How To Remodel A Kitchen

by | Jun 16, 2020 | Uncategorized

1. Think About What You Need in Your Kitchen Remodel

This step is all about figuring out how you use your kitchen, and finding the layout and features that fit your household’s lifestyle. Get ideas from Houzz kitchen guides, photos and discussions.

Think about your priorities and ask yourself some questions. How many people will be cooking and gathering here? How will they need to move around? Do you need an addition, or can you work with your existing kitchen footprint?

If you haven’t done so already, start saving photos of kitchens with features that suit your style. Your collection can be organized and beautiful like a scrapbook might be, or it can be filled with unorganized images. I like to randomly stuff images into my folders and ideabooks and go back to them later for edits.

2. Research and Plan

Ready to green-light that project and take the plunge? The best place to start is by formulating what’s commonly referred to as the scope of work and figuring out your preliminary budget.

Both of these may be subject to change, so don’t feel as though you have only one chance at this. Budget and scope are intertwined and often change many times during the kitchen design process as you become more educated and able to reconcile what you want and what you can afford. As a homeowner, you’re not expected to walk into this knowing what everything should cost. Remember, this is an educational process.

3. Find the Professionals You Will Need

Unless you’re building your own kitchen cabinets and doing your own electrical and plumbing, you’re going to work with a professional at some point.

Some homeowners start a kitchen remodel by hiring an architect or interior designer. Some go with a kitchen designer. Still others might work on their own with a builder or contractor. Pros are available to help you with everything from contracts and permits to space planning, budgets, choosing finishes and fixtures, shopping, ordering products and managing your project from start to finish.

4. Settle on a Schematic Design

This phase includes sketches, space planning, preliminary floor plans and elevations showing the layout and cabinet sizes. Keep focused more on layout and space planning, even though the temptation is to talk about what the kitchen will look like. Getting caught up in the look too early can distract from the space planning phase.

Plus, you need a plan to figure out what materials will go where, and how many square feet you will need, and ultimately how much this will cost. Begin the contractor interview process early and give them a preliminary drawing packet and scope of work so we can get some ballpark construction numbers. At the same time you can be sending out drawings for estimates on some top choices of kitchen finishes and fixtures.

5. Specify Fixtures and Finishes

Throughout this process, and probably long before, you have been saving photos of kitchens you love into your ideabooks and folders. You’ve found your kitchen style, whether it’s modern, classic, traditional, cottage or a personal style in between. You probably know if you want a white kitchen, a natural wood kitchen or some color.Jacy Painter KellyNow you need to make your final selection of finishes and fixtures. This may include: