Tips For A Kitchen Remodel

Corv

Back in 2008, I remodeled my 1960 kitchen, and learned a few things. Since I cook by myself, I had some ideas I wanted to try. All these were things either incorporated that worked or things I should have done - not many of those.

*  If you can afford (or build) fully custom cabinets, you’ll have much greater design flexibility than if you had to use standard cabinets or even partially-custom ones. Be aware that building them yourself isn’t necessarily cheaper since you’ll need tools and time.

*  On the bottom cabinets, skip doors in most cases. Install deep drawers instead, deep enough to hold your pots and pans. They are much more convenient. Doors work for the cabinets that hold your baking sheets and such.

*  The inside dimension of drawers should be at least 9” wide. And they should be high - say at least 4 1/2”, and have a gap of at least 1.5” above the side walls to the ceiling of the opening. More is better for each of these.

*  Have the sink cabinet made so that the upper face is integral with the doors and opens with them. That is, there's no decorative but fixed panel above the doors; the doors are full-height. That’ll make under-sink maintenance a lot easier. This is probably the most important tip here.

*  Add more electric outlets that you think you’ll ever need. Electric strips under the counter work fine, and so do wall-mounted outlets above counters.

*  If you’re going to have a microwave cabinet or an appliance “garage,” install outlets in them.

*  Install a bunch more lighting than you think you’ll ever need. Area lights plus spots work well if each type can be 100% adequate by itself.

*  If you have the space and can work it into your design, make all counters at least 30” deep. Wall counters are currently standard at 25”, and the extra depth gives you a bunch more counter space in front of appliances. This is probably the second most important tip here.

*  The Incinerator Evolution line of disposals is very quiet.

*  For the stove vent hood, get one that has an outside exhaust, even if routing the pipe is hard. And make sure that its capacity is at least 600 CFM (cubic feet per minute). More is better.

*  Install both gas and 120 and 240 electric outlets for the stove. That way you can install any stove type you want.

*  In an upper cabinet, include a pull-out spice rack. It’s out of the way and easily available.

*  The upper cabinets should  go up to the ceiling, and have a single door going up to the ceiling. Yes, you’ll probably need a step stool to use them, but the space won’t get wasted.

*  Don’t forget to include a pantry, a generous one.

*  Plan to have generous counter space adjacent to the fridge, the stove, the sink, the pantry, and wherever you’ll bring groceries into the kitchen.

*  If you can double the cabinet volume and the counter area from what you currently have, you’re well on your way.

*  Do not accept cabinets that have any 1/4” thick material or use particle board or MDF. Those are signs of cheapness and they won’t last as well as thicker materials. You can use 1/4” material for dividers inside drawers.

*  Drawers should be dovetailed. That’s a type of reliable, strong joint construction, and you can buy the tools and make them yourself.

*  For the soap dispensers - toss the stock soap container in the trash and run surgical tubing from the pump directly into a large bottle of Dawn. (From SonVolt on the BGE forum).

ColbyLang

All solid recommendations. If I could afford it, I’d tear down a wall and double the size of my current kitchen. Jumbo island with microwave drawer, mini fridge, pellet icemaker all underneath. Veggie sink on top. I’m the cook, I could easily spend 150k on the renovation…….not a top priority lol. 

MaskedMarvel

My problem is the hood. We’re looking to upgrade to a high cfm stainless asap. Ill need a fresh air exchanger… not certain how to do that..

ill confess I also would love a suggestion on how to contain oil splatter when cooking.  That crap gets everywhere. 

CTMike

MaskedMarvel said:

My problem is the hood. We’re looking to upgrade to a high cfm stainless asap. Ill need a fresh air exchanger… not certain how to do that..

ill confess I also would love a suggestion on how to contain oil splatter when cooking.  That crap gets everywhere. 

We have a 1,200 CFM range hood (2 - 600 CFM fans). I just crack the kitchen window. 

Buckwoody Egger

thanks for this. — soap — did you happen to save a link to that?  i would like to consider this for our hand soap countertop pump. 

Corv

No, I didn't, but the BGE forum source is listed on that tip. You can pick up the tubing from a good hardware store or McMaster or probably Amazon.

DoubleEgger

I did the soap thing and it turned out to be a mess in the long run. 

Buckwoody Egger

ok while looking here wasn’t fruitful, an internet search returned many dispenser extension products for pretty cheap. will spend a little more time making sure i have a floor stable hand soap container that reviews attest to fitting kohler etc etc etc.  currently filling from above is slow and mostly guesswork that ends up with messy countertop 

Canugghead

Converted to gas when we had the kitchen renovated over a decade ago, want to switch to induction now and saw this, blaming myself for letting the contractor get away with this  

Corv

That's just plumbing, should be easy to fix. Might prefer to get a plumber to do that, though. And don't forget the in-line shut-off upstream of this when you do it.

kl8ton

MaskedMarvel said:

My problem is the hood. We’re looking to upgrade to a high cfm stainless asap. Ill need a fresh air exchanger… not certain how to do that..

ill confess I also would love a suggestion on how to contain oil splatter when cooking.  That crap gets everywhere. 

During an addition/remodel, we put in a Zephyr hood over a 48" range.  I think it was 3 or 4k cheaper than the Wolf hood the appliance store wanted us to go with. When moving that volume of air, something has to make noise.   I would have LOVED a remote mounted blower motor to cut down on the noise inside.  We did have an air make up unit that pulled air into the basement.  I honestly don't know what triggered it to turn on.  It could have been when the hood motor was in it's top two speeds or maybe it senses the negative air pressure in the house?  Either way the inspector made my builder put it in and he passed it.  

lkapigian

I did mine years ago, the only thing built in and original is the upper cupboards, everything else is freestanding commercial kitchen SS Tables , I use a spare bedroom as my Pantry with floor to ceiling wire rack system  from Costco , the kitchen is tiled up the walls about  3.5 foot for easy cleaning , commercial kitchen sink open on the bottom ....it is relatively inexpensive to do 

Canugghead

Corv said:

That's just plumbing, should be easy to fix. Might prefer to get a plumber to do that, though. And don't forget the in-line shut-off upstream of this when you do it.

True, I'm probably capable of fixing it myself but wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, for peace of mind and insurance liability etc. Going to put this induction project on the back burner so to speak.

For now, with this portable induction double burner, we try to avoid using gas as much as possible...


@MaskedMarvel ^^^ how we protect countertop from oil splatter, not pretty but works  . When not in use the cardboard pieces store easily beside the range.
Edit: also traps steam and aroma/odour for the exhaust to pull out.