Recommendations for kitchen cabinets and countertops for a rental apartment?
We need to install new kitchen cabinets and countertop in a rental apartment. We want to pick something decently durable that isn’t going to look all beat up in 3 years.
Anyone have a recommendation for good brands/material of cabinets and counters? Colors that hold up well? Places to buy these? We’re not looking for fancy, but we don’t want the junk that will get destroyed right away.
Any advice appreciated. When we did cabinets for ourselves, we realized the wood on ours is really soft and ours would look like junk if we didn’t baby them, so we want to be sure to get something that will do well in a rental where it might not get treated as gently.
stickerhappy
in General Discussion 4 years and 11 months ago
19
Please log in, in order to post replies!
19 replies
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 10 months ago
Me too, as above who’s seen my kitchen would know.
NeoGrec | 4 years and 10 months ago
Completely agree, brokelin!
brokelin | 4 years and 10 months ago
NeoGrec – yeah, Formica (and other laminate brands) are fine by me – I see them as like butcher block, cheap but fine and serviceable if they aren’t ugly and aren’t abused (they are just out of favor right now, I think because we have a lot of conspicuous consumption going on in kitchen renovations.)
I liked the stone ones I’ve had as well, but not all that much better – I tend to like simplicity in a kitchen. I bought a brownstone coop that had been remodeled with Ikea cabinets and plain white laminate counters, and I never, ever felt the slightest urge to change them. They looked good with the pine cabinet doors, terra cotta floor tiles, and exposed brick wall (I don’t like exposed brick in brownstones, it seems too industrial in character for brownstone spaces to me, but I lived with it, as there wasn’t that much if it, just one kitchen wall mostly covered with upper and lower cabinets.)
But then, I think a certain spareness of style fits the character of brownstones best – kitchens were simple in the late 1800s. So many of the expensive renovated kitchens i n places I saw while looking to buy just seemed overdone and not fitting the rest of the brownstone apartment, to me, and just turned me off to the places completely (though I suppose the owners who put in kitchens that wouldn’t look out of place in French or country-style homes or in McMansions thought they were improving their properties.) Perhaps they did appeal to other buyers without my sensibility of wanting to match the character of renovations to the style of the building somewhat, or at least not clash with them overly (while having modern conveniences, of course.)
NeoGrec | 4 years and 10 months ago
FWIW, the formica countertops in our rental still look brand new after 20 years. And since we had them installed, the patterns, colors and edge shapes have improved a lot. So don’t write off humble formica too quickly!
Guest User | 4 years and 10 months ago
Wise Cabinets in Brooklyn. I forget the name of the place in Flushing as our GC normally sources them for us. However I suspect they are all coming from the same factory. They typically work out around the same price as Ikea, but you do not need to build them. Advantage of Ikea is of course the raft of aftermarket suppliers, such as Semihandmade if you wanted to spruce up the fronts a little. We liked the flat fronts and they were a decent quality so it wasn’t an issue for us.
stickerhappy | 4 years and 10 months ago
Thanks, would you mind telling me which shop you used a bunch of times?
Guest User | 4 years and 10 months ago
Remnants of stone can be had for next to nothing, the guy next to Lowes opposite big reuse has a bunch of quartz which is likely the best bet for longevity. Having been a renter, I would certainly have been willing to pay a premium each month for a kitchen that wasn’t just cobbled together for the lowest price possible.
Someone else mentioned the pre-assembled cabinets from the supplies in Queens and Brooklyn. They tend to be the same guys that own the marble stores around there (and typically Asian owned, but I didn’t want to call that out necessarily). We have used them a bunch of times and cannot speak highly enough of the quality. Their white slab doors hold up well and are incredibly inexpensive too.
With the quality and design options available at reasonable prices today there is no need for some of these hideous kitchens to be jammed into a rental just ‘because its a rental’. I’m willing to bet a well designed kitchen will be cared for by your tenants too.
cate | 4 years and 10 months ago
I personally love the look of Ikea wood countertops. But someone said wood is not very durable. We have stainless steel in our own kitchen. Very practical and hardworking surface. We didn’t install counters. We just have one of those restaurant supply units.
stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago
i had a remnant of a wood ikea counter top here and it was well made. i just tossed it but it killed me to do so as it was quality and the was no ungluing of any of the laminations between the wood.
in so far as stone. i like ceasarstone (quartz) but my better have dropped a glass olive oil bottle on the edge of one here in our house and it chipped. i was kind of surprised.
stickerhappy | 4 years and 10 months ago
How about Ikea countertops? Any good or bad experiences to share?
cate | 4 years and 11 months ago
Engineered stone such as quartz, Caesarstone, etc., is probably your best bet as far as durability is concerned. I would keep it simple and get something honed in off white or pale gray that looks like marble. Looks nice with a white subway tile backsplash and Shaker style or plain front white painted wood cabinets.
Guest User | 4 years and 11 months ago
In Greenpoint, near the BQE there are a bunch of stone places. I can’t remember the pricing but remember being surprised how well priced they were. Large range of of product.
stickerhappy | 4 years and 11 months ago
Ok thanks all.
What about countertop?
I think we’d skip butcher block or Formica.
What stone options are reasonable and durable for a rental? Any suggestions where to get them too?
stevecym | 4 years and 11 months ago
also, look for used quality stuff on craigslist. i had a customer buy top shelf product this way for nothing and i hate to say it, but my neighbor just ripped out very good, never used solid wood cabinets from a rental apt and i put them on CL. there were nine boxes. all never used. when they did not sell, I hung them in my office.
the other things about buying used cabinets on cl is, a lot of what is there is for bigger kitchens. so when you go to put them in a nyc kitchen or rental, you have more than you need and can pick and choose.
the stuff with the solid wood doors is getting pricey. i rarely see it around anymore other than special custom order. though i don’t do cabinets anymore either, so i might not know. I used to think Ikea’s doors were decent and that is what gets banged up first.
Chas373 | 4 years and 11 months ago
I have done a couple of cabinet replacements for two apartments and both times used one of the Asian owned stone and cabinet places in Greenpoint. I chose the basic granite pattern (the cheapest) and its got 3/4 in plywood backing vs solid granite. Its cheaper and looks fantastic and is as strong or stronger than just granite alone. A five foot base cab plus wall cabs including a stainless steel top mount sink ran me about $1200 or maybe a bit less, I’m going from memory. The quality of the cabinets are just fair. Certainly better than going for a Hamptons Bay cabinet group from Home Depot, but sufficient for a rental. And they look SO GREAT. A deep cherry color shaker style doors, the oldest one has been in for about 7 years now and still is holding up very nicely, actually looks just about brand new I added a breakfast bar consisting of two wall cabs placed to the floor and a 4 ft granite CT to match the other and that added about $400; that was about 3 years ago. I’m sure most will say to go with Ikea, but after experiencing the ridiculously low quality of a wardrob e I purchased for myself 10 years ago and in the end not that inexpensive at all I will never use them for any large furniture cabinetry purchase again.
solehappy | 4 years and 11 months ago
ikea for sure. think the semihandmade fronts are overkill for most rentals, as they are definitely pricey though of high quality in my experience
brokelin | 4 years and 11 months ago
I had Ikea cabinets in my coop – the boxes are unbelievably sturdy, and will last longer than your kitchen will be there unreplaced – many, many decades, really – they are tested for and known for that strength (as long as they are installed correctly, as mentioned by someone above.) They are definitely better than even much higher-priced mid-level cabinets.
Ikea doors are of varying quality, which is why many people order doors specially made for Ikea cabinets made by other companies when renovating their own kitchens. I’m not suggesting you do those custom doors for a rental, just that you pay close attention to the doors you choose if you go the Ikea route.
Mine were installed by the previous owners back when Ikea had two door styles that were actually solid wood, and mine were pine (or at least the drawer fronts and the stiles and rails of doors were, the center panels may have been something thinner with pine veneer on it.) Although pine is a fairly soft wood, they held up great. I don’t know if they have an option that is wood (or mostly wood) now (at one point they didn’t seem to, but they change all the time), but if they do I would think about choosing that one.
Though wood does pick up some grime over the years (I killed some brain cells making mine look great with some Howard’s Restor-a-Finish before I sold the place), so you may prefer an MDF door, or you may prefer white, which will likely be some sort of painted MDF. I would just look for a sturdy door style. Usually the higher-priced doors they have are the sturdier ones. I would avoid any MDF with that plastic coating on them – I had some (non-Ikea) ones in a rental that started peeling off due to steam. But you can always replace Ikea doors only quite cheaply if needed (as long as they don’t change the cabinet sizing as they did once a few years back.).
What you choose will largely depend on the quality of the renovation you are doing, the rental price and tenants that will appeal to. Same for countertops – I don’t think I’d put butcherblook in a rental, much as I like it, as that can cause problems near a sink if water if left on the counter. (If you have more than one stretch of counter, you can always use two different countertop materials, use butcher block, which is cheap, on a countertop not near the sink.) But butcher block will likely need to be resealed and potentially resanded, depending on the abuse it takes, in the future – other countertops can require no maintenance.
For a low-end rental, I’d use formica – I’m not a formica hater, as long as it in good shape and not ugly. For a higher-priced rental (and isn’t everything higher-priced these days?), go ahead and use something you’d put in your place – a quartz or a stone – it will last. (And won’t be such a splurge if you do Ikea cabinets.) I’d also do an undermount sink, and a tall U-shaped faucet with one handle as well. And don’t install a sink in a corner.
mozeeatupu | 4 years and 11 months ago
Ikea
Lurker | 4 years and 11 months ago
There must be plenty of options but I’m sure most people here will agree that properly installed Ikea cabinets are what want. They have a lot of options are , are cheap to install because everyone uses them, are easy to repair/replace due to instant availability in most places of the country, stand up to a fair amount of abuse (some styles better than others) and they are generally stylish. Their butcher block countertops are, if properly oiled, a steal compared to other options.