Design Your Kitchen to Reflect Who You Are and How You Live
Take time to really think about who you are and how you live when designing your kitchen to reflect your personality and cater to your needs.
Are you a big-time coffee/tea drinker with many cups and accessories to accommodate? A perfect spot for your coffee/tea center is next to your stove and/or microwave. Having a cabinet for cups and accessories above the countertop where you will house your coffee pot makes it all very convenient.
The same goes for if you have a specialty in cooking or baking. Be sure to design an entire vertical bank of cabinetry/counter space to give you the space you need to accomplish this task. Plan for cabinets above for your baking/cooking ingredients, the designated counterspace in between, a wide and deep drawer for your hand tools and the cabinetry below with pull-out shelving for your appliances and bowls. There are even cabinets with a pop-up shelf to keep your mixer on that pops back down into the cabinet when you're done with it. Having everything all in one place eliminates inefficiency and frustration and keeps the mess isolated to one area of the kitchen. If space permits, also include an open bookshelf to keep your cookbooks and recipe boxes close by.
Do you have a beloved china teacup or plate collection you'd like to display? How about any antique kitchen gadgets or another prized, attractive collection? Be sure to include glass doors on your cabinets to highlight these items. You can add extra drama by lighting this cabinet. Be sure to include glass shelves for the light to shine through or you will only be lighting the top shelf.
Have pets that you feed in or near your kitchen? To eliminate unsightly food bags or bins that take away from the beauty and consistency of your cabinetry, include bread bin drawers for their food. Some cabinet lines even have designated pet food drawers now.
Have some extra space that is too small and impractical for a regular cabinet? Include a thin cabinet that opens to store your cutting boards, cooling racks and baking pans in. Or for that same space in upper cabinets, use the space for pullout spice racks.
Instead of leaving the space above your kitchen sink either blank or filling the space with short, high cabinetry, consider including a wine rack with knick knack shelf below. This is an attractive way to include wine storage/knick knack space that really adds a personal touch to your kitchen.
For storage for your pots and pans and/or plasticware, consider a set of pots and pan drawers which are extra deep, tall and wide. Include a shorter drawer at the top of these which will still be extra wide and deep to house your phone books, placemats, appliance books and unsightly cookbooks.
Remember to plan your cabinetry to where your dishes, everyday utensils and glasses will be close to your dishwasher and sink for ease in putting away your clean dishes.
Many people have lived with the frustration of the dreaded abyss of the corner cabinet. Now there are cabinet doors that are hinged in a way that they open up to give complete access to your corner cabinet. You can even have an extra large corner cabinet with two hinged doors that give complete and clear access to the entire cabinet. For lower corner cabinets, utilize this space to have either a lazy-Susan style recycle center which include 3 recycle bins that spin around. Or you can have lazy-Susan shelves that are perfect for snack foods, cereals, etc.
You can add extra elegance, beauty and drama to your kitchen by using different cabinet heights, depths and even finishes (see our kitchen portfolio for examples of this). Lighting too can be creative with under-cabinet lighting, above-cabinet lighting, cool pendant lighting and using dimmer switches to control the mood of the lighting. Consider having electrical outlets placed above your cabinets for holiday decorations too.
The options for countertop and flooring materials are many and also require much thought. Your budget will dictate which direction you can go with these materials, but also the way you use your kitchen and how often needs consideration.
And, lastly, don't forget your plumbing fixtures and cabinet knobs. Have fun with them. The choices for these items are endless and affordable. Let them REALLY reflect your personality - are you contemporary, liking clean, crisp lines or are you artsy, someone who really likes funky, decorative items? You most likely won't be remodeling your kitchen any time again soon, so make it your own and really enjoy the process!
So, now that you've designed your kitchen, it's time to do the actual work. The advice continues . . .
Surviving Your Kitchen Remodel
Before the actual remodeling begins, you have to do your work. The cabinets and drawers need to be completely emptied out. When packing up your items, now is a great time to get rid of out-of-date food items (spices are a good one for this) or utensils and appliances you haven't touched in years. Pack away items you can live without for a few weeks and for items that you will still be using, pack them in sturdy, open-topped boxes according to what goes together (such as cereal boxes, breakfast bars and snacks in one box, utensils in another, etc.). Printer paper boxes work really well for this.
Once the cabinets are cleaned out, consider whether you want to keep any of them to be used in another area of your home, such as your garage, a craft room, the basement, etc. and be sure to mark them with sticky notes so they are put aside during demolition. If you will want R & W to hang them in their new spot, be sure to have that included in your price.
Set up a "mini kitchen" in your home to live out of during the remodel. Pick a spot in your dining room, living room, etc. where you can have your refrigerator plugged in and there is tabletop space for a microwave, a crockpot, etc. for alternative methods of cooking. Be creative and look up recipes online or in cookbooks for these appliances along with grill recipes. Believe it or not, there are cookbooks out there for cooking complete microwave meals at once, even for breakfast. Be sure your grill is in good working order for yet another method of cooking. While you might think that you will just eat out every night during this process, trust me, it gets very old and can get very expensive too.
Have plenty of paper products on hand to eat with to eliminate as much dish washing as possible. Be sure to rinse them off so they can be recycled. For items that will need to be washed, have a plan for that too. Will you be using a utility sink or an extra bathroom sink? If you will be using a sink with a delicate finish, purchase a plastic dish pan to put in the bottom to protect the surface.
For the actual remodeling process, be sure to keep very open lines of communication with us and our crews. We want you to be 100% happy with your kitchen and the only way that that will happen is if we all can easily and openly talk with one another about any questions or concerns. Keep notes and email us if you'd like during non-business hours to remember questions that come to mind.
Lastly, remember, you will be living in a construction zone and while we will be doing everything possible to keep dust and disruption to a minimum, you will feel a bit anxious while this process is going on. That is completely normal and our job is to help you feel as comfortable as possible. So relax, communicate and we will make this a quick and enjoyable experience so you can get to the business of enjoying your new and spectacular space.
