You’ve decided to remodel your kitchen. Now what? Not knowing where to start, many homeowners fall into two camps. Some start by looking at appliances. Others start by collecting inspiring kitchen photos. Some decide they need more space. Others simply want to upgrade their present kitchen. Homeowners may find themselves in this exploration period for a year or more before they start interviewing kitchen designers or general contractors.
Once you’ve pondered long and you’re ready to green-light a kitchen remodeling project, then ? We’ll start with the first 9 steps and we’ll get into the nitty-gritty details under certain steps as we proceed through the comprehensive workbook.
Mary Evelyn Interiors
Step 1: Think about what you require
This measure is all about how you use your kitchen, and finding the design and characteristics that fit your household’s lifestyle. Get ideas from each source possible, including Houzz guides and photos, kitchen showrooms, magazines and books.
Think about your priorities: Just how a lot of folks will be cooking and gathering here, and how they’ll need to move around in it. Would you need an addition? Or can you operate with your kitchen footprint?
If you haven’t already, start saving photos of kitchens with characteristics that suit your style. Your collection can be organized and lovely like a scrapbook or it may be full of random, unorganized images. I really prefer the latter, because I like to randomly things images in my folders and ideabooks and go back to them in the future for edits.
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Step 2: Research and strategy
prepared to green-light that project and take the plunge? The best place to start is by formulating what is commonly known as a range of work and figuring out your own preliminary budget.
Both of these may be subject to change, and thus don’t feel like you have only once chance at this. Budget and extent are intertwined and often change many times during the design process as you become more educated and able to reconcile what you want and exactly what you are able. As a homeowner, you’re likely to walk into this understanding what everything should cost. Bear in mind, this is an educational process.
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Step 3: Locate the professionals you will require
even when you’re going the DIY route, unless you’re building your own kitchen cabinets and performing your own electrical and plumbing, you’re going to need to work with a professional at some stage. It could possibly be as brief as leaning on your salesperson to help you in choosing and ordering your countertops or appliances, but it is something to strategy on either manner.
Many people today start by seeing big-box shops or cupboard showrooms where they can see everything. Many homeowners get referrals from friends or colleagues and start by employing an architect or architect. Others may work by themselves with a contractor or builder. Pros are available to help you with everything from contracts and permits to space budgets, planning, picking finishes and fittings, shopping, ordering products, helping you set up a temporary kitchen, and managing your project from start to finish.
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Step 4: Schematic layout
This phase includes sketches, space planning, preliminary floor plans and elevations showing the design and cabinet sizes. I try to keep my customers focused more on design and space planning, although the temptation is to talk about what the kitchen will look like. However, I find that becoming caught up in the look too early can divert from the distance preparation phase.
Plus, you need a strategy in order to figure out what stuff will go where, and how many square feet you will need, and how much this will cost. I like to begin the contractor interview process early and provide them a preliminary drawing package and range of work so we can find some ballpark building amounts. In the exact same time you may be sending out drawings for quotes on some top choices of finishes and fittings.
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Step 5: Fixture and complete specification
During this process, and probably long before, you’ve been saving photos of kitchens you love to your ideabooks and folders. You’ve found your style, while it’s modern, classic, traditional, cottage or a personal style in between. You likely know whether you want a white kitchen, a natural wood kitchen, or any color.
Now you need to produce your final choice of finishes and fixtures. This usually includes:
Cabinetry building kind, doorstyle, complete and colorCountertop materialRefrigerators along with other appliancesKitchen sink and faucetLight fixturesFlooring
BacksplashDecorative hardware
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Buckminster Green LLC
Step 6: Work on design development and construction documents
This is the point in which you finalize the design and prepare final floor plans, elevations, details and, if appropriate, mechanical and electrical drawings, lighting switch plans, and exterior elevations.
That is where your final license set or Structure Drawings (CDs) come in to play. It is important to get finishes and fittings selected at this time, because this is exactly what will be considered in the final pricing in the contractor.
You will submit drawings for licenses. These have a direct time, so check the timing with your local village. You will want an architect, architect or licensed contractor signed up to finalize the paperwork and pick up your licenses, so get ready to employ somebody at the next step. I often find that we’re submitting for licenses around the exact same time or a bit after we have placed the cabinet order, due to comparable lead times.
Step 7: Get contractor estimates
in case you don’t already have a licensed contractor on your project, your next step is to locate you to carry the project through. I always recommend to my customers to get at least 3 different builder quotes. I like to perform preliminary walk-throughs together with the builders once the design designs have been done so we can find some ballpark quotes and find out if we’re on the ideal track or need to pull some to fit the budget.
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Step 8: Prepare for demonstration
The big day is upon us, most likely something like 4-8 weeks from when you submitted for permits. Time to find that schedule firmed up and plan on cleaning out the cabinets, putting what you don’t need in storage and — if you’re residing in the home during construction — setting up a temporary kitchen so you don’t lose your mind!
You might be moving from your home temporarily, but most homeowners white-knuckle it and try to live at the home through structure. Planning and organization can save your sanity.
Talk about the logistics ahead of time with your contractor. Will you meet once a week for upgrades? Will you have to be from the home for specific tasks like flooring or demo? What about debris removal and dust? Are there any family allergy problems? What’s a typical work day for the team? Obtaining all this to the table beforehand can place expectations and make for a smoother ride.
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Step 9: Surviving the dreaded punch listing
Once building is finished, well… almost over… there is always this annoying small collection of items that are missing, wrong, or just forgotten about. A missing light switch plate, a caulk line that shrank and pulled off in the wall, paint touch ups — little things in this way, and sometimes bigger things like the hood doesn’t work, or there is a big scratch in the newly refinished floor.
On occasion the homeowner does the punch list. It may be as casual as an emailed list of things that need to be repaired or finished. I like to use a little kind I put together that identifies the thing to be repaired or finished, the responsible party and the date of conclusion. I send it to the client for review, changes and enhancements, and then off to the builder.
It is inescapable that the contractor may need to make multiple visits to the home to complete these things; prepare for over one visit and you will be fine.The best method to approach this is having a Zen mindset. Things happen, small things get overlooked. It is sort of like creating a list for the grocery store and still forgetting some key component. Most of us do it.
Next: How to Plan Your Own Range of Work
More: Browse kitchen photos | Locate an architect, designer or contractor