Best decision was establishing a budget that was reasonable and having a few items in each category to choose from that would fit in my budget so I would not blow my budget/ The worst decision was trusting three different employees from the same kitchen design and build firm measure for cabinets and trusting their measurements. Measure youself and remeasure again and again. You cannot always depend on the pros...

Best decision was spending time on GW. Lots of good advice here. Also, I have a huge walk-in pantry that I love. I like my Thermador appliances. Love my kitchen sink--Kohler cast iron. Worst decision: getting involved with a KD that didn't pay the cabinet maker...turned out badly.

Best decision was spending time on GW.

Worst decision was not spending ENOUGH time on GW.

Best - GW advice and Stages 45 prep sink in island and adding a clean up sink to the perimeter. Worst - not sure yet, but not many. Perhaps too many "I should have known betters" when dealing with the GC. But, all is well that ends well.

Best - managing the project myself.

Worst - choosing the wrong backsplash (the dreaded "two many clowns"). Out it went!

Best - buying my appliances, sink, faucet, and all electrical (the ceiling cans, the receptacles, undercabinet lighting, switches) myself, rather than having my GC supply them which he can get under the "contractor discount". The "contractor discount" is no better than what I can find myself, and often more expensive than my online purchasing. Buying them myself also gave me a sense of "control" over the purchasing of these items. It did take a whole lot of my time though, I will say.

Worst - not enlarging the exhaust duct when I had the walls open. I am stuck with a small exhaust duct. I should have enlarged it to an 8" exhaust duct, and that way gotten much better exhaust from my hood.

Posting my layout on GW and making the suggested changes. My entire layout has since changed.

Best - paying to remove the wall between our kitchen and eat-in-nook as well as removing a delightful 1920's built-in so that we have a much larger open and bright kitchen with a still modest but acceptable amount of counter space. Love having 5 windows that now all provide light into the kitchen instead of having most of the light be in the eating area.

Worst - not using my GC's cabinet guy. The reviews were mixed of the people I used (hard to work with but everyone loved the cabs) - boy were they hard to work with and probably added an extra 6 weeks onto our project. I saved money which was great (since the project cost twice as much as I was originally hoping it would) but I think I would have liked the other product better in the end too. My future renovation plans involve paying more for people who are easier to work with!

Best

• GW, GW, GW (99% great advice, but need to know when not to listen - it is your kitchen. Once, only 1 person agreed with what I wanted to do [she had a kitchen identical to mine], everyone else said I should do something different. Hard to not follow majority advice; am glad I went with minority opinion.)
• Drawers, drawers, drawers...did I mention drawers!
• White cabs w/ walnut HW floors - contrast compliments one another
• Single bowl sink
• Shiloh inset cabinets
• Marble countertop
• Large professional type sprayer faucet (kitchen sculpture)

Worst

• Wasting time trying to make it work w/ GC's KD
• Did not put in a walk-in pantry
• Picked white cab color before selecting countertop
• GC said didn't need fridge onsite to install cabs (have a patched cab)
• Trusted ceiling level (now different size crown opposite sides of room)
• Listened to GC and did not put fridge where I wanted it
• Did not enlarge both windows (no such thing as too big of a window)
• Did open concept LR - DR; wish I kept LR separate and opened area between kitchen & DR

My best general decision was the same as others- posting my plans on GW and listening to the advice. Best specific decision was putting in a prep sink. Doing all drawers is a close second.

Worst? No regrets so far, but I did screw up, not realizing the dishwasher had a handle, and wouldn't clear a drawer as built.

Best: layout based on how we use the kitchen. We spent a lot of time imagining making breakfast, having company, making dinner, etc. Also using vinyl for our flooring: soft, easy care, durable, warm. We also built a bookcase into the end of the island for cookbooks and put an outlet inside that we use as a charging station.

Worst: None really, other than I wish they had the selection of quartz counters they do now back then as I would've chosen a very different top.

Avoiding a worst decision: not putting the prep sink on the edge of the island, but making sure we have some space from the edge so we have usable counter on both sides of the sink.

Best - accepting layout advice including one level island, 2nd trash and sink with recycling at prep zone, getting deeper cabinets, and deeper and higher drawers, getting the custom angle cabinet I wanted. I learned something during every hour I spent on GW and will spend just as much time if I ever do another kitchen. Worst - custom cabinets have poor finish and cheap hardware; some family issues came up towards the end of my remodel and I didn't hold the contractor responsible for making things right because I was distracted by more important things.

best:

Using the GC that best understood our needs/wants and not choosing the one who could get the job done the fastest.

Researching and searching for vendors for finishes that could provide the best possible option within our budget. I almost pulled my hair out looking at/for tile and pulls but couldn't be happier with our choices. We came way to close to settling.

Taking our time to shop around for appliances, buying them one at at time as we found a good deal. We saved over $3500.

worst

not having speaker wire run for in ceiling speakers and having said speakers in stalled. We decided against it to "save" money. In retrospect it was a drop in the bucket.

Banana suit, I understand the "drop in the bucket" when looking back. Did you read the thread about music in the kitchen? You don't really need speaker wire. You can use something like Sonos or Amazon Echo. Maybe you have already looked into those things but thought I would mention it.

Pick your GC/architect/contractors/subs/designer on value, not price.

I am somewhat new to GW but have found myself fully addicted. Thank you everyone for your thoughts so far. Per many suggestions I have attached a photo of our current kitchen layout and would appreciate any feedback/thoughts. A few notes on the layout:

- l shaped with white shaker cabinets along perimeter that includes (in order) double ovens in the lower left corner (currently incorrectly labeled at upper right),cooktop, sink, fridge, and pantry closet (where the DB is incorrectly lablel). 8' grey island with pullout microwave drawer and potentially a prep sink although currently indecisive. Slider doors out to our patio and in the upper right side room for a round breakfast table surrounded by Windows. Bottom of room there is a entrance from DR and FR.

Lily Spider I have, thank you though. We have a decent audio system in the living areas that has spoiled us and we hope to integrate the kitchen into at some point.

ice, water, stone, fire - in that order
http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2699918/looking-for-layout-help-memorize-this-first

Best:

-Mocking up most of the proposed kitchen out of cardboard boxes to get a good sense of how the space would feel when finished. VERY enlightening exercise.

-Talking every thought/decision through with my mother. She had great points and suggestions gleaned from decades of homeownership. I'd never half this stuff any thought.

-GW will help you do this, but really thinking through how I use the space and where and what I'm doing in any given situation and how much space my body requires to comfortably use a space was really, really important. I am well-practiced at that now that I've been on GW for a while helping people with layouts. It's SUCH a helpful exercise and lack of it can totally tank how well your finished kitchen works for you, but I remember myself when I started out, and I see so many other newbies like me then totally forget that the empty space on the floor plan will be occupied by a body (or multiple bodies). Your body needs space to move around and will not always be straight upright and holding nothing. Sometimes you will be bent over, sometimes your arms will be out, sometimes you will be carrying a big platter, sometimes you will be pulling something out of the oven. You need to imagine moving around in the space and think about how you move during any task and what all the things you'd do/use/touch are when you are doing that. How comfortably your body and your movements work in the space are, like, 80% of how well your kitchen works for you.

I remember having a debate with the cabinet guy about which way the pantry cabinet should open, and it's SO obvious to me now that what we ended up doing was clearly the better way. But back then, I really had to think, "Okay, if it opens this way, I will be standing here and bending over in this way, which means my rear will be bumping the peninsula behind me and I will be blocking the walkway and have nowhere to set anything down. Okay, so if opens the other way, then I will be standing there and setting things down there...."

It takes some practice to think through (or even act out) everything you will do in your space, but it is absolutely invaluable.

Worst:

-Not having every. single. thing. planned out and chosen before picking up a hammer. We had to redo/undo/tweak a lot of stuff after expensive work was already done when the end game changed. Cost a lot of money and time and made our lives SO much more difficult.

-Trusting that pros were pros and knew their business. This maybe less of an issue if you have a GC, but I was managing our project, and I learned the hard way that I've got to learn how to do everything before I hired it out so I could make sure the subs did it right. They generally don't care about the product so much as being able to say they are done. Doesn't always (seems like ever) mean it was done right or in a way that doesn't create problems or more work for the next sub coming in after them.

Best decision so far was moving the access from a corner door to an open arch in the center of the room. Now instead of a useless, cramped u shape, I have a galley with a wide center aisle with enough room for two people to actually be in the room at the same time.

Worst decision I've already noticed was light switch placement and not adding a 3 way switch for the recessed cans over the cooking area. The main room lights are on a three way and I figured it was just too many switches in one place to put the cans on a switch in the same area.

The switch just inside the doorway has the 3 way to the garage, the light outside the door and then the main kitchen lights with the entry and basement stair lights on a switch at the top of the stairs. I should have left the hallway light with the outdoor lights and then put the room lights on the other side of the doorway. Right now, visitors end up flipping on the outside or garage lights and leaving them on when trying to turn on the kitchen lights.

Best decisions: lurking at GW before planning my kitchen. I think I knew everything I wanted before I had a new layout! Using an experienced kitchen designer for a functional layout with storage. Dropping first cabinetmaker and cutting my losses -> Sweet Water woodworks gave me a fantastic product and an excellent experience.

Bad decisions...wish I hadn't done the built-in paper towel holder. A drawer would have been much more functional.

I'm like a parrot repeating everybody else but finding GW, reading dozens, maybe hundreds, of posts in order to learn and understand good layout better, and having my plan reviewed and critiqued, and then actually accepting the good advice I received.

Best things I did were to move the fridge slightly out of the kitchen proper into a niche. It's only two steps farther and it opened up my kitchen so the light and view from the window is vastly improved, and gives me some great precious counter for baking and secondary prep.

And removing upper cabinets for the same reason of not crowding the window. It's also more pleasant to work without cabinets in your face.

Moving DW out of the prep zone.

Thinking specifically of your situation: Will you have a formal dining room, and do you think you will use it? I have a corner window, and a round table that seats six. The only thing that could work better in my kitchen would be a banquette or another option for seating more people. But I have a large family, and no dining room. If you are young with a growing family, consider whether things like a second dishwasher, a low microwave or fridge drawer in the island will suit you. Do not put off venting decisions, they aren't that much fun, aren't easy to change, and are expensive.

BEST: 1) visiting GW Kitchens -- I learned so much about what products were out there, finishes, space saving ideas, and looking at finished kitchens helped me crystallize what I liked and wanted and what could fit in my budget. This is where I learned about Ikea, Barker, frameless constructon, pullout trash, drawers instead of cabinets, spice pullouts, and more. It helped to know about all of this BEFORE sitting down with a kitchen designer and contractor. Add to that posting my layout here and on (RIP) Ikeafans for suggestions, even though I had little flexibility in my space.

2) restoring a window that had been covered by a previous owner. It made such a difference!

3) LED lighting units in the ceiling (cans, or in my case disc retrofits due to ducts in the ceiling)

4) which is more connected to #1-- doing a lot of shopping online and in local stores, again familiarizing myself with products and prices before buying, then watching for sales and coupons and getting great deals on, well, almost everything, mostly in advance of starting the job. This includes buying scratch/dent appliances - no regrets there!

5. drawers, roll out trays in the pantry, asymmetrical corner base cab, offset sink drain, larger single sink...LOL almost everything....

WORST: 1) Waffling too much on counter choice then unfortunately choosing a not-the-best fabricator 2) trying to help out my unemployed brother by asking him to refinish the kitchen floor (he had done it in his own house some time ago with great results -- it was a disaster in mine) 3) not getting a slightly more powerful hood 4) not getting the drawer-in-drawer for my deep enough utensil drawer.

PS sdemichele, I suggest starting a separate thread for layout advice. You will get more attention to that by not having it buried in an unrelated thread.

Two decisions I made that became a 'lifestyle changer'. My recessed lighting is attached to a 180 degree motion. Covers 3 entrances into a small kitchen. I sometimes find myself taking a pause at a bathroom entrance - stumped for a moment as to why the lights didn't automatically come on! I'm tempted to add motion to baths.

The other lifestyle changer is the hands-free foot pedal located at kitchen sink. Several of us have stood at a bathroom vanity moving that right foot, looking for the pedal.

Best: Hardwood floors (gorgeous)! Opened up wall between kitchen and dining room. Moved refrigerator. Big deep drawers. My contractors were easy and nice to work with. Under cabinet lighting and a bright kitchen to work in.

Worst: I agree with earlier post above, picking out my shade of white cabinetry before counter top. Pick out your counter top first, as it is pretty much the star of the show and provides that "wow" factor. I am still having problems with liking my counter top. :(

My advice: Follow your heart and remember to have fun. And when it is done, don't let other jealous people come in and nit pik and ruin it for you.

Interesting. Lots of people on here citing their KD as one of their worst decisions. That's always been my experience - but I never paid one. Just dealt with some KDs at brick and mortar stores when I was shopping around for cabinets. Couldn't believe the simple and uninformed designs they put in front of me. I assumed that if you moved forward with them and became a paying customer, the service would improve -- but I assumed most of the improvements needed to be customer led. As in, if you don't raise an specific issue or request, the KD wasn't going to think about it. So you'd be better off just planning the kitchen yourself. Otherwise, you'll just get a prefab design. Is that others' experience?

Agree H202! My observation was KD's were more interested in selling cabinets; understand that is where they make $$$. Think there is a market for an independent KD (who does not sell cabs), that you can hire to "design" a kitchen, maybe based on portfolio and refs. Maybe the average customer is more interested in cabinets than a good layout.

Best decisions:

* Selecting a very good KD and an excellent GC (by their referral).

* Taking down a wall between kitchen and dining.

* Not opening up a third wall to another living space

* Putting a large prep sink with disposal in the island

There were no truly bad decisions, but some things worked out not as well I would have liked. These are mostly nits...

* Gotten breakfast nook chairs about 1 to 2 inches higher --- the custom
table ended up a bit high (with the underlayment) and DH wants to look
for higher chairs

* Expanded the budget and spent more on a few items, mostly on the "nice to have" list.