The kitchen has become the most important room in the house for many families and the good news is that there are a lot of great ways to make your kitchen more functional, stylish, and entertaining for you, your family, and your friends.  There are 10 major project types to remodel your kitchen.  You can choose to work on one of these at a time or if you are installing an entirely new kitchen you will need to cover most of them.  By far the most popular addition to a kitchen is a new appliance followed by new cabinets.  Many dream of new countertops and that is the third most popular remodel project for the kitchen.

1. Project Type

There are 9 major types of kitchen remodeling projects ranging from appliances to cabinets to countertops.  Some of the projects will improve the function of your kitchen and some will improve the style of your kitchen.  You should have a firm grasp of your wants and needs before you start your project.

2. New vs Remodel

You will have a choice to remodel or replace many of your kitchen features.  Remodeling is usually the cheaper option but sometimes it is not the best option.  If your kitchen cabinets are old and not well constructed it might make sense to install new ones.  If you are getting towards the end of the useful life of an appliance it often makes sense to buy a new one. 

3. Budget

If you have a lot of experience in remodeling projects then you can probably create a pretty good cost estimate based on the work you want done.  For most of us it makes sense to get a free estimate from a professional to make sure we have a good handle on the cost of the project.  Make sure you calculate a fully loaded budget with all material and labor costs including any accessories and hardware that might be required.

4. Design

If you are replacing a dishwasher or a refrigerator it might not be so important to have a formal design for your project but if you are remodeling several features in your kitchen then it might make sense to have a design model before you actually start any work.  A design model can help develop both the style and work flow for your new kitchen.  There are some great software packages to help you develop a model for your ideas.  You can also hire a professional to help with creating a design for your new kitchen.

5. Find a Good Contractor

Online Networks - There are several good networks of service contractors.  For kitchen remodeling work we recommend Quinstreet.  They have a large number of qualified service providers and the feedback form customers who have used the network is excellent.  We have partnered with Quinstreet in order to allow our visitors to receive free, no obligation project quotes from qualified local contractors.  Quinstreet is a free, well regarded contractor referral service.

Click here to receive 3 free, no obligation quotes for your kitchen project.

Yellow Pages - the yellow pages is still a good place to go to find a contractor.  Look up pools in the yellow pages and you will find a number of local contractors listed.Friends Recommendations - this is often an excellent source for finding a contractor because your friends often have the same standards for quality of work that you do.  The contractor will be incentivised to do a good job because he has you and your friends future business at stake.Brand Service Network - if you know what brand of equipment you are thinking of installing the brand sites often have dealer networks and they can usually recommmend someone in your local area to install the equipment you need.  Service providers are often certified to be in the brand network so the quality of these contractors is usually pretty high.

6. Manage the Project

This is the most important step of all.  You must manage contractors as if they work for you because they do.  If you don’t want them tracking mud in your house tell them politely to take their shoes off when entering your house.  You probably wouldn't allow your kids to leave trash in your yard so why would you let your contractor?  If you dont like the way something is done tell them to redo it because you will be looking at it for years and if you have to redo something later it will be very expensive.  If they understand that you are managing the project carefully and that you care about quality they will be far less likely to cut corners.