I hope the son graduates from college and moves out and never uses that kitchen!
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Is this like pianos? (A piano salesman one explained that wealthy, non-musicians buy his priciest pianos). Fancy stove for a non-cook?
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My bro and SIL are starting a kitchen remodel in a few weeks. I’m pretty sure that is the line they chose. Their designer said they were lucky to get the last one in stock at the warehouse in Houston(?) otherwise would have had to wait for it to ship from Italy and who knew how long that would take???
Those ranges are gorgeous. They wouldn’t fit the style of our new house, but would suit the old one. I had sticker shock some years back when we had to replace a Wolf 48" dual fuel range with the same brand because nothing else would fit. Wolf bought back the one they’d given me as a replacement for the first failed range and by the time we realized we had to go with another Wolf, the price had jumped from the $10K we’d received to about $12K. They’re now over $14K. Sometimes I’ve wished that we’d just gone ahead with a remodel of that kitchen and bought Miele or Bosch. I’d take my old Frigidaire stove any day.
My fear about appliances like that range is not being able to find any repair techs in our area who have even a clue where to begin fixing one. Folks we know who have La Cornue and Lacanche ranges have to wait on repair techs from Nashville or Atlanta. What a pain.
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OMG. Those prices make me feel like we got a bargain 5 years ago: all Miele dishwasher, double oven with steam cook, gas cooktop, microwave, overhead hood, and gas cooktop - all for $15k plus tax. Of course, I cried at the time when I was writing that check.
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We looked at those range options when we we moved and redid the kitchen because stylistically, they would have worked well in our 115 year old house. I ended up hating the small oven sizes and it didn’t feel very sturdy. We ended up with another Wolf. I think they are worth every penny.
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Just a caution - I suggest that you don’t use the self cleaning option on the Wolf ovens. The blue porcelain interior coating has a history of crazing, cracking, and splintering. You can read numerous complaints about that on the Houzz forums.
Yikes!!!
I’ve never had an issue with the self clean. I’ve had a Wolf in the last two houses - over 15 years now. Many clean cycles.
I have never used that cycle. I think it is a sheer insanity to run a crematorium (or incinerator?) inside my house. But yikes about those splinters!!!
Silpat–why not just order your own appliances? You have a place to store them so go ahead and order. Why wait for your builder?
We built our house on cost plus basis also and I bought EVERYTHING (and since my builder was also building his own home at the time I sometimes ordered 2 (one for me and one for him since he liked my selections).
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The reason we had to get the ILVE range instead of another more well-known brand is because there is no natural gas at this home. Owner wanted to pull natural gas but the utility company does not have natural gas lines in this neighborhood. Then she tried to analyze a giant propane tank but I explained that the truck might not be able to get up her driveway to refill the tank AND I would have to jackhammer and trench from driveway through the house slab to get a line into kitchen.
This is the only company that has an induction pro style range. The one I linked is natural gas, but the induction actually costs $9,000!
Also note that it is one of the few pro style ranges that has some digital controls/display. She wanted to be able to see oven temp, preheat, set a timer, etc. So, this was a great find when needing induction and some visible controls.
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We likely will go ahead and order but will use the appliance dealer he’s worked with on previous homes. I’ve gotten a quote already and it’s quite reasonable. The main reasons for waiting are that H doesn’t want to rent a climate controlled storage unit near the new house (yet) and I’m concerned about running out the clock on the manufacturer’s warranty before the appliances can be installed. Site prep is still not complete, which is frustrating and may be indicative of how slowly this whole project will go.
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@Silpat When we redid our kitchen island a few years ago, we ended up being bumped six months after having ordered and paid for those appliances, the store held them in the warehouse so we could start the warranty on the day of installation.
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That’s good to know. I’ll ask the local dealer if they’ll do the same. Thanks.
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Framing is done!!! I thought the day would never come. We spent a lot of time finishing absolutely everything on first floor in order to try to pass inspection. But, the inspector did pass on floor nailing and roof nailing but would not pass the 1st floor completely (even though he acknowledged we were done with plumbing and electrical) because he didn’t want us putting insulation in in case of rains. Well, guess what, it did rain this week
We are done with all the wall framing but we are on hold waiting for the roof trusses to get delivered. We have had issues with raining this week and the rain is just flooding everywhere. We have to watch the weather report and then stop, put everything away into tiny garage and cover with plastic.
We are having the opposite problem with appliances. Because we were worried about lead time, owner and I did the appliance shopping a month ago. Well, now all these appliances are arriving and I have no place to put them. I have one ‘dry’ area available to store expensive stuff that is showing up - the back addition has roof felt so we are dry in that one room.
Desperately trying to get owner to finalize her kitchen layout, cabinet door style and colors. I will load the kitchen layout to the photo group later (it’s out in the truck right now) for Peanut Gallery comments. The kitchen is a wide galley style with a small peninsula. Unfortunately, the owner keeps loading up pictures to our Houzz Ideabook that are 5,000 square ft kitchens with huge islands and pointing out things she wants. I keep trying to explain that she has a completely different layout and limited space!
One of the key things we are doing is buying panel-ready refrigerator and dishwasher to streamline the look of the kitchen without a lot of appliances breaking it up. Also, I am insisting on no uppers in the front part of kitchen in order to ‘open it up’. All of the tall cabinets and refrigerator are in the back part of the kitchen. We have a constraint that the main electrical panel is in the back of the kitchen on the wall where the previous laundry room was. It would cost too much money to move the panel somewhere else. If we had turned it around it would have been in the middle of the main hallway. So, we have a lower base cabinet with drawers and a countertop to the right as you enter the kitchen from back door. I’m calling this the ‘landing zone’ and perfect location for the infamous Junk Drawer.
Kitchenaid Stainless micro/oven combo and a Bosch grey glass 36" gas cooktop
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I’ve seen the Fisher Paykel fridge, and it looks really nice. Has their reliability improved? We had friends with one and when it had issues, it also took a LONG time to find someone to repair it. But the look is fabulous. And it had nice interior space.
BUDGET
Original budget was $250,000 for construction with an estimate of $40,000 for customer purchases such as appliances, kitchen cabinets, lighting. First, she is going way over on her purchases but that is something I don’t pretend to estimate or control.
We are going to be way over due to a bunch of reasons. At least $15,000 was spent repairing termite damage, moving plumbing under house, out of square and wall height issues due to condition of original house under the covers. This immediately ate up the contingency funds inside the original budget.
Then the structural engineer made us go under back addition and do a retrofit of the original design because the stem walls had to be poured higher than plan due to the dirt grade on east side of the house.
Now the owner has decided she wants the entire house soundproofed to the max like a freaking music studio!!! This is because the house is under flight path, but she didn’t mention her requirements when we were designing the house. I have spent a week on the phone with three different experts that she insisted we had to call to get ideas. It boiled down to these guys all work for some company back East that sells a mass vinyl product that would have cost $1,200 just to ship out and another $3,000 in materials and labor. In the end it is meant solely to be laid in attics. I kept explaining to her that she has only one ‘attic’ in the house about half of the 2nd floor because there is a rooftop deck over the master bedroom (which was her main concern) She finally abandoned that idea so we are putting in Rockwool sound insulation everywhere and all ceilings and exterior walls are going to be 5/8 drywall (which was my original suggestion before I wasted hours researching and estimating off links she kept sending me)
I’m going to guess they will be about $320,000 at the end.
Good to know the Fisher Paykel has nice interior space design because it is so shallow (really flush to cabinets, not like a counter depth where doors still stick out). She has identified a local Fisher Paykel repair source but I don’t have an opinion on reliability.
This was a happy medium between the Kitchen Aid panel ready flush which is not available (6,000), a super expensive flush (8 to 10k) or the Kitchen Aid counter depth. Cost of the Fisher Paykel was $3,900 which is a good deal for a flush refrigerator
The beautiful panel ready double drawer dishwasher was $1,199
Congrats! I’d be a nervous wreck. Surprises me that your client worries about nickels and dimes but has such high end tastes. Maybe it shouldn’t. Don’t think I’d be thrilled with an extra 70K over run (none your fault).
Does all this addition make financial sense? If the owners sell will they recoup this investment?
Can’t wait to see kitchen plan! In the meantime I’m still keeping my dollar…
I think it will be about a $35,000 overrun. $15,000 construction and $20,000 in owner upgrades