Think about putting your sink closer to the range if possible--either switch the fridge/pantry with the sink and DW or put another sink in the island. That way you won't be crossing so much space and cross-traffic with a big pot of boiling pasta water to dump.

Other than that, looks nice!

Kiki, there have been a number of posts that I've referred to again and again. Not specific to layouts per se but general good "been there, would do that again" stuff. Here's one - I'll try to find the other.

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: Best advice from this forum

One piece of advice - Supervise!

Inspect the drawings, the dimensions, materials everything. Especially the cabinets and counters.

What is that saying - An ounce of supervision saves hours of venting on this forum :)

Here's another one...

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: Thing I Dislike

Don't rush to make a plan, and don't be pressured to make decisions by designers or contractors or salespeople before you're ready.

Consider and check out all your alternatives before you sign.

Get two clauses put in your contract

1. If the work isn't finished by..... then you start deducting x amount per day. Ours was 6 months out - we felt that was fair, and our GC was confident he could do it in that time. The clause also excluded any delays caused by us.

2. Any changes or additions that resulted in us paying out more money than stated in the original contract had to be in writing and approved by us and added to the contract as an addendum.

AND MAKE SURE when you're done that you have a lien waiver from EVERY person who worked in your house and from every supplier. This sounds like overkill but has paid off for us big time.

And like others have said, be there, be available and supervise if possible.

Write things on the walls. Have the GC sign them especially for important measurements. Never assume he knows how you would want it done.

Take photos, LOTS! If your walls are open, photos can help pinpoint pipes, electrical and anything else if there is ever a problem down the road.

Use licensed professionals and pay for permits. This is your backup and check for anything not to code and which may prevent problems down the road.

Post your layout here for lots of advice.

Good luck

Pick your appliances first, then placement, & finally fit your cabinets, not the other way around. You do not want to be boxed in with just a few (or no) appliance choices. Make sure you have spec sheets with measurements for each appliance.

When you have your placement plan, try to mentally walk through all activities: unloading groceries, gathering ingredients, prep, cooking, baking, heating a snack, serving, clean up. Look for long hikes or traffic jams & landing zones. Equipment storage should be very near its first use. A sink & prep area near your cooking area is important. Tweak your plan -- only when it seems to work do you want to specify cabinets.

Order your appliances when you order your cabinets -- you do not want to find out that an appliance you've designed into your plan has been discontinued & no longer available.

If you are having trouble making cabinets fit your placement plan, check out custom built ones. You get exactly what you want & they can be surprisingly affordable.

Don't let people change what you like. It's your kitchen and you have to live with it. We had our cabinet guy come in and try to change around my layout. Hated it, told him so and he kept arguing with me.
And watch them like a hawk, they will change things while your not looking.

If you're getting granite, just decide the color family and do nothing else til you get to the yard when you're actually ready to buy. I invested way too much time surfing the web, asking questions here, and looking at slabs , etc, only to find many granites have multiple names, different places call the same granite different things,slabs of the same name granite can look totally different from each other, you never know what will be available when you're actually ready to buy, etc., etc., etc. :)

For your layout, do you have a 2-D version, preferably w/dimensions of walls, doors, windows, and distances b/w walls/doors/windows? It's difficult to to tell without this information how your layout is.

OK....more than one piece of advice, but I really think this info is helpful:

• Aisles should be in the neighborhood of 42" (give or take a couple of inches depending on what's on the aisle & what you're comfortable with), more if the aisle is a thoroughfare, appliances open into it, or if there's seating.

• Don't create a "barrier island"...an island that comes b/w the range/refrigerator/sink. If you have a prep sink on one side & the main sink on the other, than it isn't a barrier from the sink point of view.

• Think "zones" when planning your kitchen. The main ones: Storage Zone, Prep Zone, Cooking Zone, and Cleanup Zone. Each should be separate but not too far apart. This allows you to design/define the cabinetry, appliances, tools, etc. for each zone based on what's being done there. It also allows for a multi-person kitchen (someone cleaning up while another person is prepping and/or cooking and/or baking, etc.)

• Definitely have others here look at your layout!

• Make sure you have adequate work and landing space around appliances (see: NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines)

• Avoid ranges/cooktops/rangetops & sinks in islands or peninsulas, especially ranges/cooktops/rangetops. [Safety issues, aesthetics, cost, etc. Also note that you spend far more time prepping than cooking...I think I read here from one of the professionals that you generally spend something like 70% of your time prepping, 20% cleaning up, and 10% actually cooking.]

• Read...read...read...read...read...the various GW forums (Kitchens, Appliances, Electrical, Lighting, Flooring, Paint, etc.)!

• Lastly, research...research...research each choice you make!

HTH and good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

This is one you might not see here as much as in some other spots but create a line item budget with a contingency and stick to it. No matter how big or small it will help you make decisions and set priorities. Be realistic not optimistic when budgeting.

Someone here when I first joined advised to pick everything before you start - best thing we did. It was enough making the arrangements and making install decisions without having to worry about selecting materials.

Create a back breaking binder with samples, info, plans etc. in them. My Mom set up a file system - completely useless anytime we needed anything it came down to my giant binder which I lugged everywhere. Make spare copies of everything so you can give copies to whoever needs it.

Bookmark everything - even if you are only mildly interested because a time will come when you will be madly searching for something you remember seeing but have no idea where.

Gardenweb is a resource not the context for your remodel, don't lose sight of that.

BTW...I second the photo advice. And, take them daily! Not just for documentation of where your electrical & plumbing is in the walls & ceilings, but also in case there's a dispute w/your contractor or sub about who did what and when.

Our contractor was a pain in the b**t, always pointing fingers at someone else ("I/my guys didn't do it"). B/c all my pics have dates I was able to prove to him what was done when and b/c of that who was responsible...I won every time! It got to the point that when I said, "let's check my pictures," he capitulated!

I second what pharaoh said - Supervise. Don't assume floors are level, walls are straight, the GC has communicated with the sub-contractors. We naively assumed the GC does this for a living and the addition was new contruction so surely we didn't need to doublecheck any work. Hmmm, nothing we can do now about the gap between our cabinet and the wall build-out to work around the chimney. The wall was built at an angle so this resulted in not being able to use the other fridge end panel and the gap between the wall and cabinet.

Of the things we "caught" in time - a missing window, the passthru that wasn't cut (though this meant the passthru opening was smaller than planned since it was cut after the fact), a kitchen that was almost painted the living room color but but some miracle DH happened to be home and stopped the sub contractors. Things that were fixed but had to press the GC - replacing the primed French door that I had only mentioned it being stained and asking him when he was going to stain it no less than 5 times (again, not communicated to sub contractors), and a piss poor drywall sanding job. That is the one thing I dread about ever doing a big project like that again. When I deal directly with the electrician, the installer etc. I'm able to go over the directions with them and they know they need to do a good job to get paid. When a GC is involved, I can understand the subcontractor's hesitance to deal with the homeowner because you aren't paying them directly and they don't want you to add things to the job that weren't agreed to. But basically make sure if there is a GC that has subcontractors that you have some kind of walkthru or something in writing so you can communicate directly with the subs. Best to be on-site so you are available for questions.

Add to the supervision thing: I wasn't around when they were hanging the pendant lights in the Kitchen and Dining Room. Luckily the kitchen was hung correctly, but the DR light is off by 6 noticeable inches. One of those things other people don't notice but drives me crazy.

Most important advice: your cabinets will last MUCH longer than your appliances. Especially for refrigerators; their sizes have become increasingly diverse and I expect this will continue. You need to plan for being flexible in sizing, which takes some thought to accomplish with cabinets.

kiki, you have received wonderful advice so far!

I will have to respectfully disagree with one on buehls list though,
"avoiding a sink in the island". There are many threads that show
island sinks working great in some kitchens. I could have avoided it...
but I would not have the wonderful layout, with prep areas on sink side or range side and a great view.

My advice, take all of the advice and create a space that feels like your own!
Best of luck,
vic

The sink advice was meant for main/cleanup sinks, not prep sinks. Prep sinks actually work very well in islands big enough for them (most islands are big enough). I should have been more explicit.

I know that some people have their main/cleanup sinks in an island, but it dramatically cuts down the expanse of workspace when you do that. If you have people also sitting at the island then unless you have adequate space behind the sink (18" - 24"), those people will get splashed. Besides, who likes to look at a sink full of dirty dishes while sitting at the island (they're in your face)?

I'm just add my voice to the "supervise" contingency. Know your plans intimately. Insist the contractor follow them unless he checks with you *first*. Double-check that he *is* following them. Some contractors have no respect for KD's and think the plans are just a suggestion... Measure everything, make sure every piece of filler and support panel is accounted for and being used appropriately, that every cabinet is being installed in the correct location. Check EVERY DAY.

If you notice something seems off, speak up ASAP. If it wasn't for me speaking up, my shut-off valves would still be behind my dishwasher, my light switches would be inside my broom closet, and my drawers would have never opened and closed properly. As it is, I didn't make a big enough fuss about some other issues, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life being nervous that my countertop is going to collapse onto my dishwasher.

OTOH, I noticed my cabinet doors weren't opening and closing properly and pushed about this. Sometimes this is left as a punch list item - thank goodness I insisted it be fixed sooner because it turned out to be symptomatic of a much larger problem that resulted in several of the cabinets having to be replaced.

So speak up, and speak up EARLY. Be polite, but be firm. Channel your inner assertive person. She's in there somewhere. :-)

Oh, and yes, take pictures. LOTS of pictures, from far away, from close up, of every detail.

(Wow, have I scared you enough??? ;-))

Final piece of advice - use this forum. The people here are WONDERFULLY knowledgeable, supportive, and generous with their time. I don't know how I would have gotten through this ordeal, er, renovation without them. Smooches to everyone!!!

I definitely agree with the suggestions for photos. I think I took close to 1,200 photos during the building of our addition. Also, be sure to take pictures of where the electrical, plumbing and HVAC are inside of your walls before they cover them all up with drywall.

Another thing I did that I would strongly recommend is to keep a journal of the whole process: when you place phone calls and orders, converatsions, promises, who shows up at the jobsite, days with no workers, what is being istalled, etc. Our job went very well overall, but I found it motivating to be able to see the progress every week. If our job had gone poorly, the journal would have been a lifesaver...and you won't know in advance whether yours will go well or not.

Also, even if you love your contractors, check everything they do. Good contractors will still cut corners, or will try to make decisions without including you. Their idea of what you want may not be the same as your idea of what you want.

If you're happy with the crew, buy them lunch every once in a while. Compliment them on specific things they've done that you notice and love.

Most people only renovate a kitchen once or twice during their lifetime. Kitchen designers do this daily. They are up on the current trends, new materials, new techniques, and can use their experience plus the new ideas to help your kitchen be it's functional and aesthetic best for you. You don't have to undergo this all too intimidating process alone, and the services of a creative/responsive KD are really worth it in the end. Having said that, not all personalities mesh, and some KD's out there are merely "cabinet salespeople" that barely even know their cabinet line. If you're not having a good experience with your KD, then it's time to find one that you will mesh with.

Well, that's my shameless plug for justifying my job for today! LOL!

Sooo.....if you consider that advice as "consider the source" :) then my other one piece of advice is to not to underestimate how much this all costs! Too many people have sticker shock when they come into the showroom and think they can "pick up a couple of cabinets for about $1200" as one customer I had yesterday say to me when he really meant the whole half of a galley kitchen, and cabinets that exactly matched what he already had as well. Average kitchen remodels in the US are around 30K with no structural changes with about half of that going towards cabinetry. Most of us have Ferrari tastes on a Chevy budget, but it takes a lot of DIY involvement, auction sniping, a ton of creativity (and yes, more money) to make a Chevy kitchen look like a Ferrari one without Ferrari level money.

You've gotten lots of great advice on the process, so I'll comment on your pics. First, it would be useful to have an overhead floor plan to be able to see the whole layout better. The perspective pics are helpful, but they are much more helpful with the overall layout in mind. A layout that also indicates what is in the adjoining rooms will yield the best advice from posters here.

Here are some things I notice about your plan...

-As others have mentioned, you have a pretty long hike between the sink and stove. Whether you are emptying a pasta pot, taking a dirty pot to the sink, or filling a pot with water, it helps to have the sink closer. In addition, it makes prepping veggies and such much easier. A prep sink in your island would solve this problem.

-I noticed that you have very few drawers. Most people here have discovered that drawers can be much more useful than base cabinets. Even cabinets with pull-outs are limiting, and drawers can be used for almost anything. Do a search for threads about drawers to see pics of some of the ways people use their drawers. I would replace all or at least most of your base cabs with drawers, except perhaps under your sink.

-The placement of your microwave seems inconvenient to me. I'd rather be able to take things out of the fridge or freezer and pop them right in the MW without a hike. You might want to consider placing the MW in the island (either get a MW drawer or place a regular one on an under-counter shelf). On the end opposite the overhang would be a good place--out of the way and hidden from view, but easily accessible from the fridge, sink, and stove.

-It's hard to be sure without measurements, but your island overhang looks like it will only accommodate one stool. Is this what you intend? Some people like that, if only to have a place to rest while you're prepping, but if I didn't have room for more than one stool, I'd rather have more storage space underneath or a bookshelf on the end. If you could extend the overhang another foot or two into the adjoining room (not sure what's there), you could accommodate three stools.

-It looks like your stove and hood are the same width. It's recommended that your hood extends three inches past each side of your stove. That is, for a 30-inch stove, you need a 36-inch hood, for a 36-inch stove, a 42-inch hood, etc. I didn't know this important tidbit and ordered both my stove and hood at 36". This means that my cabinets on either side of the stove get warm as I cook. With a grease fire, they'd be toast.

-It looks like you have plenty of cabinet space, but go through every cabinet and decide what you will store there to make sure that you have a convenient place for everything. There are threads that have lists of items to think about.

Hope this helps!

Don't do anything until you research and educate yourself about what you really like, really want, and really need.

Always learning something on this forum. I never realized that a hood should be wider than the stove. I ordered it wider only because I thought aesthetically it would look better. Glad to see I was thinking of form and got function too.

There is a current thread about whether folks are worried about their new kitchens being sophisticated enough that reminded me that one of the best ways to avoid regrets (and we mostly all reach a point where the project doesn't meet or expectations - it passes) is to take a lot of before pictures (people have emphasized during but don't overlook before). Document your over crowded cupboards and drawers, the clutter on the counters, your old appliances -get it all. It helps when you are looking at a 50 grand or more reno and start to feel yours isn't holding up to be reminded of how far you have come (it may also help midway through when you just wish it was all over and that you just had a working sink).

Thank you to all! Every piece of advice is appreciated...it's so hard going about this when I have never done anything like it -- it's confusing! I will take all of your comments in mind and I am sure I'll be posting a lot of other questions, etc! in the months to come.

I am meeting with my desginer to come up with some solutions to the sink issue -

and great idea on the drawer piece! I will definately look into that.

Also, my I did extend my island overhang to allow for 3 stools...I just haven't gotten the drawing of it yet. Thanks to ALL!!!

I couln't tell from the drawings... how far is the refrigerator from the stove? Make sure you don't have to walk the length of the kitchen for the eggs, back again for the green onions, return to put them away, etc... especially if you have to go around the island to do it. Islands are nice for additional seating and storage, but should not be an barrier to efficient movement in your workspace, imho.

The NKBA seating guidelines are also contained in the "NKBA Kitchen Planning" link I posted earlier in this thread. To summarize:

• Linear/length spacing:

  • 24" of linear space/seat. So a 6' long island can seat 3 people

  • Some people have gotten away with 18"/seat...but most teens & adults are not comfortable w/this spacing. Even if you're planning for children, children grow very quickly...so plan for teens & adults!

• Overhang (with no range/cooktop/rangetop or main sink):

  • Bar-height counters (42" high): 12" [Note: If you have a prep sink in front of one of the seats, I recommend at least a 15" overhang to minimize splashing someone sitting there]

  • Counter-height counters (36" high): 15"

  • Table-height counter (30"): 18"