How To Start A Kitchen Remodel: My Process

Have you been dreaming of a new kitchen but not quite sure where to start? I am sharing how we kicked off our ‘new kitchen’ experience and explaining all the things you need to know in order to start a kitchen remodel with confidence!

I have been dreaming of a kitchen update for many years. But why, might you ask? It is a normal thing to question especially because we had a lovely kitchen that included everything we needed. But, there was just one thing that bothered my husband and I. The lack of light. We have very limited natural light in that area of our home and while I love being in the kitchen, cooking for our family, it just always seemed a bit dark. The dark wood cabinets, the black granite, the lack of windows … my husband and I always felt like that space could be brighter. We wanted to see if we could accomplish that.

Now, we didn’t let the dark kitchen stop us from making a ton of memories (or food) for years. We have lived in our home now for almost decade, and we have slowly been saving for a time such as now. A time where we felt that we could afford to create a bight and cheerful kitchen that was a bit more functional and a bit more open.

We are currently in the middle of our remodel. You know, that time when we have no sink, no oven, no stove, and no date for counter installation (insert eye roll here), but I have been preparing for this moment for a while and I am not going to let the ‘messy details’ of a renovation get me down about the process. No! I am choosing to be so excited about it ALL. Even the part where I am counterless – because this means progress!

I will be writing a few blog posts about this experience – and I can not wait to see it all come together – but while I wait for that monumenties occasion, I thought I would share with you all the things that we did to actually get to the starting line! Even though I knew that I wanted to do it, I initially wondered how to start a kitchen remodel … what were the first steps? I will share our steps below!

Step 1: Making A Commitment To Move Forward

Making the commitment to move forward with our remodel may be have been the hardest part for us. Knowing that we would be without a functioning kitchen was a very scary thing. I mean, is there ever a good time to be without a sink or a stove? Nope! We knew we had to just “take the plunge.” However, there were a few things that I did take into consideration.

• We waited until we had saved enough money to create the space that we dreamed of. I will talk more about the budge below.
• We wanted to wait until there was a period of time that we would have no guests at our home. For example, we knew that my mother-In-law was coming for a visit in the spring so we wanted to make sure that we started after her visit.
• We also decided to move forward with this project during a time of the year that wasn’t busy for my husband at work. We knew that Mark could do some of the demo work all on his own (or with a little help from me). The hours we spent doing some of the kitchen demolition on our own would save us some money in the long run.

Step 2: Decide On Design

I found that it can be very easy to get carried away when you are dreaming up The Perfect Kitchen! There are so options out there. With the help Missy Hume, a designer that is also one of my close friends, I realized that all my ‘dreams’ would add up quickly and – knowing that this isn’t our forever home – we soon realized that we needed to choose between wants and needs.

When making some tough choices about the new design of your space, I would encourage you to ask yourselves a few questions here:

• What do you love about the current kitchen?
• What do you feel is missing from your current kitchen?
• What are you trying to accomplish in this remodel?
• What other things happen in this space (for us, homework)?
• What is the most important change that you want to see happen here?
• Can you prioritize the changes that you want to see happen?

For us, we knew that we wanted to drop the bar, change the color of the cabinets and replace the counters. Those were a few of MY top priorities for this kitchen renovation since all would help bring more light into the kitchen. A lesser priority was changing the layout of the kitchen. I was interested in creating an island where the bar was by taking out some cabinets. Lastly, we wondered what it would look like to have some updated lighting.

I know for a fact that this home is NOT our forever home and our designer, Missy, was quick to point out that THAT fact was going to drive some of our design choices. While I was very excited to move the cabinets and create an island, we ultimately decided NOT to change the existing footprint of the kitchen. That would have added thousands of dollars to our remodel – move gas/electrical/plumbing, move/retrofit cabinets, change the flooring (on the entire main level), etc. With Missy’s help we knew we could manipulate the existing footprint to open up the kitchen and give it a more spacious feel.

Step 3: Find Your Professionals

This may be your most important part. I would suggest that you look at hiring:

• A Designer to help you visualize your new kitchen.
• A Contractor to help you turn your vision into a reality.

I am lucky here because I had both a designer and a contractor in my back pocket!

After deciding to move forward with the kitchen remodel, the first thing that I did was to call my designer friend Missy. She does this for a living and I knew she would be able to ‘see’ things that I wouldn’t be able to. And she did just that! For example, Missy was the one who suggested that we take out the stove and move some of the cabinetry around. Mainly, a large section of cabinets that blocked a lot of light. She made sure that the plans for our remodel were functional, gorgeous, and affordable. She listened to me every step of the way and helped me to prioritize my wants and needs.

The contractor that I used here has done great work for us over the last several years. I realize that not everyone is that lucky. But, having been through a pretty difficult renovation with my parents at their beach house, I can not stress the importance of finding a good and trustworthy contractor. Your contractor will be the one to implement the design plan that you and your designer create. I found this site that may help you to find a good contractor in your area!

Our contractor is a one man band. He does it all, from tile to electrical to plumbing to carpentry. He has been doing this since the 80s and does spectacular work. This was also helpful to us because we didn’t have to wait on all sorts of different people to come in and out of the home.

A designer and contractor are very helpful, but there are other pieces of the puzzle to consider as well. The lead time for other workers – i.e. cabinets, counters – is something that has to be considered. It doesn’t help to have your contractor show up to install a backsplash if the cabinets can’t be installed for weeks!

Step 4: Shop For Your New Kitchen

This was the best part for me! I so enjoyed picking out all of the new items for my kitchen. I will share a sourcing list in a new blog post later on, but these here is a short list of the items that you may also need to shop for if you are going to remodel your kitchen:

Things We Shopped For

• Appliances (we only bought a new range)
• Counters
• Sink
• Faucet
• Vent Hood and Cover
• Tile For Backsplash
• Cabinet Pulls
• Paint for Cabinets

Other Items You May Need To Consider For Your Remodel

• Flooring
• Lighting
• Cabinets
• Additional Appliances (Fridge, Microwave, etc)
• Decor

I would recommend shopping around for these pieces. However, there are so many options out there that it was very easy for me to get overwhelmed. I decided that the easiest way for me to move forward was to save a few of ‘inspiration pictures’ that I had found online and try to shop around for those items – all while searching for the best deal. Also, because I am not experienced in shopping for these types of items, I found that reading the reviews online was very helpful!

Part of your shopping may likely include when the item can be delivered. The sink I wanted was not immediately available at Home Depot but was in stock at Lowe’s. Make sure you are aware of the delivery dates when shopping. It does you no good if you find your perfect faucet but you can’t get it for 6 months.

One more thing, I quickly realized that you can splurge on some items and save on others. For example, I had no idea that the vent hood that we wanted would cost so much. Because of that, we decided to go with a bit of a cheaper tile. I found that I had to exercise a little “give and take” when shopping for my new kitchen!

Step 4: Pack Your Patience

I approached this kitchen overhaul knowing that there were going to be set backs. Just because I was finally ready to move forward didn’t mean that it was going to happen that very moment. It took a bit of coordinating to line up all of the people involved and a bit of luck. The counter company needed to measure by a certain date and luckily our contractor was able to complete his work (lowering the counter and moving outlets) by measurement day. However, we have already had a few set backs since our counter installation has been delayed two weeks and our stove still hasn’t arrived! Having that expectation going into this process has helped for sure.

I walked into this process prepared!

Wrap Up

If you are wondering how to start a kitchen remodel my number one tip is to just go for it. With a good plan, the right people, and a little patience, you will have nothing to loose! We are in the middle of our process right now but I am excited to share more with you as the process continues! Stay tuned! And – I hope all of your kitchen renovation dreams come true!

*I thought I would share this post here with you – sharing some of the items that we are excited to add into our kitchen!