Mixing a new kitchen, an old home
Thanks so much for a thoroughly enjoyable and informative article by Emily Green (“Finally, This Kitchen Cooks,” April 15).
We are planning to remodel the kitchen in our 1926 sort- of-cottage, sort-of-Tudor-style home in northwest Glendale. My husband is working with community members to have our neighborhood deemed a “historic district,” so we certainly appreciate the issues involved in remodeling and/or preserving old houses.
We’ve worked really hard to preserve the integrity of our “character” home, from installing hex and subway tile in two upstairs baths, to using linoleum in our kitchen when we replaced the vinyl flooring, to having an iron handrail custom-made to match an existing stairwell railing.
In 10 years we’ve spent more than $130,000 to redo the house, and that’s without hiring a general contractor and without touching the family room and kitchen!
Elaine Sawitskas
Glendale
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Taking out the cherrywood Craftsman cabinets, installing stainless steel IKEA cabinets and spending $55,681.53 on redoing her kitchen. What was she thinking?
Sherry Acton-Snowden
Lake View Terrace
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I am ... glad that you published such an in-depth article on the remodel of Ms. Green’s kitchen.
I would like to add the following comments based on my own experience acquired in renovations and remodels of various spaces over the years. One of the most valuable clauses you can add to any contract, including the designer’s, is a performance clause.
By offering the contractor, designer or architect a bonus for finishing their portion of the project under deadline and docking them severely with a penalty charged daily for every day they run over, you can leverage timely completion of your project.
This and progress payments made at different stages of completion provide an incentive for everyone to stick to the schedule. Also, it is important for the homeowner to make firm decisions on design features and fixtures before beginning construction in order to keep “change orders” to a minimum, which helps to keep the project on schedule and within budget.
Karen Oknayan
Long Beach