How to Plan Your Dream Kitchen

Today's kitchens are the heart of entertaining and family life. Many
house televisions and computers, in addition to numerous must-have
cooking gadgets. Planning your own kitchen just the way you'd like
it--pure heaven. Read on for tips to make your dream come true.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

1. Read 85 Plan a Remodel. All of the information there applies to designing and remodeling a kitchen as well as an entire home.

2. Visit kitchen showrooms, open houses and home design stores, and take photos of what you like. Flip through magazines, and watch remodeling and cooking shows on television. Create two lists: a functional wish list (appliances, cabinet arrangements, islands) and a list of style preferences (surfaces, colors, finishes).

3. Assess your storage needs. Count and measure pots and pans, plates and silverware, appliances, tools, linens, foods and ingredients, wines, special display items (vases, platters, artwork) and electronics (computers, televisions, radios). Use this information to determine how much cabinetry you need. Cabinets can tally up to half the cost of your new kitchen, depending on quality and material and whether they are stock units or custom-made.

4. Have all plumbing work done before the cabinets go in, when the walls are open.

5. Plan lighting and the placement of electrical outlets at this time, too. Three types of lighting are typically used in dream kitchens: ambient (for the room), task (for specific workstations, such as stoves or sinks), and spot (for display of food or decor). An electrician should also run television cable, telephone wire and computer network wire when the walls are open.

6. Choose surfaces carefully. Kitchens are hot, wet, messy places, so look for surfaces that balance cleanliness, durability and attractiveness. Ask about features of various surfaces--does will that gorgeous granite you covet, for example, become discolored under a hot pot?

7. Price out and prioritize all the elements of your dream kitchen, and reality-check this information against how much you're willing to spend. A kitchen remodel should not cost more than 15 percent of the total value of your house; if it does, you're overimproving. A new kitchen will return, at best, 80 percent of its cost in increased home value.

8. Make some strategic cuts to your plan, with an eye toward staying in budget without sabotaging your overall goals. Sensible cuts include keeping your current appliances (upgrade them later) and choosing semicustom cabinets rather than custom.

9. Factor in the cost of a professional design. A kitchen designer typically charges 6 percent of the finished cost of the project, but may also work by the hour (at a rate of $50 to $150 per hour).

10. Understand how space and proportion work in your kitchen. The classic kitchen work triangle--the total distance between sink, stove and refrigerator--should be 12 to 26 feet (3.7 to 7.9 m). Working aisles should be at least 42 inches (107 cm) for one cook, 48 inches (122 cm) for two. Base cabinets plus countertops should be 36 inches (91 cm) high, but can be 42 inches (107 cm) high if they incorporate a seating area with stools. The bottoms of wall- or ceiling-mounted cabinets should be at least 18 inches (46 cm) above countertops and higher over stoves. Check local building codes.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't skimp when buying cabinets. Get plywood panels (not particleboard) and insist on dovetailed or doweled drawer boxes. The quality of semicustom cabinets can be remarkably good.
• Multiple sinks are common in high-end kitchens because they can separate food preparation from cleanup.
• Certified Kitchen Designers have at least seven years of experience and training, have completed 60 hours of specialized training, and have passed a kitchen designers' exam.
• Remember, you need to eat while your kitchen remodel is under way. If you can remodel in the summer, you can barbecue outside and eat salads and other simple meals. You may still end up washing your dishes in the bathtub. Some kitchen contractors will create a temporary kitchen in a laundry room or garage.
• Leave the electrical wiring to the pros.

[callylilly]

on 3/27/2009 What type of flooring would you use and would you match it with the granite or cabinets?

[ThenAgainMaybe]

on 1/18/2009 I'd match it to the granite since that's more of a permanent fixture... wall color can be changed relatively cheaply and easily.
I would suggest picking out one color from the busy granite that you want to call attention to and go with that. Avoid patterns... instead opt for a single color scheme for your dishes. And perhaps you can pull another complimentary color out of the busy granite for your linens that will look good with the dishes, the walls and the granite.

[Baily2235]

on 1/11/2009 what do you match in your kitchen when picking out dishes? Do i match countertop or wall paint? My counters are a very busy granite and I don't know what to do?