Don't have to dish out tried and true when remodeling kitchen
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Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Some home improvement projects beg for creativity. It just depends on how much you want to spend and how long you're willing to live in a cloud of construction dust.
But if it's a kitchen remodel, certain things are expected. High-end jobs, in particular, almost always include some sort of stone countertop and custom wood cabinetry, along with designer faucets, unique flooring (cork and bamboo are especially hot right now) and fancy, commercial-style accessories like warming drawers and built-in wine refrigerators.
Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Associated PressWhen they moved into their Upper St. Clair home, Brian and Karen Shanahan swapped dark green countertops for tan and brown granite and refinished the bright white cabinets in walnut and antique cream.
Click photo for larger image.
Every once in a while, however, homeowners do something unexpected, either to save a few bucks or to imbue the project with their sense of personal style.
Karen and Brian Shanahan are a case in point. The newlyweds loved everything about their 10,500-square-foot French Country-style home in Upper St. Clair's Deerfield Manor neighborhood. Everything, that is, but the kitchen.
With its dark green granite counters, antique heart pine floors and enormous brass range hood, the room was certainly pretty enough. But it just wasn't the couple's style. The room's bright-white cabinetry, in particular, was simply too shiny, says Mrs. Shanahan.
"We're a little more traditional," she says.
One easy but expensive solution would have been to buy new cabinets. Instead, the Shanahans hired Custom Finishing (www. customfinishingonline.com; 724-947-1107) to professionally refinish them, at roughly 20 percent the cost of replacement cabinets.
"After spending so much money for the house, I knew I wasn't going to squeeze another $40,000 or $50,000 out of Brian for a new kitchen," Mrs. Shanahan explains.
First Published November 19, 2005 12:00 am
