The kitchen is the epicenter and most used room in the home for almost everyone who lives in Colorado.  Homeowners preparing to remodel their kitchen in the metro Denver area come to our showrooms armed with months of research, having scoured design magazines, home improvement television shows, the Internet, and friends and family who have recently renovated.  They finally make the decision to move forward.  It’s both an exciting time, but also a bit disconcerting.

Remodeling your kitchen is not always easy, but it is definitely worth it.

After homeowners in Denver make the decision to remodel, there are certain steps we advise that they take to make the renovation process less stressful, costly, and time-consuming.

Kitchen Organization

Creating a dream kitchen in the Rocky Mountains provides a great opportunity to curate what currently exists and that process will help define storage needs for the future.  The number one regret among homeowners in Colorado after they have renovated their kitchen not investing enough in storage and organization.  We recommend sorting your kitchen gear into three categories:

1. Items you will need to store.
2. Items you will need to use during the renovation.
3. Items you want to recycle/donate/dispose of.

The recycle/donate/dispose of option is often most important. Homeowners in Colorado should determine how many sets of dishes they actually need or want. Do you really want to keep dinnerware and serving dishes that are faded, cracked, or chipped? How often to you use a saucer with your coffee cup?  If never is the answer, do you really need to keep saucers?  If you have serving pieces or fine china, real silver, and large pots and pans that are used occasionally – think turkey roasting pans – then determine if you can store those items in other rooms in the house to make more room in your kitchen for the items that you use daily.

Mugs and food storage containers are additional items that most homeowners in Colorado have in abundance.  Many mugs have sentimental value if they were acquired from trips, art shows, etc. Determine if they are needed or wanted in your new kitchen.  Also, determine how many storage containers you actually use and the right sizes.

Purge Your Kitchen Before the Remodel Decisions

Small appliances and cooking utensils are additional categories ripe for curation when planning a new dream kitchen.  We encourage homeowners in Colorado to give away the small appliances and gadgets that they don’t use or whose functionality is covered by other appliances.

There are so many options to recycle or repurpose your belongings. Groups like Buy Nothing Project groups, donations to local community thrift shops, and handing down items to your family members who may just be starting out.

Looking toward the future and what your lifestyle is likely to be in the next three to five years and beyond can aid in the curation process.  What items will you need?  What items do you love and can’t part ways with and what new items will make your life that much easier and enjoyable?

After you have curated, the next step is to create a temporary kitchen in your garage, basement, utility room, or other location to simplify cooking, eating, and cleaning up at home during the renovation. You will minimize the expense of dining out and ordering takeout by creating a place to cook and store groceries. You may use a combination of the following to create a temporary kitchen:

• Grill
• Microwave
• Hot plate
• Camping stove
• Refrigerator (If you are replacing your existing refrigerator, the renovation provides a perfect opportunity to move the fridge to the basement, garage or other location that provides additional refrigeration space).
• Toaster oven
• Sandwich press
• Stick blender
• Pressure cooker and/or slow cooker
• Creating meals you can freeze in advance is a great idea too.

Depending on the scope, a kitchen renovation can take several weeks to several months, and in these times can be even longer. Simply replacing what currently exists in the same footprint can take less time than expanding or reconfiguring space, ventilation, plumbing, electrical and structural components, and systems.