I wonder why there are no “before” photos in this article…
https://www.yahoo.com/style/transforming-builder-grade-home-modern-130059382.html
I agree with the Yahoo users: it does look like IKEA showroom. 
The prior owner of our house was into artworks and wanted to have as much open wall space as possible… even in the laundry room. This lack of wall cabinetry to hide crap is quite annoying, so I am bookmarking those RTA cabinet sites. 
Dang… I missed all these good discussions.
Lowes has nice white shaker stock cabinets that are decent but limited sizes. To save money just buy a large 36" wide and a piece of filler. Or a 18 and 24 to fill more space but they will look odd together. Quality is similar to the ready to assemble websites except they are pressboard boxes with wood fronts and doors/drawers. Should be fine for a laundry upper wall cabinet. Best part is they can be picked up and brought home in one day.
Cliq Studios have really nice cabinets in much better quality and styles as the other RTA websites (which all carry the same things). However, I have tried several times to source with them and they insist on telephone appointments with their designers and they have about 6 week lead time to ship. All of that is great for homeowners but doesn’t work well with my scheduling requirements. But they are one of the few that carry the classic framed style cabinetry which I wanted to do in my last project.
@BunsenBurner
Love the cape cod in Newport Beach that you posted. The woodwork is beautiful. I find it amazing that they got away with a 3100 sq ft house on a 2177 sq ft lot!!! That’s a tight squeeze but it is in a dense area because land is so expensive. I love that coastal style, it feels so bright and cheerful.
The $440 reed dining side chair would be my cat’s scratching post also. She’s pretty much ruined my couch but I’m ignoring it for right now.
Just a ramble, here. The longest unbroken wall on our first floor is 7’. That’s a pain. The LR was originally front and back parlors, fire place between. When a former owner took out the separation and FP, it left a boxed-in pipe chase on the outside wall. So what could be a nice long 10’ wall (for a full sofa) has that projecting out. (Radiator pipes run there to two bedrooms above.)
I’ve searched in vain for decorating photos that show solutions, other homes with this break, how they work around it. (Eg, matching set ups on each side, table and art. Or treat them as separate decorating spaces.)
Thanks for the input, btw, on the loveseat. It’s now out for a redo. The guys got excited that it’s “an 80’s piece,” lit up when they realized all wood, no fiberboard.
I forgot to mention that Lowes also has really inexpensive thermofoil laundry and garage cabinets if money is really tight. I use them in garage and laundry rooms if my budget is really tight
In my experience, the thermofoil cabinets are very durable.
Thanks for the suggestion @coralbrook. I hate to waste the space by using only a 36" and filler as I need every bit of storage I can get!! While I don’t want to spend a fortune, I do want it to look nice since this is a.new home. I don’t know how long we will be here, so with dozens of other units with the same floor plan, I don’t want to be cheap for resale reasons.
I have seen issues with Cliq during the design process; everyone loves the produce, it is just getting their designers to work with you in a timely fashion. I don’t have to have these right away, so I may attempt a design with Cliq and see how that goes. Or, just live with 36" on the top and bottom 
If I go with Cliq, I could get the deep drawers I want for the base cabinet; not something I am going to get with stock cabinets. I also need to go out to one of the outlets and see what all they have. Guess this isn’t happening before I move in the then of the month!
Most of the RTA and stock cabinets have wasted space on sides and backs of drawers
I forgot…IKEA has great cabinets with wonderful accessories to add functionality everywhere. Don’t forget a need for a broom closet somewhere for vacuum cleaners and tall brooms. Look at IKEA. Can be picked up by you or handyman, assembled and installed quickly. IKEA is decent quality and definitely top value for price and lots of sizes available
I actually had thought of IKEA and we have a store here! My daughter, who lives is London, is getting ready to update her kitchen, and they are going all IKEA.
Go IKEA. It’s the best solution for great functionality. Check out all their cool bells and whistle inserts and attachments
I just finished an IKEA kitchen for a young couple and we installed an 18" pull out trash cabinet for trash and recycling. IKEA had a new gadget that can be installed on the pull out door. You press the cabinet door with your knee and it pops open without getting dirty hands on the cabinet pull. I thought it was a gimmick but the couple wanted it. It works great and hasn’t broken yet!
^^Cool! I want that one!
Any thoughts on Free-standing vs. Slide-in Ranges? Are free-standing always more inexpensive?
Free standing are less expensive. However they look inexpensive…unless you get the giant Wolf or Viking which are technically free standing also.
Another issue is that gunk will definitely drip or fall down the sides between the cabinets.
A slide in is always the better choice. They look nicer and the ‘lip’ that covers the back and sides of the unit keeps everything much cleaner.
Thank you!!! I went back and looked at the flickr site for flip this house and saw that mostly you use a cooktop and wall ovens, and that looks the best, honestly. We will be looking for some deals.
Just this summer realized the design quirk in our house that if work is going on that blocks the entry area I can’t get to any of the bathrooms. Powder room off the entry hall, the 2 full baths are upstairs, but the stairs are off the entry hall, as are the basement stairs, so even a basement bathroom wouldn’t fix this. At least the contractors have plenty of options, which I tell them they can use. But I’m glad that flooring work is finally complete.
When we were appliance shopping that for cooktops you can choose a “cook top” or a “range top”. The difference being the cooktop has the controls on the top and the range top has them on the front. The range top is usually more expensive. My husband preferred the range top because he felt it would be easier to clean.
We finally did the washer/dryer swap. Egads. We are now looking at an urgent remodel project - Mr. B is very hesitant to have a stack of W/D in the laundry room! He looked at the stacking kits and declared them unsafe. You don’t want a natural gas-powered appliance to fall if the ground starts shaking! So he insisted on removing the broom closet next to the appliance cubby to place the dryer next to the washer… this means no washer for at least a week and no dryer for a month!!
How awful!^^
We’re looking at a future project where we would build a small addition, mainly for laundry, and demo the old garage. The garage would have to go first and we would have no laundry until it was all done. Not looking forward to that…
Went out today to look at fireplace inserts. We have old fireplaces that are very shallow since they were built to burn coal back in the day. Found a nice cast iron “basket” type with a gas flame (and remote!) that only needs 13" of depth. That will be for the living room.
Our kitchen eating area fireplace is totally pastiche and there is no masonry. We’ll get an electric unit for that. Need to have some carpentry work done first and then call an electrician and a gas plumber.