Uhhhhh. You don't wanna know!

A million? :)

But really, we spent longer planning than many people (about two years) and went through a lot of iterations of the plan in that time. Started out with "in an ideal world" plans, got some bids and scrapped big pieces of those, went back and forth on some key decisions, finalized layout, went back and forth on details to make the budget work, added to the budget, more back and forth on details, etc. It took us 18 months to get to a plan we liked that worked with the budget, and then another six months or so to actually get everything lined up to start work.

There's also some level of "good enough" involved in planning---our plan isn't perfect, and there are some things I don't like about it. Some were compromises with my husband; others were compromises with our budget. But at the end of the day, it's still an infinitely better space than the old kitchen, so we're very excited about it. I just had to get past the perfect magazine kitchen hangup. At a certain point, we had to stop going in circles on the plan (we had a few big design dilemmas) and just pick a path so we could move forward. Fortunately my husband is good at that; I'm not, and would have kept researching and coming up with new "solutions" forever. He put the kibosh on that and basically just said "we know what the options are, so pick one and let's demo." So we did. :)

I will say that we didn't ever have one "the one" plan, though---it emerged slowly as things from one plan got smushed into another, and we were even tweaking it at the very end. (We're still tweaking some pieces of it!) So it might also help to think of it as a dynamic thing. You'll get there!

Agreed, Artemis.Sometimes it becomes about not dipping your toe in and just jumping in! Once someone or something gets you to move forward, the deicsions come quicker! And "good enough" is not a bad thing. I think it comes down to choosing from a list of components that we've already narrowed down through our research. Let's face it- most of us agonize over the slightest differences, when really, all of them are beautiful. If I'm going back and forth between 3 backsplash tiles, you can bet your last dollar that my SO can barely discern the difference between the first and the 3rd. Every plan evolves over time.I'm jumping in!

I think my problem is that I'm still trying to design the spaces. I want the areas to flow well, while still working within the confines of an old farmhouse.

Storage, eating area, seating, laundry, pantry, kitty space, all need to fit into this side of the house. I'm actually looking forward to getting to the point, where I can start thinking about appliance and countertop choices...or at least I was! LOL

Thanks for the advice and I know sometimes you just have to figure 'good enough' and move on! Time to go work on Plan #3...and then move on to the fun stuff :)

I hated my kitchen since day one and there were years of ideas and plans. Ultimately though there was just too much to do in this house with replacing all the builder grade stuff that was falling apart so I had no choice financially but to ditch the "dream" kitchen expansion ideas. Added to that dilemma was the fact that parts of Florida's real estate is in the tank. At the end I was happy with all the sacrifices though as it is a big improvement from what I had. Down the road we will add more to kitchen storage on an adjoining wall.I'm not sure how long we will live here so I bought solid cabinetry that will last long past sale time (just bought on a smaller scale). I think it has all worked out for the best and works with my cooking and life style. I managed to add value to the house and make my life better without breaking the bank, we bought what we could pay cash for and I'm not in kitchen dept.

I sort of think decision making is easier as well as harder when you are working within the constraints of an existing space. It is sort of like Einstein and relativity: he spent a lot of time analyzing the problem logically, but ended up having a sudden insight to produce the solution.

In my case, I could not find a way to incorporate a behemoth of a refrigerator into a small kitchen without having it loom over everything like Darth Vader. I tried arrangements 40 ways to Sunday, to no avail, but suddenly it hit me: Get the thing OUT of the kitchen.

So now it is cozily ensconced in what used to be the pantry. The result is a somewhat elongated work triangle but a kitchen that looks as though it will maintain a hospitable scale, if I ever finish it.

So persevere, lavender. Your farmhouse really wants your kitchen and other functions. You just need to noodle around until you get to your "eureka" moment.

We started with the intent of an expansion and completely moving the kitchen to another area of the house. Then the reality of Fl. real estate (like jterri said) as well as the fact that this is suppose to be a debt free retirement home for us. SOOOOO.... back to the drawing board with TONS of patient help from this forum. Literally.... I had well over 50 layouts till WE came up with what I will soon have.

I went through a couple dozen. Then tried a bunch of others with different orientations. Then went back and tried a few dozen more. Finally just decided it was time to get it built already and just compromised, compromised, started hiring people, changed a few more little things, found some different appliances and changed some more, then went to a finalized plan, which the cabinetmaker went through with changes a few more times.

You'll get there!

Three. The folks here helped me a lot. The layout of the "big four" didn't change, but a lot of other details were changed, much for the better.
Casey

Three?! Oh my. I'm closer to artemis' million. It takes me three tries just to stand up from my desk and take a break. At least. Pathetic but true...

Lavender, you and I seem to be competing in attention from the layout gurus -- you've followed along with many if not most of my pleas for help. They've become numerous by now. Couple dozen? The plan of the house, well -- that it depends how you count. We started many years ago, hired an architect, eventually decided we just couldn't communicate with him and stopped the whole shebang after several K's. Then 1.5 yr ago started working with a different architect and I basically bowed out: too many cooks. I left it to my husband except for the major things, most of which I just rubber-stamped anyway. He and I disagree on so, so many things, only it's never really the big things we disagree about. I trust him with those big decisions. It's the little ones that drive me completely and utterly crazy. But I figured there were just too many drivers when I was very involved, and so I don't know how many iterations there were of the big plan in the end. However, the kitchen got left a shell and it was missing certain critical elements (read: walls), hence the massive number of layout iterations. sigh.

Hang in there girl. It seems you're well within normal variance!

I've been living with a temporary kitchen for four years now. During that time I've re-arranged things several times using assorted furnishings to see if I liked an idea or not.

But even before we set up the temporary kitchen, we changed our minds about where it was even going to be. First plan was to keep the kitchen were it was, second was to put in in the addition, third (and final) was to put it were the dining room was. Even after that I decided to move a wall, make another walk through opening and take out the patio door.

I think if I went back to my first plan, I wouldn't look a whole lot like the kitchen I'm ending up with, but I like what I'm working on now so much better, and I know my first "final" plan wasn't very workable in practice.

Thank you all for your comments. I'm glad I'm not alone!

It can be frustrating, but it's also let me try out different ideas for the space. If this latest one is okay with our friend, the GC, then it might be 'the one' so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

Posting as blfenton as my username "byronroad" has disappeared and this forum gave me a new one? I'm trying to get byronroad back.
When we started the process the plan was to move the kitchen from the front/side of the house to the back of the house. Plans were drawn up and redrawn and fiddled with and tweaked and then Eureka!, we had a plan and we were about to sign off on it. And then we had a family dinner (min. of 22 people for us and usually closer to 25) and my husband and I watched how everyone socialized and how I worked and interacted with everyone and realized our great plan - wasn't going to work. Oh no! Sigh! Sleepless night. Who's going to call the contractor - oh I'll e-mail - less likelihood of him and the KD shouting at me. I do all this stuff and my husband just signs the cheques and so he's like, whatever.
BUT - a week later I have a new plan and we don't have to move the outside wall as far out and it made so much sense! Leave it where it is and just make it bigger. We are now done and it is great. It works well and thanksgiving dinner with 27 people went smoothly with lots of socializing space and counter space for cooking and space for more than 2 people in the kitchen. YEA! So how many plans - I lost count but know that you will get there. There are bumps along the way and some u-turns but don't rush it.

3 plans from first kitchen planner (didn't work out at all), then 1 plan from each of 3 others, then several iterations from our final and selected designer/cabinet maker. Investing in the planning process was important (for us) as as a learning experience in what we wanted in kitchen and what we wanted in a vendor. Patience was a virtue and worth it.

I was supposed to count? And I didn't even change the walls -- just moved things around in the same space.