Hobbess

We're looking at re-doing our kitchen since it is in need of an upgrade and was looking for any recommendations for companies in Calgary that others have dealt with and had good experiences with.

We have a kitchen space with added breakfast nook and would like to look at changing up the whole floor space, possibly adding an island to make up for losing the space where our everyday dining table goes so that we get more cupboard space.

Main thing being that we're looking for some professional input on how best to get the most out of the space, so while we could use some of the free model tools like you can get through Ikea we'd like some extra input on the design initially.

Also while I've got some very handy friends who helped out with the basement and have done their own kitchens we'd would be looking for a company to do the full install rather than piece it together ourselves.

Back2UK

I used to work for a custom house builder in Calgary. The company we used and many other house builders used is Legacy Kitchens, excellent company, excellent products. I had them in my house and had no problems.

Here is the link:
www.legacykitchens.com/ - Canada

Hobbess

Yup spied them already and they've had some good reviews on line too, thanks for passing on

Back2UK

That is good, being an Engineer quality was important to us. Good luck

gryphea

We thought your way until we got some quotes.

now we are:
replacing cabinets with Eurostyle cabinets
buying separate wooden doors through multiwood
buying dovetail drawers
painting cabinets (with our new paint sprayer which is the dogs)
installing ourselves
getting corian or stone worktops installed by worktop specialist
getting ceiling depopcorned by a dad at the school
doing own tiling (subway)

i went to shop in strathcona at one point; they were quite good.

Flossie and Jim

If you are feeling brave, we got some pretty nice ready-made cabinets from Action Cabinets up in the NE - they were for the basement bar but they do a few kitchen cabinet styles and often have sales on (40% off, so worth waiting for). I believe they have some design staff too but I haven't used that part of the operation so can't say if they are any good or not.

We also took a look at a place in the NE called Cabinet Solutions, who do both pre-made and custom stuff.

Granite worktop was from the Granite Shop in the SE. They take you round a huge warehouse and you pick the piece of granite that you like - good fun!

Lots of tile shops located close together in the SE:
Ames Tile
Euro Tile
The Tile Shoppe
etc

Would have recommended the contractor who did our basement if you had asked earlier this year (they also do kitchens) as the work they did has been of a high standard, but apparently half their staff just left the company and all the trades are being poached by the volume housebuilders due to a construction boom - we've been waiting three months for them to finish off the last few bits and niggles

Hobbess

Thanks for the comments. We're really intrigued to see what a designer suggests for the space and then to see what they quote $ wise. I'm pretty sure you could spend anything from $5k to $500k, so we've a rough number in mind that I think is fair but going in with an open mind to see how crazy it gets.

When we were doing the basement I remember stuff like the bathroom fixtures having HUGE variations in pricing for just a "simple" tap, so could easily see how our first attempt could be crazy $ but still fun to do.

Like I said we do have handy friends, but also 2 young kids and when relying on favours, projects naturally take longer. Somethign that is fine in the basement which is out of the way, but means paying up to get the project done in the kitchen might be worth it.

Nice list Gryphea - like the "depopcorning!" Good luck with the project - any pictures? The tiling would be one thing I'd be less keen to do, pretty sure I could piece together cabinets and I'm fine with painting.

Piff Poff

Oh good luck! At least your in Calgary, there must be more choice and competitive pricing than in Red Deer

We were quoted $5k for an island - breakfast bar type thing Then add onto that $4.5k for Formica counter top or $10K GraniteWe were going to do Euro style cabinets or Ikea ones until we realised our kitchen is of odd size. We've painted the cabinets now as I couldn't see anything I liked sufficiently and we've bought butcher block for counter top that is yet to be installed, the whole kitchen including new appliances is going to have cost less than the quote for Granite Counter top - Happy with that Then later on if we see something - if Red Deer gets a little trendy, we can do something else

Hobbess

$10k for Granite!!! Ok this means our investigations could get very interesting...

Anyway this discussion is all moot as I will be winning the Stampede Dream Home on Wed!

gryphea

So we have a small kitchen

Basically we will have a run of base units units, 1 18inch drawer bank, 2 corner, 1 under sink, 1 15 inch drawer at top , 1 24 inch with drawer at top, 1 24 inch backwards. Wall cabinets, 2 corners 1 24 inch, 1 27 inch
Built in wall cabinet

Home depot quoted ~19K (although there would be a discount off this) for a fairly low spec. This price for cabinets only. $4K to fit, 4-5K for fancy worktop.

Kitchen shop wanted 15K but provided less cupboards and drawers, fitting and worktop on top.

Ours will cost around:
1500 for all cabinets and fancy paint sprayer (also used to replace all our doors)
1000 for dove tailed drawers (including inner slide out drawers on base cabinets)
1000 for doors and hinge drilling
hinges and drawer slides- we want good ones so ~500
worktop around 4K

Hobbess

Any plumbing or tiling in any of the quotes or was this just for fixtures and fitting of the cupboards?

If we plan on doing what we think we should which is repurpose the whole kitchen/nook space then we'd be redoing floor tiling as well as moving our dishwasher which all means more $$!

gryphea

no tiling or any other work included in the $4K installation, just cabinets

Piff Poff

Yep that's what we thought too and that was more than one quote and honestly our kitchen is on the small side. It was $7k for quartz.

Good luck in winning the Dream Home!

HSJones

We're in TO and were quoted $25k by Home Depot for cabinets and counter. Nothing else. Still have to do the floor and tiling. We do have quite a big kitchen, but still seemed incredibly high!

Unfortunately we don't have that much cash. So will be looking into doing a good job, another way (not figured it out quite yet though!)

I'll be following the thread closely to see what you ended up doing.

gryphea - update us with pics when you get going!

gryphea

Yup. Same as us really. We also want to replace most appliances (~5K) and the flooring for a lot of main floor (slate tile, a lot of money)

So our approach has been to go for quality where it shows (eg soft close blum drawer runners, 3 inch stiles rather than 2 1/4, tiles, soft close hinges, dove tail drawers)

The hardest thing is not designing the kitchen its working out the hinge drilling, the type of hinge and the measurements for the drawers, which mean you have to work out the exact drawer runner you wish to use. Of course we haven't installed yet so we could find we have made loads of mistakes!!