DEFINING YOUR SPACE
I have outlined a kitchen planning guide that will help you and the kitchen designer define your personal look and how you and your family live. I always share the latest magazines on kitchen design to help my clients see their own unique style. Do you like a modern look in a white gloss acrylic slab doorstyle or a transitional style with wood doors?
If the sofa blocks your traffic pattern or the Flat TV screen catches a glare from a sunny window, such decorating dilemmas are easy to correct. The kitchen, however, must be accurately designed from the start.
It is a unique space that has a fixed floor plan, yet it must function and flow with purpose.
Typically, a kitchen consists of built-in cabinetry and appliances that are stationary. These two points will be the most prominent part of your kitchen and should be viewed with a critical eye. The kitchen’s purpose is to support you and your family’s lifestyle. It might be where you have your morning cup of coffee and newspaper routine or gather the family for meals together, but these are questions that you have to think about.
Even with the help of a professional kitchen designer to generate plans, nobody knows better than you, how you and your family use the space. That means that YOU have to get very involved in the design of your kitchen.
Is the kitchen a place where the kids meet after school? Do you need a file drawer there where you store your favorite recipes or do the bills? Technology has come to the kitchen. Now smart phones can control your appliances. Do the kids do homework at the table while you prepare the meals? It will help your kitchen designer if you keep a file on the cabinets and appliance styles you favor. This process will help you to crystallize the style and the look that you want to create.
Define your space properly and it will help you organize your life. Your kitchen planner can use this guide to help your decide what you want your kitchen to look like. Keep in mind kitchen are usually renovated because they are old and outdated. Therefore this new kitchen will be your unique style for the next 20 years at least.
Some of the topics covered that should be a part of your total vision for the finished kitchen are listed below:
1. DIY or work w/a kitchen designer
2. The Renovation
3. Cabinet doorstyle
4. Appliances
5. Countertops
6. Countertop and backsplash treatment
7. Flooring
8. Lighting
9. Hiring the General Contractor
10. Plumbing Fixtures
Each topic is covered and can be used as your source of reference. Other important topics will be covered as well, because to renovate your kitchen successfully you must have this knowledge. Use my e-book as a step by step instructional guide or simply as a list of terms.