Remodeled your kitchen? -- What are your lessons learned?

[Anonymous]

We're in the data gathering mode of remodeling our kitchen. If you have done this, what are your lessons learned?

What are you glad you did?
What do you wish you did?
What type countertop did you choose and are you happy with that?
Cabinets?
Did you use a designated or in-house kitchen designer?

Any other advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Stay away from marble countertops! That is my one regret!

[Anonymous]

SO happy with my quartz countertop. (Corian Quartz) Things just wipe right up with a damp sponge.

Fully custom cabinets built by a cabinetmaker ended up being remarkably affordable, compared to what friends say they've spent. I'm glad I did that to get every inch well used in limited space.

Love love love having drawers deep enough to store pots and pans in, plus one for storing lids and cutting boards upright (on edge) so they're easy to grab. Measure your pans and anything else you want to store before committing to drawer depths and other cabinet dimensions! I also got a couple of drawers deep enough to hold those large Oxo containers in for things like flour.

I would NOT do plug mold (electrical receptacles in a strip) up under the upper cabinets. My architect thought that would keep the plugs discreetly out of the way. I said fine. But I never thought about how that would mean there would be all these cords dangling from up there to countertop appliances. And many appliances like coffeemakers and kettles have cords too short to run down from above and then across to keep the item within easy reach on the counter. It's my only design regret.

[Anonymous]

love-quartz countertops
don't like--sink is too deep, make sure to get industry standard
love-drawers for pots and pans

[Anonymous]

I agree about the deep drawers for pots and pans. My favorite change is that we went to induction for our stovetop. So nice not to have gas in the kitchen anymore, and it heats so fast and evenly.

We did a simple, “cheap” makeover. We bought cabinets and countertops from Lowe’s and used their installer. The cabinets are Kraftmaid, and I was able to get all the bells and whistles I wanted in terms of drawers, slide out shelves, island storage, etc. Their designer was easy to work with.

Of course, we wanted to keep our layout, floors, and lighting, so it was a pretty simple renovation.

[Anonymous]

Love:
Drawers for pots and pans
Well designed kitchen (used architect and kitchen designer in efficient design)
High quality cabinets (got cheap cabinets in the laundry room and they are nowhere near as nice)
Our zip water that has hot/cold/sparkling

Don’t love:
The pullout cabinet for oils isn’t very practical as the top shelf in the pullout is fixed

[Anonymous]

Love our cabinet that holds sheet pans, cutting boards, serving trays upright with wooden dividers in between.

Love the stainless steel backsplash by the stove, which meant we could have nicer marble backsplash Elsewhere with less fear of damage.

Love under cabinet lighting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree about the deep drawers for pots and pans. My favorite change is that we went to induction for our stovetop. So nice not to have gas in the kitchen anymore, and it heats so fast and evenly.

We did a simple, “cheap” makeover. We bought cabinets and countertops from Lowe’s and used their installer. The cabinets are Kraftmaid, and I was able to get all the bells and whistles I wanted in terms of drawers, slide out shelves, island storage, etc. Their designer was easy to work with.

Of course, we wanted to keep our layout, floors, and lighting, so it was a pretty simple renovation.

Are you concerned about the cabinets in terms of long-term wear? I was going to go for more expensive but after reading this I love the idea of getting everything I want in terms of functionality.

Thanks for this thread OP! I'm so afraid of making a lot of mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love our cabinet that holds sheet pans, cutting boards, serving trays upright with wooden dividers in between.

Love the stainless steel backsplash by the stove, which meant we could have nicer marble backsplash Elsewhere with less fear of damage.

Love under cabinet lighting

What is the rest of your backsplash and how high is it?

[Anonymous]

One thing I wish I had done was really think about how long I thought we would stay in the house. It was not our forever house, I knew that, but I did a forever kitchen.

We got to enjoy the renovated kitchen for 3 years before we sold. When we sold I found myself regretting having done the $$$ faucet, the $$$ rejuvenation hardware, and sub zero fridge when lesser expensive items would have been just fine. If you do go all out--swap out the pricier fixtures before you list.

LOVE: all lower cabinet drawers.

I'd also be careful with the backsplash tile--we did a crackle finish and grease from the downdraft left a permanent stain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd also be careful with the backsplash tile--we did a crackle finish and grease from the downdraft left a permanent stain.

Echo this. One thing I'm glad I did when I was sampling both tiles and counter materials: Submerse the whole sample in water and see what happens. After it's dry, try your best to stain it. I did oil, tomato sauce, mustard, turmeric paste.

I ended up using a tile that has a nice surface texture with some glaze variation so it catches the light, but without crackle and on a dark stoneware body. I'm very happy with how it looks and performs.

Also: dark grout with dark tile, and not-bright-white grout with any lighter color.

[Anonymous]

If you are tempted to do a high-end/special-sized/built-in fridge, consider what will happen when you need to replace the fridge and don't want to redo your cabinets.

I had my fridge opening built for a standard size, 36" wide and standard depth, so I know I can get a new one when I need to.

[Anonymous]

Love tapmaster foot controls for prep and main sink, huge single basin sinks, induction range, refrigerator drawers, two dishwashers, quartzite countertops.

I also am glad I resisted the current trends - I said no to mixing cabinet colors and stuck to wood instead, no to gold hardware, no to microwave drawer, no to oil/utensil pullouts, no to the zellige tile and subway tile that every kitchen has these days (Chloe, celine etc), no to the trend of combining matte and gloss tiles for backsplash, no to taj mahal quartzite, no to the ubiquitous sage/green and navy colors. Those kitchens looked gorgeous when I started looking at kitchen designs, but now that I have seen so many, they already look dated to me!

[Anonymous]

Go to Houzz and look at the kitchen forum, lots of good advice. It takes a lot of time/effort ahead of time but list everything you keep in your kitchen and sketch out where you will put it, to determine cabinet placement. Also, really consider different zones of the kitchen and how many people you have in the kitchen at one time. My architect really liked to designs kitchen that had “focus points” but was functionally inefficient for us. For example, he liked the main sink in the island and the range across; my husband often clears up the kitchen while I cook and it is a PITA to be in the same area. We have a cook zone, a clean zone (with dish storage) and a separate snack/drink zone to keep the kids out from underfoot.

Measure your pots/pans/dishes to make sure they fit. Love a cabinet with vertical dividers for sheet pans. You can make drawers that have a shallow interior drawer to store lids above pots or measuring utensils etc. also consider if you keep standard cabinet interiors, rev-a-shelf makes a lot of interior fittings. We upgraded our interior and in hindsight I would not have bc it limits the number of inserts that match.

2 sinks is key. Also, consider accessibility - my kids are little so I made sure our snacks/breakfast foods are low so they can get; dish storage is within their reach so they can empty dishwasher and feed themselves. I did not want a drawer microwave but didn’t have other space, it ended up being helpful bc even my youngest can reach it and reheat food.

[Anonymous]

Pp - forgot! If you do a microwave drawer, key to know that Sharp owns the patent for the drawer mechanism so every microwave drawer is basically the same, just rebranded with a fancy brand. I do think it heats more evenly bc the heat source is up top rather than at the side.