Kitchen Cabinet Layout

The first step in remodeling any kitchen is to make a working layout that will detail where everything will go. After that the idea is to start drawing everything to scale—to make a real blueprint, and to do that you’ll need to be more defined in exactly where you’ll want everything to go right down to the exact measurements. Here’s a helpful hint that you can use. If you cut out rectangles of different colored paper, you can move them around and place them to represent the refrigerator and countertops. While you go along you can make changes to the design that will include the placements of the cabinets.

The appliances come first and there’ s a few things that you’ll need to know about where to place the larger ones. Remember that the refrigerator and stove should not be anywhere near each other since one runs hot and the other cold. Take these types of things into consideration when you’re placing the appliances and when you’re done, it’s often a good idea to get someone else to have a look to make sure that you haven’t missed anything. When you’re confident you’ve got a good working model ready to go, it’s time to start placing the cabinets.

In general there are a few golden rules that you should adhere to concerning the first stages of placing the cabinets. Rule number one is simple, you should place the refrigerator at the end of a cabinet run. This is so the big doors can swing free. As well, it’s a good idea when you’re remodeling an older home to undersize cabinets so that you’ve got some room to work with on the counter. A little leverage on either side of what you initially measured usually works well.

After you’ve tweaked it several times, the design should be good enough that you can take it to the local home renovation center and get an estimate. Or you can go online where there are numerous Websites that can walk you through the ordering process. Here’s another good idea. If you’ve never ordered cabinets before, it’s a good idea to take a carpenter with you to help you figure out exactly what it is you’ll need.

There’s still one more thing that the experts suggest that you do before you finalize the plans and that’s to go through the kitchen one more time to note the location of appliances and light switches and electrical outlets and such. Carefully re-measure the room and note potential problems such as sloping floors, walls that are wavy or out of plumb, and corners that aren’t square and have excessive joint compound that could hamper installation. Most of these problems can be corrected by shimming the cabinets, but it’s important to know about these things beforehand. Careful planning is the operative phrase that will help your cabinet excursion work out great.      

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