Quote:
Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse
I'm contemplating doing a little kitchen perkup:
1) Does anyone have a current price / sq ft for quartz? A 4x8 island is the focus here
2) Any one here experienced in paint sprayers for cabinets, notably whether HVLP or airless is the way to go? Looking to spray the cabinets / frames myself.
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1. It depends on quality of stone and if the supplier wants to clearance the stone. $1,000 to $10,000 depending on what you ask for. Keep calling around until you find something you like at the price you like. I did an entire home (island, 2 large L counters, laundry room, wet bar and a bathroom + installation; 3 sink cut outs etc.) with stone countertop for $5500 just before the pandemic. I assume you add around 30-50% on those prices now. I think it was around $4-5 a sq foot ish for Calcutta quartz (because of a few other variables).
Also ask about whether the entire slab will be used and if there's extra if there are some counter space in your home the extra would fit. I got some of it cheaper because smaller bits of the slab were used for a counter top in the bathroom. Like if they have a 3x4 foot piece that typically wouldn't work well with typical larger installs, but would be perfect for a small bathroom, they'd probably be happy to not store it and make money off of it. Then they ####ed up the measurements of a primary slab by a little bit, but were able re-cut it smaller and turn it into a counter top for my laundry room. That created excess again which was enough for a wet bar in my basement. They were super happy to not have too much excess left over and discounted me extra or their error even though they honestly didn't have to. I basically asked if there was any smaller parts on the slab that would work for another counter in my home and I ended up with a piano key counter top (with sink cut out) in my bathroom for like $300. That's why my price fluctuated around $4-5 a sq foot. We agreed upon $5.25 a square foot at first, but the final price was lower than my original verbal quote.
If doing a sink, show up with the sink to be installed for them to have on hand when cutting. The cutting will be more accurate. If they don't automatically ask for it... hope they don't screw it up.
2. Get a quote on new cabinets first before contemplating a DIY refresh of cabinets. I thought I'd save a ton on repainting cabinets once upon a time as well, and it wasn't as much savings I would have liked and the labour hours were through the roof vs what I had expected. If you don't properly strip, sand and prime the surface before the refresh, it might not stay on and after drying it can easily chip, look drippy, be uneven etc.
For 30-40% more, I could have gotten brand new cabinets with a modern look, improved design and layout (ie: drawers vs hard to use deep cabinets), anti-slam, install etc. and that's not including working non-stop on the cabinets for 2-3 weeks vs merely waiting 3-4 weeks for a simple install. I would have also loved having that extra time for other projects before moving in. You may want to experiment with a dresser or vanity before doing stuff in a house. It'll take way longer with significantly more pre-prep and post clean up than you might imagine. If I could get a mulligan, I refresh my kitchen with new cabinets vs re-finishing/repainting old cabinets.
I think HVLP vs airless depends on your personality. Reading up on it, HVLP you'll have to experiment with thinning the paint but the finish by default is smoother. Airless you're less likely to be required to thin the paint, and you'll have to obtain specific hardware/nozzle to get a smoother finish. I guess it means you can do different types of finish/looks with different nozzles. Airless also uses a lot of extra paint than HVLP due to more overspray. 2-3 seconds of #### up can be 20-30 minutes of cleaning. HVLP I assume is still around 10-15 minutes of clean up for 2-3 seconds of #### up.
I think I spent around $3,500 in paint for my entire house (walls, trim/baseboards, doors, railings, wainscoting etc.) with 3 different colors and that's with like 40-60% off for volume and the occasional special discounts. Basically anything that wasn't floor, ceiling or glass was painted and my home is a slightly bigger house too. The Sherwin Williams rep was so confused and wondered what we were doing because they said a typical refresh was around $1-2K in paint at most. I think my home was larger, we did basically more painting than normal (basically everything) and there was excess paint usage from the airless. However, I don't regret it. The paint looks so much nicer sprayed than brushed/rolled and due to the thickness of the paint, it is more durable as I can gently clean it with soap and water without immediate fading of the paint. Other houses, damn. It fades with just a wet paper towel or it's done so poorly the paint is chipping off immediately. New builds seem like the worst for some of this.
After a lot of research, my contractor purchased and learned how to use an airless paint sprayer on my refresh project. The main considerations were that HVLP seemed better for smaller batch projects while airless is better for larger scale projects. He'd hang dozens of cabinet doors and regular sized doors on a wire system he built in my garage and just blast half a dozen to a dozen items in quick succession. More pre-prep than other people's set ups where they did smaller batches, but I think his set up worked great for what we were doing and less likely to get smudges while drying. What was also great was that when he used the sprayer, it was rare he'd take a look at the end result and do a second coat. So the end result was often something that looked like 2 coats of paint via brush/roller.
IMO you can get away with less pre-prep for HVLP than airless. If you cut and tape poorly, you might blow away your plastic and then you'll have paint somewhere it's not supposed to be that you have to clean or cover. Definitely consider using thumb tacks to hold the plastic in place. You do want to chemically strip and sand down the cabinets well before priming and painting. That helps a ton with the final durability and reduces paint dripping. You have to clean it all ASAP daily so pre-prep also helps to reduce paint waste or clogging. You won't save much overall time with using a paint sprayer than other methods. However, I believe the best thing about paint sprayer is that the end result looks better with similar time spent than other methods.
HVLP has a supposedly lower error rate, so it's supposedly easier for beginners. Airless has more learning curve, but more options as you get familiar with it. My contractor said he loved the end result, but he's not interested in doing that type of project again on a time line. He said it was great learning but he would only use the paint sprayer in limited situations. A few months later though, he laughed about how satisfied he was in painting an entire garage in around 20 minutes.
