Kitchen Renovation: Designing your dream kitchen?

The perfect kitchen has fabulous and functional design. Grab our checklist and Planner before you see a kitchen designer! Updated Feb 2017

The kitchen you have at the moment just isn’t working, the counter tops are old and they’re starting to show wear and tear, it’s just not the look you’re after. You want to feel proud of your kitchen and most of all you just want space to fit everything in and work!

So let’s face it the kitchen is the heart of the home and it needs to look and feel like it.

Where To Start

Starting with a few interior design magazines is a good place – my favourites magazines have fantastic Pinterest pages. Have a look at Inside Out, Real Living, Home Beautiful,  Elle Decoration UK for a touch of the classic and Belle or Vogue Living for the next level with a little sparkle if you can work it in.

BUT it all starts to become overwhelming, you really need to get your ideas together. I recommend setting up your own Pinterest page. Then pinning your favourite kitchen images to it. On the Design Library Pinterest page Kitchen Designs To Die For – you’ll find many kitchen designs and kitchen ideas to pin. With many white kitchens, kitchen cabinets, island benches, benchtops, storage ideas and much more.

Head on over and follow us, then pin as many as you like to your boards and start from there. After search within Pinterest for “kitchens” and “kitchen designs,” in the end you’ll find thousands of ideas to pin.

Select your Top 5 Styles

With so many ideas it’s hard to choose, select your top 5 styles and print them off, pin them up on a mood board with other images of kitchen cabinets, benchtops, appliances, taps, sinks, paint colours and any other images of inspiration. Work with thin the end, one will stand out.

Remember kitchens are one of the two rooms in a house that in the future will help to sell it. The other is a bathroom.

Average Kitchen Costings –

• A very basic kitchen will cost you $15 000 to $20 000
• A more average / standard price would be $25 000 to $40 000
• Upmarket kitchens from $40 000 upwards depending on size, materials, features & appliances

Getting it Right

A kitchen is not a room that you would change often, so you would want it to last for at least 10 to 15 years. Neutral colours are best and easiest to work with over longer period of time. By adding colourful accessories you will be able to change it up, but keep the kitchen itself to simple colours so it lasts.

Kitchen Design Checklist + Planner

After designing many kitchens, I’ve created my Kitchen Design 101 Kitchen Renovation Item Checklist and Kitchen Renovation Planner its 15 pages of everything you need!

The Kitchen Renovation Item Checklist includes everything (and I mean everything) you might have in your dream kitchen. Think about everything you own (plates, cups, appliances small and large, platters, utensils etc) and make sure you have considered a home for them.

It also highlights appliances that need power, gas or water so you don’t miss anything out. (Have you considered how you will get water to your fridge if it can make ice? Where will you place the tap that it connects to?) Consider and plan everything!

The Kitchen Renovation Planner is a list of all the appliances, fittings and trades you will need to complete your kitchen. Fill in all the blanks and make sure you take the planner to your kitchen designer appointment they will need the information when planning.

I look forward to your thoughts and if anything is missing from my checklist and planner that you use in your kitchen be sure to let me know in the comments below and I can add it in.

Fill in your details below to download your checklist with 104 items and 12 pages of planner.