Where to start..

[k3am]

We’re planning a large (for us, anyways) renovation. We’ve done a few over the
years, mostly using the same design/build firm (we did one bathroom with a
different company that did not have a designer), but everything was just…
replacing what was already there with no structural work. The ONLY thing we
loved about this firm was the designer, M. She did a great job of working with
us to pick out everything and have it actually go together, vs. the first firm
we used, which just put in what we picked out. Anyways, they did our bathroom
in the new house, and it was an awful process, which is detailed on the H&G
board elsewhere. Based on our experience, we wouldn’t use them again, but I’m
pretty sure they’re out of business anyways.  <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

The project we have planned is much larger scope. The
general concept was provided by M while she was quoting the bathroom. (We asked
everyone who quoted to give a vague concept, hers is the only one that made
sense to us). <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Here’s the basic floor plan. Sorry for quality, it was
prepared about 60 years ago. Kitchen, “breakfast” and family room all connect.
There is no divider between the breakfast and family room. The breakfast and family
room each have sliding glass doors (vs. just a window in the breakfast room,
which apparently was an optional feature.) In our house, the breakfast area has
been empty since we moved in 4 years ago, but gets a lot of use as a workout
area (yoga, no actual equipment.)

<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> 

</o:p>

The kitchen is a pain point. It is quite small and has
minimal storage – we have a ton of kitchen stuff stored in the most random
places. The goal here would be to close off both sliding glass doors, and do
one slider (or potentially French doors, TBD) in the middle, and push
the kitchen out into the breakfast area. Side note: most people we’ve talked to
suggested moving the kitchen into the dining room, but we hate this idea. 1 – we both hate open concept/”great rooms.”  2 – we actually
use our dining room nightly. We like that it can be closed off from the
kitchen/family room. 2 – if that gets opened up, we basically just have one big
bowling alley room. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

We’re wondering now.. where the heck do we start? Architect?
Designer? D/B firm?

I'm pretty terrified to start this project. It's big, it's going to be expensive, a ton of logistics to consider, and we haven't even started seriously looking into it and I know project creep is going to be a concern. The bathroom reno left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm worried about everything that can/will go wrong.

[penguingrrl]

So, it doesn’t look like you’re considering moving any walls. That means there’s no concern about moving or removing a load-bearing wall. That’s excellent news as far as cost and scope! I would get a good independent interior designer to work with for this. My mom is one and she specializes in spacial planning and considering how folks will live in the space, and does the decorating as well (but she doesn’t take clients for just decorating). You likely won’t need an architect, or if you do the designer will likely have one they know and work well with to handle any structural issues.

If you think the company has gone out of business, maybe see if you can find M and work with her. My mom has helped the same people many times over her career as their needs/budget evolve. She loves to build those relationships and knows their home and their habits already when starting.

[Roc A Bee]

Can you find M and reach out to her? I think expanding the kitchen into the breakfast area, making the sliding door in there a window, and adding built ins on the opposite wall would double your kitchen space without taking down walls.

[Deleted]

I would think that an Interior Designer would meet your needs and would be a good place to start. I’m sure that they have contractors, and architects, and any other professionals that you may need during the process that they work with regularly that they could recommend.

That said, would you consider putting a wall between the breakfast area and family room? Doing that and getting rid of the slider in the breakfast area would give you a large amount of wall space to add cabinets and then you could do a huge island in the space.

[lacey]

A kitchen designer should be able to help a lot to create the design for a functional space. Once you get the design, it should be much easier to find a contractor to get the work done.

Do you want to move the appliances around or do the current locations work and you just need to add storage?

Can you leave just the family room doors and not relocate them?

[aprilsails]

What is your exterior wall treatment? Closing up doors and adding windows will have a big impact on the exterior, and I would want to know if it would be easy to conceal.

Otherwise, I too think a kitchen designer would be the best place to start. This project is really just a kitchen redesign, and I would want the focus to be on getting the best layout for my needs. After that, I would go to a design build firm to take care of the door/window/exterior changes and do the work.

Do you have a basement? Is in finished? That will impact project costs for any plumbing or gas modifications.

[aprilsails]

Do you have original plans that show if there are any load bearing columns along that exterior wall? I would try to make sure that any windows/doors that go in miss structural parts (increased $), and I would want to know that before I started the kitchen design so you know any no-go places. Since it’s just a long straight wall there It is probably standard stud construction so you don’t likely even have any.

[k3am]

Oct 29, 2022 7:26:46 GMT -5 lacey said:

A kitchen designer should be able to help a lot to create the design for a functional space. Once you get the design, it should be much easier to find a contractor to get the work done.

Do you want to move the appliances around or do the current locations work and you just need to add storage?

Can you leave just the family room doors and not relocate them?

Current applicants locations are okay for some, not for others, but would depend on how the rest of the kitchen is remodeled. Right now, we know where our fridge located is (a) not to code, the walkway is too small, and (b) just annoying. Someone always stands at the edge of the counter and blocks the walkway and fridge.

Regarding the doors, not sure. The slider by the kitchen butts up against the breakfast bar, which basically limits the size of the kitchen. We could probably convert it to a window, but DH is sold on the consolidation idea.

[k3am]

Oct 30, 2022 6:51:53 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

What is your exterior wall treatment? Closing up doors and adding windows will have a big impact on the exterior, and I would want to know if it would be easy to conceal.

Otherwise, I too think a kitchen designer would be the best place to start. This project is really just a kitchen redesign, and I would want the focus to be on getting the best layout for my needs. After that, I would go to a design build firm to take care of the door/window/exterior changes and do the work.

Do you have a basement? Is in finished? That will impact project costs for any plumbing or gas modifications.

Exterior is siding, so hopefully east to match and patch. We would also need to do hardscaping, since we currently have a porch for each slider, and if the door moves, those porches wouldn’t make sense. Also a pergola that might be weirdly placed with the new layout, but it’s cheaply done and not in great shape, so neither of us would be sad to replace it (aside from the cost.. extra costs aren’t fabulous.)

No basement (we’re in CA), it’s over a crawl space, which is common here. We would also be limited to using skinny electricians or plumbers, since it’s small. We had to have one come out to add an outlet for our sump pumps and the first electrician looked at the crawl space and “noped” out. It was amusing calling around and asking for small electricians only.

[k3am]

Oct 30, 2022 6:55:19 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Do you have original plans that show if there are any load bearing columns along that exterior wall? I would try to make sure that any windows/doors that go in miss structural parts (increased $), and I would want to know that before I started the kitchen design so you know any no-go places. Since it’s just a long straight wall there It is probably standard stud construction so you don’t likely even have any.

We don’t have any original plans, unfortunately. I got the floor plans from a sales pamphlet posted on a local HOA’s webpage.

[aprilsails]

Oct 30, 2022 15:45:59 GMT -5 k3am said:

Oct 30, 2022 6:51:53 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

What is your exterior wall treatment? Closing up doors and adding windows will have a big impact on the exterior, and I would want to know if it would be easy to conceal.

Otherwise, I too think a kitchen designer would be the best place to start. This project is really just a kitchen redesign, and I would want the focus to be on getting the best layout for my needs. After that, I would go to a design build firm to take care of the door/window/exterior changes and do the work.

Do you have a basement? Is in finished? That will impact project costs for any plumbing or gas modifications.

Exterior is siding, so hopefully east to match and patch. We would also need to do hardscaping, since we currently have a porch for each slider, and if the door moves, those porches wouldn’t make sense. Also a pergola that might be weirdly placed with the new layout, but it’s cheaply done and not in great shape, so neither of us would be sad to replace it (aside from the cost.. extra costs aren’t fabulous.)

No basement (we’re in CA), it’s over a crawl space, which is common here. We would also be limited to using skinny electricians or plumbers, since it’s small. We had to have one come out to add an outlet for our sump pumps and the first electrician looked at the crawl space and “noped” out. It was amusing calling around and asking for small electricians only.

My cousin is a pretty small guy but strong (featherweight wrestling champ). When he was graduating high school he was worried that electricians wouldn’t want him because he’s too small. I’m a power engineer and was like nope you will have an apprenticeship in a minute. And so he did. God bless small electricians. More women should go into it.

[aprilsails]

I would still start with the kitchen layout first. Depending on the choices you make for your kitchen you will know what exterior wall and hard scape modifications you will need to do. You could also ask someone to do three layouts for you so you could see the trade offs. ie. Best layout without removing the door, best layout with a window instead….

Then you could take those kitchen layouts do a design build firm to do the pricing and design on the exterior walls. That would be my approach.

[aprilsails]

Or you could see if there are design build firms that have an in house kitchen designer or partner. That would also work. Might be a more holistic approach from the start.

However, you can often get a lot of kitchen design work for free from cabinet suppliers. They offer it in hopes that you will buy their cabinets.