Here is a helpful link. Steps to planning a kitchen remodel

I read in another post that you were going to get the domsjo sink and sit at it. It is an unusually deep sink- front to back and I don't think you will be able to sit at it and work the faucet at the same time. Most sinks for people with disability are also shallower so that they are not leaning up and over. I would definitely go see one of these in an IKEA and try to sit at it.

I am a pay as I go person and so it sounds like I would be saving to do all the demo/construction at once, including the floor, But I would also be looking out for deals on the appliances and fixtures and grabbing those when available.

Do you know anyone in your new neighborhood? Does the neighborhood have a facebook page that you could join? Asking your neighbors for references is one place to start. Also check Yelp, although that is not usually a great resource for home improvement firms, there might be some reviews.

Next Door is very big in my neighborhood, and people ask for home improvement recommendations quite a bit.

Won't you be needing custom cabinets to maximize the little space you have? I went through a kitchen cabinet shop, and my KD also GC the entire project. They've been in business over 20 years so they had all their trusted subs.

One problem with buying your appliances first is they all need to come out while they install floor and cabinets, so you have to have a place to store them.

Debbie-do I remember correctly that you live near Spokane? We do as well and I could give you a recommendation for a GC who was wonderful. He did our master bathroom in 2014. The GC who did our kitchen was fine, but our bathroom guy was really awesome in every way.

You might want to do the floor first before you move in. It is SO much easier to get flooring installed/refinished before you and your furniture are in the house. So, so, so much easier.

And then you would save on whatever you were going to spend on carpet cleaning.

You need a GC. This is way too big a job for you to tackle on your own. I don't like piece meal. I would save up and then demo. It's just me, but I wouldn't want to buy appliances and use them before I start the kitchen.

I saw the pictures you posted and hopefully the clutter and mess will be cleared out for you. That will leave deep cleaning for you.

What you can do now, until you find a GC, is to go to the big box stores like Home Depot, Ikea etc. Have them draw up plans, get a feel for what things cost. Go to a kitchen showroom and do the same.

The GC is ever so important and you want one that is honest, fair and knows what he/she is doing. Start asking around. Take Leela up on her suggestion.

$20,00- for a kitchen seems like a fair amount, but if you are gutting, doing new electric, new sheetrock etc. it might not be, so be prepared for that.

Wow, everyone, thanks for the great advice! Practigal, I hadn't thought about the depth and width of the Domsjo sink; thanks for pointing that out! I'll definitely "try before I buy!" My daughter and I are taking a trip over to Seattle next spring, I hope, and we'll definitely be visiting the IKEA store. Raee_gw, I'm pay as you go too. I'm not taking out any loans, strictly cash. No, I don't really know anyone in the neighborhood. I stayed there in September and had a few pleasant words with some of the folks, but that's about it. Of course, I hope to get to know them after I move in! They all seem very nice and the current residents think the neighbors are great. Mayflowers, custom cabinets are just not in my price range. I hear what you're saying about having to move all the appliances when cabinets and floors are put in, so I need to rethink that. Thanks for telling me that!

Leela4, yes, right now I'm in Spokane, 2 blocks from Gonzaga, in a university -owned house. The house I bought is in Cheney, really close to the Spokane/Cheney boundary line. Could you PM me with the name of the GC? Sounds like someone I'd want to talk with! Thanks so much for offering; I very much appreciate it!

Jilllius, you are so right. It would be much easier to get the floors installed before moving in, and I'd love to do that! However, sadly, it's just not financially feasible. I'm budgeting, if I can remember right, about $8,000 for new floors, not counting the bathrooms. I need two payments to do that, which would mean June and September and then get it done in mid-late September. That would be OK, except that I would then be having to pay rent here at my current house, plus rent and utilities at the new house, and I can't do that and still dedicate that much money to the remodel, which means that in reality I'd have to wait until mid-January (a year from now) to be able to save up enough to do the floors. I also don't think it would be a great idea to leave the house vacant for that long.

Believe you me, I'd love to get rid of the carpets ASAP! At one point, the current residents had 3 dogs and either 2 or 3 cats. Fortunately, for me, LOL, the park rule is 2 pets and the new owner was cracking down. So the pets were re-homed, mostly with their daughter in North Dakota, and now they have none. But the hair lives on! :-) Oh, practigal, thanks for the link too! I'm going to go look at it right now!

I very much appreciate the time you took out of your day to answer my question. Each and every one of you.

I brought up custom knowing that people here have paid less for quality custom than what others have paid at a big box store. It doesn't hurt to check it out. Cost is regional though and I don't know how living out in the boonies might affect that. (DH went to college in Spokane for a few semesters.)

Okay, I hate to be so slow but could someone please tell me how to PM Debbie? I looked but couldn't figure it out on for this site . . .

leela4- Debbie does not appear to have the option turned on. Normally, if you click someone's name it will go to their profile and there is a green message button.

Thanks-that's the way I thought it worked but then I was wondering if I had missed something.

I looked at moving to Spokane when I was leaving SoCal. Beautiful area and I loved some of the houses that I saw (one had a big boulder of basalt in the basement). I remember a lovely park that ran along the river also.

Debbie, I would if you can, do as Jillius suggested and get the floors done before moving in. Just doing the floors will give you a lift in making it feel fresh and new.

Then I'd save the money (put it in a 6 month cd) until you can do it all at once. In the meantime, you'll be living in the house, getting a feel for it, noting the light, etc, and really seeing how you want your kitchen to work. You have the best KD's right here to help you, and then once you have the money saved up, you can do it all at once.

Don't do it piecemeal. That usually costs more and is more disruptive, plus it will never look quite right. If you see a must have deal in the meantime, (I forget when appliances are cheapest), then yes, jump on a sale for them, but otherwise, take your time, save the money and do it right since you only want to do it once. :)

Debbie, please heavily consider what Jillius and cpartist are saying. Paint and floors really need to come first. I've been following you're saga and wonder what the total square footage of the home is and how much you'll have saved by June? I'm not sure if you've mentioned that. I'm just starting a new project and the first thing I do is create a spreadsheet with cost estimates of everything, then create a budget and timeline. At this point, I over estimate since I have no quotes yet. You don't really have a really long list and some of your things could wait till later like backsplash and wallpaper. If you're only adding a few outlets, electrical won't be much unless your service is inadequate or there is an existing problem. Same for plumbing. But if problems exist you want a pro in before you start or move in. Hopefully you can connect with leela's guy so you can make some connections while you plan and save.

"unless your service is inadequate or there is an existing problem"

that very well could be too. and depending on what you get for your stove and ovens - most now need more power. my mfg home isn't as old as yours and I had to have a new circuit box put in. I was very blest that I didn't need it upped at the stove socket - probably cause I got the used coil top type stove.

are you planning the wood floors thru out the whole place or different flooring for kit, bath and laundry area? I do agree that getting the flooring down - and painting should be done before your furniture is in there. it's a real hassle otherwise. I had painting done before moving in - I can't take the smell of paint. I came over to check on things when the painters were here and I wasn't here 10 min and I had a headache.

One of the first things I would do is to hire a designer of some type that would put together an overall plan for me for the entire house of renovations. Then I would get a GC type person to help me break the plan down into smaller projects so they could be done piecemeal. Meanwhile I would ask the members here to tweak all your plans, esp your kitchen plans. :). Hopefully, a plan will try to uncover all the 'devil is in the details' issues you may encounter. A well thought out plan saves money since your not wasting time and money re-doing things...ask me how I know that - ;)

I agree you need a General Contractor. The last thing you want is two tradespersons who don't know each other arguing as to whose fault the problem and additional expense is. Guys have a better attitude when they get repeat work from a GC, have an idea of his protocol, and probably have worked with the same subs.

This lack of coordination is how dishwashers get "tiled in." The cabinets get set, the tops and splash go on, the dishwasher is installed, then the tile man lays a 3/4" subfloor in front of it and another 1/2" of thinset and tile. Everyone is paid, everything looks great, and everyone is happy until the appliance serviceman announces that the top or a section of the floor has to go so he can service/replace the dishwasher.

With what you're saying about the carpet needing extreme cleaning and the number of pets that have lived there, I think you need to pull the carpets and pads. The pads must be terribly stained. Thirty years ago my sister moved into a home on Cape Cod that had an odd musty smell. They replaced the carpets but not the pad and that smell never went away.

I agree with all the above.

I'm also worried that you're going to need electrical or other work done that you're not budgeting for. I suspect you haven't had a thorough home inspection done as part of your purchase process. You really need to get that done before you proceed so you can find out if there is anything that needs addressed before you make any cosmetic changes. It would be a real bummer to get things painted and other work done and then find out that walls need to be torn open to update inadequate wiring. Or to put in new floors and later find out that some of your sub-floors need replacing.

After you've addressed any structural and safety issues, get the hutch removed, new floors and painting done before moving in even if it means you must delay the kitchen and other projects. I suspect that once the place is clean and bright and all the clutter is gone, that the kitchen isn't going to be so awful as it seems now. In fact, you might find that it's actually kinda cute and functions better than when you were house sitting.

Doing projects piecemeal makes sense if you are DIYing most of the work and are able to plan a sequence of projects in the proper order. Not so much when contracting work out as others have explained.

What's under the carpet and pad?

When I moved into my house the carpets and pad were completely disgusting and when I removed them there was probably three quarters of an inch of dirt underneath and in one area there was a lot of evidence of prior pets. It turned out that I had nice oak floors underneath and yes it cost a couple thousand to have them redone.... I won't say never, but I think it is highly unlikely that I would not pull out the carpet and pad in a house that is new to me...

The best time to paint and do or redo the floors is when the house is empty. If the house does not have insulated windows I would consider changing those before painting. If there is a dishwasher there, even if you were going to keep it, I would remove it and have them put in the floor underneath it so that it's the same height and the dishwasher doesn't get locked in. Same with any other undercounter appliances they can sit in the garage while the floors are being worked on and then you can move them back in when they are done with the floor.

I would really try to live in the house for about six months and keep track of all the things that you would like to do in the kitchen but don't do any of them unless they are absolutely necessary. What I would have done when I first moved in was completely different than what I ended up doing and what I ended up doing is infinitely better...

Hey everybody! Thank you all SO MUCH for your advice! You all brought up points I hadn't considered, and they are very valid points. I can totally see how one sub could slough off and make it a PITA for the next one. I get your message--piecemeal isn't a good way to proceed. Floors and paint first! Gotcha!

Not only do I hear your advice, I will take your advice! That's one of the main reasons I got involved with this forum., I understand I'm a first-timer in terms of a big kitchen remodel and I know there are very smart people on this forum who have been through it and know a lot more than I do. Ellen, I appreciate your forthrightness in telling me this job is bigger than I can handle. I believe you. Joe, I respect your input as a contractor. Thanks for the example of "tiling in" a dishwasher. That makes complete sense to me, yet I never would have thought of it on my own. Thanks, all of you!!!! I will follow your advice because I know you understand much better than I do how things work (or don't work).

Peace! And joy,

Debbie

P.S. So if you read on another thread about me taking on the GC role and getting my appliances first, just ignore that, because I wrote it before I read this. :-)

Hi Debbie-Just to reiterate, if you'd like a recommendation for a GC in the Spokane area, either PM me or change your settings so I can get in touch with you. If you're not ready to go that route yet, that's fine. Good luck!

Good morning Leela4! I believe I have successfully changed my PM settings. Sorry about that! I thought it was working because I've PMed other people; I didn't realize mine was set any differently. :-)