Post some pictures of the kitchen, and a sketch of the current floor plan.

And, explain specifically what problems do you need/want the remodel to fix?

I have Diamond cabinets and posted my thoughts in a previous thread HERE. They have been installed for 4 years now. No issues at all and I'm really happy with them. If you do a google search for "Diamond Cabinets Gardenweb" you will get quite a few results. I don't see any "horror stories" for them here.

lazy gardens, we have a smaller kitchen and are not knocking walls out, so we are keeping the layout the same. We are putting in all new cabinets, countertops, backsplash and floors. We also want to buy a condo down south in a few years, so I would rather not spend so much on my kitchen that I cannot afford that. The cabinets will still be all wood, granite or quartz countertops and luxury vinyl floors (won't do hardwood because of the dogs).

jellytoast, thank you for answering!! I really liked Diamond, out of all the mid line priced cabinets I have looked at.

I used Woodmark cabinets last year in my kitchen remodel, this year I saved 75%, got better quality cabinets by using Buy and Build Warehouse. They are located near me, but ship anywhere. Then your GC can install them for you.

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=buy%20and%20build%20cabinets&oq=buy%20and%20build%20cabinet&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l2.5359j0j7

Do you have Menard's near you? This week they have their quartz and Medallion cabinets ( same company as Schuler, Innermost, DesignCraft and WoodBridge) on sale.

One of the better decisions for my small kitchen was to go with frameless cabinets -- more storage room per cabinet and drawer.

I didn't change the footprint of my small kitchen either, but thanks to a suggestion here I did relocate the stove and ended up with better than I had before. So you might try posting your plan even if you think you won't make any changes.

Other "budget" advice -- my best is to shop, shop, shop --- give yourself plenty of lead time and hunt for sales, clearance and closeout deals, shop Amazon (where I bought my sink at a great discount).

Before starting you should understand that unexpected things can happen and that you may end up having to use your travel funds to fix an unexpected item.

I do understand about extra expenses, which is why I do not want to go with higher end cabinets. Our house is small, 25 years old in a small neighborhood. Well kept, but putting 50K + into it is not worth it.

We are in the planning stages, but this is good for me. I like to research everything, and it's actually fun!

I will definitely post some pictures, probably tonight. Thanks!

The first thing I would suggest is to not spend too much time here, because you find out about all sorts of expensive things that you didn't realize you needed or wanted. ;)

I'm joking, but only sort of. It does help to set a budget and think carefully about what is most important to you. Take your time planning so that you are comfortable with your decisions.

I don't have any experience with your cabinets. We are doing Ikea cabinets and are having the doors custom made. The price is going to be similar to what we would get with Home Depot or Lowe's cabinets lines we had looked at, but we are able to get more drawers this way, which I really wanted.

We used Kraftmaid ordered through Lowes, they have been wonderful to work with and our kitchen designer is awesome. We also saved a considerable amount of money by waiting until they were running a good sale. ($1500 for full overlay plus 20% off the total.)

And I have to agree with Lisa, lol...I went from "I'm not paying $300.00 for a sink!" to "Oh look, the Franke Orca...." which is now in my garage patiently awaiting the counters.

Here is a basic drawing of my kitchen. The counter/cabinets on the right side in the second picture are different. The bottom cabinets are actually not base cabinets, but top cabinets, and the counter overhangs and we have a few stools there. Also, the middle cabinets in same area will be shorter, as we plan to place an Apple computer there. I think I will be frosted glass on those 2 shorter cabinets.

As you could see, it isn't a large kitchen, but I will be very happy as long as it is updated.

My style has always been very country/rustic, and I am trying to get away from that. I guess I'd call my style transitional, with a tad of rustic remaining.

my house · More Info

my house · More Info

Here are the 2 colors/woods I like so far. The first is KraftMaid Maple Peppercorn and the second is Diamond Maple Thatch. I want a shaker style cabinet.

my house · More Info

my house · More Info

This is the floor I like. It is a luxury vinyl. I will not get hardwood because of the dogs. The Kraftmaid cabinet is on the left, the Diamond on the right.

my house · More Info

I've had as many as 5 dogs at one time. Vinyl was a disaster. My two best floors were Vermont slate and hardwood with an on-site polyurethane high gloss finish.

We used Kraftmaid cabinets from HD and have been happy with them. They had a Buy More, Save More sale at the time. I liked the KD I worked with at HD but had a contractor of my own already. HD seems to have more quartz options for countertops than Lowes but that could be just our store or what I am looking at right now. We used Cambria for the kitchen so not from HD but I have been hanging out at both lately looking for things for the bathroom. If you plan on them doing the work, check who they contract with. That might be a deciding factor

i found tile for the back splash at HD - they had a rack with many options that you could special order I looked at a tile specialty store too but found what I wanted there

Hardware and lighting - bought local but their prices matched on-line. I did order a faucet on-line more for the better selection but great pricing helped.

We used Mannington Adura LVT in the kitchen from a local flooring store and have been very happy with it. No issues with the dog and this even with the puppy zoomies.

Think about your storage needs when picking cabinets. We put in a narrow depth pantry - depth of wall cabinets. I love that but my favorite cabinet is the 3" spice pull out base!

Like the Diamond choice...would probably toy with one or two stain shades lighter however. If you need all the uppers, in the choices you show, the room risks closing in. I'd consider much lighter or white wall cabinets, keep the dark lowers, if you need the configuration for storage purposes....but could you reduce the number of uppers..contemplate open shelves. Your inspiration pictures are much larger kitchens, and one is an open kitchen.....be careful with the dark cabinets in your space.

I love driftwoody colored floors, and they are a great look to disguise hard wear (pets, etc.). That will be really pretty! I agree that the dark cabinets will make the space cave like, though. One way to still have them and open up the space is make sure you have cans bouncing light off your lighter floors and counters, then LED strips/tapes undercabinet and also on top of the wall cabinets bouncing off the ceiling. If you are DIY able this can be done quite inexpensively and it makes a HUGE difference to wash above and below the wall cabinets with light in a smaller darker space.

We ordered Kraftmaid from Lowes and couldn't be more happier. We didn't have a contractor, but we were able to meet the cabinet installer when he came out to measure. We also did quartz silestone from Lowes, which was much cheaper than going to an official dealer or fabricator. If you talk with the KD at Lowes, they will tell you the discounts or you can have all of your plans ready and then wait for the discounts to come up again.

I love off white/white cabinets, but my husband despises them. I am doing under cabinet lighting and some can lights. The Diamond choice isn't as dark as the KM, so maybe that would be the better choice.

maries1120.....we are also planning to use Mannington Adura. So happy for your positive reviews. Did you glue yours down?

Thank you all for making me feel better about Lowes or HD and their choices. The KD at each was so nice and easy to work with.

I will be back often asking for opinions and suggestions. This is a great place!!

I would ask for a cabinet installer/carpenter who has patience and tends toward perfectionism and who you get along with. That is who we wanted and Lowes/HD will do their best to work with you, especially if you dont have a contractor.

Is there any possibility that you can remove some of the cabinets from the sides of the window? Part of what makes it seem so canyon-like are the large cabinets right by the window if you look at a lot of high-end kitchen you'll notice that they either don't have anything right next to the window or they reduce the size of the cabinet next to the window.

I would go with the lightest color wood that your husband will accept otherwise it's going to be a very dark room even with undercabinet lighting.

I have sheet vinyl floors and I love them. I wouldn't put anything else in the kitchen, especially with the dogs. Mine have not put any permanent marks on the floor. They do drool, I suspect that having a wood pattern will make that less visible.

You have a lot of cabinets, in my opinion way more than is needed (certainly more than I needed after I decluttered my kitchen) but you are missing two that I think are really important: the pantry and the broom closet. Also where are you going to store a chair or stool to reach all of those upper cabinets?

My cabinets are packed!! I cannot imagine giving any up. But I will take that into consideration, re: the cabinets by the window.

I would love a pantry, but unsure where one would fit in. The kitchen is in between the dining room and family room (we have decided we do not want to know walls out). If we would put a pantry on the side of the wall with the bar stools, it would block the clear view from the DR or FR, making it look more closed in. I do not know where else I could ever fit a pantry. Ideas?

I have lived with this for 24 years. I store my brooms and stepstool in the garage, right off the kitchen. I have a huge cabinet over my washer for pantry like foods.

One thing I found when I was shopping for cabinets (Diamond IIRC) at the big box stores, was that when I asked to find ways to reduce the quoted price, there was some flexibility. I had been quoted full plywood sides, but I was ok with good quality MDF (? I think that is the term) on all but the one exposed end. A simpler crown molding which I preferred was less expensive. There were one or two other things that I can't remember... but the point is, put your money into drawers and organizers (aftermarket may be cheaper, so ask and shop) and get well constructed but not the most expensive options for your selected cabinet brand. Oh, and one store was willing to price match another's, for the same cabinets (although sold under a different brand name, they were indeed the same manufacturer).

Are Diamond cabinets manufactured under any other name?

Our Adura is glued down and grouted - we have a stone look.

Could you fit a small pantry cabinet on the wall you plan to have stools? They can change the depth of some cabinets.

I got a price from Lowe's today. Without any specials, it was much more palatable than the private kitchen places we went to. I do understand the quality is not the same, but I do think these will be fine. Now the question is do we have them install??

Here are 2 drawing from Lowe's....disregard the handles!

my house · More Info

my house · More Info

Regarding the small wall that involves middle area for computer use....I would consider the frosted glass doors on each of the outer cabinets of this run vs. glass doors in the middle. It will spread OUT the visual line instead of bringing everyone's eyes into the middle. A computer spot is to me a semi-necessity but not an embellishment......Glass on the ends shifts focus away from the middle. Other way to think about it.....put the computer spot on the far right.....place an open cabinet with a mix of kitchen items and cookbooks/display items .[void the door] along the top somewhere as an alternative to glass doors.....

The drawings from Lowe's look nice. I like the ideas herbflavor added. Did Lowe's tell you who they subcontract to do their installation? If so, you might be able to find some reviews of the business to help you decide. If they do the install, do they have the cabinets delivered to the store? When we ordered from HD the cabinets were delivered to us. Fortunately, the contractor said he would plan to be there and take delivery and check everything out.

Nutty, the Thomasville branded cabinets at Home Depot are the same as Diamond at Lowes. Door styles and colors are the same, but have different names

tmy_jax....thanks. I did not know that!

I'm a little concerned about the dark color of your cabinets. With it being an enclosed room with only one small window, it could feel dark and constrictive in there. Have you looked at the lighter woods, a rustic hickory, perhaps?

I have not, as I had my heart set on darker. The counter and the floor is lighter. We are going to have canned lights in the ceiling and lights under the cabinets. I will check out hickory though. Thanks!

I just did a complete DIY kitchen reno in a rental home using Diamond cabs from Lowes. My first choice was Ikea, but timing demanded we look elsewhere. I've posted lots of photos on my reveal (linked). We chose maple slab doors in Storm, a dark gray. I'd have preferred cherry for the grain, but opted for maple for budget reasons. You might want to consider that, I think the maple is fine, but might look a bit too uniform in a more transitional kitchen.

I was happy with the cabinets, given the price. The finish was well done, the hardware seemed to be of good quality, and the doors were all adjusted nearly perfectly. I hacked a broom closet using Ikea components, which my new tenants have been oooing and ahhing over. I wanted a symmetrical look, so opted for drawers on the island, and added aftermarket pullouts in the cabs to reduce costs, which installed readily.

My chief complaint was the shelves. If I were to use these for my own home, and I might, I would select plywood shelves. The shelves would be lighter weight, and I did not like the unfinished sides of the shelves. Good luck!

Diamond cabinet kitchen

Why do you think the kitchen needs remodelling? The best 'budget remodel" is the one you don't do.

If the cabinet boxes are in good condition, sturdy but shabby, consider having new doors made and the face frames veneered. It's called "refacing", it's FAST, and way cheaper than new+install. My sister had a kitchen full of overly-fancy cabinetry redone that way. It looked great.

Hiring out refacing costs a lot, if you price it out you often find it is not much less than buying new cabinets. Its the veneering, which is labor intensive, and the prep work to get it ready for veneers. But, if you like your current footprint and have good, sturdy boxes it is a good option. We did a DIY refacing job ourselves, so we did save a lot of money (no labor costs) but veneering is a learning curve. It can be done though. I understand the budget concerns, we put 3 kids through college and want to retire this year, so we didn't want to spend a fortune on our kitchen, just wanted to update and refresh it, which we did and are happy with it.