"Design Wizards Say: Part Three 'No kitchen is an island - What's a lay-out?"

The final, signed off by you lay-out of your kitchen is going to be what you will live with, once the GC, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, cabinet makers, installers and architect that are standing there telling you what you want; all go home.

After just getting through advising you that you need to listen to all of them, the Design Wiz is now going to tell you to not let any of them sway you off what you know you ultimately want to end up with.

There is no need to sacrifice full height upper cabinets, if that is what you want.  It is you that has to live with all that dead-space men want to put in a kitchen.

There is no need to down-grade bells and whistles in your island just so they can fit into the budget more drawer space or another carcass or two in the lower and outer perimeter.  You know your going to spend all your time cooking and slaving away at that island while your grandkids are parked on stools watching every move. While those extra drawers clear across on the other side of the kitchen are used as junk drawers.

Yes, you want certain height and depth shelving in your pantry instead of  all the same.  Sometimes you just feel like buying the monster-size box of pretzels at Costco so you don't have to run to the store every Sunday during his football season viewing time.

Don't listen to a single word every one of those construction guys say.

Yet listen to what they know, and make sure you have that knowledge well in hand as you make your choices.

Confused?  There's no need to be.  It's all really quite simple.

Every single line of cabinets, including the customs, have spec books.  Yep, they sure do.  Binders and books of every cabinet they sell.  Every bell and whistle they make.  Every piece of trim and moulding at their disposal.

(and...many of the lines are inter-changeable with other lines they carry)

Lay-outs that are incredible and exactly what you want are as simple as you drawing a picture of your kitchen. 

Grab a measuring tape, don't take no for an answer from your cabinet sourcing and make them give you access to all the specs.  If they want your business, they will hand them over. 

Then draw out your crude plans.  Erase, scribble notes, mark it out on the floor. 

Then round up all those opinionated men, who are the key to your success yet probably cannot fry an egg to save themselves; and run your plan by them.

Listen, ask questions, be respectful of what they know, take notes and then thank them very much...you will  move now to round #2 while they make themselves scarce.  Take their muttering and "what's  she want to go and do that for??" selves off to their world of men and machines.  Just for awhile.

Round #2 is fine-tuning your plan.  Once again grabbing a tape measure (and treat yourself to a couple rolls of painter's blue tape.  You can buy it anywhere), gathering all your spec books and binders and all your notes and drawings.  Then quietly in your empty space new kitchen, "lay it all out".

Re-draw your not quite so crude now plan.

Then take that to a really good kitchen designer, spend enough for a consultation.  They'll know the brands your speaking of and also may want to see the space.

This little bit of money spent for a professional kitchen design consultation is invaluable.  If there is any way you can afford to involve them to do the final lay-out drawing, then do so.  If that cost is not workable, then hire a freelance cad pro to scale it all out for you.  They will insert your spec numbers, etc.

But, here's where it gets really tricky.  Dealing with the egos of those men who are going to make your dream kitchen all come to be.  The immediate and typical reaction to your consulting with a kitchen designer is going to be one of their feeling threatened that you'll take your business to that designer.  They will then lose either the sale of the cabinets, etc. (or) they'll lose the percentage mark-up on top of the kitchen.

In many ways, they are correct.

Very often, contractors and trades are under-cut by a good sales pitch from outside sources.  The way to eliminate what often ends up as a huge hassle is to simply communicate clearly to all what your decision is.  You are not going to change your cabinet source, your not interested in sales pitches.  You simply want a professional consultation from a professional kitchen designer.  Not just a kitchen sales source.

Often, the best thing to do is consult with an interior designer who does great kitchens.  One that has no goods to sell.

Just make sure you handle those sensitive feelings of your construction guys right up front.  Easiest way to do that is straight-forward black and white sharing of your intentions and plan.   

Then, round #3.

Round up the guys who will be making it all work and show them the 'almost ready for sign-off' lay-out and let them pick it apart. 

Hopefully, there will be little they do not like.  (..except maybe the personal opinions of function and aesthetics that come from guys who build instead of cook..)

If changes need to be made, then make those final changes with whoever is either building the cabinets for you (or) selling them to you.

Remember that there are only two 'rules' when it comes to a new kitchen:

1.  Never, ever order your cabinets on your own without professional help.

2.  Never, ever compromise on having your version of a dream kitchen.  You are only limited by others opinions and your own imagination.  There are unlimited options out there that fit every budget.

‘Design Wizards say': Part Two – “No kitchen is an island: Making the wish-list come to life”

“Why is my builder asking me to pick out door hardware before the doors even get here?”

“I’ll just pick something out and later match up the cabinet hardware.” 

“What’s a rail?” “What’s skin?”

“Why do I have to exactly decide everything about my kitchen cabinets before the windows are even in, I want to see Aunt Betsy in Texas this summer and shop the “Kitchen Fantasy Showcase” in Houston !" 

"What does the electrician have to do with kitchen cabinets and why should I pay him to sit through hours of design time??"

"Maybe I can afford the super-deluxe built-in whirly-dishwasher in monster size ! (No ..... I don’t know what exact size that is… and yes, I have to be moved in and living in our new house no later than Labor Day weekend…)”

Hello.

And we all wonder why General Contractors walk around looking  skeptical. 

A typical cabinet order, in a slightly above average size home (3,000 to 5,000 sf), takes 12 to 16 weeks, minimum, from receipt of order to being placed FOB on a truck and started down the highway toward your construction site.  That shipping could take up to another two weeks.

That order is in a million pieces and parts, all wrapped up in enough cartons to fill an 18-wheel double trailer.  All need to be verified as they come off the truck.  Then verified again by installers and signed off on before handling.  Cabinets are also one of the last installs on a project and usually falling into the same schedule rank on the food chain of construction as the painters.   By the time they arrive, everyone is usually really under the schedule gun.

Imagine, under that kind of pressure, if the carpenters are installing away and all is great until they get to the critical turn of a corner cabinet and realize that it doesn’t fit. 

Somebody forgot to call the factory and let them know about that ¾” change the drywall guys had to make in order to hang the kitchen sheet rock.  Or, the owner made the change to the "whirly-dishwasher monster size" and it won’t fit anywhere in the kitchen with the existing cabinet design.

Cabinets, do not just ‘cut-down’. 

There is also not very much on a project that sets teeth on edge and the stink-eye floating around the trades than cabinets that do not fit. 

The solution? 

Never, ever, ever order your own cabinets.

Yes, do as much drawing and designing as you wish, but let a professional verify what you want to do.  Let your builder and trades input into your plan and sign off on the order. 

One of the biggest chunks in your budget is cabinetry throughout.  Kitchen to baths to laundry to mud-room and beyond all have cabinetry needs. Protect that investment with professional help.

These days, one can create an incredible kitchen on an affordable budget as long as they are willing to make a plan that works, wisely shop that plan and then stick to it.  No changes down the road. 

And yes, same goes for the door hardware you’re being bugged to pick out. Passage doors cannot be ordered (usually 6 to 8 weeks out) unless the technical aspect that hardware is, has been determined for function prior to making the order.  Same thing goes for cabinet hardware.

From a design perspective, the hardware is decorative as well as serving function.  You don’t need to exact match color and style throughout all the metals of your home (faucets, fixtures, railings, hardware, lighting, fireplaces ….. and the list goes on).  You need to know the general direction of style and finish color range you want to go, before you order door and cabinet hardware in the very early stages of the project. Or, your decorative style needs to be changed to “hodge-podge, mixy-matchy”. 

There are some places in your home where you can really make a design statement with your cabinets.

One of those places is the kitchen island.  Think outside the box.  Try a contrasting, yet complimenting finish color.  For example, try painted cabinets in the island and natural wood cabinets in the rest of the kitchen. Use a different door style and totally different hardware. Completely different surface for the island top.

The Wiz realizes she has just opened the door to a lot more questions than she has given in answers here in ‘Part Two:  No Kitchen is an Island’. 

To ease that problem here in her limited posting space, watch for a new page to appear within the next few days on ‘SandCastle’ titled: “Cheat Sheet” that will hold fast read, quick reference questions and answers.

Next up in our series:  “What’s a lay-out?”