Kitchen Remodel

horsing around

horsing around

Cathlete
My dear hubby and I are having our kitchen remodeled. I'm so excited, but anxious at the same time. Does anyone have any "must have" ideas they'd like to share? Lessons learned from your own projects are also appreciated!

Thanks for sharing!
Lisa
 
Hi,

Not sure what type of flooring you are thinking about, but if I had to do it over, I would not get ceramic tile. The grout never looks clean, no matter what I do.

Also, one of the best things we got was the deep wide drawer for pots & pans. Love it. I;m sure others will have a lot of ideas and things to avoid.
 
We are doing a partial remodel ourselves.

We already have hardwood floors and granite countertops, so we're just re-doing our cabinets. It all started when our built in wall oven went on the blink and we found out it's too old to get new parts. So, we have to have a new wall oven and microwave.

I've purchased a double wall oven with convection upper and lower. The microwave is also a built in with a door that pulls down to open like an oven.

A couple of things I would recommend.... things we've either already done, or are getting ready to do.... hardwood floors are great in a kitchen. Not too hard and easy to clean. Definitely granite countertops. My sink is cast iron, which is durable and easy to clean. Backsplash is granite, which looks good and is also easy to clean. Under cabinet lights really dress things up. I have always had them, and am going to have them again with the new cabinets.

I'm doing a few glass doors on my cabinets. Inside those cabinets will be lights also. The glass I am using is called ribbed or reeded. It's looks great, lets the light come through, but doesn't allow you to see every detail of what is inside the cabinet.

I am doing the cabinet fronts for our refrigerator so that it will look like part of the cabinets instead of this huge stainless/white/black blob. Not all refrigerators can be done this way, but fortunately ours is a built in and has the kind of front that can accommodate panels.

As far as cabinet types, the possibilites are endless and confusing, trust me! Go somewhere like a appliance/kitchen showroom (Lowes and Home Depot are great for this) and wander around looking at ideas. The two most common cabinet styles are shaker and raised panel, with variations of both. We're going with white shaker style with a bevel.

If I think of anything else that I've learned with our kitchen remodel, I'll post again. Good luck!

ETA: Oops...l already thought of something else that you should consider. Soft close drawers. They are awesome! These are the kind of drawers that you can shove closed as hard as you want, and right before they close they catch themselves and close slowly and silently. Wonderful! Another thing is pull out shelves. These are great for utilizing lower cabinet space you can't reach because it's so far back. Most people store their pots and pans on these slide outs and have much easier access.
 
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I agree with fox2star about the tile and the grout. I had a remodel 2 years ago. They make some great linoleum that looks exactly like tile floors. I am always on my hands and knees cleaning the grout. I would also get all new appliances if yours are old. We did not do that and i highly regret it. Soft close drawers and doors are a must. If you are working with a kitchen /bath remodel company, Make sure you work with their decorator so they can match you floor , cabinets , countertop and paint so everything blends together. My place did a great job. Good Luck . I am sure you will be so excited as the process moves forward. I had a great time.
 
I have hardwood floors and granite in my kitchen and love them. I was going to say soft close drawers too. That's one thing I didn't get and could really kick myself. Another thing I realized is with the big sink, water splashes everywhere with the tall faucet I chose. I don't know how to get around that other than making sure the water is at a low flow. However, I would go with that choice again. Good luck!
 
I just got the cabinets finished in my new house. I love them! All the lower shelves pull out, so everything is easy reached. Between the bottom shelves and the floor is a space a few inches deep. I had pull out drawers made there, great for cookie sheets, placemats, etc. One end of the island are bookshelves surrounded by small cubes for wine storage.
 
European style flat front cabinets/drawers – for very easy cleaning.

Extra deep single basin stainless steel Kohler sink and professional water hose (no faucet spout)

Dacor double convection electric ovens, six burner gas cook top.

Icemaker – independent of fridge/freezer unit. We love this for entertaining, cooking, injuries, and of course hot summer months.

Vertical shelving in cabinets over refrigerator and ovens to store cookie sheets, trays, cooling racks etc.

Pull out drawer style shelving in lower cabinets

Granite counters, concrete floors, butcher block island

Powerful cook top exhaust fan

A cook’s footprint for layout of kitchen. Plan to take only 2-3 steps to/from each work area.

Plenty of electrical outlets.

Try to plan the cupboards for each work area and their use – before purchase and installation... where will everything live. i.e.small appliances, spices, foil, storage containers, serving bowls.

Bosch Dishwasher - LOVE.
 
You're living my fantasy!! Someday I want a house with a new kitchen. I love to cook so would go nuts redoing a kitchen. Something like Janis' sounds lovely (except I would go with hardwoord floors instead of concrete).
 
I opted for quartz over granite for my counter tops and went with wood floors over tiled/ceramic. I would definitely install a backsplash to follow the entire counter line and if you have a cook top, a full back splash to the bottom of the cabinets if you can.

I went with all steel and love my Electrolux appliances.

Pull out drawers! Its amazing how wonderful that feature is for cabinets. Plus the soft close is really nice.

Make sure your sink is wide enough for doing big pans/pots. Dividers don't work for everyone regarding how they USE the sink. I have a deep steel sink with steel baskets to protect the bottoms, no worries there. Also, I opted to put the sink under the quarter countertop and made sure the sink was flush with the edges. The advantage is its very easy to sweep water, food, messes into the sink without buildup along any edge of the sink. The disadvantage would be if somehow you damaged the sink, you would have a harder time removing it, but that was not my worry.

I would invest in good hardware, make sure your main faucet is higher so you can maneuver under bigger items. I really like one handle that controls the entire water situation, makes it easy to use when your hands are dirty or slippery. I have a high water spigot that swivels for my reverse osmosis water to the left of the sink so I can fill my coffee pot or whatever on the counter instead of in the sink (as its part of the quartz counter). I didn't want a hole drilled for a dedicated soap dispenser. I put that in its own ceramic container because its way easier to maintain and clean. I also use my sink sprayer a lot! Its invaluable for me since my sink is so big.

If you can, think about having a main center island where you can do the majority of your cooking, baking and assembling that has enough plugs for your machinery. I can't live without this feature now.

Good luck and have fun!
 
I love a lot of these ideas.....the only thing i would add (wish i had one), is one of those little faucet things over the stove to fill ur pots with water so ur not lugging pots from the sink to the stove...or lugging several cups of water from sink to stove....i think those are pretty neat and i would love to have one.....that's my two cents:)
 
I was lucky enough to be able to redesign my kitchen a few years ago. I won't repeat the many great suggestions others have already mentioned, but there is ONE thing I did in my kitchen that everybody who sees it thinks is just the best thing ever (and i do, too) and I have my sister to thank for it.

Like most folks, I wanted a pull out trash container. My sister, a dental assistant, happened to be visiting as i was designing it and I was showing her my plans. She suggested I have a hole cut in the granite over the trash can so I could just throw trash in and not even have to open the drawer to dispose of things...you see this in a lot of dental offices.

I talked to the granite folks and they said it would cost about another $100 to cut the extra hole. So, I had them put a rectangular (well, rounded rectangle) hole toward the back of the counter right over the trash can drawer. The hole is big enough for the average meat tray (hence the shape), but back far enough and thin enough that the counter surface is still very useable. I wouldn't have done it if the hole had to be so big I lost use of that bit of counter. FYI, I just measured the hole and it's 10 wide x 4 deep.

I can't tell you how much I love this feature of my kitchen and how many times I've thanked my sister for her great suggestion. If you do this, make sure your hole ends up being over your trash can...you'll have to work with whoever measures for your counter tops to make sure they see your trash can in place. I didn't have a problem with this, but if you didn't think about it in advance, you could end up with a hole that is only partially over the can. that would be awful.

The one and only drawback I've found is that since I put the hole at the very back of the trash can so that it wouldnt affect my ability to use the countertop, I have to throw trash pretty much straight down into the hole its not a proble for me, but most people will throw it toward the back on an angle...so if I have a lot of kids or even adult guests, the next time I change the trash I have to bend over a little extra and grab the things they threw in the hole, but at such an angle it didn't make the can. Actually, most of the stuff still goes in the can, just not everything. A small price to pay for a fantastic convenience.

When people come over, everybody loves this cool feature...the folks who have renovated their kitchens already usually smack their foreheads wishing they'd known about it before they had their new counter tops put in. Again, I'm so glad my sister was there that day!!!!!!

Have fun with your kitchen. The renovation process itself is painful, and you will ask yourself several times why you have done this to yourself (this is usually while you're doing something like washing dishes in a bathtub at midnight) and how it could possible be worth it, but it will be!
 
I'm getting ready to replace appliances. The one thing I am determined to have this time is a warming drawer. I like to cook dinner during the news. My husband doesn't get home until later from work. If I had a warming drawer, dinner would be all ready to serve when he got home and I could just relax with him.

Hope your kitchen turns out great!!
 
Thanks to all of you for sharing such wonderful ideas! I'll print and go through them in more detail. My kitchen now is very small and it looks like we'll be able to take out most of a non-supporting wall. The kitchen designer provided some updated plans and am so excited about an open layout that she came up with. She was able to incorporate the type of island I asked for! I love to cook, so I'm really striving for the right balance of functionality and aesthetics.

Destruction starts Monday!

Lisa
 
exercise-lover said:
I'm getting ready to replace appliances. The one thing I am determined to have this time is a warming drawer. I like to cook dinner during the news. My husband doesn't get home until later from work. If I had a warming drawer, dinner would be all ready to serve when he got home and I could just relax with him.

Hope your kitchen turns out great!!
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I thought I wanted a warming drawer too, but changed my mind. Two things made me reconsider. One, the cost of the warming drawer. On average, they are about $800-$900. Of course, when you are spending $20,000+, that's a drop in the bucket, but I still thought it was a lot just for a drawer. What I ended up doing was making sure that one of my double ovens also has the warming feature. I think the lowest setting for warming is usually 100 degrees. Most ovens start at about 170 degrees.
 
Trixoo--I love your (or your sister's. Thank her for me!) suggestion of a hole in the counter above the trash can. We haven't done the countertops yet and I think this feature can be included.
 
Pam_90 said:
Trixoo--I love your (or your sister's. Thank her for me!) suggestion of a hole in the counter above the trash can. We haven't done the countertops yet and I think this feature can be included.
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I hope you can do it...you'll love it!
 
Jeanne-Marie, Are you happy with the warming feature in your oven? I hadn't thought of that. That is a more flexible idea because you can use the oven for other things beside just warming. I'll keep that in mind!
 
exercise-lover said:
Jeanne-Marie, Are you happy with the warming feature in your oven? I hadn't thought of that. That is a more flexible idea because you can use the oven for other things beside just warming. I'll keep that in mind!
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Well, I don't know yet! We just bought the ovens and they aren't installed yet. We're waiting on the cabinet maker. I'll be glad to let you know after I've used it, but it will probably be about a month before I know!
 
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