[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's Around the House. And all it takes is for you to design a kitchen, yourself, using some stock box cabinets, or going down to your local Ikea and you're gonna bolt it together, or import place, or whatever. This is where the mistakes happen, because there's things like cabinet fillers, There are scribe fillers you need to use.

[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: You probably want to put an overlay over the top of that. In many cases, you've got to go moldings and there's so many gotchas in kitchen and bath design. When you're talking kitchen design, there's probably 500 easy mistakes that you can make designing that kitchen out from having appliance handles from a range and a tight kitchen from a range and a dishwasher bang up against each other, or not being able to open the drawer up when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home.

[00:00:50] Eric Goranson: We've got you covered. This is Around the House. Around the House shows brought to you by Pyramid Heating and Cooling. Serving in [00:01:00] Oregon, the Portland metro area, and Bend, Oregon, they are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality. To find out more, head to PyramidHeating. com, OregonCCB59382, and Baldwin Hardware.

[00:01:13] Eric Goranson: For over 75 years, Baldwin Hardware has been supplying luxury door and cabinetry hardware for that person that is looking for bold, handcrafted quality for their distinguished home. To find out more information, visit baldwinhardware. com. Welcome to the Around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

[00:01:32] Eric Goranson: Thanks for joining me today. I'm Eric G. We've got a great show coming up ahead, but first, if you want to find out more about us, head over to Around the House Online. com. You can find everything there from the podcast and the national radio show to our television show that airs every week called around the house Northwest.

[00:01:49] Eric Goranson: You can catch on many streaming devices and of course you can catch on YouTube as well. And all that information is over there at around the house, online. com. And if you've got a home improvement question, if [00:02:00] you need help, give me a call at 8 That number again, 8 239 4144. Today in this episode, we're going to talk about the top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchen in 2024.

[00:02:18] Eric Goranson: It doesn't matter if you're hiring the best contractor in the world, or if you are actually going to be doing it yourself as a DIY project, I want to make sure that we get you all the right information out there so you can tackle this project successfully. And with everything getting more and more expensive, That puts pressure on you as a homeowner to make sure you're making the right decisions, because it gets very expensive to have to go back and do something twice.

[00:02:43] Eric Goranson: So the first one here on my list is one of my favorite ones. And if you take your old kitchen, let's say it's been 30 years since you did a remodel. That thing is 1990s, 1980s, whatever you're looking at. [00:03:00] One of the biggest mistakes you can make Is going in there and copying the old design of what you had.

[00:03:08] Eric Goranson: Now, here's what happens if that kitchen or was original to the house, or maybe it was redesigned 30 years ago. It's depending on how it was designed, but think about how we have changed our actions and our cooking over the last 30 years. 30, 40 years ago, we had the invention of the microwave, but really none of the technology appliances that we have now from the rice cookers to all the different ovens and countertop things.

[00:03:38] Eric Goranson: Those didn't really exist as much back then. Of course, we had blenders and toasters, but it was really simple. We didn't have the Williams Sonoma's or the Surla tabs or those big companies that you walk into and go in and buy every kitchen accessory known to mankind. That didn't really exist back then it was maybe going into sears or jc penny or one of those companies like that [00:04:00] And you would buy stuff and it was just pretty simple so back then we didn't have the Thought process of how we cook where we cook in zones back then and i'm an nkba certified kitchen designer So this is stuff that happens but When it comes down to it, here's what it is.

[00:04:18] Eric Goranson: You need a lot more drawers now than you did 30 years ago to store things correctly. And if you want to get the most out of it, some of the worst storage sometimes can be just doors with adjustable shelves where you pile stuff in. That's the low budget way to do it. And I want to make sure that you're designing it for your lifestyle and how you're going to cook.

[00:04:39] Eric Goranson: And most of the time designing it after a 30 year old plan is a really bad idea. Now, if you pay to have a kitchen done 30, 40 years ago, and it was designed by a kitchen designer, maybe a certified kitchen designer, and it was really thought out, maybe they planned ahead and we're cutting edge and maybe you could [00:05:00] copy that.

[00:05:01] Eric Goranson: But unless you had a custom kitchen back then, it's just really not worth the time to recreate it. You might like that original plan and maybe the appliances don't move, but the things that we have now, this is one of those things that you can really think about. We used to have the kitchen triangle, which was the old school way of doing it.

[00:05:20] Eric Goranson: And that kitchen triangle was the distance between the refrigerator, the cooktop or cooking surface. And the refrigerator. And so what we have there is we have that space. That was the kitchen triangle. Now, probably 10 years ago, I quit really using that and started cooking in zones. And here's what you want to think about when you're cooking in zones, you have your prep area, which is usually the place between the sink and the cooking surface.

[00:05:50] Eric Goranson: So if you've got an L shaped kitchen, That area between the sink and maybe the range of the cooktop is the important part. That's the prep area. That's where you're [00:06:00] most likely to prep. The last thing I want to do is put the dishwasher in that area because that's the cleanup zone. So let's say that you're standing in the sink and you've got an L shape and the range is on the right.

[00:06:11] Eric Goranson: I want the dishwasher to always be on the left and a trash can on the right of the sink. So that way, when you're prepping and you're cooking, You have a trash can right there, but if the dishwasher door is open and you're loading stuff up and you're throwing things away, that can now go into the trash can that would be on your right.

[00:06:31] Eric Goranson: So these are some of those zone cooking situations. Just if you've got a double oven someplace, you want to make sure you've got a. Place a countertop next to it so you could actually take something out like a turkey or a roast or even your favorite cookies and put them on the counter right next to it.

[00:06:47] Eric Goranson: So there needs to be landing spaces and things like that. So this is that common design that you do of really making sure you've got the right design for your cooking style and really trying to figure out. I'm not a [00:07:00] fan of that over the range microwave because I think they're one they're dangerous to use because you now have to reach over the top of a cooking surface.

[00:07:07] Eric Goranson: And you could have something hot there. You could have flames if it's gas, the list goes on and the vents don't work very well. So that's the thing that you need to consider with that. So that's my first one on the mistake that people make when they're designing their kitchen in 2024. Now, the next one's a little controversial, but it's the way technology is working these days.

[00:07:27] Eric Goranson: And I think this is a good rule of thumb. Now, if you're out shopping for appliances, I used to tell you, Hey, go get something that's style wise fits, but you can have. Two different appliances. You can get the best of this company and the best of this company. And I don't recommend that anymore because different brands of appliances now have different smart home apps to work with it.

[00:07:50] Eric Goranson: And quite frankly, I want my apps to work as well as they can together. So if I was out shopping, I would not go out and buy half LG, half Samsung. [00:08:00] I would just go by LG for instance, because I want one app for all my appliances. And now that we're starting to get these smart home things like matter, and we're starting to get things interconnected really well, I want all my appliances to talk to each other.

[00:08:14] Eric Goranson: I want them to be able to communicate because now you've got some appliance brands out there when you turn the cooktop on, it'll automatically turn on your vent hood or the dishwasher is now talking with the refrigerator. I want these things to work. You know, well together. So that way we don't have any issues.

[00:08:32] Eric Goranson: And I think the more confusion you create with technology, the more problems you're gonna have. So I would definitely make sure that if you're out shopping, figure out if you can make it happen, especially if there's smart home pieces involved with this. You want to make sure that you can sit there and have all those work together.

[00:08:48] Eric Goranson: That just ends up being a smarter way to go and the appliances will do better working together as one. I know it sounds crazy, but there's the things that having them all in one app is [00:09:00] much easier for your lifestyle. Especially when you're having a party and you're like, Oh man, we're going through a lot more ice.

[00:09:05] Eric Goranson: And I thought you could jump on your phone and turn on the quick ice and get the ice maker up into high speed. Or you can take a look at your laundry and see. Oh, jeez. I got 20 minutes before those towels are done. Okay. I got to go out and empty those and it'll warn you when it does. So these are all things that, uh, make a lot of sense and to have them on one app is really smart.

[00:09:27] Eric Goranson: Now, the next one here, we're going to talk about this before we go to break. But this is one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make. And it's made from builders all the way down to homeowners. And this is an important one that COD cost you thousands of dollars in mistakes. Around the house. We'll be right back after these important messages.

[00:09:47] Eric Goranson: Don't change that dial. Be allowed to be so hot. [00:10:00] Welcome

[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: back to the. next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundline. com. If you've got a home improvement question, give me a call at 8 9 That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 4 1 44. And if you're catching the TV show, we've got a great perform like a pro segment coming up this weekend.

[00:10:32] Eric Goranson: That'll be airing where I show you how to build your own. Outdoor cabinetry for that outdoor kitchen. I partnered up with my friends over at Conrad Lumber here in Portland. I've got, uh, evolved stone. I have paper stone countertops, and of course my friends with blaze grills. And we're building this new kitchen by hand, basically.

[00:10:50] Eric Goranson: So other than some stainless doors and the appliances, everything else is being made. By hand, showing you how to do it, how you can save some serious money versus going out and buying one of those pre made [00:11:00] packages. So you'll be able to find that over at around the house, online. com for more information and show you how I'm doing it.

[00:11:06] Eric Goranson: Today, we're talking about my top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchen in 2024. And these are some big problems. These are things that can really get you rolled up on that next project when you're designing a kitchen. So in the last segment, we were talking about making a copy of the old design that's 30 years old, just duplicating that that's a huge mistake.

[00:11:25] Eric Goranson: Buying different brands of appliances that don't match. And the next one here. It's probably one of the biggest mistakes you can make. And that is not hiring a kitchen designer. Now, not hire a kitchen designer. People go, Oh, I know how to design it out. I can do it. I'm sorry. Unless you've been a previous kitchen designer out there, you really can't.

[00:11:42] Eric Goranson: I have taken kids that have gone through four years of design school, four years of solid college education on interior design, space planning, all of that. And it takes them 18 to 24 months. Before they really have their teeth cut as a kitchen [00:12:00] designer. And this is where people make mistakes because I think the average is for a family in a home, they will do 1.

[00:12:08] Eric Goranson: 5 kitchen remodels in their entire lifetime. And I even think it's a mistake when I see builders going to do this correctly as well, builders are not kitchen designers unless they are trained. So I want to find out what their background is. Contractors can learn, but it's just one of those things that takes a long time to do it and to properly lay it out.

[00:12:28] Eric Goranson: I've got 30 years of kitchen, a bath design experience behind me. And I used to do this for designers to really, after they come out of college where their trade school or wherever they're learning that craft, I would get them going, we'd have to manage them for pretty much watch every project for the first year.

[00:12:46] Eric Goranson: But one of the things that I would always do is make sure that they go out into the field and learn how to install cabinetry because that way you understand how the trim moldings work, how the crown moldings and the fillers and the overlay fillers and all these things. That [00:13:00] really make a kitchen look like it's a really great project work and until you know how to do it That can be a problem.

[00:13:07] Eric Goranson: So really kitchen designers will do a couple things one You're gonna get their expertise and all it takes is for you to design a kitchen yourself Using some stock box cabinets or going down to your local McKee and you're going to bolt it together or import place or whatever, this is where the mistakes happen because there's things like cabinet fillers that are scribe fillers you need to use.

[00:13:29] Eric Goranson: You probably want to put an overlay over the top of that in many cases. You've got to go moldings. And there's so many gotchas in kitchen and bath design. When you're talking kitchen design, there's probably 500 easy mistakes that you can make designing that kitchen out from having appliance handles from a range and a tight kitchen from a range and a dishwasher bang up against each other, or not being able to open the drawer up without opening a door or Jewish dishwasher.

[00:13:56] Eric Goranson: That's where the problems start to hit. And when those things go sideways, [00:14:00] that can cost you. Thousands of dollars and weeks on your schedule. Cause many times if you're waiting for cabinetry to be able to be built and you're sitting there, let's say you've been going on this thing and it's been like, geez, We'll call it a nine to 10 weeks for cabinets.

[00:14:17] Eric Goranson: It's pretty common for cabins that are being built for your house. The last thing you want to do is make a bunch of mistakes and then wait, go to install them and go, Oh, now I got to wait nine or 10 weeks to get the cabin. So I can put countertops on. That's how projects go sideways now. And this is the other thing here too.

[00:14:34] Eric Goranson: I want to be gentle with this. Cause I'm not always going after the home centers here. But the home centers have a mixed bag of kitchen and bath designers. Now, I think it can be a good deal. If you're trying to use your zero interest deferred payments or whatever, to buy your cabinetry, that's okay. The problem that I worry about, and this is one of those big issues.

[00:14:53] Eric Goranson: The problem that I worry about is that here's the thing. You could have somebody that was last week's garden [00:15:00] expert, and they're now designing your kitchen. So you better ask some questions if you're going in there. To make sure that you've got the right person, because that's how that happens. And it still happens today is that they'll train them and they'll kick them out the door and they'll figure it out.

[00:15:14] Eric Goranson: Now, if you're wanting to be a designer, it's not a bad place to learn the ropes because you're not on commission. You got an hourly pay and rarely going to get fired for making mistakes. So those are things that all pay off for you to learn. But the problem is you're learning on people's kitchens and you're dealing with An antiquated system as far as kitchen, a bath design in there.

[00:15:34] Eric Goranson: So it's a problem. So just think about that a little bit to make sure that you're getting the right person. If you're going in there now, one of the other things that I don't like about many of the cabinets, not all of them, but many of the cabinets that are made there for the home centers. Now the quality of them can be pretty good, but there's been a switch over the last, Oh, 18 to 24 months.

[00:15:57] Eric Goranson: Where what's happening is for many of these [00:16:00] cabinets, Masco is one of the brands out there. There's a couple of the brands out there that are doing the same thing. Long story short, what they're doing is they're taking units of lumber that is American lumber. They're sending it over or Canadian. They're sending it over to China or Vietnam, depending on where the tariffs are right now.

[00:16:17] Eric Goranson: They're sending them over there. They're cutting the parts out and shipping them back and then assembling in the United States where many other cabinet companies are just making stuff here. Those guys are letting the Sawyer work being done overseas. And I think it's a lower quality product that you get with that.

[00:16:33] Eric Goranson: And there's a lot of miles on it before it gets back to you. So I've got a little bit of a problem with that. And they've been really trying to not talk about that, but it's how they're trying to save labor money. And I don't like them shipping those jobs overseas. So ask where your cabinets are being made and see if they're actually cutting them apart themselves.

[00:16:50] Eric Goranson: Or if they're just buying parts from overseas might make a difference on your next kitchen cabinet purchase. So that's what it is. Now let's get over here to a number four, [00:17:00] and this is a big one here. Kitchen refacing that is not a kitchen remodel in my book. That's a fluff and buff, but where people make the biggest mistakes are when they're sitting there.

[00:17:12] Eric Goranson: And the refacing people come over and they put new doors and drawer fronts on the old boxes and they put new countertops in. Many times you can replace those cabinets for almost the same price. Is refacing them, especially when you're removing the old countertops. So they got to come in there. They're going to generally take everything apart.

[00:17:31] Eric Goranson: They got to do all that. You're probably better going with a new design at that point. Refacing is, I think has its place. Now, if you've got beautiful granite countertops and the cabinets are outdated, they're good bones, they're 1980s. And you want to buy a little time before your next remodel. That's not a bad way to go.

[00:17:49] Eric Goranson: It's not. But my concern is when you're looking at it from an investment point, you're almost paying what that price is for a remodel because there's so much labor and actually [00:18:00] sitting there and refacing that entire kitchen that it sometimes is cheaper to put new cabinets in guys. So something to think about when you're out there looking.

[00:18:08] Eric Goranson: If you're going to get numbers both ways, you might be better off just painting what's there and living with it and waiting to down the road to go in and actually do a real kitsch remodel. So it's something definitely to consider. And it's one of those things that can cost you a lot of money by doing it the wrong way.

[00:18:24] Eric Goranson: And that's the last thing I want to see you do. All right. When we come back, this is one of my biggest ones here. And it's, I think it's probably. One of the biggest hazards of working on a project like this. And we'll talk about that just as soon as we come back. Don't change that dial around the house.

[00:18:41] Eric Goranson: Be right back with the rest of our top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchen in 2024, after these important messages, don't go anywhere. I'll show[00:19:00]

[00:19:12] Eric Goranson: the next generation of home improvement. I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, if you're listening on the radio, Make sure you catch the podcast because there's stuff that doesn't air on the radio during the week. Where do you find us? Just look for around the house show on your favorite podcast player or head over to around the house online.

[00:19:30] Eric Goranson: com. Take a look at our premium memberships as well is our number here into the studio at 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. That number again is 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. Now, before I get back to my top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchens in 2024, I got a little quick rant here and these guys are driving me nuts and I tell you what, I don't know if you guys have dealt with this.

[00:19:57] Eric Goranson: If you have, I'm curious to see, head over to around the [00:20:00] house, online. com. Send me a message. I'm curious to see, or hit me up on social media. I have had the U S census Bureau and their crime statistics. These guys are worse than a bill collector trying to get you for a million bucks. They track you down.

[00:20:16] Eric Goranson: I could be traveling. I could be busy. I've tried to get off the list and I do not want to sit down and have my entire family every six months go through their half hour interview to do this thing. And yeah, I know it's my duty to do the census every 10 years. I get it. But man, these guys are knocking on my door.

[00:20:37] Eric Goranson: They're calling me at all hours of the day or night. I tell them what time to call me and they don't. It's absolutely insane. So if somebody comes up to you on your door and says, Hey, You want to be a part of the census crime statistics, run away fast because those guys are going to be calling you on holidays or whatever.

[00:20:55] Eric Goranson: They're going to be tracking you down, trying to get you to do this survey at the most inopportune [00:21:00] time. So I tell you what, that's my rant of today's show. Let's get back to the list here. So we're talking about some of this other stuff here where the 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchens in 2024, one of the biggest ones here.

[00:21:12] Eric Goranson: And it's the biggest one as far as a healthy home. Aspects of your kitchen and the rest of your home actually not installing a vent hood or installing the wrong vent hood in your kitchen. First off, there should be absolutely no way you should be installing a recycling vent hood that basically puts it through a little tiny carbon filter and kicks it back into the room.

[00:21:40] Eric Goranson: Those filters are completely worthless. They might take a little smell out of the air. But they're about as smart as a recycling toilet that's just putting the water back in. It's not gonna work, guys. It's just not. So here's the thing that I want you to do. As part of that kitchen plan, if you don't have a [00:22:00] quality vent hood, make sure you're putting the right one that's gonna exhaust the air coming off of that cooking surface that you got.

[00:22:07] Eric Goranson: Now, the problem is, if you're doing a microwave hood, you got a tiny kitchen, yeah, it's not great. They're not going to work great, but make sure you can get the most out of that and shop around and try to find the highest quality hood that's built into those microwaves and see what you can do with that or find another location for that microwave, because here's the thing.

[00:22:28] Eric Goranson: That thin hood takes all the chemicals. From either combustion of the gas or the cooking itself, all those carcinogens, all the moisture, all of that stuff should be on. Anytime you turn that cooktop on your cooking, you should have that vent hood on and it should be ducting it outside. Now, if you've got a big like 48 inch range, You probably need a thousand or 1, 200 cubic feet per minute.

[00:22:53] Eric Goranson: And that's one of those things I want to make sure that if you're getting up over that 400 cubic feet per minute, you need to think of makeup air. [00:23:00] So what happens is if you turn on a 1, 200 CFM range hood, now range hoods are not figured out of how much air they're moving, but really they're doing it as you, as it, as it's ducted outside.

[00:23:13] Eric Goranson: They measured at the hood, not at actually how much air is moving. So your duct work is going to slow that down a little bit. But what happens is if you've got 200 CFM, let's say it's really inefficient with the ducting. Let's say you've got 800 CFM, it's taken a third or so out of that. Here's what you're worried about is now you have 800, basically basketballs of air that are coming out of your house.

[00:23:36] Eric Goranson: So you need to think about that. That's a lot of air coming out and you need a way to replace that. Because the last thing you want to do is pull carbon monoxide in. If you've got a pretty tight house from your fireplace or any other gas burning appliance, that can be a problem. So take some time. But every single kitchen should have a range hood that vents outside.

[00:23:55] Eric Goranson: Now it's building code in most areas, but there are still some places that are still [00:24:00] 1950s as far as technology goes in their building code. And they still have not adopted that code that has been around in many places for 20 or 30 years. So make sure and take some time, get that vent hood done correctly.

[00:24:13] Eric Goranson: It's really going to help the indoor air quality in your house and make something way safer and you can get all that smelly air that's filled with grease and cooking stuff, chemicals, everything else out of there. And, uh, the same goes, it's even worse. If you have a gas appliance, you want that carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, everything else, it's part of combustion, their formaldehydes.

[00:24:34] Eric Goranson: You want that to go outside and that's how you'll have a healthy home. So something to think about that. That is one of my biggest ones right there. Make sure you've got that dialed in and the right size for the cooking surface. Now here's another one here. That's funny. And this, the rules on this have changed for a while, and I want to make sure you use the right countertop surface in your kitchen.

[00:24:58] Eric Goranson: What is the right one? Think about [00:25:00] what you're going to use and what your cooking style is. Now, here's the thing. I've seen people go, Oh, I'm going to save some money. I'm going to go butcher block countertops. It's an interesting way of doing it. Now, wood is a great work surface. The problem is when you get water involved, maybe a dishwasher.

[00:25:16] Eric Goranson: Or a sink that water's going to destroy those countertops. You need to use more of a mineral oil or wax based material. You don't want to put any kind of a polyurethane or something over it, because unless it's NSF food safe rated, you don't want that in your food. But the other problem you have is like your dishwasher.

[00:25:36] Eric Goranson: The vent is sometimes underneath that countertop a little bit. So now that's going to be trying to split the wood. You've got a pot amount sink. So you've got an end grain there. That's going to be soaking that back in there. And of course, all the damage that can occur. Now let's talk about countertops for a minute.

[00:25:52] Eric Goranson: What has gotten so darn expensive as far as butcher blocks. Great example. If you go down to your big box store and you order some maple [00:26:00] countertops, eight foot length can be four or 500 bucks from your big box store for that. I can run down to floor decor and more for 150, 175. Box and get a slab of granite.

[00:26:12] Eric Goranson: That's pre cuts, countertop depth, get some cutting and polishing stuff and do my own stuff that way. And I'm going to have a much more durable surface in it's 25 percent of the cost. So take a look at it. Think of the materials you want to do. There's some good budget courts out there. There is a lot of different products.

[00:26:32] Eric Goranson: That are better suited for countertop materials. Wood's not my favorite. I think laminate holds up better. Quartz is good, but there's always this push on quartz now where they're trying to, I think they're going to try to ban that in the United States coming up because of the, of the bad installers out there that are putting their people at risk.

[00:26:50] Eric Goranson: That are not using water and vacuum systems for grinding their courts because it's filled with silica dust. So you're going to start seeing, I think, courts be [00:27:00] a little less popular. You're going to see the slab porcelain get up there. And of course, stone and granite is always a big 1, but I think that that, yeah, the silica dust is going to be a big thing over the next few years.

[00:27:09] Eric Goranson: And so it's something we're gonna have to watch and see what they say with that, because that can be pretty tough. That can be pretty tough to manage. And I think the first thing is we'll see it get banned in California, or what they need to do is to be honest, it's not really the products so much as if you actually had people following the installation rules and the best practices of good quality installers, I've been in installation places where they're fabricating those countertops.

[00:27:35] Eric Goranson: You could eat off the floor. It's dust free. They use water. They use, they just basically take care of their people. And how I can tell is if I have the wrong crew on my job site out there, when they're fabricating countertops, if I can look out my window and see him dry cutting something outside with all that dust going everywhere, that's where I go.

[00:27:54] Eric Goranson: Got the wrong people on the job because there's no reason for that. There's way too many safer ways to do it with [00:28:00] vacuum systems and of course Wet saws too. So make sure you got the right people doing that so you don't put yourself Or those other workers at risk. That is a huge deal number seven on my list right here We're going to talk about and we'll talk about it here for a second and then we're going to go out to break because we're due for that but using inexpensive cabinet hardware Now there's a way you can get away with inexpensive hardware is if you want to change it out a lot That's one thing Then I would go for a cabinet knob versus a handle.

[00:28:30] Eric Goranson: Now a cabinet handle can be a real big problem because now you have the off offset or the center line between those two holes that you put in. Now you're stuck with whatever you drilled those cabinets with. Alright, around the house, we'll be right back. We'll wrap up our list of the top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchen in 2024.

[00:28:47] Eric Goranson: We'll be right back.[00:29:00]

[00:29:09] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Round the House show. I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today. This is the next generation of home improvement. Hey, if you've got a home improvement question, Or you've got a topic that you want us to cover I'd love to take that deep dive for you and you can find us over at around the house online.

[00:29:26] Eric Goranson: com Send me a message over there. That's a quick and easy way to do it I'll get back to every single one of you and be able to help you with that and maybe we'll put it in an upcoming episode of the show and if you do have questions if you've got that DIY project you're stuck on you're trying to figure out the Best way to do it you want my opinion give it to you for free eight three three two three nine forty one forty four you That number again, 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44.

[00:29:53] Eric Goranson: We've been talking about today. My top 10 mistakes people make when designing their kitchen in 2024. And since we're on to the [00:30:00] fourth segment here, let's recap what we've had here. Just basically make it a carbon copy of the old design. That's 30 year old, bad mistake, buying different brands of appliances that don't match and making sure their apps work together.

[00:30:13] Eric Goranson: That's a big one. One of my top ones. Not hiring a kitchen designer to do the design work. That's a huge mistake. And then changing out countertops and refacing them at the same time. Many times you can put a new kitchen in for the same price or even a little bit less, and then installing the wrong or too small of a vent hood.

[00:30:33] Eric Goranson: That's a big one using the wrong countertop materials and then using inexpensive cabinet hardware. Now I want to talk about this next one here, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves and I'll talk to somebody out here, a kitchen designer. Great. Yeah. I'm having my kitchen done right now. I'm having custom cabinetry made.

[00:30:55] Eric Goranson: Yes. I'm having custom cabinetry made first off guys, [00:31:00] custom cabinetry. The word custom has no association with the word quality. You could have some guy who's never ran a table saw before, never run a tops chop saw, never run a router, never finished cabinets. And he's out there trying to build you your first kitchen.

[00:31:21] Eric Goranson: And you know, some it's custom. All right. And here's the problem that I have. Many times you can get a factory built kitchen. Major label brand Cabot. That's higher quality than a little tiny custom shop. Now here's why when we built cabinets, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, early nineties, we typically used a lacquer finish.

[00:31:51] Eric Goranson: And if you think about a lacquer finish, that was something that you saw in your fifties and sixties cars, right? That was what was on there. And. You go back into the way back [00:32:00] machine and you people out there, they're older than me that remember it. Cause I remember it. What was people, what were the dads doing on Saturday mornings?

[00:32:07] Eric Goranson: They're outside of wax in the car. Cause you had to wax the car, get it looking good once a month, twice, every couple of months, wax in the car, getting it shined up, getting that dullness off. Guess what? That's the same finish was going on your cabinets back then. And so as a soft finish, you could buff it out and make it look good, but it just took a beating.

[00:32:27] Eric Goranson: Now we've got into. Situations where you've got flatline finishing systems and a robotic that put an even mill thickness of paint across the entire piece. There's no thin spots on edges. It's super sealed up. So you don't have the dirt in there and you don't have the mistakes of a human eye. Now that's one of the problems is that when you get it with smaller custom shops, they're not going to go out and spend a million dollars on a flat line finishing system.

[00:32:55] Eric Goranson: Probably not. And they're going to use the equipment they have, which could be [00:33:00] lacquer finish. They could be using a conversion varnish, which is basically it's different, but it's like a lacquer finish. But they put a hardener in there, a liquid, a little bit of it, and it actually hardens it up and makes for a harder finish.

[00:33:12] Eric Goranson: Something you're not going to find something better than these flatline finishes that are baked on finishes. They're tough, they're durable, and now you're starting to see waterborne urethanes out there which are even more durable. And a lot of these small cabinet shops just can't keep up. Do that. And that's a problem for them, of course.

[00:33:32] Eric Goranson: So that's one of the things I want you to make sure. And something, when you've got a CNC machine, that's cutting out parts to the thousands of an inch, that typically will give you a more consistent box than somebody sitting there with the Unisaw cutting it. Oh, that one's off a 16th. That one's off a 16th.

[00:33:52] Eric Goranson: And there are so many new pieces of technology in these cabinet manufacturing facilities. [00:34:00] There's no way for small cabinet shops to compete with that. There's some good ones out there. I have no problem with all the little different ones out there that are custom. But most of them are not high end. Most of them are mid to entry med and they're trying to go for the local builders, that kind of thing.

[00:34:15] Eric Goranson: And they do an okay job, but when it comes to things like painted finishes and glazes and some of these different things out there that are more specialty, I'd much rather go to a larger manufacturer to have it done because it's going to be more consistent. And in six months, if you have to go replace a door.

[00:34:34] Eric Goranson: Then you can pretty much order it and be pretty confident. It's going to show up as what's going to be there with a little co custom shop. You're going to probably have to take that door to them and they're going to have to sit there and try to recreate that look and back engineer it. So that's the difference.

[00:34:49] Eric Goranson: So really take a look at the cabinets you're looking at. There's a lot of great brands. There's some not so great brands out there. And when it comes to cabinetry, you do get what you're paid for to some extent. [00:35:00] You know? So if you pay a little bit more. And I'm not always this plywood versus particle board thing.

[00:35:06] Eric Goranson: If you've got particle board going in there or they call furniture board versus a import cabinet coming out of China, Vietnam that has, you know, plywood, which I don't know what clues are in it. I'd much rather have the particle board that was made in the U S. So at least I know what chemicals are in it.

[00:35:22] Eric Goranson: So something to consider when you're looking at this. All right. We've got two more here to go. And this is one for you people out there hiring, submitted to design and install your kitchen. The lowest bidder probably has made a mistake. So what I like to do is go out, get my design done. Cause that's the first thing you need to do, get the design done.

[00:35:44] Eric Goranson: So what's going on, because otherwise there's no way to compare apples to apples. You want to be able to say, okay, this is my cabin designer. I know this set of cabins is going to cost me 10, 000. Let's say small kitchen, 10 grand. That's the cabinets. Then you can go [00:36:00] out and say, wow, this person was going to charge me eight to install it.

[00:36:03] Eric Goranson: This church person was going to charge me seven. And this one, four. That 4, 000 one I toss out the door. They're probably too low. It's somebody that probably doesn't know what they're doing, or they don't know the quality of what you're doing. And then the other thing is I want to make sure that who your installer is understands what they're working with as far as a cabinet line, because the first time they deal with a cabinet line, there's going to be quirkiness to it.

[00:36:27] Eric Goranson: Everybody does it a little bit different. So I want an installer that's familiar or has installed these cabinets before. For somebody else, and that's a key right there, making sure they have that familiarity. So your contractor needs to be confident enough with that brand to make sure it works. And then here's the other thing with that too, when it comes to lowest bidder, when you're dealing with installation, things happen.

[00:36:51] Eric Goranson: If you've got a painted cabinet, when they pin nail the crown molding and stuff together, you're going to see the pin nails. They'll go over a little putty stick or something. You will still [00:37:00] see those little pieces. You will still see those parts where they're fastened together. And that's okay. It's just a detail you're not going to get.

[00:37:08] Eric Goranson: The only other way around that is to literally sit there and go through and paint and finish that on site. Which I don't recommend because you won't have as good a finish as what's coming in. From a national retailer. So otherwise you're just going in there and spraying it. I'd much rather see it put together as best you can.

[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: And, um, having those nail holes that are puttied up versus have something that's just not going to hold up. It's going to look much rougher for you later on. So that's a good one right there. Just make sure you're not going at the lowest butter. Go for the mid or the one that's going to work best for you.

[00:37:42] Eric Goranson: Now you could have had somebody that had a good bed. I mean, that does happen, but the lowest bidder is the one that always makes me nervous. They're the ones that probably didn't understand the job or it's not experienced enough to know how to price the job. And I see this a lot because I'll be on social media pages.

[00:37:56] Eric Goranson: People go, Hey, I'm going to be installing a kitchen. What's my, what should [00:38:00] my price be? And I'm like, you don't know what you're doing on pricing. You shouldn't be pricing. That's where I get worried. All right. The last one here is thinking about the kitchen. And when you're thinking about removing walls and coming up with the open concept kitchen, think about your lifestyle.

[00:38:17] Eric Goranson: Maybe open concept isn't the right style for you, but if you've got, and this is my house, exact exactly this. So my wife, Julie, she loves to cook. She loves to have the TV out when she's cooking, watching her British baking shows or whatever she's checking out. If I'm relaxing in the other room and taking a chill from a hard day, relaxing for a minute, and she's loving cooking dinner, she doesn't want to hear my stuff.

[00:38:45] Eric Goranson: She doesn't at all. So these are things to think about that privacy between the rooms can be important. Now, if you want to have the kids out in the other room playing and you don't want to hear Barney on the TV, maybe having that closed up is a better plan. [00:39:00] So something to consider when you're thinking about this.

[00:39:03] Eric Goranson: Now, if you have any questions, that's my top 10 mistakes people make when designing a kitchen 2024. If you have any questions about this list or any other, Send me a line over it's around the house online. com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can Thanks for tuning into around the house. I appreciate you guys.

[00:39:19] Eric Goranson: We'll have another hour coming up soon