In the last blog, “How to Design the Perfect Kitchen: Step 1 – Gather Ideas,” you put a great deal of thought into the functionality of your new kitchen. At this point, you’ve considered the arrangement, size, and usability of the space, cabinets, appliances. You’ve also thought about the finishes you’d love to have in your new kitchen, gathering lots of ideas from Pinterest and Houzz. But how do you organize these ideas?
In the introduction to this series, we stated that many people skip step 2, the organization, which is a big mistake. Now, you might be thinking, “I’m not going to make that mistake! My Pinterest account is super organized!” Or perhaps you have a “Monica binder” (for you Friends fans out there) with tabs, labels, and color coding. While all of that is helpful, that’s not the type of organization we are talking about.
We want you to take your thoughts from step 1 and organize wants and needs. To clearly articulate to potential designers and renovators, it is imperative that your ideas be clearly categorized—what you must have versus what you want to have. In this way, it will be easier for you and your designer/renovator to stay within the all-important budget.
Yes, unless you have unlimited funds, it’s time to scrutinize those ideas you’ve gathered. Now, you must organize wants and needs to get the right features that fit realistically into your budget.
The Perfect Kitchen: Step 2 – Organize Wants and Needs
Go back to the questions you answered about the functionality of your kitchen–the details about your perfect kitchen. (If you haven’t answered these questions yet, you can find them here.)
Considering your kitchen function, answer the following question:
If you could only have one functional aspect for your kitchen, what would it be?
For example, do you have to have an eat-in kitchen or is a Butler’s Pantry more important? Does the kitchen need a large center island or is the commercial range more important? Is the trash compactor vital or are specialty storage inserts in the drawers more important?
Now that you have identified the most important element of your new kitchen, create a “priorities list” with the most important kitchen design element being placed first. Complete the list, placing functional must-haves in order of priority. Also, create a list of functional “like-to-haves.”
Next, go through all the finishes (“the look”) you discovered during the “gather ideas” phase and place them in order of importance. For example, would you rather have quartz countertops or cabinets with a specialty finish? Make sure to consider if your finishes are must-haves or like-to-haves. Perhaps the specialty range is a must-have for you because you adore baking. Just remember to prioritize your must-haves, which will help your designer and renovator as they discuss budget with you.
Finally, look at your must-have columns for both function and finishes one more time. Is the most important must-have at the top of each list? If you had to choose between your top function must-have and your top finishes must-have, which would you choose? If you had to give up everything else, would that one item be what you wanted to keep? Is there anything you can move from the must-have column to the like-to-have column?
Completing the above process–answering the questions and creating prioritized must-have & like-to-have lists—should help you more clearly articulate your vision to your design and renovation professionals. It should also help you discover what you’d be willing to let go of if budget necessitates and what you really, really want and need to have.
That being said, be cautious of becoming too emotionally attached to the items on your lists. There is no guarantee you will get all the must-haves you wrote down. This will depend on your budget.
A professional kitchen designer and renovator can help determine if your must-haves fall within your budget.
The Next Step…
Now that you have a clearer idea about how you want your ideal kitchen to look and function, it’s time to find the right designer & renovator. For information about this important step, click here…
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