Kitchen remodels

[7rider]

So, for those of you that have redone your kitchens, here's what I'm looking for input on
1. What do you wish you'd put in and didn't for whatever reason
- We should have run an air duct to the back part of the kitchen. The kitchen is the width of the house - but the back half used to be a porch, so there's no heat/a.c. We should have found a way to run a duct under the island to get something to the back half, as it's always cold in the winter, warm in the summer in the kitchen. (New windows will help, but we are waiting to put a deck on the back of the house for those to be replaced. We need to find a money-tree first.

2. What did you put in that seemed like a good idea at the time, but you don't love for whatever reason
- I can't think of anything. Maybe having the flooring put in on a diagonal, instead of straight. The flooring folks recommended it because the walls really aren't true, but we have some angles on the cabinets and counter tops, and the lines don't match. It's a minor thing, but I notice it.

3. Countertops - what do you have, do you love it/hate it/too much maintenance etc
- Granite. Love it. Costly, maybe bad for the environment, but super easy to deal with and looks fab.

4. biggest waste of $$
- appliances with cabinet covering (fridge and dishwasher). I suppose we could have just had a standard face to them, rather than "hidden". Not huge waste of money, but an unnecessary extravagance.

5. best $$ spent
- The whole job. The kitchen works better. I love the second sink we put in, and I love that they are recessed. You can just wipe stuff right into it. No fuss.

[ny biker]

I love the second sink we put in, and I love that they are recessed. You can just wipe stuff right into it. No fuss.

Yes, recessed sinks are wonderful.

[NbyNW]

A bit late to the party, but here's some feedback on our recent kitchen remodel:

1. What do you wish you'd put in and didn't for whatever reason
NanaWall Folding doors that would open out onto our deck. It's a beautiful bi-fold system that would have also given us a nice smooth threshold. Would have essentially turned that entire wall into a window. But prohibitively expensive. We went with traditional wood-framed french doors instead.

2. What did you put in that seemed like a good idea at the time, but you don't love for whatever reason
An additional 3" depth to a built-in bench at our dining area. Makes for a tight squeeze between our dining table and island.

3. Countertops - what do you have, do you love it/hate it/too much maintenance etc
Cambria quarts. Love it.

4. biggest waste of $$
We are actually very pleased with how everything turned out. I think this goes back to communication between DH and me about what we wanted, our designer and contractor doing a great job of setting expectations, and also feeling like they were looking out for us in terms of costs and materials every step of the way. Our contractor and his subs found some good deals for us on finish details, also made recommendations of what they have found to be good value on other projects when it came to some of the electrical and plumbing decisions.

5. best $$ spent
Hiring an interior designer. We hired a colleague of mine that I know through an association that we both volunteer for ... so I knew that she was like-minded to me as far as design philosophy went. The most expensive aspect of our project was new plumbing and electrical, since we ended up changing the layout of our kitchen extensively. The end result, though, is far better than anything we could have imagined on our own.

A few specific points that added some nice touches:
- heated tile floors
- tiled backsplash with glass accent tile is beautiful!
- used epoxy grout -- it's much more durable than regular grout and cleans up much more easily
- special drain traps to catch larger solids before they go into the garbage disposal -- we have an older house and our drain pipes are skinnier than in new construction, so we try not to put too much stuff in the In-Sinkerators.
-storage for cookbooks
- nice mix of accent lighting and task lighting
- 4-plug power strips instead of traditional 2-outlet panels ... the power strips are installed where countertop meets backsplash or under counter, so they don't interfere with tile design
- I'm short, so our designer lowered the cabinet clearance to 14" (18" is standard). This means I can reach the second shelf up in the cabinets! Woohoo!
- soft-close drawers