light colored (alder colored I think) floor. When we replaced, we did a stranded bamboo floor. It was not overly expensive. Less than traditional hardwood, and a touch more than laminate. I think we paid like $3 per sq ft installed.

The benefits are that stranded bamboo is harder than a true hardwood, so it won't dent or scratch, supposedly....

 

My dad has built cabinets for the last 30 years, he did my kitchen. It's maple. The countertops are solid surface (same as corian). Quartz is a great surface - there are A LOT of options now days with all the various materials available. Our kitchen was small, so we really needed custom cabinets to maximize the storage space. Standard cabinets wouldn't have fit. The kitchen used to be enclosed, but I tore out the walls and opened it up to the living room area to create on open area.

One idea we implemented was corner drawers - which was amazing for space utilization and accesability - here's a pic (not ours)



The issue is, custom cabinets are a lot more expensive, so it really depends upon your kitchen layout. I've seen many a home use Ikea cabinets, and take the money they saved to put some nice countertops and upgraded appliances in and it looked really good. Don't let others (especially a kitchen designer) tell you that's not a good way to go. Check that option out before you move foward. There are myriads of options, so take your time. Don't jump at the first thing you see... do your homework. I have a lot of people around me that are in that business, and am really into design (I designed our kitchen as well). Some things I've learned....

On your bottom cabinets, do all drawers (except under the sink of course)- much, MUCH easier to access items, especially in the back. Much better than opening a door, then pulling out the tray, then closing the door every time you get something out.
Do one large sink, not the outdated (back when there were no dishwashers) two basin sink. MUCH nicer - can was larger pans, etc. If you need to was produce, etc., that's what a colendar is for.
Install a matching soap dispenser, keeps one less thing out... (since you're selling in 2 years, your kitchen will be a big seller).
Undercounter lights are nice, put on dimmers - makes the place look great in the evening...
Lighting in general should be updated when you do your kitchen (if you haven't already) - recessed lighting on dimmers... again in general.
If you have space, consider a warming drawer - very useful. One of the best things we did. People always love it and say they wished they had one, great selling feature. ($$ adding up now).

Luckily my wife worked for a homebuilder at the time we redid our kitchen, so we got the appliances for an amazing deal (GE Monogram, including a professional range). Unfortunately, the market crashed and they laid almost everyone off , so we don't get that anymore.

Anyway, feel free to ask any questions... it's a big job!

 

this is what i meant by a single bowl sink... can be out of various materials. our happens to look a lot like this one. i'd never go back to the tiny, shallow double sinks again, this style is so much more functional. my wife feels the same way. these are deeper too, more useful.

 

just to be different... carpet... soft, sound deadening, and less dust

 

carpet has way more dust and dirt. it's a dirt magnet, and vacuuming only gets up so much. pull up a carpet that's been there a while... you typically find a lot of dirt underneath.

 

You guys wear your shoes in the house ?

 

^I would always put carpet in the rooms... the sound of people walking around on wood or tile while I'm in bed would piss me off

Additionally, I have laminate in my house (except rooms) and its held up great through myself and 1 renter over the last 5 years

 

yes...

i know carpet is soft, etc. However, once you do a few reno's and pull some of it up, you realize how dirty and disgusting it is. each flooring has it's pro's and con's. i love tile, in fact - our next house will have cement floors, just polish, maybe stain and seal... love that modern look. if i want any carpteting, i'll add some area rugs, etc.

 

Id do the wood.

 

Couldn't have said that better myself. Great advice.

Great Idea for the corner cabinets! I like it! Much less awkward than a lazy suzan.

The whole hardwood vs. plywood vs particle board arguement always cracks me up. Some people are such suckers. IMO the faceframes and doors should be hardwood but the rest it doesn't really matter. Plywood is more stable than solid anyways for the actual cabinet carcass anyways. Ikea cabinets are actually very nice cabinets. They even use solid wood for the doors and frames in some of their cabinets. It's not all cheap particle board like everyone thinks. Not to mention today's veneer "technology" are much better than they used to be.

Drawers are a great idea. I wish I had them. I have actually been contemplating taking down all my cabinets and selling them to fund building new cabinets. They're only 3 years old and they are maple cabinets I "upgraded" to when I had the house built. I'm kinda tired of the stained look and want more of a country style cabinet in a creamy color. I build cabinets and furniture as a hobby so building new cabinets wouldn't be a big deal to me.