The first step: Measurements and kitchen design
It is very hard to overstate the importance of taking good measurements of your kitchen space and then creating a good kitchen plan or design. This is the first and most important step in the kitchen renovation that you are about to embark and if this first step is in the wrong direction, it is needless to say that you are not going to end up with an amazing kitchen.
When taking measurements consider all of the following factors:
- Are you keeping the same kitchen cabinet footprint or are you making a big change such as removing a wall or eliminating a peninsula or an island?
- Try to think 3-dimentionally and look at your space from various angles!
- Measure as precisely as possible and never round up? It is better to round down and end up with a bit more space than end up short.
- Are you keeping the appliances in the exact same spot? If no, keep in mind that sometimes it is not so easy or cheap to move electrical and/or plumbing.
- Measure the walls and then doors, windows and openings!
- Measure and plot the location of air vents and ducts as well as receptacles and plumbing that may be in the way
- When measuring doors and windows, always assume that the trims will stay!
- Triple check your measurements!
- Finally: ask someone else to verify your measurements (your spouse, a friend or your neighbor)
Once you have proper measurements it is time to work on the kitchen design and planning. This is one of hardest parts of the project and unfortunately it is often underestimated or overlooked by customers and even by professional remodeling contractors. On a piece of paper, sketch the kitchen space and try to be as accurate with your measurements and proportionate as possible. At first sketch just the walls, doors and windows. Then add other structures such as soffits, receptacles, plumbing, HVAC and other.
Then start plotting the appliances and the sink because they are the must have the maybe alongside with them think about placing the base corner cabinets. Now we will review this step, specifically from an IKEA kitchen remodeling. IKEA has only 2 type of corner cabinets: 38×38 with a Lazy Susan carousel and 47×26 corner cabinet with pull-out that can also be a 26×47 (mirror image). It is relatively easy to decide which one to use based on the available space. In the example here we are using a 47×26 with the door on the right side.
We then fill the available space with base cabinets. Try not to think immediately about drawers and doors that will be in the base cabinets… for the time being focus on the size of the base cabinet only and not on the drawer configuration. Once you have all base cabinets and appliances in, it is time to work on the wall cabinets as they usually mirror and closely follow the base cabinets foot print. In simple terms: above a 30-inch range, you will have a 30-inch range hood or 30-inch range ORT, above a 36-inch refrigerator – a 36-inch wall cabinets, above a 15-inch base cabinets – another 15-inch wall cabinet and so on.
It is almost guaranteed that you will end up with some extra space that you cannot use. In our example the east wall is 141” and on it we have placed 47” corner cabinets, followed by, 18” trash cabinet pull out, then the range oven (30”) then a 12” space rack and a 30” cabinet. When add all these we end up with 47 + 18 + 1/2 cover panel + 30 + 1/2 cover panel + 12 + 30 = 138”. The wall is 141”. So will we have a filler that will be 2-3 inches wide.
If you want to have an island in your kitchen, make sure that you have at least 36” on each side of the island. Keep in mind that for all cabinets you need at least 25-1/5 inches depth and for wall cabinets – at least 15 (not 12, like the traditional US made cabinets. IKEA wall cabinets are 15 inches deep, which give you more storage space).
Once you have this design, feel free to work on another variation of it.
Next step is to put your best kitchen or layout into the IKEA 3D planning too. We will have a separate article dedicated to it, because this is such a big topic. Working with a design software is never easy, but the IKEA one is very intuitive and all you need to know if the proper size of your room and the cabinets. Once you have the design in the IKEA 3D planning tool you can export preview image for each of the wall. Pick any wall… let’s say the range oven wall and plot the cabinets measurements on the wall in the kitchen with a pencil.
For example: measure 47 inches for the corner cabinet – mark it on the wall. Then measure 18 inches for the trash cabinet pull-out – mark it on the wall and so on: 30 inches for the range oven, 12 inches for the space rack pull out and finally 30 inches for the cabinet to the right of the spice rack and mark it. You should end up with about 2-3 inches of extra space, which will be filled with filler. If you do not end up with this but with a lot more or a lot less space, then you need to go back to step 1 and measure the wall, then re-measure the cabinets that have plotted on the wall, etc. Repeat for each wall until everything fits.
You now have completed the measurements and you have a great kitchen plan!
It this seems like too much work, too intimidating and if you feel like you are not in control and how this will all work out, it may be better to call a professional to measure the kitchen and to help you design the kitchen space under your guidance and wishes. Here are some options: you may ask the IKEA store to provide design and measurement services, you may call our company – European Kitchens – to do that. You may call a number of other companies to do that, including IKD (Inspired Kitchen Design) which its entire purpose of existence is design and planning, which once approved is handed over to an installer for budgeting and execution.
What about the cost for this service? Many customer think that this is expensive and outside their reach. They are probably wrong. Professionals charge as low as $250 and as high as $400 and sometimes even more for a kitchen design service. Our fee is $300. I can assure you that this is money well spent. You, as a customer, are about to invest anywhere between $12,000 and $25,000 in this kitchen renovation, so having the right measurements and great kitchen plan is of utmost important and $300 is probably not going to be a deal breaker. By the way… here at European Kitchens, the design fee is not due, until the customer approves and design and budget and ready to pull the trigger on the project. In fact – this is the only deposit that we will ask you to put towards the project – $300. The next payment will be due once we cover a certain amount of work. And here is the bonus: our design fee also includes emailing you the order list with IKEA materials that you will need for the kitchen renovation.
Let’s recap the measurement, design and planning phase:
- Measure the kitchen space and be as accurate as possible. Double and triple check your measurements
- Sketch the kitchen plan on a piece of paper
- Transfer it to the IKEA 3D planning tool
- Verify and finalize your plan
- Export kitchen plan and place the order for materials at IKEA
Yes, you can probably do it on your own, but you do not have to. Call us to see how much your kitchen renovation will be and we well walk you through many options and do the work for you.