THE F&W GUIDE TO RENOVATING YOUR KITCHEN

HOW TO REINVENT YOUR SPACE WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MARBLES (OR YOUR SHIRT)

- HUNTER LEWIS

LET'S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY FIRST. The process of renovating your kitchen ranks somewhere at the bottom of the fun list between a nightmare and a migraine, unless you have the means to take four months off and jet to a villa in Saint-Tropez while the most important room in your house undergoes open-heart surgery. Know this: A renovation is neither a tidy 30-minute HGTV show nor a glossy before-and-after magazine spread. It will change the way you cook. It will test your marriage. It will disrupt the flow of your family. It will cost more than you budgeted for. And it will take longer than you planned for. Fun, huh? Then why do so many of us choose to do it? Because for cooks like you and me, the kitchen is the heartbeat and creative hub of the home, so we want the space to be as beautiful and functional as possible.

Renovating can be a little less hard, though, if you know how to plan for it. To that end, I'm going to share lessons that my wife, Jen, and I-first-time renovators, dedicated home cooks, and parents of two school-age children-learned the hard way. My goal is to set you up for success, whether you are planning cosmetic changes within an existing footprint or planning a full demolition and remodel like we did. Get started by understanding the ideal order of operations with our Kitchen Reno Checklist (p. 79).

Then make your own game plan, put together a budget, and, most importantly, spend time researching contractors. Ask around. Talk to your friends about who they hired. Find examples of quality renovations in your town to emulate. The pretty stuff-appliances, flooring, countertops-matter, of course, but finding the right licensed contractor is the single most crucial part of a renovation. You need someone who is accountable, who will give you an honest estimate of the work and an accurate budget that shows you what the overhead and profit will be, and who follows all local municipal regulations and permitting.