Today we are talking about kitchen remodels, pitfalls, things to look out for, things to prepare for, and ways that you can have a dramatic transformation in your kitchen.

Yeah, I think the first thing kind of taking consideration is the design.

So design is, like we tell everybody, the most important part of the process.

If you do not pay attention to the details and design, your kitchen remodel will be a disaster.

You know, thinking about not just, you know, obviously the layout of the kitchen, but how it functions, you know.

Early on in the process when we were doing a lot of flips, there was several times when we would have a dishwasher unload or open right into where the fridge opens, and it created this, it created a spot that was completely impractical and it wasn’t very functional.

So you only make those mistakes once, typically.

Just don’t, you don’t want to do it on your house.

Yeah, you don’t want to do it on your house.

That was the benefit of our experience previous to that.

So yeah, you obviously want to be cognizant of that work triangle.

You know, the sink, the cooktop, you know, or the microwave, whether you’re doing the drawer-mounted one or the one above the stove or the one in the wall.

Like, you just got to, you know, take a breath and appreciate the process and the input that somebody who has the experience is going to help you through that design process to make sure you have a really functional layout.

Vision is very important, and so we hit really hard with our designs.

Functionality is super important.

You know, like you talked about before, you know, sink placement.

You know, how often are you going to spend your time over by the stove, or when you walk into the room, do you want to have the focal point be the range hood and the tones and the colors?

I noticed when my wife and I were doing this, we actually just redid our island just not that long ago, and we were so hyper-focused on the countertop that we didn’t bring any samples.

So if you’re going to do a kitchen remodel, make sure you have the cabinet samples, the countertop samples, the different colors and tones, because then the thing comes alive, because what we were hyper-focusing on was just the countertop, and we’re like, what are we doing?

Like, we’re just picking out, like, our favorite countertop without any context, and so that’s super important.

But again, design and having the professionals guide you along the way.

Yeah, colors and tones also change with different warmths of lighting.

You can have cool lighting versus warm lighting.

If you’re doing a full top-to-bottom remodel, you know, that stuff gets worked out in the design, if you have a group that knows what they’re doing.

If you’re just doing a partial remodel, it gets a little harder, because you might see something in a showroom you like, it actually gets installed in your house, and you hate it, because you have different lighting in your house than they had in the showroom.

You have blue tones in your light, and you’re like, wait a minute, this isn’t looking, yeah.

Oh, now this cabinet looks pink, and before it looked more honey, and things like that.

So yeah, understanding that.

I think also, customer, you know, if people who are looking at doing remodels of the kitchen could really benefit by just taking some time and understanding vocabulary.

Yeah.

Particularly in cabinetry.

You know, in cabinetry, there’s a difference between the box, and a drawer box, and a drawer front, and a door.

Like, understanding those components, because we might be talking about the actual drawer box that your silverware sets in.

Yeah.

And you think, if you think you’re talking about the carcass of the box that the doors go to, it’s a different conversation of what you want it to look like.

And everything’s confusing.

Yeah.

Like, it’s funny you said, because it’s so important to understand what you’re, yeah, like, when we’re talking about, like, the different boxes, the different types of doors, you know, the different types of hinges, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, like, a lot of times, a client will come to us, and be like, we love this kitchen.

And then, a lot of people, especially the people who are doing this, are like, what do you love about it?

I don’t know, I just love the vibe.

Do you like the style of the cabinets?

I didn’t even know.

I don’t know the style of the cabinets.

I just like it.

And it gets very confusing, because you start asking the detailed questions, and they’re like, oh, yeah, I guess I don’t like that.

I actually don’t want to pay for that.

Or it comes down to, like, you know, when you have this inspiration photo, it’s very important to understand why you like something.

Yeah.

It might just be the tones, but it might be the type of countertops, or it might be the function of the hinges.

Yeah, it might be the function.

There’s so much detail of just liking a picture.

Yeah, it’s surprisingly, it’s deceptive on how complex a fricking cabinet box can be.

Yeah.

Of all the ways you can do this thing.

We have in our design studio four different types of finishes within a drawer.

Yeah, it’s kind of silly, but.

And most people have a clue.

Yeah, and so if you’re just trying to keep it simple, I think it’s helpful to understand the difference between an overlay box, or an overlay door, versus an inset door, versus a Euro style box, versus, you know, what we do a lot of is the Euro box with an applied end panel, and it makes it look inset.

And because there’s a lot of stuff on Instagram, or any social media site that shows the inset.

It’s a very timeless classic, and it looks fantastic.

It usually ends up being quite a bit the same in material costs, but it’s a lot more in labor, because it’s.

It’s a little rarer.

There’s a lot less forgiving if you’re the carpenter, and it takes a lot of time fine tuning to make sure all your gaps line up.

And so, yeah, it comes with more labor, but it is really beautiful.

But you can get that look with more affordable options.

Yeah, and I remember most people that will be listening to this are, most of them will have no clue the difference between all the cabinetry, because we didn’t know a while back ago.

So it’s like, if you just want a simplistic kitchen, and you want to keep it under budget, what’s some things that you can do to keep a kitchen under budget, but still nice and functional?

So I would say, if you’re trying to keep it under budget, stay within the RTA line.

RTA is ready to assemble cabinetry.

These catalogs, you know, this is a cataloged product.

There’s not gonna be a lot of room for customization, but you can still make something look really good in those lines.

The next tier, if you want some more customability, and you want additional tones, then you would go into the TFL products.

TFL is thermo-fused laminate.

It’s essentially, it’s a fake wood, but it looks real, and it has a great texture, and they don’t fade.

You know, real woods can, you know, they can fade over time, they can change colors.

And I like the, I have TFL products in my house, love them.

And so that’s the, the top tier products is the custom natural wood products with custom stains or custom painted finishes.

And those ones I like.

Yeah, and they get pricey.

Yeah, and they’re very expensive, yeah.

And so a lot of people say, well, yeah, I thought lumber was going down.

Yeah, lumber is like dimensional lumber.

That’s come down.

But any type of process lumber, anything with its going through a, any type of engineering process or cutting or, you know, that type of custom fit lumber product, that there’s, it is as expensive as ever.

Yeah.

And sometimes people really have some sticker shock when they’re looking at those numbers now, because yeah, cabinetry is really getting pricey.

Like concrete, it’s one of those things that kind of just keeps going up.

Yeah, cause it’s pretty tough.

So going back to the RTA, that’s the, that’s the more of the bottom level.

They look, still look nice.

They’re still doing very well.

Soft close, like that.

They’re still soft close.

But I think a way to really dress them up and to make them look very custom is like we said, we’d put the end panels on.

That’s a kingdom thing that we do, but make sure you get really nice hardware because if you add nice hardware onto a cabinet like that, it can really make it look a lot more high end.

Yeah.

I’ve seen people do that.

Absolutely.

So yeah, altogether, you know, obviously cabinetry is the biggest component, but understanding, you know, layouts and functionality.

How about plumbing fixtures, you know, faucets and things like that.

How important is that in your kitchen design?

To me, this depends on your, on your budget.

And it also depends on your appetite.

But in my opinion, I think you do nice hardware, but it doesn’t have to be crazy.

You know, I’ve, I’ve worked with designers sometimes who will push, you know, $4,500, $3,500 stuff.

You’re like, gosh, you don’t have to spend that much money or $1,800.

Like to me, you can do nice stuff and not go crazy.

I prefer to spend the money on the cabinetry and on the countertops.

Cause to me, those are the things that are the most expensive to replace.

And those things are hard to work around.

So I like spending time, a quartzite, it’s to me the best countertop.

Then you get off to these new quartz.

I’m not a big fan of marble.

I love the look of it, but marble chips easier and it stains easier.

It’s a little bit more challenging to work around.

So that’s just my opinion on that.

Yeah.

Even the quartzite products and like those natural products, they do flake as the fabricators are mitering edges.

And so you’ll see, if you look closely on it.

Some imperfections, yeah.

Yeah, there’s going to be these fill marks where they fill it in and they can, they’re usually pretty good at disguising it, but you gotta be aware that that’s going to happen.

Okay.

How about appliances?

You know, during the COVID years, appliances would sometimes take 18 months to get, you know, but a lot of that has dissipated.

You know, they’re usually pretty available.

Some of the real high-end stuff sometimes take, or specialty products can take some time to get, but a lot of that supply chain has mostly caught up.

Yeah, I think we’re okay on that.

And it’s funny, it reminded me, one of the most important things for appliances, in my opinion, especially people who are doing a kitchen that aren’t familiar with the details of making it look like a nice custom-designed kitchen, is making sure you have counter-depth fridges.

Yeah.

I see a lot of people, I’ve seen it online many times, even some designers, which kind of blows my mind, is they’ll do this beautiful brand new kitchen, cost them a hundred grand, and this fridge is popping out, and it looks like something that was an afterthought.

And I’m like, man.

It does, yeah.

Why didn’t they build in the, why didn’t they have a built-in-looking fridge for an extra thousand dollars?

You know, like, that’s, to me, it blows my mind.

So that is so important to me, to make sure you get counter-depth fridges that- Counter-depth fridges, yeah.

That make it look good.

And then I would add to that, if you want panel-ready appliances, those typically come at a bit of a premium.

Yeah.

And that’s where you’re able to get a custom panel that matches your cabinetry that goes over your appliances.

So the whole entire, basically, kitchen looks like it’s all cabinetry and not these stainless steel items.

Which some people don’t like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that’s important.

But, I don’t know, some of the cool, there’s some cool new appliances that are, they’ve kind of started going towards colors.

You know, even the Viking products and some of the Thermador products, you know, you’ll see these big blue ranges are bright color.

Yeah.

I’m a big fan of like the, I’m a big fan of that stuff.

I love like the, I’ve seen green stoves that like, look like kind of like, I don’t know, antique looking.

And they’re, and yeah, I love all the different stuff.

But for me, if you’re going to stay within a budget.

Yeah.

That’s, that’s not, that’s not the game.

But if you want to have fun and you have the money to do it, I think you go crazy on that kind of stuff.

Lighting.

What about lighting?

Yeah.

Getting back to lighting, I think it’s important to have a holistic view of lighting.

Yes.

When it comes to lighting tones.

I’m not a big fan of just personally of, for a while pendant lights were real popular.

Okay.

I kind of want to keep my line of sight open.

Gotcha.

Like, I like that clean look.

Yeah.

But some people love the, like there are some really cool pendant light features that, you know, some people are into that.

But yeah, I think particularly the integrated lighting with the cabinetry.

Yes.

I was about to say that, yeah.

It makes a huge difference.

I think it makes it look good.

And especially as long as you do the right type of lighting, it makes the kitchen like, for example, I have some at my house and at night, I love turning just those on.

Yeah.

It gives it kind of like a calm.

Glow.

Glow.

And I just, I love it.

And I think that that’s important for me.

Another big thing for me, biggest pet peeve is outlets.

Okay.

Yeah.

I think for me, I’m adamant about trying to hide outlets as much as possible.

I cannot stand when people put this gorgeous slab, spend thousands of dollars on it, and then you have these plastic outlets on it.

To me, hide them up into the shelves if you can, in the island, if you can somehow hide them in a clever way.

I just cannot stand seeing plastic covers on things that look like built-in, like custom furniture.

It just drives me nuts.

Yeah.

And sometimes, there’s some pretty creative solutions now too.

They’ve got some really deco outlets that kind of blend into the stone.

That’s cool.

Those are, yeah, that’s better.

Comes at a cost.

There are creative ways you can get, but again, it all goes into design.

Yeah.

You gotta know about that ahead of time and not make it an afterthought.

Yeah, absolutely.

So when I did my island, it was kind of cool.

What I did was on the edge of my island, we actually carved in to the edges a strip for the outlets.

Yeah.

So that underneath my countertop, the hangover, there was a strip of outlets there.

And it just looks clean.

And there’s not these plastic pieces on the side of my island and it looks really good.

And to me, those are the things, those are the details that if you design it right, it’s clean, it’s beautiful, it’s custom, it’s thoughtful.

I just love it.

So yeah.

We didn’t touch on Butler kitchens.

Oh yeah, love them.

You love them.

I love them.

I’m not a huge fan of them.

Yeah.

But they are popular.

A lot of people do like them.

I have four kids and you have one.

There’s a difference.

There’s a difference.

It’s a huge difference, right?

For sure.

I have four daughters that are- But the idea is that keeping your messy stuff in the Butler pantry.

Yeah.

And the blenders, the, if you have got, if you’re into coffee, the coffee, the cappuccino stuff, the rice pots, all that kind of stuff kind of goes in the Butler’s pantry.

And then you can keep the, what do you call the- The kitchen cleaner.

I mean, so for example- The regular kitchen, yeah.

So for example, the reason why I love the Butler’s pantry so much is because if you’re able to keep the appliances over there, the sugars and flours and stuff over there, and I wish we would just take all our plates and stuff and put it over there as well, then it keeps the kitchen clean.

And yours is integrated with your pantry.

Correct.

Mine is, basically my pantry and my Butler’s, they’re the same.

And the way my house is laid out, it’s actually integrated with my laundry room.

But essentially, and so, and there’s that, you know, there’s dual purpose, I guess, Butler’s pantries.

Some are just dedicated Butler pantries.

But keep in mind, you are essentially paying for a kitchen and then a mini kitchen.

Another kitchen.

It’s expensive.

More temperature.

Yeah.

But I like it because it’s just, I like the idea of it and I like the functionality of it.

And to me, it makes sense if you have the budget.

And I also think it’s cool to put like a hidden, a lot of people put hidden doors.

So you look like- That, I do like.

You open it up and behind there’s a really cool hidden kitchen.

And that’s just fun.

But again, it all costs money.

It does cost money.

Integrating your flooring with cabinetry.

So like, it depends on, when you’re doing flooring, sometimes you have to set the cabinets first, run your flooring to the cabinets.

Other types of flooring, you run the flooring and set your cabinets on top.

So it’s important just to know sequentially which one you’re doing and working with the right team because a lot of flooring products are floating floors and you don’t want your cabinets sitting on top of those.

It’ll end up buckling your floor.

Yeah, we make it a standard just to make sure we do it before floorings because it’s a lot easier for a lot of purposes.

But yeah, that’s a good point.

Yeah, but your team should know that sequence and that there is, you gotta be aware of that ahead of time.

Absolutely.

One of the cool things about Kingdom & Co and the cabinetry line that we have is our cabinets and especially the pull-outs.

Zion, you’re more familiar than anybody in the pull-outs.

What kind of cool features are there in the pull-out?

Yeah, so essentially you’re just increasing the usability of that box space.

So whether it’s an organizing insert, whether you’re organizing pots and pans or plates or special dishes or whatever, or whether it’s like a utility pull-out, like a spice drawer or a utensil drawer that has options for spatulas and tongs and things like that.

Other cool pull-outs we almost use always is a trash pull-out.

Those are really functional.

Some of the more expensive ones are like a blind corner pull-out.

A blind corner pull-out, for a box that butts into an additional countertop, like an L-shaped kitchen, you have that dead space behind there.

So that blind corner pull-out allows you to, on a track, they articulate.

So they pull out in one direction and then they track out in another direction and then you can set the pots and pans and it all goes back in.

They’re pretty clever.

And they’re not cheap.

You know, they come with a price.

But yeah, just improving the usability of the kitchen.

And then another one that’s common is like, oh gosh, I’m not really a baker, but it’s those things, the mixers.

So you’ve got this big mixing appliance.

They’re heavy.

And they’re heavy, right?

And so there’s the pull-out that essentially integrates that into the cabinetry.

A really good one is the cell phone charger.

I love that one.

Yeah, those are popular.

It’s very organized and it makes a lot of sense.

They sometimes will have also ones that have outlets.

Yeah.

Going back to my outlet.

Yeah.

Obsession.

And even for bathrooms too, they have the blow jar ones.

They’ve got hamper ones for laundry rooms.

I think there’s- There’s- Curling iron ones.

There’s thousands of these things.

They’re amazing.

And so, yeah, you can get on Pinterest, whatever, Instagram and geek out over them.

But anything you can imagine, I think they’ve come up with.

Yeah.

And they can be pricey, but I think a lot of them are worth it.

Yeah.

But they’re worth it if you’re gonna use it.

And so if you think about how you use the space, for shorter people, they’ve got some that are stools.

Yeah, I’ve seen that.

Yeah.

So it pulls out, folds over.

It’s a stool to get to those higher cabinets.

Those are really functional.

Especially if you’re doing the plates above there and you’re a little shorter, I think that’d be nice to have.

If you’re doing a top tier of cabinetry, like, yeah, absolutely.

So yeah, just, again, improving the usability of the space and also improving storageability.

And yeah, they’re phenomenal.

I think we covered pretty much everything with kitchens.

And so, yeah, if you have questions, reach out to Kingdom & Co.

We’ll get in touch with one of our designers or one of our sales reps and help us answer your questions for your project.