Oh gosh. Oh my. More times than you want to hear. I also went back on some things that were originally suggested and I had kiboshed them. We came to an understanding - if she suggested something and I said no then she ignored me for 24 hours. Within that 24 hours I would come back and either have changed my mind or not.

I went so far as to have accepted some plans and then at the last minute changed my mind as to WHERE I wanted the kitchen. The kitchen got moved and we started the process again. This time the process went much faster and smoother because this time it felt right. I was happy when I could see myself and my family (which can number 25-30 at family dinners) and close friends being comfortable in the space and having fun. The plans were settled when I could envision myself easily making a piece of toast and easily cooking a 25 lb. turkey for Christmas.

You will eventually have what you need/want/wish for. Wait until you get down to the last 2 or 3 inches because that will happen. This is the part of the process where it is easy and cheap to make changes so take full advantage of it. Don't let the KD rush you -remember that it;s your money, your reno, your way. At the end of the reno the KD goes onto another job and you will be living and working in the kitchen. So take the time now to process the design.

couple weeks ago we got the first round of plans from the KD. Last week I sent a list of revisions. He hasn't even sent me an updated plan, and I already have more changes.

It's common. Many people have a hard time making choices until they see something on paper, and it's also rare that a designer has been trained to interview clients well enough to get out the information that is causing you to make changes.

You are NOT wishy-washy, you are NORMAL!

I wouldn't call it being wishy-washy, I call it part of the process. Seeing a design on paper for the first time is great, but also serves to bring up questions we may never have thought about initially and/or makes us change our mind on some things we thought we were 100% decided on.

We went back and forth with our cabinet maker from the original design at least 8 or 10 times, and this was in a design with no change to basic layout. We were tweaking island size, cabinetry details etc.
We often would have further edits before hearing back on previous questions, but we sent emails as we thought of things. Our cabinetmaker would address our edits in pretty much real time since they were just tweaks to his software program. However, if we were ahead of him by a few things, he would do one response incorporating 3 or 4 of our edits.
Good luck to you- and if it makes you feel better, give them a call.

I end up doing at least 10 deisgns and prices for every person I work with. It is the nature of the beast.

Too many revisions to count. Absolutely normal--no worries! Remember, this is your kitchen, not the KD's. At the end of the day you will be the one cooking, cleaning, eating & living in that kitchen every single day & it should be the way you want it 100% no matter how many revisions--that's what you're paying for.

We're on round...three? four? (with architect, not KD) and still not there yet. Part of the process. We were a thousand percent sure that the first plan was going to be perfect; we've been thinking about renovating the kitchen since we bought the house in 2007, and the plan was almost a formality, a mere translation onto paper of our brilliant ideas. Hah.

Keep at it!

We only made one change to our preliminary layout. No changes were needed on our cabinet elevations. That has to be a record low!

Don't be afraid to change things on paper -- that's when you're supposed to revise and change. My DH always says "measure twice, cut once."

i changed many things. important lesson learned: once you start this kind of project it can feel like a speeding train leaving the station, and not everyone may be on board (i felt like i wasn't and it was my project!). particularly with this economy - when they get the job they want to GO! meet a milestone - get paid! i had to learn to slow the train down. it is my project. if it takes me 3 months to figure out the design before i sign off, so be it. i had to really pull the breaks a few times to keep control of the situation. i was getting pressured from the GC as well as the cabinetmaker. you are the customer, take your time. design is an iterative process. do not expect to get it in 1 or 2 rounds. be sure look at things in different lights, mock things up in cardboard if necessary, get real life samples, live with them. when you think you have the final design live with it for a few weeks before signing off...
it took me 1 year before i was ready to say OK to building.

well, when I send him an email now that doesn't include any change requests, I write "NO CHANGES, DON'T WORRY", in the subject line.

I think that sort of tells it all......

:)

Thank you ALL so much for the reassurance. I definitely don't want to mess this up. I'm feeling a bit frozen in fear right now. I wish I could see a drawing done a bunch of different ways and pick one I like. There are too many choices here! I'm glad we're going with a custom builder but this is making me crazy.