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[quote=Anonymous]Have a sit down with the designer or contractor if you don’t have a designer and go through every detail of the kitchen before the work starts and appliances/cabinets/countertops are ordered.

For cabinets and drawers 
- make sure you know if the doors are in lay or overlay. Consider dust when choosing non slab fronts 
- if you have under cabinet lighting, ask where the strip will be and how visible
- outlet location and visibilty
- Measure your dishes and platters to see if they will fit in a standard upper cabinet box or lower box (12” and 24”). Be aware that it may be more like 11.5” and 23.5” depending on the design. 
- Measure your knives if they will go in a drawer. 
- Measure water bottles if you plan to store upright in a deep drawer. 
- Measure cutting boards and baking sheets. 
- ask them to wait for you to be present to choose handle and pull locations. There are more options than you would think. 
- consider the type of handles and pulls and particularly the height of the drawer pulls. Do you want to use drawer pulls to hang dish towels? Do you not want to have to bend down to use a cup pull for the bottom drawer? Do you not want your clothes to get caught on bar pulls that extend past the mounting points? Do you not want to use two hands for drawer with 2 knobs?
- consider best location for garbage pullout in relation to sink and dishwasher

Ask to see 
-the cabinet drawings from a bird’s eye view and from side relief and consider handles protruding 
- drawings of door swings and drawer openings for every corner
- drawing of open dishwasher, open drawers, open oven door, open fridge door, etc to check clearances for walking. You will be sorry if you choose the minimum aisle clearance and everyone bangs their shin on an open dishwasher. Remember that countertop overhang eats into clearance.

For the sink
- measure the overhang for the faucet and ensure it adequately reaches over the sink. Ensure handles will operate if the sink is constrained by a wall behind it. 
- Tell the countertop installers that you want to be there when they mark the faucet holes, so you can decide which side the air switch is on, location of filtered tap, etc.

For seating islands
- ensure proper overhang for seating comfort and ask for supports/brackets if over the limit.

For hood height
- consider how tall your family is and what is comfortable.

Countertops
- consider carefully how you live and tolerance for countertop maintenance
- ask to see countertop drawings and choose orientation for slabs 
- consider if standard countertop height is acceptable
- if choosing a natural stone, ask for plenty of drying time after cutting to let the stone dry out and make sure you seal well

Tile 
- if using tile, ask for stain proof grout or make sure you seal it yourself.

Inspect all work and notify your contractor immediately if anything needs to be fixed. Check all appliances as well.

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