Our designer has been wonderful. Well worth every penny!

And yes, we are doing almost all pull out drawers. We have a few shelves, but those are all pull out as well.

And yes, all corners are a lazy susan for the bottom and this new corner design that opens the entire corner up for storage. Really nice. We got to see it in the showroom and were so impressed.

Still feeling nervous. It'll be a big change, but the 42 year-old kitchen is begging for an update.

Our first kitchen was so old fashioned and old, when you closed one door two would pop open! The only thing that kept the doors closed,were the baby safety latches! When we got around to the renovation, I could have kicked myself that I didn't do it earlier.

The second kitchen was a part-renovation and I worked side by side with the contractor. It was a 'cook's kitchen' and thanks to a bank of windows had wonderful light year round and the cupboards went right up to the cieling (no bulkheads.)

Our current home (almost 4 years) has a 'showcase' kitchen, with an efficient set-up, but the fancy surfaces require special maintenance and The dark wood, well, is dark. (I like a white kitchen.). I love the drawers vs shelves, the hinged corner cupboard with a lazy-Susan, the double sink, and I have a walk in pantry. The dishwasher is inconveniently placed, but manageable.

Below pic of kitchen before we painted the walls Benjamin Moore 'Revere Pewter' (more light reflective.)

We have remodeled one kitchen - complete gut down to the studs. We did all the planning and part of the work ourselves and then had part of the work done by professionals. We did it in the summer so we could still bbq outside etc. It wasn't too bad but this was before kids. We now really need to remodel our current kitchen and I've been putting it off but it will probably get done in the next year. Yes - very stressful, a lot of work etc, etc. But I don't think it's anymore stressful than all that goes into buying a new house, selling an old, house moving... I think I'd take the kitchen remodel over moving in the stress department!

One benefit of having waited so long living in our house (12 years) before doing the kitchen -- we know really well what works for us about our kitchen, and what doesn't!

When we moved in here, we rolled our eyes a bit that the 25-year-old Jena-Air induction cooktop is only two burners, with a grill top taking up the other side. It's made cooking Thanksgiving dinners pretty interesting with only two burners! But...we use that darn range-top grill all. the. time. We're definitely getting one of those in our new kitchen. But with FOUR burners too!

I would actually be willing to do an induction cooktop again because they're so easy to clean -- I've found it a pleasant surprise, actually, that I like the induction now that I've gotten used to it and invested in good stainless steel pans. But hubs loves cooking with gas on a visible flame, so we'll probably run the propane line into the house and go with the gas range instead.

I had to laugh at myself a couple of years ago in a fit of frustration, when I ripped the stupid trash compactor (remember those??? what an 80s relic!) out of the kitchen cabinets and dragged it out of the house for disposal, and bought a cheap single cabinet to fit in that space. It doesn't match the other cabinets, but who cares? We needed the storage space, and I knew it would be temporary.

I'm in awe of anyone who can live with those exposed shelves in their kitchen. I need closed storage space -- I hate visual clutter. All I can envision is how much grease and dust gets on everything on those shelves.

Since you have a kitchen designer (smart move!) you may not need this advice, but it might help anyone lurking.

I read the advice at a kitchen forum from the former GardenWeb (now Houzz): http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath

New to Kitchens? Read Me First!

This is a good place to go for opinions/advice from people who have been there. They call themselves TKO for Totally Kitchen Obsessed.

General advice:
Look at the kitchen as circles of work areas: Prep, cooking, clean-up

Basic kitchen layout should be: Ice --> Water --> Stone ---> Fire
(Fridge, sink, counters, range)

Almost all drawers for lower cabs, full extension, and consider toe kick options

Sink: Single, offset drain for more space underneath

Supersusan rather than Lazy Susan

Double outlets, or undercab plugmold to eliminate holes in the backsplash

Many people save money with Ikea cabs, and order custom doors (from Scherrs', Semi-Homemade, etc.)

Best wishes with your remodel!

I feel like I’m hogging your thread with so many responses......but another feature I love is our paper towel cubby. The towling is easily accessible but doesn’t take up space on the counter.

I gutted my kitchen 9 years ago and have been happy with the layout. I used a designer who was great and he listened to everything I asked for. A couple of things I wouldn't do again however though. I chose a trendy tile backsplash which was really dark and only looked nice when the under cabinet lights were on. During the day it looked like a solid black wall. I also chose Black Galaxy Select granite which is very nice but extremely high maintenance, it shows everything.
Last year I changed out the backsplash for plain cream subway tile and I like it much better. My cabinets are cream and are holding up very well. The manufacturer is Brookhaven. My reno took 5 weeks and the process was like a finely oiled machine ! The most stressful part was making the selections before it all started.
There is a blog that I follow that may help you http://www.mariakillam.com
go in to the search and type in kitchens. She talks a lot about when doing a renovation to be careful about current trends.I didn't start reading until after my kitchen redo

Yes to the pullout drawers!

And if you want to splurge on something you will love, get a warming drawer. My husband put one in when he remodeled his (now our) kitchen a few years ago and it's great. Serve dinner on warm plates, keep food warm so the whole meal comes to the table warm, and so on. It seems crazy but we love it!

Oh, and make sure you have enough light.

Yes we remodeled last year. Totally gutted our entire place, did the bathrooms and kitchen and made a lot of other changes over the course of 9 months. It would've been quicker than that, but they delivered the wrong cabinets and we then had to re-order and wait....

We ended up moving our kitchen so we could put it in a more optimum space and enlarge its footprint. Basically we swapped the dining room and kitchen. This also enabled us to create a generous walk-in pantry off and behind the kitchen. The previous kitchen was in the darkest area of our condo, got very little light, had no view. It was just depressing. But that space works fine for an intimate dining room. The living spaces flow a lot better now.

My contractor told me renovating is like pregnancy. The first trimester you're initially all excited and you see progress when the sledgehammer starts to demo. The second trimester is more boring... as so much is being done behind the scenes (lighting, plumbing, etc) and it seems like not much progress is being made. Then the third trimester it all starts coming together with the finishing touches so it's exciting again but you're tired of dust and dirt and eating out and just want it over all ready. Then when it's all done and the dust has settled... you are so happy with the results you forget how awful the whole experience was .....and may even find yourself saying you would do it all over again!

Oh -- also like pregnancy you may gain some weight! From eating out all the time! We did set up a makeshift kitchen but that didn't last long, because we were remodeling the entire place. Everything that wasn't inside the dorm fridge got quickly gross and coated in dust. I am sure some of the weight is also from wine, at least you can still drink wine. Wine helps you keep upbeat during the worst of it.