Kitchen Remodeling Checklist

Plan your kitchen for a successful project

Kitchens are one of the most demanding but enjoyable rooms to remodel. As the heart of your home, more activities take place in the kitchen than just cooking. It may serve many purposes, which when well planned, can make your home more comfortable, efficient, and easy to maintain. Robin Rigby-Fisher of Pegasus Designs uses the following checklist with her clients to design solutions that work for them. It can help you design a kitchen project that meets your needs and satisfies your dreams. The following questions will stimulate your thought process.

How you want to live in your new kitchen?

How long are you planning to live in this house?
Will this be your retirement home?
Do you have any physical limitations (reaching, bending, lack of strength issues)?
Do you entertain, and if so, how do you entertain? Caterers? Formally? Buffet style?
Does everyone have a hand in the food preparation? Or do you prefer to cook alone?
Do you have, or will you have children/grandchildren that will need to be able to cook in this kitchen?
Do you retain caterers for large parties?
Do you can food or buy in bulk?
Remember, this is your new kitchen, you can have almost everything that you want. Think outside of the box. Your deisgner will use all of this information to create a kitchen that is “tailored to the way you live”.

Make a list of needs, wants and desires

Do you need a 2 cook kitchen?
Two sinks? Types such as single large bowl, double, or specialized? Bar sink?
Size of range (30”, 36”, 48”)

Gas or electric cooking
Convection oven
Separate cooktop and ovens
Warming Drawers
How many ovens?

Built-in appliances (refrigerator)
Professional appliances
Display cabinets
Open cabinets
Glass doors on cabinets
Countertops: laminate, tile, solid surfaces (Corian?), granite, stone, stainless steel, concrete, Slatescape, etc.
Eat in kitchen — How many?
Pantry storage
Recycling center
Message center
Dump center (mud room and kids' storage)
Pet food storage and feeding station
Hanging pots and pans
Decorative hood
Wine storage
Computer/internet access

Things to do

Go through design and shelter magazines for ideas. Cut out pictures of rooms that appeal to you or contain elements you want or especially like. Don't worry about whether the style of the room doesn't match what you want. If you see a recycling solution that appeals to you, clip it. You and your designer will refine your desires and needs during the consultation phase of your project. For example: if you prefer a modern, minimalist look, you may soom past an ideal solution because it's shown in a traditional style kitchen. Clip other pictures that capture the feel and style of the overall look even though they don't contain the individual elements.

Budget

Often homeowners are reluctant to discuss budget for a number of reasons. Though it's a sensitive subject, your designer can achieve your goals only if they know how much you can afford to spend. Kitchen remodels can range from $16,000 to $250,000. Most design solutions are available at various price points, and your designer can help you set priorities to make the design choices to achieve your dream kitchen.

Resources

It's Your Kitchen: Over 100 Inspirational Kitchens by Joan Kohn —Here's a book that has lots of ideas and provides helpful advice.
Kitchens That Work could be one of the best all purpose books on this subject.

To find a qualified, professional designer, find one through ContractorNexus .