Ikea cabinets are well-regarded by both Consumer Reports, and kitchen designers (if you ask honest ones. Mine, in fact, has them in his own kitchen.) And they are a lot cheaper than the high-end Pohgenpols and Snaideros, and a lot nicer than the standard Home Depot standards.
But you can always do even better. For instance, once year, they have a sale where if you spend enough (typically $2500), you can get 10-20% off your entire kitchen purchase. This year, there is a sale from mid-March to mid-May, where you get 10% off a $2500 kitchen purchase, 15% off with the purchase of two appliances, and 20% off with the purchase of three appliances.
But wait! There's more! When you make an Ikea purchase using a debit card, you get a coupon for 3% off your next purchase. So, go in and pick out your cabinets, and then buy a $1.29 box of cookies (vegan, even!) with your debit card. Come back the next weekend after thinking it all over, and buy your kitchen with a 3% off coupon! This is not chump change when you are spending thousands.
Finally, pick your store carefully. Different Ikeas don't differ much in terms of the items you can buy, but do differ in the tax rates for the counties they sit in. Here, I can choose one Ikea with a tax rate of 10.25%, or another at 7.5%. Again, in the dollars we are talking, that difference is very large.
Example: say I spend $5000 on stuff. Just by exploiting the "debit card" purchase trick, and choosing the lower-taxed store, I will save $311.25 versus what I otherwise would have paid. In other words, it's like getting my dishwasher for free.
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How about moving the pipes to within 6" of the ceiling, painting them and not putting in a lower ceiling?
ReplyDeleteIt's an idea, but I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense. The whole point of moving them is to make them invisible. If I'm going to leave them visible, why move them? The price of the ceiling isn't that much; the cost is in the moving them. Moreover, putting in the ceiling allows me to run lots of additional electric, and add recessed lighting. The only disadvantage of the dropped ceiling--and I don't deny it is a disadvantage--is that I lose ceiling height. Given how much I started with, though, I can live with losing a half a foot. I might lose even less in the living room, where I can probably get away with just a soffit, and can add track lighting instead of recessed lighting.
ReplyDeleteYou always had these unbelievable plans to finagle swag from switching credit cards all the time. You got a free TV once, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteSo even though this sounds too good to be true, you may actually pull it off.
The 3% off really does sound like a scam. I'd make sure I read the fine print very closely.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing. Will you really do all the work yourself or will you just keep putting it off? Going ahead and paying someone, someone who knows what he or she is doing and can do it quickly and professionally, so you can enjoy your kitchen may be worth it in the long run.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I don't do more to my house is not really the money, although that's what I bitch about the most, it's the inconvenience and hassle of living through a house remodel.
For myself me dream/realistic plan is... once my living situation is settled, ie, I know how much I'm going to need to fork out for my space, I am going to decide what I want, get a quote and live in a hotel for a week while someone else does the work.
You can come stay with us...I'll charge you much less than a hotel.
ReplyDelete