Oh, my. That was an outburst. This past fall, I was getting contractor estimates for a layout & design, along with structural engineer's drawings. Then, I decided to scrap that plan altogether. Of course, that was after many, many changes of mind on smaller items.

And, here I am, over a year after I first hired the first KD, and I'm still changing my mind every other day. I'm driving myself crazy - I can only imagine what that looks like to everyone else.

Yes, yes and yes. Its paralyzing!

Jane

No, lol. I think it makes sense to put the proper amount of time into planning to get the best plan you can for your space, budget, and needs. But, at some point, it's time to pull the trigger and just do it. Most of us will never get to the point where their kitchen is perfect. Sure, there are a few reveals here that look pretty darn perfect but, guess what? Those folks planned and thought and planned more and then they pulled the trigger. And I'm sure a few of them still have a woulda, coulda, shoulda about their kitchens even though they look absolutely fantastic to the rest of us.

We had neighbors who waited until retirement to redo their kitchen. Just a couple years later, health problems required them to move to a smaller, single-level home with wheelchair accessibility. She told me that her biggest regret was not doing their kitchen sooner as she struggled with a horrible kitchen for years and had so little time to enjoy her new kitchen. I don't intend to make that mistake.

Even though I'm enjoying the planning process, I am also anxious to get it done so I can enjoy it and get on with other things. If I was shooting for perfect, it would never get done.

Sometimes it takes a little extra push to get those decisions made. For our last house, it was the push to get the house done so we could get it on the market and move on. I belabored that kitchen from the time we bought it until a few months before we listed it 6 years later. It was when I was able to depersonalize from it a little that I was able to make the decisions a little bit easier.

And I still have had a few "woulda, shoulda, coulda's!" I really wanted to do pull-outs in the pantry. I figure the new owner probably curses me when she goes to try to organize that space that's about 26" wide by almost 30" deep. But, we were at the point of "get 'er done" when we got to the pantry, so we put in shelves and let it go. (With me cringing...and DH telling me to not worry about it!)

Well...I tried to let it go. I'm still hoping for roll-outs for the new owners, LOL. Maybe they'll put them in.... I'm a die-hard kitchen perfectionist. I want it to be right, by golly!

Sometimes good enough really is good enough. It will certainly be better than the current state, right? And having all fresh new surfaces and lighting makes the kitchen so much more enjoyable to work in, even if it's not totally "perfect." There's that P word again.

I'm not the only one? Whew!

And staying up until almost 1am, and sometimes later reading the GW Kitchen forum, checking in on Appliances, doing a Houzz search and then a Google image search and then a web search on a different topic and then going back to kitchen notes & typing some stuff up and then revising that email to the KD you've been working on and then, by the time you've done all that it's been a whole eleven minutes since you refreshed the GW Kitchen forum page so you need to go back and check that again and from there. Well, you know what happens from there and my bedtime is really closer to ten or eleven but it's been a really long time since the laptop has not been my one and only faithful bedtime companion. Well, the laptop and one ornery cat.

This post was edited by carrieb on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 0:50

I'm with Funkycamper. If you can, do it. Do it while you can. Get un-paralyzed and put the things you love right now in your kitchen while you will enjoy them! Life has a way of getting lived up and waits for no kitchen or woman or man or whatever. Do it now!

Y

Nope! I waited in terms of appliances for Miele to release the 6000 series in our area but that was it. Our old kitchen fit a layout the house has not had in over a decade and the wood was rotting from the inside down to the joists. If I waited too much longer someone would have fallen through the floor.

I used to struggle with that. Until *I* came to terms with whose schedule was I working with. I'm deadline driven, so I was initially my own worst enemy. Once I came to terms that I would live, use, and enjoy the kitchen much, much longer than the downtime, I was okay with planning delays. It may have been different if I was doing a kitchen to put on the sale market, but this kitchen re-do was *all about me*. (I did take into consideration things like location, typical neighborhood expectations, but organization/storage and efficiency was our main goal). At our age, there would not be any more re-dos and I wanted to 'get it right for us'. Take a look at Deedles recent reveal. There was some real serious planning going on there; the level of functional detail is amazing. For a small space, I think it's more critical to get it right, rather than to get it done quickly. I kept at it until I was *totally* satisfied that I got the best plan possible for my space and our needs. There were difficult and challenging planning decisions I had to make that I was unhappy with, but it worked best for us. We met our goals of a more organized and efficient kitchen that has been a pleasure to work in. It's effectiveness helped us with an eating lifestyle change. I think Carrie, once you get an effectively functioning kitchen, you may be surprised at the pleasure it can bring, so just keep plugging away at the planning, until it feels right. I found the analysis-paralysis comes and goes until the project is almost done. I'm still stuck at that last 2% of the project and still suffering from analysis-paralysis.

Lol!!
Yes, I can sooooooo relate!!
Gardenweb forums, houzz, Pinterest, Google searches, lots of graph paper!!
I need to go back to design school.
I'm not striving for perfect--just not, damn, I missed that opportunity!
I'm feeling rushed & overwhelmed & trying to do on a budget.

I think there's a difference depending on the reason for the remodel.

If there's a problem area you're working on like improving a poor layout and you just aren't thrilled with what you've come up with, I understand the continual searching and consulting. But if you have all the hard decisions made and can't bring yourself to commit because there might be something more beautiful on a website if only I search long enough?! I mean, sure, if you are one who truly enjoys the planning phase and have no deadlines, great.

Guess what? Two years after your lovely new kitchen is complete, you'll be flipping through some magazine at the dentist's office and bam! You 'll see some fantastic new product that you would have loved to incorporate into your remodel. That's by design and it never ends. However you have just enjoyed 2 years in a kitchen that makes you happy-AND you are also 2 years older.

Remember the story funkycamper shared- it is relevant. Yesterday I went to the funeral of a wonderful young coworker who got a bad diagnosis less than 3 months ago. You may be planning the perfect kitchen for someone else.

No, I was the opposite. I wanted to hurry up and get it over with. I rushed headlong into my kitchen reno, and, while I did read a lot, I could have read a bit more, to educate myself. I made every decision in a snap, in my hurry just to get it done. That said, I love my kitchen (you should have seen the old one), and the mistakes I made each one had to do with appliance choices only. Sometimes it is a good thing to go with your very first instinct, which is very often the right one (how many times have you tried on clothes, chosen a piece of furniture, even picked a dish at a restaurant, etc. among a bunch of choices, and gone with your first one after all that?).

So I mentioned that all my mistakes had to do with appliances choices. Of course, if I had changed my mind about my appliances choices, then my cabinets would have had to change, which would have changed the layout, and so on, and it would have been like a mouse on a wheel, never reaching a destination. I am happy I got it done and behind me.

P.S. The one thing I did not rush into was the backsplash. My kitchen was finished but I did not have a backsplash, and couldn't decide on one. After living with the finished kitchen for about 8 months, I did choose a backsplash I am happy with. I am glad I didn't rush on that one like I did with the rest of my kitchen; it gave me time to live with the kitchen in all lights and seasons, and it was much easier to choose a backsplash that way.

Just put in a simple basic kitchen without all the trendy stuff and be happy.

Oh yea! We are doing a new build, but all we currently have is the basement. It's been delayed by the Midwestern weather. Hopefully it will get done by May. But, yes, the longer I have to think About it, the more I question my kitchen cabinet layout. I have staggered cabs in a small kitchen. I can't do to the ceiling cabs because one wall is vaulted. But I am thinking now, should I do all one height, 36 inches. Arrrrgggh! Love the cab color, counter choice and backsplash so I know that won't change. Blindfold me and just have me point!!! I cannot visualize, I need a picture of exactly what it will look like, in 3D and with my cab color.

i planned and replanned my small budget kitchen reno for about 1 1/2 years. the layout, cabinets and counters change dramatically from beginning to end. the problem is that until it's done, you don't know what you should have done differently!
my conclusions are: in hindsight you will always wish something was different, unless you are a millionaire your kitchen will not look like houzz, you will have a much better kitchen than before!
i wish i had upgraded my cabinets to a higher level but at the time i truly believed they were going to be everything i needed now i have major regrets over the durability.
know that whatever decisions you make, you are so much more informed than the average homeowner so your kitchen will rock!

*Deep breath* OK, I know I'm going to be OK, and my kitchen will be just fine. Way better than anything I have now.

Thank you for both the reassurance, and for normalizing my angst.

*Whew* - Just got off the phone with my KD (we were almost getting into the rabbit hole which is multiple emails back & forth - I sent her a quick one asking for 20 minutes on the phone.) Soooo much better!

LoL!

I have a different perspective.
Since funds prevent me from doing something when I find the "perfect" item, layout, color, whatever, I have time to mull it over and change my mind while I save for that mind change.

This year December it'll be 10 years since a house fire that put me in this self-remodel position. I've probably wasted 1000s of dollars on things that were PERFECT. But then, since I give things away in huge spurts, I also know I've helped others achieve their "perfect" kitchen. And they probably won't change their mind, since I'm nuts people don't just rip out their cabinets at a whim. Just an example..

So changing my mind is a luxury time has given me, but it's also protecting me since I seldom have the money to act on that whim. :) Or that plan.

I know after 10 years I still want soapstone. I've changed my flooring ideas from (purchased and bartered away) bamboo, to reclaimed pine (still have it) to incredible oak (still have it) to just living with plywood forever. This is an example.

Painted cabinets. Hating oak grain and getting all the products to fill it in and paint. Then finding I LOVE the look of aged, weathered oak grain. Ok... I stripped all the painted cabinets ( or the new, reuse ones I got) and am in a completely other direction. Since I discovered beaded inset makes my eyes roll back in my head, I still don't regret giving away all the partial overlay ones.

I'll stop because you get my drift.
There's always another, great idea or product.
At 56, I'll either finish my rebuild projects and die, or die trying.

Ah yes, it can be vicious, second guessing every decision. Budget, budget, budget, but wait, I can afford that if I don't do this, if I scrimp a little here I can splurge a little there. The perfect counter top finally, but wait, I saw something on GW.......... I know I want that oven but I just read that someone doesn't like it, argh!! Which sink, what back splash, now faucets......a hood, your kidding right?! Someone said we should do this, someone else said they would never do that. I just saw the latest connected fridge but it won't be out til next year, do I wait?? Is it worth it??

We all want the best we can get but what is that? Part of my problem was I knew what I wanted in my kitchen, been cooking 30 years so had a good idea as to how it should work for me. Then.....I found GW, oy, now I know nothing. Fortunately that was almost 2 years ago, being new construction we couldn't afford to be paralyzed by indecision but on the other hand it was a completely custom build so we could do whatever we wanted. I think my kitchen went from an initial budget of around $25k to about $65k. Appliances went from ~ $6k to over $30k. 2 sinks, faucets and drains were nearly $4k (copper), originally I think I was looking at spending about a grand.

I must say the pride I take in my kitchen is worth it, the comments from friends and relatives who use it puts a huge smile on my face. My cooking has improved a number of notches. To me it's just an uber functional kitchen filled with some very nice appliances and finished cleanly with my aesthetic. But just from those facts it's a very beautiful space worthy of a photo shoot (according to many with whom I've shared it).

So basically what I'm saying is "Get the h*ll off GW, Houzz, etc. if you don't want to make yourself crazy" :)

It's great to do the research, but too much can be overwhelming. The more you look, the more you second guess. I think it's important to really know yourself and how YOU will use your space.

There's always going to be a better plan or a better product, but the longer you wait, the longer you live with a kitchen that is NOT working...

Find a plan you like (and can afford) and remember that you want to have some money left for food...and the garden...when you're done :)

P.S. And for anyone who thinks I plan too much, it's because my budget started collapsing as my husband got sick. I wish I could have started my project years ago, but sometimes you have to wait. Still living with the less than perfect kitchen, but no island meant plenty of room for my husband's wheelchair, when he needed it.

If you can, get that kitchen started, but remember that any plan should be flexible enough to accommodate changing circumstances....especially if you plan to keep the house for many years.

This post was edited by lavender_lass on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 15:27