Planning a Kitchen Renovation

Creating the Kitchen you Want

As an important step to remodeling your kitchen, we recommend that you create a wish list and prioritize the items that you will have on your list.

Creating your wish list: To get you started, we recommend that you write down all of the things you desire no matter how functional or luxurious they might be. Here are some examples:

•             Counter top choices: Granite, Quartz or Corian.

•             Cabinet choices: Stock, semi-custom or custom.

•             Types of cabinet functions or features: Spice racks, recycling products, pull out shelves, cutting boards, wine cabinets, soft closing door feature or slide out drawers under the cabinets.

•             Back splash choices: Glass tile, subway tile, or stone. 

•             Appliances:  Trash compactor or dishwasher. 

•             Appliance Finish:  Stainless or other.

•             Extra Features:  Center Island, with or without seating, or you might want to add     extra storage.

•             Flooring choices: Tile Flooring, wood plank flooring, cork flooring, hardwood flooring, or specialty vinyl flooring, etc.

Prioritizing your wish list:

 Knowing what is important may help you to save money on your remodel. What are the essential items? What are some of the things that you desire but are optional? Here are some things to consider:

•             How long do you plan on owning your home?

•             Do you like the current layout of you kitchen?

•             What do you want to improve most about your current kitchen?

•             Do you prefer an open concept or a more intimate setting?

•             What are your family’s needs with regards to your kitchen and your lifestyle?

•             Do you entertain a lot?

•             Do your children do their homework in the kitchen?

•             Do you work from home and require office space in your kitchen?

•             If you were to splurge, what would it be on?

Some things to keep in mind that can affect the cost of your kitchen remodeling project : 

Kitchen Plumbing

Since most aspects of plumbing can be worked with, there is flexibility when planning the plumbing features of your redesigned kitchen. Therefore, unless you plan on re-positioning the sink or dishwasher, issues regarding plumbing should be fine. Please keep in mind that re-positioning fixtures has the highest cost increases.  Older homes or prior remodels that have been undertaken by homeowners, themselves, or by unlicensed people have been known to need code upgrades.  Also, if you are adding fixtures such as a dishwasher or toe kick heaters, it is important to for you to know that this means additional electrical and plumbing work will need to be done. 

Electrical Work in the Kitchen

Depending on the age of your house, some or most of the existing wiring will be able to be used.  Know that in most kitchens, unless it is a very new house, some code upgrades will be needed.  At a minimum, we will likely need to run a dedicated circuit from the electrical panel for the Ground Fault Interrupter plugs that will be installed above the counter tops.  We often need to include some additional recessed lighting, a new exhaust unit and/or a toe kick heater.  This means that more power will be used and more circuits will need to be installed.  Also, your electrical panel may not have enough room for the added circuits, so a new smaller sub-panel must be installed.