Kitchen Renovation...any suggestions?

[JK]

This summer we will be looking into a kitchen renovation. We've just started the process and would appreciate any recommendations, specifically...

-Appliances: we are looking into medium and high end options. Which are worth the money and which aren't? There are also so many size options for stoves, refrigerators, etc... that it can be a little overwhelming.
-Any unique organizational ideas. For instance, I know there are lots of specialty drawer options (spice drawer, food warmers, etc...) that some people love/hate.
-What was your best decision you made for your kitchen?
-What was your worst decision? Is there an item/purchase/idea you regret doing?

[Larry Ragman]

Plan on it being a while to get on their schedule - it was 6 months for us. Cabinets and appliances are all just individual options, so I can’t help much there. But I was really pleased with a corner cabinet option that lets us recover some dead space (sort of a swivel out lazy Susan), and we converted one cabinet to a slide out trash/recycle drawer (previous kitchen did not have one - hey, 40 years old).

Tip:If you want to move walls, soffits, etc., have them come out early and poke some holes to get a look at what pipes etc are back there. Moving those can add a lot of cost, so worth knowing before design. And8 worst case the patch a few dry wall holes.

[Hatton]

following

[StateOfMyHead]

I do mid range appliances based on not having gourmet cooking needs and attempting to avoid being irritated if they need to be replaced sooner than I prefer...and as someone older I prefer my appliances to last 20 years as they did in the olden days.

My best splurge was the quartz backsplash that matches my counter tops/island. It was expensive but practical and looks amazing.

[DrSam]

This summer we will be looking into a kitchen renovation. We've just started the process and would appreciate any recommendations, specifically...

-Appliances: we are looking into medium and high end options. Which are worth the money and which aren't? There are also so many size options for stoves, refrigerators, etc... that it can be a little overwhelming.
-Any unique organizational ideas. For instance, I know there are lots of specialty drawer options (spice drawer, food warmers, etc...) that some people love/hate.
-What was your best decision you made for your kitchen?
-What was your worst decision? Is there an item/purchase/idea you regret doing?

Haven't personally done a kitchen renovation before, but wife and I have lived in a lot of different homes, so have experienced a few different things.
Off the top of my head, one thing in our current kitchen that I really appreciate is that it has a double oven. The lower portion is basically about the same size as a regular oven, but on top of that is a separate oven that is about a third the height of the lower one. We end up using this smaller oven about +95% of the time. Heats up much faster and uses less electricity overall. On the rare occasions we are cooking something needing more height (like a turkey for instance), we can fire up the lower oven. On those rare turkey instances, there is usually also something like a pie or loaf of bread being baked, and this can be done simultaneously in the smaller upper oven.

Two things I don't like about the oven.
1. It is not a convection oven (i.e., no fan inside to circulate air for more even cooking). I'm honestly not sure how significant that really is, but if I were replacing the current oven, I'd likely want to get one with the fan.
2. It is a model that is no longer made. A couple years ago, the electronic control board started misbehaving. I removed it, and fiddled around with some of the electrical connections and got it working again, but then after a few months same thing. After doing this "repair" a few more times over the course of several months (each time was a pain in the neck as I had to pull the oven out from the wall to get access to it's insides), I was finally able to find a new control board on ebay. Why ebay? Because Maytag no longer makes a control board for this oven. No aftermarket companies make one either. I got lucky and found one guy on ebay who happened to have an unused one sitting in the back of his repair shop. I put in the new one and the oven has been working fine since, but if this new control board ever goes bad (which I'm certain it will some day), the only choice at that point is a new oven.

I'm getting off on a bit of a ranting tangent here, but this oven isn't really all that old. Probably 15-20 years max. Currently have a Kenmore clothes dryer going through a similar process. Needs a new circuit board, but no new ones available anymore. Age of the dryer is about the same as the oven. Really sick of manufacturers making stuff with this planned obsolescence, where the consumer is eventually forced to purchase a new appliance. All of my grandparents' appliances were 50+ years old and still going strong when their owners expired. Anyway, rant over.

In summary, get a double oven with a convection fan, and find something that will last longer than a decade or two. (For clothes dryers, I've seen some folks recommend SpeedQueen as this is apparently the brand mostly used in commercial laundromats and they are made to last through a lot of use. Don't know about kitchen stuff in this regard.)

[Logan 6]

I would go for built in ice machine with restaurant quality clear ice. For iced tea and iced coffee, it shouldn’t make a difference, but to me it does. And those are daily made essential drinks.
Light countertops are easier to keep clean than dark granite or black quartz. Spouse would say that dark granite was our worst decision.
if you have the space, a scullery kitchen. We’re considering this to keep main kitchen simpler and put freezer and some appliances “off stage”.

[AR]

This summer we will be looking into a kitchen renovation. We've just started the process and would appreciate any recommendations, specifically...

-Appliances: we are looking into medium and high end options. Which are worth the money and which aren't? There are also so many size options for stoves, refrigerators, etc... that it can be a little overwhelming.
-Any unique organizational ideas. For instance, I know there are lots of specialty drawer options (spice drawer, food warmers, etc...) that some people love/hate.
-What was your best decision you made for your kitchen?
-What was your worst decision? Is there an item/purchase/idea you regret doing?

First of all, no matter how much research you do and how much advice you get, realize that you're still going to make mistakes and wish you did some things differently when it's all over.

To answer your specific questions:
1. Once you get past "medium end", it's really just about aesthetics. The high end products don't do stuff better necessarily. Or at least not better enough to justify the cost. Some of the high end items also have these features that really sound great on paper, but unless you are a pretty competent cook, you won't use them. My ovens have a ton of capabilities that I never use. They look fantastic, though.

2. Really think about the height of your drawers and what you are going to be putting in them. I think have more drawers that are shorter in vertical height is better than fewer taller drawers in many cases. Also if you're not short, consider higher counters to give you more drawer space. And if you are taller, definitely do that.

3. Best decision. Induction (i.e., magnetic) cooktop. It's objectively better than gas in just about every way. We're probably outliars, in that regard. People love gas for some reason. On second thought, even better is kick plate to open the garbage pullout. I can put something in the trash without touching anything with my hands. I like this way more than anyone probably should.

4. Worst decision. Appliance garage. Sounded cool. But we keep the door open all the time, so it's not that useful.

[Shant]

The super high end appliances are just for show and apparently kinda suck performance wise. The LG gas stove that was in the house when I bought it has enough design flaws that I'm surprised it hasn't been recalled for safety (3 people have accidentally ignited the front burner by brushing against the stove because the igniter is triggered at the beginning of the turn instead of the end - which also means that if the flame goes out you can't turn the gas off without igniting it). I would get induction today as long as you're prepared to replace some pans that don't work with it.
Outlets inside a little drawer at the front of the counter.

Appliance garages.

A sink large enough to fit a whole sheet pan.

Pullout shelves for the large heavy appliances like the KitchenAid.

Garburator.
Edit: haha sorry to hear that you don't use the appliance garages, I've been lusting after one for a while.

[JWeb]

Do not, I repeat do not, get a microwave installed below the counter. We have to hit a button to open door/drawer to it and it takes 4 seconds to open up, but it feels like 4 minutes. You'll hate having to bend over to use it. And worst of all, our soon to be 2-year old is constantly hitting the buttons and opening it up and starting it. Yes, you can lock the buttons, but then it takes time to unlock it.

The microwave should be above one of the ovens. Then it's the right height. And the second oven can be down below. That you'll use once of month. The microwave gets used everyday.

[Hatton]

I use my microwave all the time. I rarely use either oven. When my built in microwave started intermittently working I bought a countertop one. Now both are working fine. I have dark granite countertops. I like them. I dislike my backsplash but not enough to go through the horror of a kitchen remodel. This house has a stainless steel sink. My old house had a beautiful vitreous china farmhouse sink. If I ever remodel this would be something I would do again.

[DrSam]

I use my microwave all the time. I rarely use either oven. When my built in microwave started intermittently working I bought a countertop one. Now both are working fine. I have dark granite countertops. I like them. I dislike my backsplash but not enough to go through the horror of a kitchen remodel. This house has a stainless steel sink. My old house had a beautiful vitreous china farmhouse sink. If I ever remodel this would be something I would do again.

Our house has dark granite countertops. I like them. My wife complains that they show smudges and such too well.
We have a white farmhouse type sink. I'm not sure if it is vitreous china or not. Overall, I like it's appearance, but it does require frequent scrubbing with Barkeeper's Friend to keep it looking nice. In a previous house, our kitchen sink had a main section, but also a smaller section separated by a partition. The small section's drain was where the garbage disposal lived. That sink was stainless steel. I like the appearance of our white sink now, but miss the functionality of the double sink.

[Shant]

My countertops are polished black stone, I love it so easy to care for.

[Tim]

• Lower cabinets need pull out drawers. I makes it so much easier to find things and put them in.
• Not many find it popular, but a trash compactor is used every day. Consider if you have trash and recycle. Both need a space someplace.
• Double self cleaning ovens.
• Gas or electric stove? Wife greatly prefers gas.
• Separate grill?
• We found the microwave counter top to be preferable. The need to be replaced.
• The high end built in subzero fridges seem to be a PITA to replace. Wife likes the larger capacity standard ones, have the opening sized correctly. The external water and ice makers work wonders.

[Kamban]

Not kitchen renovation but built house in 2018-2019 timer frame and had similar questions

1. Mid range appliances - some from Build.com, most from Costco. Even if goes bad it is not a lot of money.

2. Love gas range. The previous house had electrical and I hated it. This one has great BTU.

3. Cabinets- We built it to the top to avoid having to dust the top of the cabinets or placing fake plants / vases on it. The disadvantage is that we rarely put items in those cabinets. And added a bit more to price. For the drawers we used soft close option and got the handles cheaply from Build.com

4. We have a single large sink in one kitchen and a double sink in the "Indian kitchen" where we cook most of our food. We love the single sink much more.

5. Used neither dark nor light granite for one kitchen and light quartz for the other. The quartz looks better but was more expensive.

6. We have a built in microwave but use the cheapo LG standalone one much more. We don't bake much and only make occasional pizzas so our oven use is minimal.

Best thing we did - have a nice large window above sink that brings in light and really lifts our mood. And a large above range hood exhaust that prevents food odors permeating the house.

Worst thing - Double sink instead of a large big sink.And a pot water filler above the range that we have not used even once

[CalMD]

The National Kitchen and Bath Association used to have design guidelines on the website for free, but not anymore. However, on cursory web search, the design guidelines are still available online elsewhere. It is a good idea to look over them, especially on landing spaces, storage, clearances, walk way clearances, work triangle, etc.

Here are two examples; one is just simple rules, and the other one PDF booklet with more complete information and diagrams:

https://www.modcabinetry.com/nkba-gu.../#toggle-id-17
https://newcreationsaustin.com/wp-co...guidelines.pdf

We like gas range for the simplicity; less to break. We use BlueStar. The cooking surfaces easily accommodate woks and irregular bottom pots. The 30-inch range oven can accommodate commercial full bake sheet or two half sheets each section. The flame gives "breath of wok" which cannot be easily reproduced on induction cooker. However induction cooker is more energy efficient and gives just as much, if not more, heat.