Gallery: Fine in False Creek

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This project is one of the most extensive remodels we've undertaken.  The ground floor suite was completely gutted and reconfigured, taking 3 rooms and turning them into one open living space.  The kitchen was transformed from a tiny box into a chef's dream.  Cabinetry throughout the kitchen is engineered veneer and the countertops are Caesarstone quartz. 

Even the foyer was remodelled, taking 3 poorly configured closets and creating a large concealed space for laundry and linen storage, as well as convenient coat and shoe storage at the entrance.  The tile floors in the foyer protect this more heavily used space, while the engineered flooring in the rest of the suite make for a more warm and inviting living space.

More details on the complete remodel can be found HERE.

Gallery: Pleasant in Mount Pleasant

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A very dramatic transformation from the original layout (seen in the last photo) was achieved by opening up the walls between the kitchen, family and dining room.  The result is a space designed for entertaining.  The large 10' long island defines the actual "kitchen" area and provides seating for up to 6 people.  Finishes are very contemporary; the upper cabinetry features high-gloss painted doors (handle-less for a clean appearance) which contrasts nicely with a horizontal grain laminate for the base and pantry cabinets.  Countertops are quartz in two different colours.

Why We Provide Quotes, Not Estimates

As you start gathering prices for your kitchen or bathroom project, you'll come across both quotes and estimates for the work.  There's a big difference between the two:

Estimating is equivalent to guessing.  It's like saying "We don't know exactly what the project will cost, but here's our best guess.  Oh, and by the way, if we're wrong we'll be adding to your final bill."

Quoting is different.  Quoting is offering a specific price that will be charged for the work in question.  It's based on facts and experience, and if the bidder has made a mistake in the bid, then the customer isn't on the hook.

At Paradigm Kitchen Design, we quote whenever possible.  The kitchen we design for you will have specific cabinets, handles, countertop and installation requirements where we can be almost 100% certain of the cost.  Even with renovation elements like plumbing, lighting and painting, we can bid with relative certainty.  All items we have included will be listed on your quote. Items we haven't specifically chosen (e.g. handles, countertop material, etc.) will be listed with the allowance we have included.  The final price may or may not change depending on what you select and how it compares to the allowance.

There are some instances where estimating is required.  Areas where the work to be done is not visually apparent (e.g. behind walls yet to be removed) will be estimated to the best of our knowledge.  These items will be identified on your Project Specifications and our quote (or allowance) will be noted. Once we can get in and actually see what needs to be done we'll be able to bid on the work.

In order to properly compare competing prices, it's important for you to know what you're comparing.  When doing so, remember that it takes an expert to stand behind their price.

Source:  James Dibben (Blue Collar Coaching)

Design Tips - Making Up Is Hard to Do

Illustration credit: www.homeenergy.org

Some more ventilation discussion for your consideration:  It wasn't long ago that hood fans rated at over 200 CFM were considered "powerful". Today it’s not uncommon to see range hoods rated at 800 CFM or better.  CFM stands for cubic ceet per minute, and its the measurement of the rate the air inside your house is being moved outside your house.

The CFM rating of your hood fan isn’t just going to affect how quickly the smell of a fish dinner will be cleared from the kitchen.  It’s going to have an impact on your entire house.  As the fan takes air from the house, the air pressure inside the house will drop, causing air outside the house to attempt to get inside.  It will find its way through cracks in the exterior of your house, around poorly sealed windows and doors.  If you’ve gone to the effort of sealing those entrances (well done!) the air is going to find its way in through any chimneys or exhaust vents.  Along with the outside air, fumes from your water heater or furnace (for example) will be drawn back down the exhaust flue and into the house.  This is called backdrafting and presents a very dangerous situation; Carbon monoxide poisoning.

The good news is that this can all be prevented simply by replacing the air you exhaust from the inside of the house with air from outside the house; make-up air.  Make-up air prevents backdrafting, but it also allows the hoodfan you purchased to work at exhausting cooking odours and fumes rather than sucking the air in from the outside. 

Unfortunately, there’s no “standard” to determine what size fan will require make-up air.  It will depend on the house, the fan you wish to use, and many other factors.  Newer homes (e.g. R2000 rated) with tighter envelopes may require make-up air with a fan rated at only 450 CFM.  An older home may be fine with a 650 CFM fan.  Building codes are not much help either.  Bruce Manclark , co-owner of Delta-T, an energy services company in Eugene, Oregon, offers this observation:

With few exceptions, residential codes are silent on the question of providing makeup air. The Uniform Mechanical Code (section 706, 1994 edition) states vaguely that "operation of exhaust fans, kitchen ventilation systems, clothes dryers, or fireplaces shall be considered in determining combustion air requirements to avoid unsatisfactory operation of installed gas appliances."

The only way to be sure how much (if any) make-up air you will require is to have an HVAC engineer test your home.  It’s important to consider this, as well as the cost of adding make-up air to your project when determining the project’s budget.  You’ll also need to consider the possibility of having to heat the make-up air, especially in cooler climates. 

An easier solution is to limit the size of the fan you wish to use.  A 1200 CFM fan is overkill for the average cook. A correctly positioned and sized fan (wider than the cooking surface!) rated at 600 CFM and under is more than adequate unless you plan on running an underground restaurant out of your house. 

For a more detailed look at make-up air, this article from HomeEnergy.org provides a detailed overview.  Your kitchen design professional is also an excellent source of information.

Remodelling is a Team Sport

Watching the Packers and Jets win their way into this year's Superbowl, you couldn't help but marvel at the incredible amount of teamwork it took to achieve this level of success.  Offensive linemen clearing the way for fullbacks, corners covering receivers, and the myriad of coaches and coordinators all communicating with each other to secure the victory.

Whether you decide to renovate your kitchen on your own, employ a design firm or hire a general contractor, it is imperative that all involved work together and communicate well with each other. Framers, drywallers, plumbers and millworkers all rely on each other to prepare the job site for their section of the job.

If the framers don't follow the architects plans, the kitchen window might end up a couple inches from where it was planned. Not a big deal right? If the window isn't in the right location, the cabinets that were planned for that kitchen won't fit the way they were designed. Now we have a much bigger issue, since the homeowner was expecting the sink to be centred beneath the window

Paradigm Kitchen Design offers both full kitchen remodelling and installed cabinets & countertops only. If we are providing a complete remodel, it's easy to stay in communication with all the trades and make sure everyone's on the same page. But if my client is using their own contractor, it becomes even more important to be sure the design we have planned is communicated to all involved.

Good plans are important. A picture is worth 1000 words. But nothing communicates like a site visit, face to face with the tradespeople. Whether it's the client or the designer (or both!) it's important to make regular site visits throughout the job.  This extra work up front will pay off in 8 weeks when the cabinets are installed. True, lights can be moved and drywall patched and repaired. But if some simple information is communicated to all involved, delays are avoided, and the project is completed sooner.
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This article originally appeared on useful spaces - THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 7

We refer to them as the "short strokes"; the part of the project that that often feels like it takes the longest.  Cabinets installation is complete, countertops are installed, the flooring and painting is done.  The backsplash tiles are being installed and then the appliances will be hooked up. A quick sweep up with a broom and is sounds like we should be able to plan the house-warming party, right?

Well for many home owners, these last few items can feel like they take forever.  After weeks of having contractors in their house every day, they are eager to   put their kitchen back together and get their lives back to normal.  Unfortunately the smaller jobs that need completing don`t often take that long, and as a result get spread out over the trades peoples`schedules.  With Al`s help we've been able to keep things moving.  At this stage, sooner is always better than later.

These are the new Caesarstone countertops ... one of their new recycled collection in a colour called Chocolate Truffle.  You can also see the backsplash tile being installed, and the beautiful new Fluid sink.

Speaking of appliances ...

The microwave and dishwasher have already been put in place and hooked up.  The refrigerator just needs the plumber to connect the water line, and the range ... well the range needs about 4 strong backs to carefully put it into place.  This thing is HEAVY, so even though we had the gas fitter in to hook it up, he came alone.  He`ll be back tomorrow and we`ll bring more strong backs.

Links to other posts in this Reno:

Part 6

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 6

The floors are in!!

After a 3 day installation, the beautiful new floors have been installed in the kitchen, dining room and living room.  What a difference it makes!

• Flooring makes the room look a LOT more finished.
• Having proper flooring down greatly reduces the amount of dust that kicks up into the air.
• The lighter flooring reflects light making the whole room brighter
• The material is softer than the subfloor so the room sounds quieter ... until the saws start up again for the baseboards and trims.  But that's not until tomorrow.

The material we're using is Karndean flooring. It's made of part recycled PVC with high quality plasticizers. This material enables Karndean to create a textured surface that looks amazingly like a real wood or tile floor. We chose a "Tasmanian Wattle" wood floor that is very difficult to tell from the real thing.

As mentioned, base trims and painting will be completed by the weekend, and the countertops are being installed on Monday.

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:
Part 5
Part 7

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 5

Monday was an exciting day at our Ridge Meadows household.  For the home-owners, cabinet delivery day is almost always the highlight to this point of the reno.  After all the earlier mess the arrival of the cabinets is the light on the horizon.  The room is getting put back together and the plans we worked on all those weeks ago is about to become a reality.

For the designer, this is where the anxieties begin.  Did we measure everything correctly? Will the cabinets and appliances fit?  Is all the electrical and plumbing  where it needs to be?  It's not that we expect a disaster.  Far from it.  But accidents do happen from time to time, and this is typically where we discover them.  But for this reno, everything is going together nicely.

A nice shot from the living room.  You can see the opening for the fridge and microwave on the back wall.  The sink will be located beneath the window on the right (with a nice view of the mountains and the dike along the Pitt River) and the island in the middle of the room will be covered across the back with panels that will match the rest of the cabinetry.

The working side of the island showing the opening for the 48" pro-style range.  The skinny cabinet to the right of the opening is a pull-out that will hold oils and spices conveniently near the cooking area.  Pot and pan drawers are right of that.  Also, note the door panelling on the end of the island.  The tall unit that will act as a support for the raised eating bar also opens up revealing some hidden storage.

Another picture showing the inside of the kitchen.  The 3 cabinets to the right of the fridge opening are each pot and pan drawers.  Further in is a recycling centre and a food waste centre located right beside the large sink.

The installation to this point took approximately 2 days, and we expect there to be another day and a half to finish up.  The countertop manufacturer will be templating on Friday.  The next instalment on this blog will appear once the tops are in ... in about 10 days time.

To see how we arrived at this point, visit our previous post in the WIP series: Part 4

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 4

The man in the denim shirt is Al, a contractor we work with on many of our projects.  Al is screwing down the subfloor in the kitchen .  The installation of the kitchen cabinets is starting today.  The subfloor was supposed to be installed on Friday.

We're telling you this not because Al is a bad guy.  Quite the contrary.  Al is great.  We love Al.  Why?  Because Al showed up on site first thing in the morning, making sure the subfloor will be installed before the cabinets.  True, it would have been great to have the subfloor in place by Friday, but other aspects of the project got in the way and that just didn't happen.  That's the way things go sometimes.  And when that happens, you want someone like Al on your side.

While the subfloor is being installed, the cabinet installers have a chance to organize and inspect the cabinets.  Being that this is the first day of installation, not much will actually be installed.  The installers will spend the morning going over the plans with the designer, discussing installation details and potential areas of confusion.  Items such as built-in appliances and crown moulding details look good on paper, but an on site meeting with all parties involved make the installation go much smoother.

There's activity going on outside as well with the stucco contractor putting the finishing touches on the repairs around the windows.

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:

Part 3
Part 5

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 3

The rough-in work (plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation) is complete at our Ridge-Meadows renovation, which means the drywall can begin.

This is where the new kitchen will be.  The windows have been replaced and raised to allow for the cabinetry beneath.  The wall in the middle is where the new island will be.  You can see the openings for the gas connection and the vent for the fresh air return (for the furnace) which we're going to hide beneath the range rather than leaving it out in the middle of the kitchen where it was before.  Lighting is visible in the ceiling at the moment.  Once the ceiling is painted and the light trims added they will be much more conspicuous.

This is the dining room end of the room.  The entry staircase (behind the wall on the left) was open to the main room.  By closing it off we've created a more intimate entry to the house, while increasing the size of the dining room and creating a wall on which the homeowner can place a hutch.

The drywall phase is one of the most trying in the reno experience for a couple reasons:

It marks a sort of "no-return" point in the project.  While it is true that lights and outlets can be relocated once the drywall is up, that involves bringing in the trades again, creating delays and adding costs to the job.  So, before the board goes up we go over the design to make sure everything is where it needs to be.  This pictures shows the new duct work we installed for the ventilation hood.  The location of this is critical as it needs to be perfectly centred over the range in the island.

The mess.  As careful as are, drywall dust is one of the most invasive substances known to humanity.  It will get in everything.  Even if we have the doorways sealed with plastic, the dust will find a way through.  The best solution is to empty the room.  The more valuable an item is, the greater the need to keep it away from the dust.  Electronics are especially affected by drywall dust.

The length of the drywall phase is also affected by something we have no control over:  the weather.  The mud that is used to make everything smooth takes time to dry.  That drying time is affected by both heat and moisture.  While we use fans and heaters to help things along, if the mud isn't dry it isn't dry, and cannot be sanded.  We've been lucky this week ... the weather has been pretty good.  We still needed to use some heaters to help things along, but delays were minimal.

Up next:  the cabinets!!

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:

Part 2
Part 4

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno Part 2 / Design Tips - Clearance at Seating

Earlier this week the homeowner sent us this email:

I was thinking about the right hand side of the bay window (the side by the patio door) and was wondering if we could now fit a small cabinet there, perhaps a corner style one now that we have more room as the stairs are wider. Is this possible? What do you think?

As much as we try to anticipate every design question in advance, sometimes ideas pop up as the renovation unfolds and we have to make some design decisions on the fly.  In this situation we were able to relocate a support column making our stairs into the dining room quite a bit wider.

The area where the customer would like to add cabinets is the blank area to the left of the cabinet labelled BEA1215R.  As you can see there is definitely space available, about 5 feet to be exact.  So we can order more cabinets, right?

Courtesy of NKBA.org

Before we answer that, let's examine NKBA Kitchen Guideline #8 - Traffic Clearance at Seating.  In a seating area where no traffic passes behind a seated diner, allow a minimum 32” of clearance from the counter/table edge to any wall or other obstruction behind the seating area. If traffic passes behind the seated diner, allow at least 36” to edge past and at least 44” to walk past.

This is a wider view of the area in question that shows the island that sits in the middle of the kitchen.  Across the back is a raised eating bar, and with this family of 6 the bar will definitely be used.  The distance between the bar and wall is shown as 60".  If the guideline says we need 44" then we should be able to put cabinetry up to 16" deep along that wall.  Order more cabinets already!

Courtesy NKBA.org

Guideline #8 continues, stating that if traffic passes behind the seated diner, we need to plan a minimum of 60” to allow passage for a person in a wheelchair.  This addresses "Universal Design".  We'll deal with Universal Design in detail in another post, but for now it refers to making a room as accessible to as many people of as many abilities as possible.

In this situation, nobody in the homeowner's family is in a wheelchair.  In fact they're all very fit.  But there are 6 of them (4 active kids), and they also enjoy entertaining.  The staircase (directly behind the island) is the only access into the living room and the back patio and pool.  In other words, it's going to be a very busy staircase.

While adding cabinetry to this design would fall within the basic guidelines, the more stringent Universal Design guidelines seem to be a more prudent course of action.  In the end, it's the homeowner's decision.  But for this situation we suggested not adding cabinetry.  We'll keep you posted as to what the decision was in the end.

Note from Paradigm:  We spent some time with the client today (10/29/10) mapping out the cabinets on the floor and actually standing in the space.  With the Christmas party season fast approaching they saw this area as a potential bottleneck and decided to leave the cabinetry as planned.

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:

Part 1
Part 3

WIP - Ridge Meadows Reno - Part 1

There's a saying that goes:  "Misery loves company" and while we hope that any project you'd do with us wouldn't be classified as misery, we thought that we could help with the "company" part of that equation by sharing a renovation project with you in real time.  The is WIP (Work in Progress), and for the next few weeks we'll looking at a project in Ridge Meadows.

The interesting thing about this project is that we've been here before.  Paradigm did the first kitchen renovation for this client back in 2000.  At the time it was quite an extensive remodel, but 10 years and 2 (additional) children later the space didn't quite meet their needs any more.  What was needed was more room for the family, and the guests they entertain. 

The new kitchen design is an even bigger departure from the original kitchen than the first renovation.  In fact it's almost 180 degrees different since the entire kitchen is switching places with the dining room.  This means all the services have to move to the other side of a very large room!  In addition we're also removing a wall to make the new dining room even larger, and we're making the access into the living room a little wider.

This is our original renovation just after it was completed back in 2000 ... and the site of the new dining room.  The wall behind the refrigerator is the wall we're removing, which will add another 48" to the room.  All the cabinetry you see in the room has found a new home, something we try to do for every old kitchen we remove.

Here's the room now.  The black pipe you see on the right is a drain stack from the upstairs bathroom.  We knew it was there before we took out the wall, but our hope was that we were going to be able to relocate it.  However, until the drywall came off and we looked at things close up we couldn't be 100% certain we could do it.  This is a very important thing to remember when you renovate.  Plan ahead whenever possible, and when you can't you have to choose between making a design decision on the fly, or anticipating a "worst case scenario". 

For us, the worst case was not being able to remove the wall.  Would the design be possible even if the wall couldn't be removed?  For us it was and we were able to proceed without waiting.  But if it hadn't been we would have been forced to do some pre-design demolition, or to wait until the phase we're at now.  Of course the sooner you can be certain the better, but sometimes it's just not possible.

This is the wall that used to house a pantry, desk area and wall oven.  In the new design it will be home to the fridge, microwave and a long run of pot and pan drawers.  Directly opposite this wall will be the new island and the 48" professional style range. 

This is the same wall now.  We've furred out the wall to even it up from some previous framing.  You'll notice another black drain pipe to the right of the ducts.  This was relocated from it's original home on the opposite side of the room something we were able to do since we'd added some extra depth to the new wall.  We are fortunate that this kitchen also has a crawl space beneath, making the majority of the mechanical (plumbing, electrical, heating) work much simpler.

This is where the new kitchen will be.  Cabinetry and countertops will run beneath all 3 windows providing a very large work surface.  The sink will be situated beneath the middle window and the aforementioned island and range will be in the middle of this space.

Something else of note in these pictures are the pot lights in the ceiling.  Whenever we are involved with a complete renovation like this, we work out a lighting plan to go with the layout of the kitchen.  However, until the ceiling is explosed we have no idea if what we have planned will actually work with the framing in the room.  In this case, the lighting plan worked about 75% from what we had planned.  The designer and the electrician met on the job site to discuss the required changes.  These changes were then discussed with the client to be sure they met everyone's expectations.

Coming up next:  drywall, floor prep and cabinets!

Links to other entries in the WIP series on the Ridge Meadows Reno:

Part 2