The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

MARCH 11. 1977 I How To Buy A A Kitchen Is it possible to give a total cost figure for the average kitchen remodeling? That 's a much asked question and an exceptionally difficult one to answer. There was a nationwide survey conducted three years ago, and at that time, the figure was $4,200. The average kitchen remodeling today is around $5,000. And that's for average equipment, average cabinets, a medium- sized room. It's the rule rather than the exception today for kitchens to run between $7,000 and $10,000. And this comes as a shock to people who are living in a home they paid $10,000 for 25 years ago But I suggest you call a real estate agent and ask him how much your house would be worth alter this ex­ penditure that you anticipate. Somewhere down the line, you probably will sell the home, anc a kitchen is usually a once-in-a- lifetime purchase. You can easily realize half of your cost, and if the house is in a good area and well maintained otherwise, possibly all of it. 4 When you consider this, it makes the expense a little easier to live with. If you go off on your own. rather than hire a designer, can you save money on appliances or materials? On most items, you can't, for this reason: Most remodeling firms are on a distributor basis or a dealer basis with the dif­ ferent manufacturers whose lines they carry. They are set up to buy from the local distributor or manufacturer, just as a flooring shop or ap­ pliance store would be. In the end. it doesn't cost you any more to buy through a kitchen remodeler than through in­ dividual dealers. . A kitchen remodeler is an appliance store, a cabinet store, a floorcovering shop, a wallpaper studio, a painter, an elec­ trician, and a plumber, all wrapped up in one. Let's say you plan to do all the work yourself except for the elec­ trical portion, which you feel FOR A SMALL PRICE YOU CAN ENJOY THE COMFORT AND WARMTH OF A REAL WOOD BURNING FIREPLACE IN YOUR OWN HOME. heatilator AMERICAS LEADING FIREPLACE SYSTEMS HAVE A HEATILATOR W00DBURNING FIREPLACE COMPLETELY INSTAUID IN YOUR HOME FOR AS LOW AS.., >1095 INCLUDING REAL MICK AS IN OUR HUGE SHOWROOM SAVE ON FUEi ON FIREWOOD ON WORK WITH THE ELFUEG# C0NVECTUK FIREBOX • STOP IN OR CALL FOR DETAILS Flame tj, jiearth ON RT. 31, 3 Ml. SOUTH OF McHENRY 455-0320 Men -Thurs.9-5, Fri.9-9,Sat 9-5,Sun. 10-5 you can't tackle yourself. An electrician will come out and give you an estimate, but he knows he's dealing with an amateur, and he'll have a lot of questions about just how the two of you are going to work together. He'll be charging you a "retail" price for his work, because you're a retail client. If this same electrician does the work for a kitchen remodeling firm, he works on a con­ tractor's price basis. He knows exactly what he's supposed to do. that it will be ready, and he may do a lot of business with this firm. The only way to save money on your own is on the labor that you do yourself. Can't you save money in the usual way be cutting a few corners? Yes, -but you'll be very disappointed when it's done. I d rather see a client have us do the cabinet installation, the electrical and plumbing, and perhaps put off the new floor for u year or so. It s better to do some things right, and put the rest off for a while. Juggling things around is a better way to save than to cut quality. We'd rather see you have that self- cleaning oven you want and need, and keep the existing floor and light fixtures. Put your money in the quality of the products, even if you end up limiting the number of quality products that you buy. What brings a homeowner to the point of considering a kitchen remodeling? I'd say just the frustration of facing the same problems day after day--not enough space for making sandwiches, or for entertaining, or the lack of a dishwasher. So" many homemakers tell me, "I have to feed the family, so I do it, but I don't enjoy it. It's just a chore in this kitchen." And that's rather sad because so much of their time is spent there. Normally, the kitchen ready for remodeling is 15 to 20 years old, unattractive and hard to keep clean, but it's also possible to have a new, attractive kitchen that doesn't work. The corridor kitchen with a door at each end is very common in new houses* and it's a traffic path for the rest of the family. So people think first of moving, because they're afraid of remodeling costs. But they find very limited and expensive financing, repetitive designs, perhaps not the best work­ manship, and every new development today is farther and farther away from the inner city. It means a longer commute to work and new schools for the children. They're ready for remodeling. l>oes a family select new appliances first and then call in a contractor? It can be done that way, but it doesn't insure a good end product. And that's a big problem that has to be faced, because many people are disappointed with the end res««H Remodeling a kitchen is very much like a jigsaw puzzle and every piece has to fit in place, or you'll have spent a lot of money aijd inconvenienced yourself for several weeks, and the end result won't be what you thought it would be. Remember that you're buying something you haven't seen. When you go to buy a car. you can even drive it around the block, and then say, "I want this model car, in this color, with this interior". With a new kitchen, if you're lucky, you might be able to see the ap­ pliances ahead of time. You may be looking at appliances in catalogs, a 6 by 6-inch tile, a piece of flooring. You have to trust your ability enough to take all these little pieces, what you see in your mind, and what is possible in construction, and put it all together or put it in the hands of a professional. Because until the room is all done, installed, and paid for, you haven't seen it. It's very different from any other major PAGE 24 purchase a family makes- even a new home that hasn't been built yet, because there's qpually a model. Isn't it difficult for the average person to visualiie space from a drawing? Yesv and that's an important point, because in any remodeling project? your bible is your floor plan. Everything alwaysjooks bigger on a floor plan. This is an advantage of going to a kitchen remodeler's showroom. The designer can say, "You're going to have this much room next to the oven, and you're going to have this much space on each side of the sink." You'll see it and really understand. A designer may also do a perspective drawing of your plan to give you a three- dimensional view. It's a good idea to ask as you're visiting showrooms what kinu of working drawings they use. Ask if they'll be able to give you a good idea of what the room's going to look like. If you're not reaiiy suie you understand, when the room is done, you'll say, "I thought it would be bigger" or "I don't need that much space there--I rieed it over here!" You've been looking at a birdseye view--and that's extremely deceptive unless you work with them every day. Once you've decided to work with a professional where do you begin to look? Many people aren't aware that there are listings of remodeling firms in the yellow pages under "Kitchens," " I n t e r i o r D e s i g n e r s , " "Cabinets," and "Con­ tractors." Most people in the remodeling field have a general contractor's license, and every yellow page ad must list the contractor's license number. If he's not a licensed contractor, then his installers will be, because you must be licensed to go iftto anyone's home and do remodeling work. Check to see (Continued on page 25) MSTITOTi WE CATER TO THE DO-IT-YOURSELFER AIR CONDITIONING ' • PIPE FITTINGS SHEET METAL FLASHING REGISTERS IWWIN CF^^R ^ YOU NAME IT DC ^ WE HAVE IT! MAKE YOUR SPECIAL ITEMS! SEE US FOR YOUR HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECT MATERIALS 3010 W. RTE. 120 McHENRY 385-0048