A Planning Guide for Kitchen Renovation

A Planning Guide for Kitchen Renovation

If you are planning to renovate your kitchen, this is a great chance to increase functionality and style in the central room in your house.  You can improve aesthetics to make your kitchen remodelingyour favorite room while gaining efficiency and using your space well.  While getting ready to undertake this important project, do your research and prepare well.  Below is a checklist to keep in mind while planning your kitchen renovation:

What works for you now? Think through the frustrating aspects of your kitchen now such as hunching over into low cupboards to find your frying pan or getting on your tippy toes to get the cereal down from the cabinet above the refrigerator.  Also think through your favorite parts of your kitchen’s functionality such as your under cabinet lights or 6 range stove.  This revision of your current kitchen will help prioritize and give direction to your new design.

What functions does your kitchen serve? Apart from the obvious- food preparation – many kitchens end up serving a variety of purpose.  If your kids inevitably invade your kitchen with their homework and plop down beside you while you’re making dinner, you’ll want to take this into account when planning your new space.  If you enjoy serving breakfast right in your kitchen, also consider making space for this in your design.  If keys, mail and pens always end up strewn across your countertops, consider including an organized hub-space in your new kitchen layout.

Organization Investigate the wide-variety of cabinets available now.  Many cabinet makers now incorporate storage and organizational features such as spice bottle racks, compartmentalized drawers, pullout trash can drawers, etc.  Consider what typically causes clutter in your kitchen and look for solutions to include in your renovation.

Design for functionalityConsider including either the work triangle or work station kitchen principals in your kitchen layout.  The triangle works under the principal of using a perimeter of 26 feet or less between the three main kitchen features: the sink, refrigerator and stove.  Each leg of the triangle should be between 4 and 9 feet.  This ensures efficiency and ease for the cook.  The work station principal suggests stations for food prep, cooking, baking and cleaning.  Each space requires 15 inches counter space surrounding the appropriate appliance.

BudgetWhile we’d all love to work with an unlimited budget, reality requires us to set a budget.  Once you have your budget in place, it will help you set priorities.  Try to always put functionality over style, as in the long run this will serve your kitchen well and you can always use cheaper decoration techniques to incorporate the style you love into your kitchen.  Note that cabinetry and hardware often take about 30% of your renovation budget while appliances and ventilation run at about 15%.  Countertops may run you about 10%, while installation will cost you about 17% of your budget. You’ll want to factor in another 10-20% for contingencies as projects rarely go exactly as planned.