Author Topic: Kitchen Remodel Design help?  (Read 2836 times)

jeromedawg

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Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« on: May 18, 2018, 10:48:05 PM »
Hey all,

We are really wanting to remodel our kitchen and are hoping to DIY remodel our kitchen slowly. First task is to figure out paint colors to choose for the cabinets and then paint them - we've already picked up 4 samples (two whites and two browns) and I painted the colors on a cabinet door to figure out what we might want. We have granite countertops that we'll probably just keep. Eventually, I'd like to replace the kitchen sink as well as the stove, range and fridge. The Bosch dishwasher is the only thing that I replaced and that was roughly 10 years ago or so (it's still in great condition, works well and is really quiet). And at some point it would be nice to update the flooring in there too - I'd probably do some sort of hardwood flooring (currently large white square tiles), and the flooring would probably run through the rest of the condo common areas but not the bathrooms and bedrooms.

Anyway, do any of you have tips on how to go about with getting cheap or free advice? Obviously hunting on Pinterest and Google Images but anything else? I came across an article of someone suggesting to [cautiously] enlist big box stores without the ultimate intention of buying a remodel from them... this seems a little risky and ethically meh. Wondering what alternatives there are for people who aren't "designers" nor have many friends who are in the same mindset and would love to just help with no strings attached.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2018, 10:50:39 PM by jeromedawg »

tardis

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2018, 11:38:31 PM »
How can I get a professional quality service for free?  I see this a lot for arts and design, yet no one expects to get engineering or lawyering for free (other than through friends/family) though the results might impact their life daily for the next 10+ years.

You can ask a local interior decorator/designer for a quote on a 1-2h consult.  Someone experienced and knowledgeable will probably cost you $80/hr, but you never know.  $160 for a general work plan isn't a bad deal imo.
Start reading design websites/blogs/magazines and look for similarities in the things you know you are keeping for sure.  Find a professional project that is as close to what you want as possible and copy as much as you can.

jeromedawg

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2018, 12:08:15 AM »
How can I get a professional quality service for free?  I see this a lot for arts and design, yet no one expects to get engineering or lawyering for free (other than through friends/family) though the results might impact their life daily for the next 10+ years.

You can ask a local interior decorator/designer for a quote on a 1-2h consult.  Someone experienced and knowledgeable will probably cost you $80/hr, but you never know.  $160 for a general work plan isn't a bad deal imo.
Start reading design websites/blogs/magazines and look for similarities in the things you know you are keeping for sure.  Find a professional project that is as close to what you want as possible and copy as much as you can.

Hah, good points - supply and demand I guess :) Some people have a knack for design and such. I suppose it 'pays' to make friends with some of them lol. Guess I'll keep plugging away at Pinterest to see what's good.

TheWifeHalf

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2018, 06:53:31 AM »
We've been going to 'The Parade of Homes" for years. It use to be a whole subdivision of new homes,various builders but now they are more spread out and require driving (used to need just walking. It's usually 15 - 20 new homes.
The homes are not lived in, but fully furnished and decorated. The builders are just sitting there, ready to answer questions.
Back in the '80's  we saw a home with an interior back and front stairway, and wanted to have our home have that. When we added on, you guessed it, we have an interior back and front stairway. So many of the details of our home are ideas we got from 'The Parade of Homes.'

Cranky

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2018, 12:26:49 PM »
It sounds like you just want to redecorate rather than remodel? I feel like Pinterest will be your friend!

We tried using the design service at Home Depot (we did actually replace our ancient cabinets) and we were not impressed.

AMandM

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2018, 01:42:49 PM »
I would suggest reading all the kitchen posts on Maria Killam's blog (http://www.mariakillam.com/blog/). Her service is oriented toward choosing colors that play well together, and she has lots of posts about dealing with what you have. If you like what she says, you can hire her for a one-off email consultation to recommend colours for you.

lthenderson

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2018, 07:56:50 AM »
One thing I would recommend is to watch the real estate ads for open house showings and go to those with a camera and take pictures of things you like. You can open drawers and touch things to your hearts content and it doesn't cost you a cent.

Also, almost every cabinet retailer that I have been too (outside of big box stores) will have various displays setup in common kitchen configurations using different materials and such. These are also free to touch and photographs but you have to put up with a salesman jabbering away beside you.

But generally, if you want a professionally designed kitchen, down to a list showing exact sizes and options of every cabinet, you have to pay for that. I have an architect that does that kind of thing for me for a set price and he will give me 3D and 2D renderings as well as a fully detailed cut sheet of all the information I need to order the right things. My "what's in right now" skills are not highly tuned so for me, it is worth the price to have a professional design it.

Dicey

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2018, 11:50:14 AM »
I hate all the ads/tracking on Pinterest and Houzz, so I use Zillow to look at real houses. You can look at all price points anywhere in the country.

BudgetSlasher

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2018, 08:36:20 PM »
This helped us with planning our kitchen.

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/kitchen.design.rules.htm

Dicey

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2018, 07:29:12 PM »
I just found out that Home Depot does not charge for kitchen design services. I had a plan drawn up last week. It's currently my working draft, because it's important to think a lot before you actually do anything. I had a pretty clear vision in mind plus measurements when I went to HD.

Rosy

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2018, 07:37:04 PM »
Visiting a home show or a few builders show homes is great for finding cool ideas, color schemes or material choices to incorporate in your kitchen design. HD does a nice job of drawing up a free plan for you - everything else not so much. They are not designers - they are salespeople tethered to the offerings of the store.

I've done a few kitchens in my time and yes, I charged min $75 to $150 an hour for a one-hour consultation.
For a budget-friendly re-design:
Make a list of the ten things that irk you the most about your kitchen - such as:
What is inconvenient? What do you love - hate about your kitchen?
What is hard to reach?
Do the doors hit you in the head - can you reverse them?
Do you love or hate your cabinets - what color, style would you buy if you could just go out and buy new?
Is it possible to simply find a local guy that would cut or recut some prefab doors for you instead of tackling a difficult paint job - btw that shutter look on your cabinets looks like a nightmare to deal with and color alone may not be enough of a face lift.
If they are stock cabinets in sizes that you can easily buy - is there a mfg or outlet who might sell you some cool doors?
Would you like something special - like a dedicated spice drawer?
Do you have to get on your hands and knees everytime you want a particular pot or cake pan?
How is the lighting? have you forgotten how ugly it is?:) - how is the natural lighting? - is there daylight from a window? -
Lighting is crucial and if you are not using special "daylight bulbs" you are missing out on a wonderfully cheap and easy way to make your kitchen look alive. Daylight bulbs make all the difference.
Have you considered cutting an opening in your cabinet door and replacing it with glass and interior cabinet lighting - maybe only one or two doors or an entire row of small upper cabinets?
Are you crafty or mechanically inclined - could you make your own cabinet knobs and drawer pulls - or maybe you are great at thrifting things - visit your local Habitat or rehab store for cool cabinet pulls - if you are not good with that, could you just spray paint them? etc etc....
Do you need more workspace? - is it possible to add a flip up table? or a slide-out cutting board?
What is your favorite color? - would you like to see a touch of whimsy - color - art...contemporary style ...
Do you prefer clinical or minimal looks or natural environmentally friendly materials or a masculine feel or a happy family kitchen-vintage style???:).

.............and the most important question of all - what is your budget? then immediately add 20% to that to stay realistic. Then do the happy dance when you manage to stay under budget, which you well might, depending on your skills and creativity.

Then decide on the top three things that you really want to change - find out how much that will be, keep going down the list in order of priority to you, until you are out of money.
VOILA - KITCHEN DESIGN ON A BUDGET:) that looks like a magazine spread and didn't cost the earth.

Dicey

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2018, 02:57:07 AM »
Great post, Rosy!

In my case, it's a new kitchen from scratch. I will be making other purchases at HD, but not a full kitchen. I completely agree with your assessment. I went there because I couldn't get Ikea's software to download. Not going to buy an Ikea kitchen either, but I needed to make sure my design plan was feasible. I would have gladly paid a fee, but apparently they no longer charge. I'm pretty certain they used to. Plus, I got an appointment for the next day.

A little more about the HD planning experience. I had a strong, clear vision, but the HD guy couldn't figure out what I wanted to do and initially wasn't very helpful. Finally, I said: Start in this corner, with this type cabinet. Put the stove next to it. One by one, I told him what to do, until it took shape. When we finished, he said it was a really good kitchen. Um, no, it's a really good first draft, but thanks.

Now I need to troubleshoot the heck out of it before I start choosing materials or order anything from anywhere. @Rosy, your list is going to be a big help. Thank you!

Rosy

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2018, 11:32:36 AM »
Thanks, @Dicey glad to be of help. Good description of your HD experience - I feel ya.

I did a re-design on our kitchen a few years back. It made no sense to replace solid, custom made cabinets in a good layout.
But I made a ton of changes to make it more efficient and pleasing to the eye.

I'm short, 5'1, and our kitchen window above the sink, while a nice size, was one block too high for me to see out the window.
Can't begin to tell you how much I hated that. I was ready to chisel myself:)
First thing I changed:) - couldn't wait to cut down those block walls and add a new kitchen window - lovely view opened up.
I call that an asset uncovered.

Hardly cost a thing to do, cousin did the work and we needed new windows anyway, but oh the difference it made.
It was surprising how much more natural light we now had coming in too - bonus.

Another one of my favorite things that made me squeal with delight was the addition of a spice drawer. Finally - no more spices on the counter or getting old and lost in the cabinet.
Imagine one huge under cabinet door with one shelf - useless for efficient, organized storage and would you believe we had only one kitchen drawer?

Enter other cuz who converted this one cabinet space into three different height drawers and one big pull out space for access. Perfection:)
Did you know that Ikea has drawer inserts for all sorts of things for cheap and better yet that you can just cut them to fit with those little handsaws (forgot what they are called).

Oh and did I mention the cray cray lady who stood in the drizzling rain with the guy out in the granite yard - telling him what parts of a particular granite I wanted cut out so it would look like a riverbed?:)
Some old Polish dude who spoke heavily accented English showed up to measure the kitchen later and OMG did he ever have a few design tricks up his sleeve.
It pays to be nice and listen and not assume anything, just because he doddered in with a cane. 

Have fun with your kitchen Dicey - I'm sure you'll have plenty of tales to tell when it is all done.

SaraArch

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Re: Kitchen Remodel Design help?
« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2018, 01:14:41 PM »
I was in a similar situation like yours a month ago and hopefully I found this article http://architecturesideas.com/2018/02/16/diy-ideas-to-modernize-your-kitchen/ which explains some tips to redesign the kitchen and how to do it. Do you think those tips are OK? Would you use them for your redesign? Let me know!