Kitchen Remodeling – DIY Strategy Guide | Chapter 4 – Layout

When building a kitchen there’s about 6 major components to the entire kitchen that require making a choice. 

• Appliances – Refrigerator, Dishwasher, Microwave, Blender, etc.
• Counter-tops – Marble, Wood, Butcher Block, etc.
• Cabinets – Wood, Particle Material, With Glass Windows, etc.
• Fixtures – Faucets, Light Fixtures, etc.
• Flooring – Hard Wood, Pergo, Linolium, Tile, etc.
• Walls Covering – Paint, Wallpaper, mural painting, etc.

After you’ve figured out what you can afford to put in your kitchen, you need to think about the layout of your kitchen.  Actually, you really want to be thinking about everything all at once while you’re planning.  You need to be able to try out various scenarios to determine what will work best, and what you can afford.

When it comes to layouts, there are a million ways you can design your kitchen.  If your can afford it, and you dream it up, then just about anything is possible.  But most of us don’t have endless money for a dream kitchen that would make Donald Trump proud.  So most people stick to one, or variation of, these 3 basic designs:

The 1-Wall Layout– This is a great layout scheme if you don’t have a lot of space.  Usually there’s a sink in the middle of the wall, refrigerator all the way to one side, and the stove all the way to the other side of the sink.  In between is counter-top space.

The Galley Style Layout – This layout style features two walls opposite each other with doorways at each end.  It’s called the galley style because this type of kitchen can be found on many boats.  Sometimes the distance between each side is short and it good for when your kitchen space is a long narrow area.

The L-Shaped Layout– This is a very common layout for most kitchens.  In this layout two adjacent walls have the sink, stove, and refrigerator in some type of layout.  A nice and efficient way to utilize this layout is with the sink in the center of the L-Shape.

Once you’ve got a layout, it’s time to make some drawings…