Repairs vs. "Upgrades" UPDATE

[Deleted]

I was thinking about having our kitchen cabinets painted this summer. But I keep asking myself why. Painting won't change the fact that some of the shelving is too low. Washing with Murphy's always makes them shine nicely.

What I honestly wanted to accomplish was to have some trim put up (that will have to be stained to match) to cover up where a bookcase doesn't meet the countertops (the error of doing the floors and cabinets earlier) and to replace some trim that was removed and is stored in my basement.

Although the paint job would be "prettier," this is a house worth maybe $129,000 in this recession. The paint would be pretty, but would add no value. If all the gaps were filled (the trim and the bookcase trim) were replaced, it would be worth the same as with/without the paint job. There are no granite cabinet tops. There are no stainless steel appliances (they don't make any to fit this kitchen).

So have you ever "settled"? I keep thinking we can replace the hardware outselves. But $3100 is a LOT of $$$ for this particular house. DH agrees. I called our "second" favorite contractor (the first one gave me the $3100 for painting) to see what he could do on just "fixing" stuff.

Settling is hard to do, but this was only a $140,000 house to begin with. It reminds me of the Renovations thread.

[8 Bit WWBG]

The value of the house isn't as important as how long you intend to live there and whether you would enjoy the upgrades. If you have several more years to go, it might very well be worth it.

For us, we want to upgrade a lot, and my philosophy is that if we are going to do it, we'll do it once and do it right. This of course means that many upgrades will not be done for a LONG time. So I start to think about whether I could settle for some small stuff. I want to paint one bathroom, and maybe replace the light fixture. It wouldn't cost that much, but its still effort and time. Its also a far cry from what I would like done.

DW thinks its a waste. I figure it will be a long time before we can do what we really want, so we might as well do something in the mean time.

[doxieluvr]

Personally, I hate painted cabinets. Looking at houses, I always say painted cabinets equal needing to replace cabinets. I prefer older wood cabinets as opposed to the "cheaped out so painted to look like new cabinets".

Either do the job right and replace hideous cabinets. Oak stock cabinets are roughly $100 a piece. I have a huge kitchen and only have 10 cabinets. Its not a huge expense to just replace the cabinets and have a beautiful finished product, that will bring appeal in resale. As opposed to a "harry homeowner" project that just looks half-ass in the end.

Thats my opinion. Of course some people have no taste, and painted 1970's cabinets appeal to them just fine. However young buyers, and the value of your house indicates "starter home", will not agree.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Re-painting my cabinets isn't even an option. The house was built in 79, with crappy pressed wood, or particle board material covered with cheap laminate. They are falling apart, and neither paint nor repair will do anything for them. I am stuck with them until we have the resources to replace them.

ETA: I am the 3rd owner, so it isn't like I chose that cabinetry.

[Malarky]

How long are you planning on being in the house?

I've done all my repairs and renovations to suit me, because this is meant to be my forever house. Particularly in the kitchen.

Personally, I would do the molding and keep washing the cabinets until you can get those done. I have a thing about molding.

My contractor sends cabinet doors to an auto body shop to be painted. Perhaps that's an option? The finish is as smooth as if the doors came straight from the factory.

[Malarky]

I think he does it partly because it's cheaper since they have the equipment to spray the doors. It's mostly about the smoothness of the finish.

[Deleted]

We bought our house in 2006 just before the builder finished it for $252K. As for upgrades, we're at about $40K...we tore out what we considered outdated baths (3 of them) bigger granite slab for the center island, ripped up the carpeting for hardwood floors, replaced the cheap Lennox heat pump sytem ($12K) repainted the entire place...hated the builder beige, the list goes on and on.

This will be our last SFM as I see an apt. somewhere in our future, so we decided to have it the way we wanted it now. We'll never get out of this house what we have in it, but with no mortgage that is not something I'm too concerned aboutl

[Deleted]

I would go with quality permanent repairs/upgrades over temporary fixes. So in the example you give I might do the molding if I was keeping the cabinets long term (solid wood I would have re-finished, not ripped out). If I was dead set on having new cabinets and thought I could do them in the next 3 years, then I wouldn't bother with the molding. I'd just save my pennies towards the bigger job.

Personally I would never have painted cabinets. They chip whether you or a pro do it. It is a couple year fix at best. I'd keep my $3K and save it towards replacement cabinets before wasting that money on paint. I'm not sure about Doxie's prices for kitchen cabinets, but my solid maple cabinets were $4500 contractors cost (no mark up as a contractor friend bought them for me). I do not have a huge kitchen at all. I did upgrade the hinges and drawer slides so I probably added about $500 of the cost by doing that. I think this was about $400 per cabinet unit + $450 for tall cabinet doors for my pantry.

[milee]

Part of the consideration is how much the house is worth, but part of it is also how long you're going to be there. It's very different if you plan to keep living there for the next 20 years.

Yes, we've settled on several things in our current house, even though we have the money to do pretty much whatever upgrades we want. We bought a tiny old Florida house that's right on the bay front. The land would actually be worth about $100k more if the house were bulldozed. So the point is that the house is not really worth anything and we're just living in it until we get up the nerve to build what we want on it. Could be this next summer, could be 10 years. Don't know - we get busy. Anyway, I try to strike a balance between things being functional and not too unattractive and sinking money into something that is probably going to be bulldozed in the next 1-10 years.

BTW, we did paint a cabinet in the bathroom 5 years ago. It was structurally sound and a reasonable size/shape, just old and ugly. The paint looked fun and fresh but doesn't hold up as well as varnish. There are a few nicks now and also a spot where bleach overspray from cleaning the sink must have sat on and ruined the finish. So it was inexpensive (only paid for paint) but only temporary. I wouldn't do it in a kitchen. Not durable enough.

[milee]

Jun 3, 2012 6:25:55 GMT -5 doxieluvr said:

Personally, I hate painted cabinets.

Thats my opinion. Of course some people have no taste, and painted 1970's cabinets appeal to them just fine.

Yes, some people have no taste.

[doxieluvr]

Milee- yes exactly. If that appeals to you,you have no taste. My excursion looked nothing like that one.

[TD2K]

Deleted

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I like our painted cabinets. ;D

[TheOtherMe]

I did painted cabinets back in the 70's. The previous owners had put this awful cheap wood chip looking stuff on the kitchen cabinets and I couldn't stand it.

A friend and I spent a weekend taking all of that off, sanding out the nail holes and spray painting the cabinets. Looked 100% better when we got done than they did before.

Sold the house with no problems with the painted cabinets.

[nogooddeed]

Jun 3, 2012 6:25:55 GMT -5 doxieluvr said:

Oak stock cabinets are roughly $100 a piece.

Oak. Yuck.

[hoops902]

"Thats my opinion. Of course some people have no taste, and painted 1970's cabinets appeal to them just fine. However young buyers, and the value of your house indicates "starter home", will not agree. "

They also don't want $100 stock oak cabinets. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but they're about as appealing as 1970's painted cabinets, probably less so. At least 1970's cabinets have that "retro" feel, $100 stock cabinets just have that "we cheaped out" feel, and that's coming from someone who used $100 stock cabinets in their kitchen.

New cabinets also means either cutting down the countertop (at which point the counter style isn't going to match the cabinet style), or getting a new countertop. It also means hoping your kitchen fits the setup for the appliances you have now when switching to the stock cabinets.

ETA: And that's ignoring potential problems with new cabinet depths vs old, cabinet heights vs old, etc. It would be MUCH simpler to paint the old than to install new stock of a fixed size.

[Formerly SK]

I have 1980's honey oak cabinets. They're in great shape, just dated. I'm torn between painting them white or staining them an espresso color (our quartz counters would go beautifully with either). And this is our forever home. It's funny that if I paint them it is considered "cheapening out."

[whoisjohngalt]

I am probably the wrong person to ask, but I'll give you my .2 cents anyway. We just bought this house last year and it's "our" first house. For my DH- it's probably a "forever" home, but I like RE, so I look at houses as RE, although I do consider this one our home. So, whenever we do something, I can't help but think "resale" value. If I ever snap out of that mind set, I'll probably just do what I like and will opt out to wait rather than settle on something. Hope this makes sense

Lena

ETA: I am talking about cosmetic stuff. Getting rid of wall paper, countertops, etc. When it comes to "real" stuff, my DH has been pretty much "upgrading" stuff - pipes, drainage, etc.

[resolution]

I would probably fix the shelving so it was at a convenient height for cooking regardless of the house value. Although $3100 does sound extremely expensive for a paint job. Our current house has white painted cabinets from the 40's. I have never lived somewhere with painted cabinets instead of wood or veneer and they have really grown on me. When we eventually re-do the kitchen there is a good chance I will keep the white painted look to keep the "country" feel.