2. Defining the project

by | Oct 20, 2018 | Planning Tools | 0 comments

Modern bathroom

Next steps before starting your new project.

After carefully considering how the layout, style, and purpose of your kitchen fits with the rest of the house, it's time to define your kitchen renovation project by assessing your unique priorities, identifying the spaces that will be impacted by the renovation, seeking opportunities to optimize your budget, and applying the information you gleaned from Step One.

Assessing your current and future needs

If you're preparing to renovate your kitchen, you should already have a good grasp on your current needs. After living with your kitchen for awhile, you've discovered where traffic jams occur, which cabinets get cramped, and the spaces that go underutilized. While your mental wish list undoubtedly addresses the shortcomings of your kitchen for current needs, your remodeled kitchen should be designed to serve your future needs as well. Will there be changes in your family over the coming years? Are you planning to have children? Will kids be leaving the house? Who and how many people will be eating, cooking, and working in and around the kitchen? Will your family have accessibility needs over the coming years?

 

Take time to carefully consider how your family's lifestyle may change over the coming decade. By planning for the road ahead, your new kitchen can easily accommodate your current and future needs.

PLAN FOR THE ROAD AHEAD AND YOUR KITCHEN WILL ACCOMMODATE YOU IN THE FUTURE

Determining affected rooms

Which rooms will be impacted by a remodel? Will you be opening up doorways or moving walls, affecting adjacent spaces like a family room, dining room, mudroom, bathroom, or pantry?

 

Will you be changing the flooring in your kitchen? Many times the footprint of your cabinetry will change necessitating  the replacement or patching of the existing kitchen floor. If you do make changes to your floor, you may want to continue the new flooring look into neighboring rooms. Similar changes may also be appropriate for trim, lighting, wall surfaces and paint. Don't lose the positive impact of your kitchen remodel by neglecting the surrounding rooms. Besides, you may be able to realize additional savings by tackling multiple rooms at once. Which brings us to...

Looking for opportunities to save

Any kitchen renovation will require certain things; demolition, cleanup, an electrician, a plumber, and lots of workers on-site. Once you have a team at your home for your kitchen remodel, it may be cost-effective—and in some cases necessary—to utilize them for additional projects.

 

Since walls will be opened up, water and power will be shut off, and skilled labor will be in your home, consider making additional planned renovations to bathrooms, electrical service, or other areas of the house while your kitchen project is underway. Because contractors prefer taking on larger projects over multiple small ones, you should be able to realize cost savings by having all of the work done during a single job.

Applying what we learned from "Step One"

Step One helped you identify the location of your kitchen within your floor plan and understand the role it plays in your house, including the activities it is used for and how its style and scale are influenced by the remainder of your home. Are your current and future needs for your kitchen compatible? Will you be expanding the role that the kitchen plays in your day-to-day life? Are there opportunities to improve your design by making changes to neighboring rooms as well?

 

The goal of these thought exercises is to encourage you to look at your home with a fresh set of eyes. Our next step will cover identifying the kitchen style that works best for you. After that, we will discuss working with a professional kitchen designer, making informed budget decisions, and dealing with contractors and renovations.