Kitchen institute - Is There a New Kitchen in Your Future? Take the First Steps to Success - Planning

Introduction

Many of my clients have, unfortunately, initiated the manufacture of their kitchen without an insight of the extent of what is assuredly complex in the process, in terms of design, budget, timeline and other issues. In these cases, our manufacture process together, was frustrating for the client and for me. As a result, this description will account for the process so that you will have the chance to become great informed before you begin your kitchen project, thereby avoiding uninformed decisions or perhaps spending time and/or money needlessly.

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This description is not about the specific manufacture features of your kitchen and how to manufacture it. There are many good resources ready for that. Instead, it is about the process of designing your kitchen. It is meant to help in getting a head start and to expose anything who is, or might be, embarking upon the manufacture of a new or remodeled kitchen, to the first and most foremost step - Planning.

Designing a kitchen for a new or existing home is a big investment in time, money and vigor and it is sometimes stressful and challenging. Unfortunately, some vendors and Tv programs don't like to dwell on this aspect and therefore mislead the consumer with regard to the actual whole of time and attempt that is required. Even though creating a new kitchen is challenging, most clients say that the results are more than worth the effort. I hope that the information in case,granted herein will be a helpful gift toward having you well on your way to a successful project.

Before you begin the process of designing your new kitchen, you will need to set the criteria for the design. I propose that you engage a professional kitchen designer that not only designs the cabinet layout, but designs every element of the kitchen and is complex throughout the whole project, so that the final result will be a cohesive manufacture that reflects optimum function and style. The designer will not only help you generate a beautiful, efficient, kitchen but will save you considerable time and money and you will both have fun developing your joint creation. I trust that what follows will get your vigor flowing and thoughts racing, in preparation for assuredly embarking upon your journey. And, it "is" a journey!

The Kitchen Of Today

The kitchen has traditionally been the most foremost room in the house because cooking and sharing food has long been central to house life. Meals will always be important, but cooking has, in some cases, significantly changed. The grocery commerce has focused on replacements for home meals and hundreds of restaurants have incorporated "to-go" in their company model. Whether we cook oftentimes or not, kitchens remain the foundation of house life because it is where we live and gather. It is where most of us start and end our days and share the information of our day.

Today's kitchens serve more roles than ever before: entertainment center, home office, cooking and dining space. The electronics for an entertainment center may consist of Tv, music and internet connection and the office area may have a desk, files, computer and bookshelves.

The First Steps

Determine with your family, who uses your current kitchen and how, and discuss the conveniences you would like to have in the new version. Make a scrapbook of articles and notes on kitchens and kitchen features that interest you and photographs of kitchens you like. Rate how and when you cook, where you serve meals to whom and how often you entertain and how you entertain. Catalogue your dishes, silverware, serving pieces, cookware, linens, and your typical grocery warehouse requirements so that you can be sure that the new manufacture accommodates everything.

It seems that no matter how much time you budget for a remodeling project, it regularly takes longer than you expected. For a complete remodel, the down time while building can be at least two or three months and much longer, depending upon the size and extent of the project. Your house needs to eat in the meantime. So, before building starts make arrangements to store, heat and clean up, enough to keep you going until the kitchen is back on-line. Many of my clients who have had the good fortune to have a bar sink in the house room, have moved in the old refrigerator and microwave near the bar sink and this compound becomes the interim kitchen while building of the new one. The upside to this is that it provides a great rationale for eating out more often!

The Kitchen Footprint

Let's start with the space you have ready for the kitchen. Whether you are designing for a new home, or remodeling in an existing one, you are miniature by how much space you have ready in which to generate your dream. If the space is fairly small, you will want to consider Whether or not you have the option of expanding. You may be able to accomplish this in your existing home and, in a new home, very often you still have time to alter the architectural plan, if needed. In Whether case, if you can eliminate or relocate a wall or walls or add to the house to generate more space for the kitchen, it will improve the function and value of the room significantly.

Of course, if you don't generate an addition to the house, and just remove or relocate a wall(s), you then have infringed upon a contiguous space and decreased its size, so you have to weigh which option is the best for you. Is it worth giving up the other space to increase the size of the kitchen? In my experience, if you can do without the adjoining space, it is much great to devote that extra space to the kitchen.

When you plan to remove or relocate a wall(s), the key factor to decide is, by so doing, will you encounter a load-bearing situation? This occurs when the wall(s) is part of the withhold principles for the buildings of the house. regularly a contractor can decide this. If the contractor is uncertain, you will need to have a structural engineer explore the buildings to make that determination. If it is non load-bearing, when you are ready to start construction, the contractor can trek, to build out the space per the new plan. If it is a load-bearing issue, your local building authority will need that you withhold a structural engineer or an architect to manufacture a structural solution for removing or relocating the wall(s).

He or she will submit manufacture drawings and calculations of the solution, to the building authority for approval and permit. Upon receiving the permit, when you are ready to begin construction, the contractor can then trek, to build-out the buildings per the engineer's or architect's specifications. This is the process in California, based upon the state building standards, Title 24. The process in the other states is very similar.

In any case, once you have made the decision of Whether or not to enlarge or re-configure, you will know the size and shape (footprint) of the space that you have ready from a horizontal standpoint - Plan View.

Vertical Space

You should also consider what size and shape the room will be from a vertical standpoint as well. If it is possible to increase the height of the room by raising, eliminating or altering an existing low ceiling or soffit, you should seriously consider taking benefit of this option. The additional height will supply more cabinet warehouse from the increased height of wall cabinets and the room will become more voluminous which is always more visually impressive and comfortable. From a building standpoint, the load-bearing issues will apply to addition the room height just as it applies to arresting or eliminating walls.

Of course, in dealing with all of these manufacture and building issues and decisions that need to be made, you will not be alone. Your designer will be the pivotal someone who will help you Rate the choices you have available. He or she will produce drawings in order to visually demonstrate these options and will offer guidance on which options are best and why.

I understand that this all sounds very tedious and problematic. In some sense these two words are a good description of the design/construction process. However, what I have outlined above is done thousands of times every day and most of those homeowners have survived and, as a result, now have the new, beautiful, functional, kitchen of their dreams. You observation I said "most"! Seriously, the scheme will be arresting and there will be some problems. This is just the nature of manufacture and building and that is why you should not trek, without experienced professional help throughout the process from the very starting to the end.
 
Utilizing Your Kitchen

Are you an expert chef, who does it all: cooking, baking, barbecuing, or are you a minimal cook whose main goal is to just get a meal on the table for the house as expeditiously as possible, or are you somewhere in between? Do you always cook by yourself or do you often have house and friends help with the cooking? Do you often entertain and all flow into the kitchen while munching on your Brie between sips of chardonnay? Do you bake often and want a marble outside for that purpose? The questions can go on and on.

Some clients have large, prestigious, homes and entertain oftentimes and/or have large families. They may have someone do the cooking for them. Some of these types of projects may need the full treatment, such as a butler's pantry or walk-in pantry, two islands, two refrigerators, two dishwashers, two microwave ovens, a wine cooler, a detach beverage cooler, a built-in espresso machine, sink, prep-sink and bar sink and glass-door cabinets to display the house heirloom china, etc.

Most clients need something substantially less than all of this, but I bring it up just to emphasize that how you utilize your kitchen has a strong sway on the manufacture and therefore, as I mentioned, you should think about how you want to control and what you want to adapt in your kitchen. You can start to think about what type of appliances and features you would like. Think of the three major work areas of a kitchen: Food Prep (refrigerator and sink), Cooking (cook top, oven and microwave) and Cleanup (sink, dishwasher and recycling). You will find a myriad of styles and options ready which you and your designer will need to determined consider. More planning, of course!

How & Where You Will Eat

You may prefer to be able to eat in the kitchen by having an island with seating. The size of the island that the room will adapt will decide how many persons you can seat. Seating at an island reduces the warehouse space ready in the island, so the balance of the kitchen warehouse will need to dispell this loss. You can basically sit at three counter heights: chair height (29-30"), counter height (36") and bar height (42").

If you have an adjacent morning meal room, you may want to eat there in the interest of having more warehouse space in the island. If the room will adapt it, you may like the idea of a built-in booth in the morning meal room or kitchen, in lieu of a typical table and chairs. Many clients like to have the option of eating in both the morning meal room and at the island in the kitchen. In some cases there is no morning meal room and the dining room serves as both morning meal room and dining room. In any case, you should give these and other possibilities careful consideration.

The manufacture Style

There are many manufacture motifs ready to you: Traditional, Modern, Contemporary, Country, Craftsman, Cape Cod, etc. The manufacture motif that you settle on will obviously heavily sway the option of all of the other elements in the kitchen. The cabinet style and cease have the strongest sway on the manufacture style of the kitchen. As I mentioned, you can start by collecting magazine photos of kitchens to get a feel for what you do and don't like. They will give you great ideas for all things kitchen. Stock, semi-custom or convention cabinets have many distinct styles and finishes to offer and of course, convention cabinets can supply any manufacture and finish.

Remaining Issues

The planning process will continue until every aspect of the total kitchen manufacture is selected and specified. However, once you have established your footprint and vertical space, how you want to utilize your kitchen, how and where you want to eat, and your manufacture motif, you are more than half way there. The planning process continues, on a smaller scale, as you are making more decisions about all of the items and issues that make up a total kitchen design.

Examples: Do you often make spaghetti and pasta, which requires filling a large pot with about four to six quarts of water? If so, you should have a pot-filler over the cook top or range top. Since there are only two of you and it takes a long time to fill up the dishwasher before you can wash the dishes, you should consider a two drawer dishwasher which enables you to wash one drawer at a time, thereby saving vigor and providing you with clean dishes more often. Do you prefer an air switch in the countertop for the disposal or do you want the switch to be on the backsplash? Do you want a garbage disposal in the prep sink as well as the main sink? Do you want soft close on your cabinet drawers? Do you like the idea of pendant lighting above the island? Do you want a filtered water system? The questions go on and on!

The discrete categories you will be encountering in designing your new kitchen are as follows. This listing of categories will give you an idea of what is to come. I didn't say it was easy!

Appliances, Cabinets, Hardware, Flooring, Plumbing, Countertop, Backsplash, Lighting/Electrical, Wall Finish, Furniture, Window Treatments, Art Work, Accessories And Construction.
 
Conclusion

I trust that by reading this article, you now have an appreciation of how foremost careful planning is to the successful manufacture of your kitchen. The more belief and ability time you devote to it, the great ready you will be when you begin with your designer and the process will become easier and more efficient, which every person complex will greatly appreciate.

Once you have made most of these macro-decisions that I have mentioned, you will be ready to tackle the micro-decisions that are arrival next. As you can see by the examples I have mentioned and the listing of categories above, you have a lot more planning to do, but remember you are now over half way there. Be strong and resolute and I am sure that you will get straight through the whole process virtually unscathed. And, if you are thoughtful, organized and work in the spirit of mutual cooperation, you will probably have some fun too! Remember that not all of this is on your shoulders. Your professional designer will be by your side for the whole trip.

I sincerely hope that you have found this information helpful and I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

Kitchen institute - Is There a New Kitchen in Your Future? Take the First Steps to Success - Planning

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