Plans can change. Make sure the puzzle pieces still fit when they do.
I am in the process of remodeling a kitchen. It’s been going on for almost a year. It has gone through many changes and iterations. Plans were drawn, re-drawn, and drawn again. Cabinets were ordered and then plans changed once more. This is where it starts to cause some issues and a designer needs to be flexible and more importantly be on site to make sure everything still fits the way it should.
In this case the cabinets were delivered and then there were a few changes made. Most of these did not impact the design but sometimes you find out at install that a few inches here and there can make a huge difference, and not always in a good way.
First, the peninsula that looked fine on paper felt a bit too long in the space when standing in the kitchen. This was due to a change to the refrigerator wall, but I’ll get into that later. We had the requisite 36″ but it still felt tight. Thankfully, we could switch around cabinets to solve this issue.
Next, we almost had all cabinets installed and the last thing we needed to do was create the walled in area for said refrigerator. We had ordered a refrigerator panel, but because of changes to a stairwell behind the wall, the panel was no longer the best option. You see, the stairs were being widened and the refrigerator was going to move further into the kitchen to accommodate this so a couple of walls had to be built. I will refrain from explaining all the tiny details and painstaking conversation that went into this decision, suffice it to say, it was the best possible solution. It was more work, but the best decision for the design.
As my husband/partner is finishing the drywall, I walked in and noticed something. Believe me, I did not want to be the one to bring this up after hours of work went into building this wall, but the tiny drawer on the end of the cabinet run would not fully open now that the refrigerator has been pulled further into the room. Bells are going off in my head and I know this is not going to go over well, but hey, that’s the job. He took it like a champ and started tearing the newly completed wall out to move it 9 inches over.
And here is the lesson. Make sure you hire someone who will be on site to make sure these hiccups get taken care of before they become a permanent part of your kitchen
This is the kitchen in progress. You will have to wait for “after pics,” probably for quite awhile…………..stay tuned.
