First of all, don't be intimidated by the really high-end kitchens you see all over this board. They are fabulous and I am enjoying watching them come to life, but in reality they are not within most people's budget. You don't have to spend $100,000 or even $50,000 to have a wonderful kitchen. I've attached a good thread for you. Hopefully it will inspire you towards a kitchen that will not break the bank. You can have a wonderful, attractive and functional kitchen for much less than you might imagine.

to get started, why not post some pictures of what you have and your floor plan? Some of the wonderful people here are just full of great ideas I am sure they will share with you. Sometimes once you have a more clear idea of what you want, it is easier to get started.

Cindy

Here is a link that might be useful: under $20K kitchens

Hi Frankie... very interesting post. I think you made the first step by examining your intentions, limitations, expectations, and longevity of the project for you. I'm sure someone will point you toward the "sweeby test" and there's another one that escapes my mind now. Personally, I'm more of a "I've got to see it to understand it" person and first gathered tons of magazines to see if there was a prevailing theme in what appealed to me. Once a few choices were identified; I looked at a couple of basic big box places (Expo, HD, Lowes) just to get a feel for color, graining, materials etc. That's the easy part.

The hardest part, to me, is coming up with the ideal layout. Are you totally happy with how your kitchen functions? Or... are there glaring inadequacies... or like me; I didn't realize it needed improvement because I simply didn't know any better until I educated myself more. I am overly commited but am looking to remodel my "forever" retirement home. There's a difference in the stage of life and priorities. My kids are done with college and it's ME time. All this weighs in.

So my advice it to Keep It Simple. Buy some mags, draw a pic of your layout on graph paper and include dimensions and post it here. Give a little info with your posting about your family, lifestyle, cooking style, and the general "feel" of your home and how your kitchen is open(or not) to those areas in your home. You couldn't ask for a better community of people who will be willing to devote time and effort to help you acheive whatever will work for you. If it's a straightforward deal; you may not even need a KD. It depends on how extensive it is and how much time you need/want to put toward the renovation.

Best of luck.
Elyse

Such sage advice offered and I will chip in my two cents here. One thing that was very valuable to me in the "thinking, planning, dreaming" stage was - I called up some folks that I knew who had redone their kitchens and asked if I could come over and talk to them about their experience and get "tours" of their kitchens. I asked them to tell me about anything that they absolutely loved and anything that they would have done differently. I talked to them about their contractors, their cabinet companies, their appliances, their materials, anything I had questions about.

While I did visit all the cabinet showrooms in our area (and then some) and gathered a bzillion magazines and had preliminary discussions with two different KDs -- these "home visits" were really helpful! People really enjoy sharing their kitchens and it was very helpful to get a chance to see several complete kitchens in action.

Good luck and you will get your "braves up" -- it is a fantastical adventure!

Oh the dreaming stage is still the fun part! You don't even have to be brave yet. Brave is signing on the dotted line and watching them tear out your old kitchen! That's the point of no return.

I do think it is really, really important to figure out as much as you can what you want before talking with contractors,& KD people. There will be so many things you haven't thought of, or things that wont work like you thought they would. It's best to know yourself and what your priorities are and what you are trying to accomplish. The pros can help with "how" you accomplish it.

For example, for us we wanted to open up the space, create seating and maximize counter space. We also wanted a very definite "work zone" and visitor zone to maximize safety for our kids. With those goals in mind we formulated a basic floor plan and then let the pros tweak it.

I will also say that you really want a good GC. We didn't think our redo was that complicated and we didn't hire one. I had a very detailed list of what I wanted from the electrician, where the outlets should go, switches, things that needed to go away, I had printed out all the specs for the appliances, and marked the pendants, cans on the floor. I thought I was totally on the ball.
Then the electrian showed up and asked me questions that didn't even sound like English. Fortunately our custom cabinet guy is a friend and he came over and handled it all for DH and me. As for DIY, we knew only the top level of what we needed--not at all the instructions to give the subcontractors. We just thought we knew more than we did. :) You just really want someone to handle these details for you.

But the bottom line is simply that you've got to want it done more than you want to avoid doing it. When you get to that point, you will start making it a priority to take those baby steps.
Good Luck!

I sympathize with your discomfort about getting started with professionals - knowing where to start, who to trust, etc.

You are way ahead of the game by having come here first. If you are not in urgent need of a new kitchen, I would recommend you take as much time as you need getting your own plans in order, with feedback from here. And familiarize yourself with how others have done this.

It seems that there are many models of how the process works once you bring in the professionals:
- start with KD the provides design/build services
- start with KD that provides cabinet installation,
get your own GC for the rest
- KD that designs and sells cabinets.
Get your own GC to do the installation and the rest.
- An independent KD that designs but doesn't sell
cabinets. The perhaps custom cabinets, ...

I started down this path before finding this site. I ended up with a KD that sold cabinets, offered references for GCs.

Then the first GC I went to didn't like that arrangement. He wanted an in with the KD so he could get a kickback. This didn't work out.

I had a *lot* of trouble finding a GC I liked and trusted. It ended up taking my more than a year to find one. But when I did, he was *great*, though $$$. I found him through a friend I didn't think to ask for a long time.

I still don't know how to price shop on this, given the many different working models.

In the end, all I can suggest is take your time until you are comfortable.

I agree with everyone who has advised you to take your time and figure out most of the details of what you want before consulting a professional. I think it's a great idea for you to "doodle" some layouts on your own. Take full advantage of all the advice and tips from helpful and experienced people on this forum. Peruse the Finished Kitchen Blog. Visit the websites of various cabinet manufacturers and look at their photo galleries.

Sorry for rambling so long. Good luck with your renovation. I look forward to see how your project progresses.

I regret that I consulted a KD before I had a coherent vision for my kitchen renovation. All I had was a big stack of inspiration photos. Because I hadn't figured out in advance how I wanted my kitchen to look, feel and function, the KD filled in all the blanks with her own vision. I was days away from ordering my cabinets when I saw a picture online of a kitchen that I really loved. I realized that it incorporated many of the favorite features of my inspiration kitchens and that it looked absolutely nothing like the kitchen the KD had designed for me. That was 3 months ago. I took a big step backward and started over.

My friends rib me about how much research I put into this remodel, but I'm comforted and much more comfortable knowing I've done due-diligence. Most of my friends are not like that and want someone else to handle their design. Or they want to go to a kitchen shop/big box, etc., pick out a look and say "I want that, that and that." What I'm trying to say is, do what makes you most comfortable. If you'll sleep better at night knowing you've looked at 10 cabinet lines and you've gotten the best one for you, then great. Or looked at 1 and it fits with what you're going for.

Also, I echo finding a good general contractor. Our GC made us come up with all the decisions on what we wanted prior to giving us a bid. We used his scope sheet to bid it out to others as well. It was a pain to come up with that list, but I'm glad we did now. Less decisions to make now that we're in the middle of it.

If you THINK you know what you want your kitchen to look like, you can be pretty confident someone has something similar in the finished kitchen blog. It's helped me be confident that what I THINK I'm interested in is really what I want.

Good luck.

I have a small kitchen and an even smaller budget but unfortunately expensive champaign taste! Don't be afraid of what you see on here. I know you can do this and it isn't that hard but there may be times when it is frustrating.

I started with a good contractor. I got references. Saw his work, etc. He recommended a KD to me. They both came over to my house. I pretty much knew what I wanted--now I am saying that with a caveat. You are probably thinking, yeah, right, she knew what she wanted and I don't! What I knew I wanted was the following--easy peasy as Francy would say.
1. It was going to be new cupboards, sink, appliances.
2. It was going to stay in the existing space and floor plan.
3. I had no space, time or $ for an addition.
4. I wasn't moving appliances, windows, etc., from where they were before, however, I did want to change from an all electric range to a duel fuel.

Those are the basics. I shared my thoughts with my KD and contractor. I thought I wanted cherry cabs and after weighing pros and cons, went with maple which I love. I wasn't sure I could afford granite and then went to stone yards and looked at slabs and prices. I found out I could afford the granite after all! Who knew?

I had been tearing out pictures from magazines for years as to my ideal kitchen. I actually didn't really consider those as I wanted to change from the "country" look I have had for 35 years to something a bit more modern.

From there I looked at cabinet samples at the KD's office. I had found my granite so my cabs went with my granite and I then looked for appliances within my budget. I did my research and bought the best of what I could afford. Then it was ordering things and getting started. Scary but not hard.

So I know you can do this! Go visit stone yards. Talk to friends that have updated their kitchens. Visit kitchen show rooms. Look up things on the internet. There is a wealth of talent, expertise and support on this board to assist you. Oh, and we all LOVE pictures of the befores and afters!

We got brave enough to remodel when everything fell apart and we realized that we had become comfortable with an inefficient space that just didn't work. Things I've found helpful: recommendations from people you know & trust who have nothing to gain/lose by sharing their experiences (neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc). We picked our general contractor because he had successfully/cheerfully built a house for some very fussy friends. He would only work with sub-contractors who were responsive to him and his clients, did good work, had responsible work ethic, and were nice to be around. During the 6 months of our remodel, I never heard 1 person swear (a much different experience from our first remodeling experience where it seemed like many of workers had to be on some kind of prison work release program)

I did a lot of research, went to quite a few remodel open house tours (done by NARI contractors to get new business)that featured average houses like ours. This forum is quite helpful with things to think about. A previous poster mentioned (I agree after being on this list 2 years) that many of the participants have much higher budgets than the average kitchen remodel.

While I didn't use it, many parts of the country have active Angie's List where people post their experience with local trades people. You can also pick up some tips on local people by putting your town name (if it's a larger population)or state in the question title. A while back, someone asked some questions about Madison, WI (my town) and there were 4-5 of us with responses.

We had a smooth remodeling experience, cost more than planned, was dirtier than expected, felt like a home invasion often (we didn't move out), gave our dog psychological trauma. My only regret is not doing it years earlier. We love the new space (changed the floor plan completely), new appliances, new look!!!

That said, I believe remodeling isn't for everyone. Sometimes, it's better to sell and buy the place that better suits you.

It's an adventure! All the best in whatever path you travel!

All of your kind and thoughtful replies are very encouraging.

The forum is helping me a lot to get from the very vague stage of "I need a new kitchen" to starting to focus on specifics (including the more "vague specific" of floorplan. I'm starting to get my
vision" in place --for me it starts with a kind of color and light aspect--and then it is easier to try to see what materials and styles will give me that.
That helps me feel like I won't just be a sheep with some KD and will be able to talk the right language.

I think I have a long way to go, but I think I am now past the "pre-contemplation" phase , in which I kind of got the heebie-jeebies with any further decisions, to where I can plan to do things that actually nibble away at the process.

You gals ( and guys) are such a help!