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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Newbie Questions

So how many of you upgraded your appliances with Ryan and rolled them into your mortgage?  Is it better to buy them on your own or just finance them?

Did anyone upgrade to Cherry cabinets?  Was there an option of veneer or solid wood panels and if so which one did you pick?

Did anyone get granite with said cabinets?  If so what type of granite did you get?

15 comments:

  1. We ended up doing all the above.

    At first we upgraded to the cherry Bordeaux Cabinets with St. Cecelia granite, and upgraded to the black appliances (wanted flat top stove). But I kept regretting not getting the maple butterscotch cabinets(antique white ones). So then we upgraded to those instead.

    That up grade left us wondering if our black appliances were once getting with the cherry cabinets would look good in the kitchen now with white cabinets. We realized Stainless Steel was the only thing that really would. The upgrade was only a few hundred dollars. So pennies a month in payment.

    As far as the cabinets go, I don't think there is a veneer option.

    For us it wasn't much in payment at all to upgrade appliances (you pay thousands to do them all later vs. a few hundred now). And we went ahead and did the cabinets and the granite because we knew if waited until later in life, we'd never do it. We'd want too, but I can't do without a working kitchen. So.... It was worth it us just to go ahead and do it now.

    That said...our fridge is white. *gasp* We will have to upgrade that on our own, at a later date. Just not right now.

    In the end you have do what feels right and is the right fit for you. GL!!

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  2. Thanks Noey! Your like the Blogging momma to us!

    Ya I first wanted the Tan Brown with the Cherry cabs for the kitchen. Then the last time we visited the model home there was Santa Cecilia. As soon as I saw it I thought KITCHEN! I love my tan brown, hense why it is in the bathroom, but I think the S.C. is a nice choice for the kitchen. The tan brown and Cherry cabs just seemed a bit too dark...escpecialy with black appliances (thats why we upgraded to SS :)

    We have the option for Tahoe Cherry (which has a solid frame and veneer inner panel) or for 1k more Wyoming Cherry (which is solid wood all over with a raised panel) Just wondering if anyone else picked either or.

    I loved the butterscotch but the hubby hated it :( If he just mildly disliked it I would have rolled with it, but hate is a strong word.

    I priced out all the upgraded appliances and we are sitting at about a thousand less if we bought it ourselves. WHich sounds like a no brainer only the problem is thats 4k plus we need to come up with, extra. Thats a big chunk :( But on the other hand do I want to pay for those appliances over 30 years...which 4k will end up being 20k... Uggg decisions!!...Im no good at you!!!

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  3. We got the stainless steel appliances, the first upgrade of cabinets there was no veneer option for us and went with uba tuba granite for the kitchen. We did not get the ref. we figured we can buy that on our own since it would be cheaper. Like Noey said we could have added the granite after we moved in the house but would never get around to it so figured we might as well put it in the mortgage.

    You are right Noey is the Blogging mama for all of us! :)

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  4. Find out how much you are paying per $1,000 per month and multiply that by your term in months to get the total price. Then also factor in that your taxes and insurance will be higher based on that upgrade being added to your purchase price.

    The only thing we did was get the Fairfield maple spice cabinets and make them 42 inches tall because it's really expensive to change later.

    The thing you need to ask yourself on upgrades is do I want to take a 30 year loan on this? For us appliances are a cash or nothing thing. Granite is cheaper here aftermarket but that will vary by market.

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  5. We did get wyoming cherry for both our upstairs bathrooms.... But regular marble tops. Our kitchens only came with one cherry and it was Bordeaux.

    Here the price is about $7 to you payment per $1000.

    We thought about paying for it in long run. But we kept coming back to...would we ever really get around to doing this stuff later? And if this is the last home we plan on living in for at least the next 15-20 years (you know...if we don't get raptured..lol) then we wanted it to be as much our dream house as possible.

    In our case, we upgraded the tar out of the kitchen, and upgraded the carpet and padding and did some other things and left the bathrooms be for the most part. No one really sees them but us. And there nice enough (we did do the cherry cabinets and upgraded the master to the Alt. bath). But as far as tiles and granite in there, we skimped. We were more concerned with the living areas we all spend the most time in and everyone else will see. You know?

    How long to do you plan to live here? (some people know it's only a 5-10 year home or less)

    How much to you think you will really upgrade later in life, after closing?

    How much, looking ahead, do you see you regretting anything?

    These questions played a lot into our decision making. Thus the last upgrade of kitchen cabinets. =) If we were going to do it...we were going to do it right. lol

    I don't mind paying $25 more a month for the house of my dreams. But that's me. Everyone is different. And if having the kitchen of my dreams meant a decent bathroom vs. a great one..so be it. I am truly happy. What will you be truly happy with?

    MOMMA!!! Are ya'll calling me old!!!!??? I'm only 33!! LOL j/k. Ya'll touched me. Thank you! *hugs*

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  6. Ya your right...we are NEVER going to do three quarters of the stuff we are saying "we can do that after" to. W have the option for solid wood Wyoming Cherry Bordeux or Spice or the cheaper Tahoe CHerry Bordeaux. Think I may just stick with the wyoming ...it has nice raised panels.

    Thank you guys for your insight. You've all helped so much!

    LOL NOEY!! I didn't mean offense by the momma comment at all...I just couldnt think of a better word for what I was trying to say. LOL Thinking of it now, I guess GURU would have been a better alternative ;) BTW Im 33 too :p

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  7. We signed our contract today (more on that later!) and I'm still not quite sure what we got and we have time to switch and we still have to go to the flooring place and whatnot. :)

    But here's what I do know! We got the stainless appliances that were required here - they must provide a stove and dishwasher (I think its code). We will purchase our own fridge (I'm picky) and washer/dryer. Like NKY, I don't want to pay interest on something I can buy myself. But, we have are fortunate enough to have the cash to buy those things.

    We are NOT going to upgrade the countertops. It is cheaper to do it aftermarket, and you get a lot more choices. I'm not sold on granite - it takes a lot of care and apparently, you get little sandy things rubbing off if you don't seal it properly. Its also not the most environmentally friendly material. If we upgrade later, I'd like to do a recycled glass countertop.

    We also picked the mid-range maple cognac cabinets. I think. :) They come standard here as 42". And I believe they are solid wood. They look really nice. At least the one hanging on the wall did!

    Its really hard making all these choices, but its going to look great no matter what.

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  8. WOW Ravenna 42" cabinets are standard!?! You lucky duck!!!

    I may price out how much counters would be aftermarket, but my floorplan doesnt have the dimensions. So ill have to ask my rep if I can see the blueprint again. Thanks for the suggestions!

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  9. Noob: I'd trade my 42" cabinets for your free brick paver driveway anyday!

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  10. I will do a lot of things after moving in but I'm really good at building stuff, especially finishings. We plan on doing site finished wood floors, crown molding everywhere, wainscotting in the dining room, finish the basement with wet bar, etc, etc. If you read how to do it and take your time, it's not too hard.

    Cabinets are one thing I would splurge on as well as the fireplace. Cabinets are super expensive down the road, and fireplaces are hard to install especially if you have a brick wrap.

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  11. Is wainscoting hard Nky? Id love to do it but Im so scared to do anything and mess it up.

    Thanks Ravenna. Its funny because I didnt realize it was standard and when we were driving through the community I was saying to my hubby "Oh man I love the brick pavers, we'll have to get that" and he said "No im sure its expensive and alothough it looks great its probably not in the budget" ...BONUS!!

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  12. It's as hard and complicated as you want to make it. Google and youtube how to make it. Most complicated molding is just a bunch of simple moldings and/or boards added together.

    You'll mess up a little at first, but that's how you learn.

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  13. We have maple cognac cabinets with uba tuba granite, but it's not dark because of all the light from the morning room. We upgraded our appliances because I don't want to have base appliances in my mortgage that I have to tear out, sell or dispose of and buy new ones - it just doesn't make sense to me. If the thought of having them in your mortgage is disturbing, you can always make an extra payment towards principal to cover the appliance upgrades but it's not really that much of a difference in payment as Noey said.

    The cabinets vary by region, and they offer all the same stains in the cabinet lines so you have to do some research to figure out which ones have veneer or solid wood doors. For us, the maple cognac are solid maple cabinets with veneer doors. The waverly has standard 42" cabinets with crown moulding.

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  14. We have selected the 42" Wyoming Cherry cabinets with the Santa Cecelia granite. We will have stainless appliances, one because I like the look but two because I splurged and upgraded to the Professional Kitchen for my wonderful wife!!! She will have 3 ovens...yes 3...I can hardly operate the one we have now...heck now I will be asking which one I am supposed to put stuff in...LOL

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  15. @BD - I'm assuming you do a lot of entertaining and we are all invited to your house for the holidays!!! We love, love the professional kitchen; however, that was not an option for us. We did get 2 ovens though.

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