The Top 10 Kitchen Design and Remodel Mistakes that You Don't Want to Make!

Kitchen design can make or break a home sale. Kitchens with great design can command higher resale prices. Most importantly, kitchens with great design are both functional and beautiful to their home owner's delight and enjoyment.

Poor Sink Placement

Traditionally sinks are typically installed in front of kitchen windows. However, kitchen sinks need to be installed in close proximity to the plumbing. Sometimes kitchens are designed with the sinks installed right above the plumbing in a haphazard poor location. Instead of making this kitchen design mistake, hire a plumber to relocated the drains and the plumbing to accommodate the best placement for the sink rather than planning the sink around the plumbing. In the case of kitchen islands with sinks, once again, hire a plumber to get your sink in the perfect location rather than working around pre-existing conditions. It is easiest to change drain locations and water lines when the kitchen space is bare and empty before the cabinets are installed.

Poor Oven Placement

Select your oven placement based on what makes the most sense for the average cook and family, not just for your tastes, unless you are definitely planning to stay in the home forever. Kitchen design can make or break a home resale and poor oven placement can be a deal breaker, especially if the counter-tops are natural stone making an alteration challenging and labor intensive. Typically, ovens, sinks, and refrigerators form a work triangle and the oven needs to be in the most inclusive area as possible. Preferably so that the chef can still view other areas of the home and children. Don't stuff the oven in the far corner of a large kitchen with limited visibility to the rest of the home and surroundings.

Kitchen Is Too Confined or Isolated

Plan a great kitchen design or remodel by creating the feeling of as much space and openness in the kitchen as possible. Kitchens can be small without feeling confining, even the smallest kitchen can be desgned to feel luxurious and spacious. Try to open up the space with a breakfast bar or a cut out. Consider taking a wall down if it is not load bearing. If the wall is load bearing, just create a cut out or disguise the beams as columns if you desire to remove the whole wall. There are column styles to match every home decor from traditional to modern.

Wasted Kitchen Space

Almost every kitchen design has wasted space, but this can be minimized with adequate planning and forethought. Don't use dummy drawers and cabinets, especially in already small kitchens, always utilize all your possible storage space. If the kitchen is small, consider installing extra long upper cabinets with molding for extra storage space. Place lighting or greenery along the molding to draw the eyes up. Also remember to always Install cabinets over the refrigerator, not to fully utilize the space above the refrigerator is a wasting a lot of potential storage space that works particular well for large kitchen items or seasonal items.

Lacking Counter Space

Try to fit as much open horizontal surface areas in a kitchen as possible. Consider adding an island or breakfast bar. In very tiny kitchens, install an oven with the microwave built in under the stovetop to free up much needed counter space. Think of the counter space required for holiday cooking or making cookies with children when designing or remodeling kitchens. Adding an island or a breakfast bar to an L shaped kitchen will create more counter and storage space.

Lacking Storage Shelves in Lower Cabinets

Install shelves across the backs of the lower kitchen cabinets. Failure to have a lower shelves will waste nearly a 2 foot by 2 foot or 4 square foot potential storage area running along the entire length of the lower cabinets. Failing to install these shelves in the floor to counter cabinets will make a kitchen less functional when it comes to storage and the kitchen will feel smaller than it is because the homeowner will constantly be trying to find more storage space.

Lacking a Dishwasher

There is no reason for a kitchen design or remodel to ever neglect installing a dishwasher. If the electric is old or limited in the home, hire an electrician to add another breaker. Hire the plumber to run the extra lines if not currently supported. Some kitchen spaces are so small that full sized dishwashers will not fit. There are two easy solutions to this small kitchen design problem, either install a compact dishwasher or plan space for a mobile dishwasher that has it's own built-in counter space. If the home has a very large kitchen, consider adding dishwasher drawers as well as a quiet energy and water efficient dishwasher.

Refrigerator Space Too Small

Design the space around the refrigerator to accommodate a larger than normal refrigerator, in case you or the future homeowner decides to upgrade. For instance, if a double door refrigerator is desired, usually it is best to get a larger size so that full frozen turkeys or pizzas can be stored in the freezer. Make sure that the cabinets above the refrigerator will not be hung too low to accommodate a taller refrigerator. If you must upgrade in the future to a larger refrigerator, you will not want the hassle and inconvenience of having to move the cabinets-this could potentially damage the kitchen cabinets or the walls.

Inadequate Lighting

Don't fail to plan ample lighting in your kitchen design or remodel. Some kitchens have only one light, on a fan, in the middle of the kitchen and that is simply not adequate lighting for a kitchen. Consider adding lighting directly above all the main working areas like the stove, the sink, and a large span of counter-space. Use pendant lights or a series of mini-pendants in areas where these can enhance the lighting and beauty of the kitchen. Pendants look great above kitchen sinks while a series of mini-pendants enhance the appearance and lighting of breakfast bars and kitchen islands. Also, adding recessed lighting controlled by a separate switch is an excellent fix for a poorly lit kitchen. Install under-cabinet lighting as an additional way to ensure that the counters have sufficient lighting for common kitchen tasks.

Lacking a Backsplash

While budgeting or designing a new kitchen or kitchen remodel, sometimes the backsplash considerations slip to the end of the list. To save money, occasionally the backsplash area is completely left out of the plan intentionally. Don't fail to address the backsplash as well as the wall space between all the counters and the cabinets in the entire kitchen. Some of the best designed kitchens, in functionality and cleanliness, that I have worked in or worked on had more than just a backsplash behind the stove but it extended continuously above all the counters throughout the entire kitchen. It is much easier to clean grease off a backsplash, made of tile, metal, or plastic, than wall paint or wall paper. Due to the steam, high humidity, and grease content in the kitchen, seriously consider installing a backsplash behind the oven and extending it throughout the whole kitchen to protect the walls and make cleaning easier.