Wondering why you ask so many people there opinions on what you should do about anything? I guess we are complete opposites as I would never ask anyones opinion about anything really important. I would gather information but only you can know what is right for you.

As for kitchen remodeling I like to hear why people make the decisions they do. Why they chose a dark counter instead of a light one, etc. While its interesting to hear and you should be open to suggestions, its your kitchen and your life.

Using your dishwasher example...it would be helpful to ask people why or why not they have a dw instead of asking them if you should have a dw. Keep in mind these are just other peoples opinions, their personal likes and dislikes. Rarely are there right or wrong answers.

Think about what you want/need in your kitchen. Look on houzz.com for inspiration. Read lots of threads here.

Thanks, Debra. That's exactly my point.

Oh, and I so want to like Houzz, but I find it a nightmare to navigate!

First, decide why you are wanting to remodel your kitchen. There must be something you don't like or you wouldn't go through the trouble and expense. Identify the things you don't like about it and that might help you see what you would like to have and then you'll have some direction to get you started.

Thanks, JDez, that part, well, I've done a good deal of it, anyway. There are just so many factors to consider. It took me many weeks to decide what color to paint my hallway...

I have trouble making decisions too. There are alot of things that I like and alot of different styles that I like that don't necessarily go together. For example, I love old historic houses like the old Sears Craftsmans but then I love the look of the brick walled Chicago lofts with exposed steel ductwork. These two style DO NOT mix! And don't even get me started on colors. I would say you need to leave other people's opinions out of the equation all together. If you've been wanting a DW, put one in, even if you might never use it. As far as color is concerned, pick one thing, whether it be the floor, the countertop, the backsplash, cabinets, etc, that you absolutely love and design everything else around that one thing.

Hi Overwhelmed Carrie - I totally understand what you're saying.

As JDez mentioned, I have a lot of different things that I like - and most of them don't mesh together very well. It's been rather difficult to stay "on track" with the style and feel of our kitchen. I get very distracted by...squirrel! (for those of you who don't know, that's from the movie, UP!) Anyhow...I get distracted easily from the style and feel that I thought that I wanted because I see something that I love and think, how can I put THAT in the kitchen...and it totally wouldn't work no matter what. Inspiration boards help tremendously in that case. Or a home designer who can rein you back in.

So, probably the best thing to do is to figure out what works and what doesn't work so well in your current (and previous) kitchen(s). What have you liked or disliked in any kitchens you have worked in. And...write these feelings/observations down. It sometimes helps to have things in black and white to bring about clarity.

It's great to get other people's opinions - it's a good way to make informed decisions. Listen to what they have to say about something, and then ask them WHY they liked or disliked what they were talking about. Use their feedback as a way to decide what will work for YOU.

Did you LIKE having a dishwasher? Did you dislike having one? If you didn't like it, why didn't you? Maybe people who don't like DW had a lousy one that didn't clean very well. Maybe the person who liked their DW had a good one. Maybe the reason that someone likes or dislikes something is going to be completely opposite for you.

At some point, you have to make decisions for the kitchen that is best for you. And trust me, you will second guess, and third guess yourself. We're in mid-reno right now and I'm agonizing over some of the decisions that I made, wondering if it was the right one...and realizing that it's what I will live with regardless. The biggest pain of all is that this is my ONE shot at getting the kitchen that I will love...we're not likely to do this again as I believe this to be our "forever home".

But, as for making decisions that were best for me - I listened a lot to people here and others IRL, and made the best decisions that I could for our remodel.

Hang in there - gather inspiration pictures. If Houzz is too overwhelming for you - go the "old fashioned" way and pick up some magazines to get some inspiration of things that you like (or even things that you know you don't like!). And when you clip them and put them in your inspiration folder, put a post-it on there with what you liked (or disliked) about what you saw in the photo.

Houzz is totally overwhelming! But once I found my own, simple way to use it, it was very helpful. I just scrolled through kitchen pictures and quickly determined that I was very drawn to wood and brick and rustic. I knew this already but somehow couldn't envision my kitchen.

Having just finished, I can tell you the early stages are definitely the most overwhelming. But as each decision is crossed off your list, things start to fall into place. But getting the layout took forever. So much indecision and changing. Same with the appliances. But slowly it starts to come together and hopefully you love the result.

One decision that can help you focus is to set an overall, total budget number (including contingency for the unexpected).

When you have that, you can then decide what's most important to you, depending on how you will use the new kitchen. For example, you might choose to go high-low by investing more budget where you work the most, say in appliances if you do a lot of cooking every week. Or, if you cook less, you might choose to invest more in pretty finishes like better granite and cabinets. Unless your budget is unlimited, you will find yourself making trade-off compromises to stay within the budget number.

Another factor is lead time. If you have lots of time, you can shop sales, scratch and dent, auctions, and craigslist, and save mega-dollars along the way, another way to stretch the budget.

Some of the best advice I've read here in the past is to plan the kitchen for the life you actually live, not the one you think you should be living (in an ideal world).

Check out the sweeby test.

Here is a link that might be useful: sweeby test

Before thinking about the individual components, start with function and work on the layout. Don't get caught up in the materials at this point. Figure out what the kitchen can do in terms of space planning and think about how you work and what's important to you.

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to get saturated. If that's how you approach things, absorb all you can and then step away for a while to let it all sift out.

But you need to focus on function first. And figure out how much money you want to spend!

Thank you, everyone!

JDez - me too with the styles that don't go together. I love rustic farmhouse type stuff, but I live in a small brick rowhome in a big city. I love the glitz of the recycled glass countertops - but tend to like warm, understated everything else. I really like your idea of picking one thing I really love - and designing the rest around it.

Andreak - it is overwhelming! I have been going through magazines, and going to local big box stores, etc. to get ideas & see what I liked. Below, I've linked an online Quiz from KitchenMaid to ID style. I was really skeptical, but, in the end, it did identify the style that I'm finding myself drawn to, despite having thought I'd be drawn to another. It also nailed the style of a friend.

Kitten - yeah. The layout. I have hired a designer to help me with that part. I knew that those skill sets were way out of my range, so I'm trusting that she'll come up with some plans that will work. It's a small, awkward space, but I'm betting she'll be able to re-tool it in ways that never would have occurred to me.

Smiling - I really, really like what you say about planning for the life you actually do live. And I think you've touched on one of the fundamental problems I'm having. I'm 48, single & live alone, I don't cook much and plan to stay in this house pretty much forever. But then I think "someday I might take up cooking" and "someday, I may meet the partner of my dreams & he might move in with me & he might love to cook" and "I think I'll live in this house forever, but maybe I'll meet that partner of my dreams who has a dream-house by the ocean in the mountains in the south of France & he'll ask me to move in with him - you know, after he sweeps me off my feet with his white stallion & chariot - and then I won't be able to sell my house because I have no dishwasher." OK, I bet you're getting my point by now.

Debra - I did look at the sweeby test a few weeks ago. Helpful stuff, and, as I mentioned, the quiz below kinda pegged me despite my initial skepticism.

Snookums - really good advice, and why I met with a designer. The designer came over & spent a lot of time talking to me - what I like, don't like, etc, before she took measurements. She should get back to me in a week or so with some layout proposals. I can't imagine how overwhelmed I'd be if I were doing layout on my own! Anyway, for now, I'm leaving that part to her - which leaves everything else for me to obsess about!

Thank again, everyone. I'm excited and happy about all this, but it feels like the biggest decision since I bought my house - and, despite me not planning to go "high-end" on my kitchen, I anticipate this investment costing some three times the down payment on my house.

Here is a link that might be useful: KitchenMaid Style Quiz

As far as navigating Houzz, have you started creating your own Ideabooks? As your scrolling through kitchen pictures & see something you like, save the pic in your own Houzz Ideabook, ie, Cabinet Styles, Islands, Lighting, Countertops, Cabinet Hardware, Faucets, Flooring, Refrigerator, Backsplash, Crown Molding, Glass Cabinets, Stools, on & on etc. I must have 30 plus Ideabooks. Some of my Ideabooks are very specific, some general. Sometimes there might be one detail in a kitchen I wanted to remember & save. You can edit out pictures you decide you don't like, you can write a comment about why you liked the picture, you can move the pictures from one Ideabook to another. You'll have to have a Houzz username & password to do this. I found it extremely helpful when trying to figure out design details.
It is much easier to navigate if you have the Houzz app but you don't have to use the app.
Read as much as you can on this website as there is so much valuable information. It can be overwhelming but you'll be surprised how much YOU can add to your layout & design by reading the ideas and experiences of the people here.
By the time you finish your reno, you'll be giving sharing ideas/advice with GW newbies.

This post was edited by romy718 on Thu, Jan 9, 14 at 11:18

It took 5 years to plan my remodel so I think what you are experiencing is normal! You've received great advice about figuring out the function first. I went through several "acts" in my design "play" - that's how I work through any big decisions: Act I is "Look at All the Pretties". Act II is "I Know Exactly What I Want and I'll Never Change My Mind". Act III: "Holy Crap, Everything I Thought I Knew, I Don't". Act IV: "Coming Back to Reality". Finally Act V: "Peace." DH just waits it out until Act IV.

As for materials, what helped me was to create idea boards and pin boards - I could really see what overall styles I liked when a bunch of pictures were all in one place. While I thought I liked a lot of different styles, when I put all the pictures together, certain elements really stuck out as being consistent.

Can't imagine not having a DW even as a single person. I would never want to buy a house that didn't have a DW or at least a logical space for one.

Do not omit a dishwasher!

I live on my own and don't use a lot of dishes. I handwash pots and pans. I rinse everything before it goes into the DW. I have often thought that I could probably survive quite well without a DW. Would I ever intentionally omit a DW from my kitchen? NO!!!

A DW is essential. If nothing else, it's a place for me to store unwashed dishes *out of sight* until either the DW fills up or I run out of dishes.