planning, planning more planning, hours of searching GW, wine, posting of layouts, changes post layout request, wine, kitchen meetings, more wine, frustration, graduation from wine to vodka, more measuring and all this while being asked a million questions and decisions that need to be made NOW, as in right this second or the earth will fall out of orbit, which leads to the padded room when the vodka no longer helps. you get the picture :P.

All joking aside - there are folks here that can guide you much better then I but I will add this. The 7 P's. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. The work you put in place now in the planning stage will make the rest go so much easier.

This helped me tremendously in the beginning. I did not follow all the guidelines and broke some of the "kitchen rules" but remember it is YOUR kitchen, get what you want not what you "should have" (this does not apply to your local codes, permits or safety) NKBA Kitchen guidleines

The above will help you avoid mistakes.

You need to start with a budget and a plan, get your appliance specs if you are changing and start from there. Your budget will dictate what you can work into the plan. Decide what you MUST have and what you would like to have. That will help dictate the rest of the choices. You don't want to get a cabinet plan and then find a stove and then nothing fits into your plan. I did it this way. Appliance specs (or purchases) then cabinet plan then sink and faucet choices, then counter choices. If you are using a contractor they will walk you through their process. I went the Ikea route and am having custom doors made so I cant go over the cabinet choice options (there are a lot out there).

Bling is nice but the staples are what makes a kitchen....the specky tile is not going to cook dinner. Make sure you focus on the primary functions. Think about electrical or plumbing changes etc. Its easier and cheaper to do those while the walls are open.

There is a link to help when posting your layout that you should take a look at as well, this will help when posting for information. Also search for the Fire and Ice thread from Marcolo, this will help with your layout.

Use the search function at the top of the page this will help tremendously, most of the time the questions you have will have been answered in a thread already. There are a lot lessons learned threads out there as well that will be helpful. Don't be afraid to look at really old threads, most of the advice is sound. When requesting a layout you need to be ready for some frank questions and posts. Read read read. There are some incredible people on here that have given countless hours to assist us kitchen noobs and their advice is invaluable. This is not a happening in a week process. Make time to plan so that you are not rushed into decisions.

Most of all - have fun, there will be times when you want to pull your hair out...and your husband will pull his hair out when you ask to go over finishes and plans AGAIN....but the end result should be a kitchen that makes you smile each time you enter it.

Hope this helps.

All the best and sorry for the wall of text....I am in Vodka mode :)

Some light bedtime ready....don't start these before bed or you will be sucked in and the next thing you know its 3 am....no really :)

New to kitchens thread

Fire and Ice Marcolo thread