How to Survive a Kitchen Remodel and Still Eat Real Food - Part 1: Planning

For the past decade, I've been dreaming about remodeling our kitchen. When we moved into this home, it had been just two years after doing a massive remodel of our kitchen in our old farmhouse. It turned out gorgeous, too. I'd share pictures if I could but they're stuck on an old external hard drive that won't boot up anymore.

Last year we took some steps for financing this project when our home equity line of credit came up for renewal. We decided to go with a full home appraisal with the expectation that we had enough equity built up to be able to fund our project. Sure enough, that was fine. But we just weren't ready to pull the trigger on the project.

After Christmas, we decided it's time to think about our budget, start coming up with design ideas and begin our contractor search. It really helped having done this before because we knew what to expect AND we could build upon lessons learned before.

I decided to document our journey - our survival, that is - of this project. Not only because it's fun to see how kitchen remodels turn out but mainly because I want to share how I'm doing to do this AND STILL EAT REAL FOOD!!

Budget and Scope

The biggest part was for us to determine was our budget and scope. Obviously, you know what the budget is. A scope is how much work will this project really cover.

How much are we willing to spend on a kitchen remodel? So much to consider when making this decision.

• How long do we plan to stay here? (Carry me out in a body bag - I'm not leaving! My husband thinks someday we'll build... Meh!)


• How much can you afford? Need to consider what monthly payments will be when all is said and done. And, take into account any additional expenses that may come up. (Our vehicles are older and paid off; we needed to have a budget that wasn't too much to handle when the day comes for us to have a car payment again.)


• What is our taste? If you have an extravagant design in mind or are more of a high-end kinda person, your budget should reflect that otherwise you will blow it out of the water with your first purchase. I'm more of a basic with a few frills kinda gal.


• What's my return on investment? We looked at the value of our home and how much we're investing to ensure that when all is said and done, we get at least the cost of our remodel - and then some - recovered in the after project appraisal.

Scope: The Wall Decision!

We have a ranch style home; when you walk into the house via the garage (our main entrance), you're in a hallway. A stupid hallway. And, in this stupid hallway is my pantry. Yes ... I have to walk THROUGH THE HALLWAY to get my pantry items out when cooking. The traffic pattern sucks - I'll be blunt on this one.

Then, there's the room to no where. What they did when our home was built is beyond me by adding this "sunroom" outside the kitchen. My "window to nowhere" is just a pain in the butt.

We had a contractor friend some over to help us determine if the wall to the sunroom could come down with any major architectural issues. Nope... It's load-bearing. Dang! That's a huge budget crusher. He suggested the hallway wall - something I hadn't really given much thought to.

• Load bearing? Nope. Check.


• Will it open up the kitchen & help increase the light? Yup. Check.


• Will it add extensively to our cost? Not really. Check.

The wall is coming down!!

Our budget was set. We knew what was going to be done - what wasn't.  I found several websites that suggested percentages for each area of your budget. Once I started doing this, I pretty much threw it out the window because our project didn't include new flooring (re-using) or windows. Our percentages were more like this: 20% labor/work, 55% cabinets/countertops/backsplash, 17% appliances and 8% electrical.

Finding the Right Contractor is Key

Now, as of this writing, we have not "broken ground" on our project. So, keep that in mind as I'm still in the honeymoon phase of our project. This could change.

We met with a few potential contractors. Living in a small town you quickly realize that somehow you may be related to, grew up with, or attend the same church as these potential contractors.

Every one of them would've been great to work with. That's for sure. We had recommendations and seen the workmanship. But, timing and our gut feeling became the keys for our final decision. This was actually one of the easiest decisions for us. Whew!

If you live in a larger city or just don't have many referrals to work from, check out all the gazillion resources online! Seriously... You can find so much by searching "How to pick the right contractor" - contracts, insurance, reference questions, etc.

The Design

At our first contractor meeting, everything was still very conceptual. We were told to get our measurements and work on our cabinet layouts. We scheduled three design consultations (for free) with local home improvement stores.

Keep in mind, you can do this ANYTIME!! I strongly recommend when you are just starting to think about this project to do it early. Stop by your local Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's... They'll sit down and go over the designs with you. You'll get a quote generated for the cost of the cabinets.

Then, you'll go home weeping because they easily cost $2,000-$3,000 MORE than you had ever imagined. Dang price of lumber!!

Seriously a humbling experience...

Once we had "the one" design that we liked, I had new renderings done at all three stores so I could get an apples to apples comparison (different cabinet brands and features but the design was all the same).

When we reviewed these with the contractor, his "kitchen guy" took a few more looks at it and asked if we were open to Amish cabinets. Sure! Why not? So, we gave him a copy of the renderings (no prices) and he went to work with his Amish colleague.

The Decision

Ultimately, we chose our contractor because our gut was more comfortable with him. We had seen his work. We trusted him. We knew him a bit through church and school (although no social interaction). His price was right.

We had another contractor who we really wanted to get a quote from but he went on vacation through all our initial planning. I called him the day after he was scheduled to be back (Tuesday) and he didn't return my call until that Friday. That and our first meeting he seemed very aloof. After I spoke with him that Friday and told him we had decided to go the Amish route, we had a great conversation and I actually felt a a little bad. (I'm such a sucker!) Maybe next project...

Third contractor never returned my call until two weeks later ... must be nice to be that busy.

So, we now have our contractor selected and are just waiting for some of the details with our Amish crafter to work out before we have a date scheduled.

I better start packing soon!!

Helpful Links

Before I forget... Here is some recommended reading that I have found for you to look at:

• http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/contracting/what-remodeling-contract-should-say/#.


• http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/14602570/list/10-things-to-ask-your-contractor-before-you-start-your-project


• http://www.hgtv.com/design/rooms/kitchens/10-steps-to-budgeting-for-your-kitchen-remodel