We made a late-night stop at the house last night and found that not much
more has been done, but all of the cabinets, trim, sinks, interior doors, etc.
have been delivered and are hanging out in our garage patiently awaiting
installment. We are going to take a bike ride over to the house on Saturday so
I
reallllly hope at least some things are installed by then. I've gotten so
used to rapid progress, so when I visit and nothing has been done I get
disappointed.
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| Boxes of cabinets and trim! |
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| Railings (where's the bullnose?!?!) |
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| Some interior doors. I guess the little door is for one of the attic access panels? It's kind of cute! |
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| French doors for the study |
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| Double-bowl sinks. I like how well they follow directions: "Lay Flat" = Stand up on the narrowest end |
On the topic of cabinets...
One thing that irks me a bit is the fact that all of the
cabinets choices Ryan offers have particle board
boxes instead of plywood. I just really hate particle board for practical and
cosmetic reasons: Any sort of moisture causes warping/flaking of your board (it's the worst in bathrooms) and
the fake wood veneers they use on the sides of the boxes look
so bad.
Particle board is the cheapest way to build cabinets and unfortunately,
that's the only thing you can get with Ryan (save for a custom request which
would likely cost a fortune). Not only are the boxes made from the lowest grade
material, but only when you upgrade to the highest cabinet choices (
rushmore
or
wyoming) do you even get solid wood doors. The rest of us
fairfield or
scottsdalers get veneered
doors.
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| Here's a close-up of the particle board and the ugly printed veneer on the sides. I couldn't get to the front of the cabinets, so I'll post some pictures of the whole thing later. |
Here are some good websites if you are interested in more information on cabinets:
To be fair, I don't think this is a Ryan-specific thing (though I'm sure
some of the higher-end builders offer better cabinets options) so much as a "new
age" thing. It seems that the trends for the building and construction industry keep moving
more and more toward the "quick, easy and cheap" options, rather than the
"built-to-last" options. If I could afford it, I would buy all of my furniture
from the Amish over in Lancaster. They seem to be in the minority of those who
still take pride in their craft, and it's obvious in the quality of their
products. You'll never see particle board in any of their furniture!!
Ok, enough ranting... thanks for letting me get that off of my chest... now I will proceed to get excited about my cheap, yet beautiful kitchen cabinets, which are hopefully going in as we speak!
This is what helped me make my choice to upgrade to Rushmore cabinets. They were solid wood doors and better hinges. Kitchen doors in a big family take a lot of wear and tear.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it really is a shame about the materials. I especially think they are terrible in the bathrooms, where a floor is more likely to become wet. The trim will swell up like crazy the first time it gets wet. I almost think the foam trim would have been a better choice.
My husband and I got thousands of dollars in upgrades and just wish that we had the cash on hand because we would have had the house built with just the basics, then we could have had it all tore out and had better quality materials to replace all of it and still would have saved money. Everything still looks nice but I agree with you, it would be nice to have a choice even if it was more cost to the buyer.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved all wood all cabinets. We went with the Wyoming because they were real wood doors and I liked the finish/shape. Money spend in kitchens and bathrooms is almost always, money well spent. I was disappointed that $2700 extra dollars got side veneers but it's quite common. My parents built their home in 1988/1989 and wood doors were standard with veneer sides. They still look really good.
ReplyDeleteI originally chose the Rushmore cabinets because of the color choice and the Wyoming Mape Spice for the same reason. Afterwards I became curious about the cabinets and learned they were solid wood which greeted me with a smile. Personally, I prefer quality and excellent workmanship so I was pleased with my choices. I also checked the price sheet and noticed the difference in price. I have to admit hands down the Rushmore is RHs highest grade and best quality. The problem for me is that they only offered one color in the Rushmore and two color choices in the Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteI originally chose the Rushmore cabinets because of the color choice and the Wyoming Mape Spice for the same reason. Afterwards I became curious about the cabinets and learned they were solid wood which greeted me with a smile. Personally, I prefer quality and excellent workmanship so I was pleased with my choices. I also checked the price sheet and noticed the difference in price. I have to admit hands down the Rushmore is RHs highest grade and best quality. The problem for me is that they only offered one color in the Rushmore and two color choices in the Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteRushmore and Wyoming are both solid wood center panel. The only difference is the styling of the panels. The Rushmore costs more than the Wyoming because of the "glaze" finish. Both are the same quality because they're both in Portfolio Select line.
DeleteI had written a post about the cabinets in May. Luckily, I caught this before we made our final choices. http://ryanhomesjourney.blogspot.com/2012/05/cabinet-choices-beware.html
ReplyDeleteI wish I had seen that before :(... unfortunately for me I found these blogs after we had already made our selections.
DeleteI agree about the cabinet issue...I like the maple espresso cabinets however when we found out about that ones that Ryan offers are in a lower grade from Timber lake I asked the SR to price out the Espresso cabinets in the higher grade (Wyoming or Rushmore). Timberlake cabinet company offers Wyoming and Rushmore in maple espresso or oak espresso. My SR made a call to the main office to see if that was a possibility for us and Ryan responded NO. I was told that I could only get Wyoming or Rushmore in the color that Ryan offered...To this day it still pisses me off because our house that we sold had very nice kitchen cabinets by Kraftmaid. I think Kraftmaid cabinets are by far much better than Timberlake. its the drawers that worry me most because there not hardwood drawers...enough said on that I am just going to have to enjoy the Scottsdale Maple Espresso
ReplyDeleteYea, I think it's so weird that they wouldn't give you a different color from the same company? It stinks to see how many options Timberlake offers compared with what little choice we had. I guess they have the draw the line somewhere, but it sucks for us... especially since cabinets are something that would be a bear to replace down the road.
DeleteMy father said to me the other day, going through this house buying process you will say: "We should have spent money on this, or we should have gotten that…" This is your first home that you're building and it guaranteed to be lessons learned along the way. In your next house you will have a better idea of what upgrades you want and the type of materials, etc. Cabinets are expensive, and I decided on the Wyoming Cherry based on aesthetics alone. I wished I was as astute to know about plywood and veneer. I'm sure in 10 years we will all be making major changes in all our houses. Whether it's new windows, new cabinets or looking for a brand new house period. So, chuck it up to experience. The cabinets are a nice color and no one will say, "Oh, you have plywood and veneer?
ReplyDeleteI remodeled the kitchen in my old home five years ago and cabinets are expensive. I spent $14,000 on cabinets alone (not installation or countertops - Corian for the small space was $4,000). They were real wood and some were custom sized, but the kitchen was easily 1/2 the size of the RH kitchens. After five years, they were dinged just as much as any other kitchen cabinets would be. I would be open to real wood custom cabinets again, given that we've got the money. But I do think you are getting a decent deal with RH.
ReplyDelete