This is an important step because it will help you avoid potential problems and start to learn more about how designers work. If you are using a kitchen designer or architect reading through this section will help you be a more involved and informed client.

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The basics of this process start with the actual space you have to work with. But before we walk into your space, its a good idea to start a collection of all the ideas and information you’ll be gathering as you go through the process of designing your kitchen.

When you first considered creating a new kitchen, you probably started looking at kitchens in magazines, friend’s kitchens and kitchen appliances and cabinetry in stores. These things took on a different light as you started to consider what you liked or disliked about them. A large part of starting the creative process is this focusing of your attention on a previously unconsidered area. And early in the process it helps to gather information with an open mind as you discover available materials, play with color and texture and research choices in everything from ranges to flooring.

For now we recommend that you start assembling a design file of anything and everything that catches your eye or contains information that might be relevant to your kitchen project. This file could be a folder full of photos and samples, a bulletin board filled with clippings, pictures and swatches or a box full of laminate chips, appliance brochures and objects that have some relevance to your project. One project we worked on started with a photo from a magazine tacked to a refrigerator with a magnet. While the final kitchen bore little resemblance to the picture, it served as a source of inspiration and a reminder of the final result during the deepest and darkest parts of the construction.

Your design file shouldn’t be limited to magazine tear sheets and manufacturer’s samples. Sometimes a favorite photo, painting or an object can serve as a basis for the look of your kitchen. One of the outcomes of starting a design file is that you start to build a palette of color, texture and detailing choices and begin to see the relationships between these elements. Some will fit in well and others will may end up being taken out of the process. Your file can help you visualize a coordinated palette for your project. As you walk through the many steps in the design process, add notes and information to your design file. Even if you work with a designer or architect, this file will serve as an invaluable resource for them, giving them a better idea of what appeals to you and of how you visualize using the finished kitchen. Don’t limit what goes into the file, especially at the beginning. You’ll find yourself subconsciously organizing and reorganizing the various ingredients as you go through the process.

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Start by making a quick pencil sketch of the room from an overhead perspective. This floor plan doesn’t need to be to scale but it should include doorways and windows with a basic version of the other rooms and outdoor areas connecting to the existing kitchen.

Now take your tape measure (buy a good quality 25’ tape measure, you’ll be using it all the time) and measure the wall lengths between corners, windows and doors. Add these numbers in feet and inches to your sketch. Measure the width of door openings and window openings and add to sketch. Then take your tape and measure across the widest point of the room in both directions and add these measurements to your drawing. Finally, measure ceiling height and doorway height(s) and make a note of them on the margins of your sketch.

Your measured drawing need not be an accurate rendering of the room. A simple floor plan with measurements written in and the relationships of walls, corners and doors and windows sketched in is fine. Bring copies with you as a reference when you’re researching various choices or shopping for appliances or cabinetry.

Once you’ve made the basic outline drawing of the room, go out and get copies made. Have fifteen or twenty done for use by various contractors and to try different schemes. You’ll also want copies for various aspects of the job such as cabinet layout or systems planning.

By now your rough sketch is getting pretty complicated. You’ve probably spent some time in the basement or in other rooms trying to figure out what pipe or wire goes where and why. As complicated as this may seem now, it is much easier to build your new kitchen without expensive surprises if you take the time to locate as many hidden elements as possible now. You won’t get them all but each one you uncover now can be dealt with on paper rather than when work is in progress.

Transfer the hidden systems to your measured drawing. It helps to use colored pencils with various colors for various systems, i.e. Blue for cold water, red for hot, brown for drains, yellow for electrical, etc. Get out the tape measure and try to approximate the actual locations of each element.

Bearing Walls

Removing and relocating walls and widening openings in walls are often major aspects of both kitchen design and construction. The freedom to change the actual size and shape of the space you’re working with can make the difference between a cosmetic refinishing of an existing kitchen and a truly functional improvement. While budget is a significant factor in making these kinds of choices, this is an area where even a basic kitchen can be upgraded without breaking the bank, as long as you plan ahead and design carefully to make the most out of your changes.

Before you can exercise freedom of choice architecturally, you have to learn what exists now and how it interacts with the rest of the house. Sometimes removing a wall involves nothing more than careful demolition, other times it involves re-engineering the building’s structure to ensure integrity and safety. It’s important to understand that just because a wall is a structural or ‘bearing’ wall, it doesn’t mean it is immovable. Builders move all kinds of walls all the time and architects and engineers have devised many ways to compensate.

This is a good time to have a designer or contractor take a look at your space and help you determine which structural elements can be easily moved and which require more planning. With their help, you can mark the non-bearing walls on your plan and identify any important considerations of the other walls such as load and span that will effect the decision to move or remove them. Outside walls are always structural unless there is some kind of other structure, such as a porch, that supports the upper part of the house.

Windows And Doors

Perhaps the most common architectural obstacles to good kitchen design are doors and windows, especially in older homes. Because the kitchen really was the hub of these houses, it is also a place where numerous entries and passages converge, often resulting in a room with one or more doors in every wall. This preponderance of openings can restrict your ability to create continuous work space, develop work triangles and cause a confusing elevation of cabinetry, openings and appliances.

Windows present a similar problem and an opportunity from a design standpoint. Older homes often have windows located too low on a wall to put a cabinet and counter in front of them, requiring you to raise them or cover them up, a common sight in remodeled kitchens. moving and adding windows offers the opportunity to add light, frame views, improve air flow and enhance the overall ambiance of the kitchen. the price however is significant because windows ca be expensive and there is considerable carpentry involved in both framing and trimming them out. This may outweighed somewhat by the increased energy efficiency and improved operation of modern windows.
On your sketch, add in windows and doors, add in connecting rooms and outdoor areas and consider how moving, adding or removing them might change the space for the better. You can increase both usable space and the spatial feeling of a room by using bays or a rectangular bump-out with windows on three sides. Doorways can be widened and opened up to the ceiling to make a connecting space more open and to add a sense of spaciousness to a room.

These connections must be respected during the design process. Changing them can mean a vastly improved space or one that impedes that natural flow of the household. Look at what you have now and play with other traffic patterns on your sketches until any potential improvements begin to present themselves.