[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house, a beautifully lit room. You can't tell why it's beautiful. You walk in and go, wow, this place glows. It's gorgeous, but a badly lit room. You could have the most beautiful design. You could have bought the most expensive cabinets, the finest countertops, the most high end appliances.

[00:00:24] Eric Goranson: And if you skimp on the lighting, it just doesn't look like you thought it would. So we're on the house shows. Brought to you by Pyramid Heating and Cooling. Serving in Oregon, the Portland metro area, and Bend, Oregon, they are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality. To find out more, head to PyramidHeating.

[00:00:44] Eric Goranson: com, Oregon CCB 59382. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we got you covered. This is Around the House. Welcome to the Around the House show, the next generation of home improvement. [00:01:00] Thanks for joining me today. I'm If you want to find out more about us at the Home Improvement Show here, you can find us at AroundTheHouseOnline.

[00:01:09] Eric Goranson: com. And if you want to give us a call, 24 7 833 239 4144. That number again is 833 239 4144. And make sure to follow us on social media as well as our Around the House Nation Facebook page. Facebook close group. We've got a bunch of stuff going on over there as well. And, uh, we're going to continue to grow that channel.

[00:01:32] Eric Goranson: So you have a place that, uh, you can comment, share up your pictures. All without having to worry about those social media trolls. Cause we make sure and filter them out. That's why it's a closed group. So today I wanted to talk about the top 10 mistakes that rookie designers make when remodeling a kitchen.

[00:01:49] Eric Goranson: Now there's a lot of people out there that are thinking about boy, one of these days, maybe when interest rates get better or you're doing it this year, you're going to remodel that kitchen. And you want to do it [00:02:00] right. And I always say a good kitchen designer will save you money just because they're going to help you with the mistakes that people commonly make when they're designing a kitchen.

[00:02:10] Eric Goranson: And we're going to talk about those here today in this hour of the show. Now, the first thing here I want to talk about is what's a rookie designer versus an experienced one. And there's nothing wrong with a rookie designer. You just need to make sure that they're being managed by somebody else. That has more experience.

[00:02:26] Eric Goranson: And here's why I've got 30 years in the kitchen, a bath industry. I have been a certified kitchen designer since 1999. So I have designed thousands of kitchens across the West coast, mainly in the Pacific Northwest. So I have trained hundreds of designers. Over the years that have worked for me and everything else, but everybody starts out, including me started out as a rookie designer one day.

[00:02:53] Eric Goranson: And many times when you walk into a place, you don't know really what you're getting until you ask a [00:03:00] few questions. So the first one here is I want to figure out is what's their kitchen about design experience. Now, the problem with the home centers are, is that is probably the lowest Paid place city kitchen designer or bathroom designer can work.

[00:03:15] Eric Goranson: And so it's a great place for people to start out and get it figured out because they're not on commission, whether they sell or not, they still get a paycheck. And what happens is, is when you get into more successful kitchen design situations for designers is they'll make two, three times more. Not working at those home centers and actually making a commission and making sure that that project goes smoothly and smoothly means you have a better looking kitchen when it's all said and done.

[00:03:42] Eric Goranson: Now, the problem though, is, is when you walk into a home center, you can walk in and find somebody that's been doing it well for 30 years. You can find somebody that was last week's pain expert. And it's hard to tell what you're working with now, years ago, the home centers used to spend like in the ninth and two thousands, [00:04:00] there was this big battle between Home Depot and Lowe's and some of the others of making sure that they had the best.

[00:04:06] Eric Goranson: Trained designers. Home Depot was great at this back then they trained, they sent off for training, but here's what happened. Home Depot realized that if I train them too much, they're going to leave. They're going to go get one of those better paying jobs, and we're going to be left paying for their training to go sell against us.

[00:04:26] Eric Goranson: And so they really dialed back their kitchen to bath training. And the problem is, is that they traditionally have one, a lot of errors into a significant amount of problems. And one of the reasons, and there are exceptions out there. So this isn't a be all end all, but the problem is, is the contractors that do the work at the home centers, many times they're entry level, because here's the problem.

[00:04:51] Eric Goranson: They are undercharging home Depot has to, or Lowe's have to put their Numbers on top of it. So if you start to compare that [00:05:00] against somebody else, you can be paying 30, 40 percent more by the time you get these stacked markups. And so that's something you got to be careful with. But what do you see when you find a rookie designer?

[00:05:09] Eric Goranson: I always look for a designer that has been certified through the National Kitchen and Bath Association, NKBA. And I say this because I'm a certified kitchen designer and they have all these different certifications. So do your research, go over to NKBA. org and take a look at the different certifications.

[00:05:27] Eric Goranson: But that is something where these designers and they've changed the rules around a little bit. So they've got different certifications than they did when I was starting out. The thing is, is you've got these certifications. So now these people have taken a test. That is an industry standard test out there and that they were proficient in that.

[00:05:44] Eric Goranson: Because the problem we have with kitchen and bath design, specifically kitchen design, is that there's a thousand places mistakes can be made. And we're going to talk about that today. But you want to have somebody that's experienced enough to go, wow, I've made 900 of these. [00:06:00] And, or they've been trained to, to dodge those basically.

[00:06:03] Eric Goranson: So that's what you're looking for is, That designer that is certified. Are there great designers that aren't certified? Yes, but the ones that are certified, at least that they have passed the test, they've gone through the training, they've taken that test and they know that these guys are better than most.

[00:06:20] Eric Goranson: And so it's an easy way to gauge. What that designer is. And so that's one thing. And so take a look at it, but that designer is going to be the person that draws out your kitchen is going to help you navigate through this process. And like I said, good designer saves you money every single time because they're going to stop you from these pitfalls, especially the ones we're going to talk right here, because if a designer that's been trained, that's in their first year or two, and to me, you don't really get.

[00:06:49] Eric Goranson: To be a good designer until after year two, three in there is where you really start getting going and go, okay, I've got a lot of these things that I understand [00:07:00] because really there are so many things from drafting to design to all these things that you have to put together to get a cohesive project and to fix the design mistakes that were made from the original one that you were remodeling, because clearly things have updated, things have changed.

[00:07:13] Eric Goranson: So that's the first one right there. So. Find the right designer. If you don't get along with that designer right off the bat, it's never going to get better. So make sure you've got a personality that works, make sure that you have their fees figured out. Are they selling you the cabinets? And so that's where the, where they make their money off the cabinet sales.

[00:07:32] Eric Goranson: Are they charging you by the hour, by the project, make sure they're managing the time wisely and that if you're on a flat fee retainer type thing, I'm okay with paying them by the hour. Just make sure that you get figured out. What, what that payment schedule is and that they're giving you a very, really solid idea of where that time's going.

[00:07:53] Eric Goranson: I know a designer out there that is dyslexic, can't draw, [00:08:00] and is out there designing kitchens today and has been doing it for probably the last 10 years. And they're out there stating themselves as an expert. They're not certified. They can't draw. They have other people work for them and you see them on TV and hear their ads on the radio in a certain market and it's tough.

[00:08:18] Eric Goranson: So you got to be really careful out there of some of these people out there that are saying they're good. Ask for the certification, find out, do your research and then go from there. So the first thing here, before we go out to break, I want to hit on the first one and then we'll talk about why this is important.

[00:08:34] Eric Goranson: And these aren't in a particular order, but the first one is not giving up space around appliances and door and drawer handles. These are some of the common mistakes with like base cabinets. For instance, you'll have a dishwasher that's up against the corner of the cabinet and there's a tight little filler there, but they didn't take into account that the inch and a half hardware that's sticking out from the front.

[00:08:55] Eric Goranson: And as soon as they get the hardware on there, they realized the dishwasher won't open. Or [00:09:00] I won't open all the way. Cause maybe it misses this, but it hits a door handle on a cabin down below. These are some of those mistakes where designers miss where the fillers are. And those fillers, which is where you change right angles.

[00:09:13] Eric Goranson: If you don't have a corner cabinet there, maybe you've got a blind corner cabinet where it's a, you're coming around the corner and need to space that door and drawer front from that. That's where you gotta be really careful and we'll talk about that when we come back because these are where those mistakes happen.

[00:09:28] Eric Goranson: And you go, oh no, what do I do? And it's an expensive fix. We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns you're listening to around the house

[00:09:49] Eric Goranson: to be so hot.

[00:09:55] Eric Goranson: So many.[00:10:00]

[00:10:05] Eric Goranson: I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today. We've been talking about the top 10 mistakes rookie designers make when remodeling a kitchen. And as a homeowner. Or even a contractor. These are things that can really burn you and get you in a world of trouble. So we were talking about how to hire a designer in the last segment.

[00:10:21] Eric Goranson: If you're just joining us on the radio show. And then we started to talk about not giving enough space around appliances and door and drawer handles. And this is really important on base cabinets. These are those corners that are really going to get you. So dishwashers, little mini fridges. Even refrigerators can be a problem right there.

[00:10:38] Eric Goranson: So these are things that you got to watch out for. Give some space. There's so many times that designers and homeowners get into an argument of, Oh, I don't want this big filler. That's not usable space, but temp, but depending on what you're working with. That might be absolutely important. Now, if you're doing off the shelf cabinets, you're stuck using fillers.

[00:10:58] Eric Goranson: They make cabinets in [00:11:00] certain sizes. You're good to go. If you step up into a semi custom cabinet, now maybe you can get a built in style where they've made the, a filler that's extra long on the side. So it's built in. So it doesn't look like a filler. You can do filler overlays. You can do with ways you can do things to make it look like.

[00:11:20] Eric Goranson: You're hiding that filler and it gives a really nice built in look, but I'll tell you what, that is one of those gotcha points that can cost you thousands of dollars for the time you figure out that the appliances won't up where you can't get into them. So be careful there. Now, the second one here is an important one as well on my list.

[00:11:37] Eric Goranson: And this is one of the biggest gotchas in kitchen design where I see this happen. Time and time again with designers and homeowners, and it's one of those that can cost thousands of dollars to fix. If it goes wrong, French door, refrigerators around walls, other appliances, and of course, tall cabinets or cabinets.

[00:11:58] Eric Goranson: Oven cabinets right [00:12:00] next to them. Here's why. It's the pivot point on those French door refrigerators. Some of the brands of French door refrigerators out there need a clear space next to it, a four or five inches. So if you're putting up where it used to go in a kitchen, maybe it was at the end of the run up against a wall that goes out into a hallway or something like that, instead of needing 36 inches, I've seen it 42, 43 inches to make sure you can open the doors beyond 90 to get the crispers out of the refrigerator.

[00:12:34] Eric Goranson: So be super careful out there guys, when you're designing kitchens, whether you're a homeowner or you're working with a newer designer to make sure and read the specs. Some of the appliance companies, especially the ones that come in from overseas. Don't do a great job on that. So many times I've had to actually call the manufacturer and have them send me dimensions that aren't in the online spectra anywhere else.

[00:12:58] Eric Goranson: So what happens is, is those [00:13:00] doors in some units have to open beyond 90 degrees. And so if you've got a refrigerator up against an animal and maybe a double oven or a micro oven to the right of it, for instance, or left, You can have it where that refrigerator Easter either has to be pulled way out, or you need to have basically 42 to 46, maybe 47 inches to make sure that fits in there.

[00:13:23] Eric Goranson: And the problem with that, and this is where it really causes an issue, is that that can take up another six, seven, eight inches of space on the wall. And that can really. Be a hard point to deal with in the middle of a run like that when it's over there and you can lose six, seven inches of space, nobody wants to lose space.

[00:13:42] Eric Goranson: And so by doing that, now you have to change maybe where a door handle is, or maybe you move the oven. So be very careful of the design of those areas because you can really cause a problem. You're like, Oh man, my side by side came in there perfectly. The side by side had it designed in there. So the doors opened at 90.[00:14:00]

[00:14:00] Eric Goranson: And the crispers would come out. Now they're trying to fit more stuff in there. So by having to go 25 degrees farther, that can be a more of a problem for you in that design. So be very careful. That is one of the biggest gotchas in kitchen design out there for homeowners and designers. So be careful there.

[00:14:19] Eric Goranson: Now, here's another one that is interesting, and this is about the right way to design a kitchen for function. Not so much about the beauty of it, but how are you going to cook in it? Let's talk about the operating design of a kitchen for the longest time. And all the way through up into the nineties and two thousands, even you would see the professional designers talking about the kitchen triangle.

[00:14:41] Eric Goranson: Now the kitchen triangle has been outdated, smaller kitchen design. It works for small kitchens, no question, but the kitchen triangle is the distance between the refrigerator, the cooktop, and the sink. That was the kitchen triangle. And you always had to make sure that those triangle links weren't too far away.

[00:14:58] Eric Goranson: So things didn't work [00:15:00] great. Now we have gone a lot farther than the kitchen triangle and the kitchen triangle, unless you're in a little tiny kitchen has been thrown away because, and this is something I've been doing for 20 plus years. And it's really been, I'm not the only one, but I was one of the early adopters out there of cooking in zones.

[00:15:17] Eric Goranson: What are zones? So you have. The sink to one side, you have a dishwasher now over that dishwasher. On top of that, on the countertop is what I call the cleanup zone. Now I don't want to have the dishwasher between the cooktop and the sink. Here's why your prep area, which is your prep zone is going to traditionally be between the cooktop, that cooking surface and the sink.

[00:15:45] Eric Goranson: That's where you're washing things, filling up water, doing that stuff. If you put that dishwasher in between those two points, A and B, you now have got two zones in the same space. So what I want to do is if you have the cooking surface on [00:16:00] one side, I want to make sure that we have the cleanup side on the other because when you're cooking, many times you'll put that pan or that dirty dish or whatever on top of that.

[00:16:10] Eric Goranson: Dishwasher there. Cause maybe you're not having unloaded it yet, or you're going to load it up in a minute. So you want to keep those zones separately and in larger kitchens where maybe you have two dishwashers, two sinks, you need to have different zones. And so that's when the triangle doesn't work as well, or you'll have multiple triangles and it can get confusing.

[00:16:30] Eric Goranson: So prep zones are great. Just like when you're, you've got an oven, if you've got a big oven, Built in double oven someplace. I want to have a cooling zone next to that. So that's a countertop where I'm going to set that down. So these are the zones that you should be taking into account of at each workstation, like a commercial kitchen.

[00:16:50] Eric Goranson: What are you doing right there? If you've got two prep zones, maybe you need two sinks, or you're going to share that sink, but you need to have a faucet that will swing [00:17:00] around and work in that correctly. And that's a really good way to go. Now, if you think about it, and this is where the mistakes get made.

[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: If you have a 30 year kitchen, think of how kitchens Have changed in the last 30 years of what we put into them 30 years ago. Okay. We had microwaves coming into kitchens and that's where it was, but we don't have all the gadgets, all the appliances, all the different stuff in there. We were in much simpler times with that.

[00:17:28] Eric Goranson: Maybe you had the blender and some of the attachments, a basic food processor, but just walk into one of the luxury. Kitchen accessory stores now and take a look at all the different knife sets to tools to all the different things we see steam ovens. We've got all these different things going into kitchens these days.

[00:17:49] Eric Goranson: So what we've got now is we have to update that design. And the layout to accommodate that. So you want to get it ready for the next 15 years, which is about the average lifespan of a [00:18:00] kitchen. You want to make sure you're designing it for that new world that's going to be going into. So you're ready, right?

[00:18:07] Eric Goranson: So you're getting rid of all those doors and shelves, maybe down below and putting in drawers. Or doors and pullout shelves, because it's much more efficient. You can put more stuff in there. You're using the corners if you can. So these are things that you want to make sure that you're redesigning around.

[00:18:25] Eric Goranson: Kitchen sinks used to be really basic and not shallow. Now. That kitchen sink takes up most of the space with the deep sink. Maybe you're doing an apron front sink You've got a garbage disposal now all those kitchen chemicals and stuff that you used to keep underneath the sink Probably don't fit down there anymore by the time you put that stuff down there around the house We'll be right back after these important messages.

[00:18:48] Eric Goranson: Don't change that dial Is[00:19:00]

[00:19:03] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show the next generation of home improvement If you're just joining us now on the radio show, thanks for tuning in. If you want to find out more about this show, head over to around the house, online. com and our number here in the studio is 8 That number 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44.

[00:19:24] Eric Goranson: We've got a lot of great stuff over on the website and around the house. Online. com and we'll be continuing to add more and more out there. So keep checking back. We've been talking today about the top 10 mistakes rookie designers make when remodeling a kitchen. And when you're out shopping for a designer, this is one of the things you want to make sure that you're getting some of the experience, nothing wrong with the rookies out there as a certified kitchen designer and somebody with 30 years of experience, I was a rookie once as well, but just make sure like we were talking about earlier in segment one of the show, that you Just make sure that you've got a designer that has enough experience or They've got somebody that [00:20:00] they're shadowing or working with.

[00:20:01] Eric Goranson: That's looking over their work to make sure that you're not their next test subject, because we all have to make mistakes to learn. That's what careers do. So just want to make sure it's not your place. So the things we've been talking about is mistakes that get made on that kitchen design. It's not given enough space around appliances, that kind of thing, how we're door handles are hitting and that kind of stuff, French door refrigerators around walls and other appliances.

[00:20:25] Eric Goranson: Those French doors could be a nightmare. When you have an end wall or a double oven or something next door to it, sometimes you can't even open those things out without having that thing pulling six inches forward, which is a hot mess. Not enough drawers instead of drawers is one here that we're going to talk about here.

[00:20:42] Eric Goranson: We started talking about it last segment. And of course, before that, we were talking about using the old design rules of the kitchen triangle and not talking about working with workstations around that kitchen, but back to not enough drawers. When you're building out a kitchen, Drawers are probably twice as expensive as a cabinet with [00:21:00] just two doors.

[00:21:00] Eric Goranson: So as let me paint the picture for you, if you've got a 30 inch wide base cabinet that has two drawers, full height, no top drawer. And I put in a three drawer cabinet in there in its space. Traditionally with some nice drawers, that's about double the price of the two door cabinet with a adjustable shelf or two in it.

[00:21:20] Eric Goranson: So they do cost more. Yes. And that's one of the things when you walk into entry level homes, spec homes, condos, Things like that. They'll make it look pretty, but you'll notice there's a lot less drawers or in the corners, they will avoid them and not show anything there. You'll have a three inch filler and a three inch filler, and you have a 27 by 27 inch corner that has no access to it.

[00:21:45] Eric Goranson: I've seen it done on high rises. I've been a part of a project like where we had beautiful cabinets in there and to save budget, they abandoned the space and nobody got to use it. Sometimes in a kitchen design though, that is actually a smarter way of doing it [00:22:00] because corner space is hard to get at. If you use some of the more designer articulating solid metal pieces, they can cost a thousand bucks or more.

[00:22:10] Eric Goranson: So that's an expensive, hard to use space. So sometimes abandoning that is not the worst case scenario and that's up to your designer to work with. Now here's one of the biggest mistakes that I see made in a kitchen by designers. The proper ventilation. And so here's where the mistake is made. Every single kitchen out there, when you do a brand new kitchen remodel, should have a well designed vent hood that is venting completely outside of the structure outside.

[00:22:43] Eric Goranson: If you've got a, A cooktop there, and I don't care if it is a gas, I don't care if it's electric induction, or just a coil element, that should be a high CFM fan that gets it out of there. That cooking surface, it doesn't [00:23:00] matter if it's gas, gas is even worse, even electric induction, is one of the largest polluters of indoor air quality in your home.

[00:23:08] Eric Goranson: Period. So there is not a kitchen out there that should have any kind of a recirculating hood. If you have a recirculating hood in your kitchen, and what I mean by that is a microwave, for instance, that's over your cooktop. And when you turn it on vent, it goes through this little charcoal fake filter and blows the nasty air right out in your face.

[00:23:28] Eric Goranson: Those don't work. They just don't. All the chemicals might take a little of the smell out of there. It might grab a little bit of grease, but that is putting all these chemicals and stuff back out of the, out into the air from the cooking process, from the carbon that's being created as you cook. All of those chemicals are coming off.

[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: All those gases are coming off and it's causing horrible indoor air quality. So you want to make sure if you've got a, you need to have three, 400 CFM to [00:24:00] start with, to go outside. Now, the problem here is, is that you need to deal with this correctly. Part of the ventilation process is making sure you get.

[00:24:09] Eric Goranson: Ventilation that's coming in, you have air to replace that. So let's say you have a 400 CFM hood. So that's 400 cubic feet per minute, bloating that air outside. It's pushing it right outside. Now, of course, when they do vent fans, that's right at the hood. So maybe it's only three 50 by the time it goes out with a couple of elbows or wherever it's going.

[00:24:30] Eric Goranson: But you get the drift for that though. And the best way to visualize this is that's 300 basketballs of air every minute. It's a lot. What you need to do though, is have makeup air hooked into your HVAC system. So when that fan turns on, it turns in the makeup air. So you're replacing that air with conditioned air coming back into the space.

[00:24:49] Eric Goranson: So you need to have that balance, but you really need to have that vent fan going outside. I am not a fan of microwave vent hoods. They just don't work. [00:25:00] Just like I'm not a fan of downdraft vent hoods have to fight mother nature. Everything's rising, heat's rising, steam's rising. It's all coming up and you have to have a fan big enough.

[00:25:11] Eric Goranson: To suck that back down the other direction. Problem is people try to do those with a cooktop. It pulls the flame to the backside because it's pulling air. It's sucking the flame that way. You're burning the back of the pan. The front of the pan is cold. You get my drift. This is where this stuff doesn't work well at all.

[00:25:27] Eric Goranson: So this is where you need to take your time, work through that process and design it out. So you make sure that that vent hood goes all the way outside of the space and outside in my area here. And a lot of the States around me. That is building code. So if I pull a building permit, it is required, whether I'm in a condo, whether I'm in an apartment, whether I'm in my own single family residence, that has to be taken outside, period.

[00:25:51] Eric Goranson: There are no exceptions to that. So it's something you got to work with. Now, the thing is, is people go, Oh, I don't want to have this big hood of my space. You don't have to, there are companies [00:26:00] out there that make range hoods that go flush in the ceiling above their remote controlled. And so it flushes out with the ceiling.

[00:26:06] Eric Goranson: It doesn't hurt your view, but as stuff raises up, this is wider as it gets bigger, of course, like any plume of smoke or steam, it has to get bigger. So you have a wider piece it's stainless or painted or whatever up in the ceiling area, and that mounts up there and then vents that outside and it works really well, those things do a great job, but you need to make sure that you've got that ventilation covered.

[00:26:29] Eric Goranson: It's one of the most important things. And a lot of people take shortcuts. The only time that I will use a over the range microwave in a design as a kitchen designer, is that if you've got a very tiny space and that's the only place you can put it generally, I think they're dangerous because you're trying to put something over another cooking surface that could be hot.

[00:26:50] Eric Goranson: So I always recommend if induction cooktop down below. No electric elements, no glass top element, no gas, nothing like that. Definitely not gas. [00:27:00] And that's where I would do that. I would not do a over the range microwave with a gas cooking surface. It just doesn't do good enough. And it's dangerous when you're leaning over to grab something out of the microwave, especially for people that are short children, loose clothing.

[00:27:15] Eric Goranson: It just doesn't go well. So make sure of that. Now, the next one here is one that gets missed so much. When I see kitchen designs done, And it's really designed, it's missed on 80 percent of the ones that are done in home centers or on a budget. And it's really not that expensive. And that is not thinking about a lighting plan for that space.

[00:27:36] Eric Goranson: Lighting is such a key place to this. For one, for the people cooking, so you have a workspace. So you have task lighting and of course the room lighting out in the room. So really, designing a good lighting system for this, Absolutely necessary. And we're going to talk about it here. And then we'll talk about it in the next segment here as well.

[00:27:56] Eric Goranson: But the big thing is when you're talking about lighting [00:28:00] is I want to make sure that you have under cabinet lighting. So when you're working that you can sit here and be working on a countertop and you've got a well lit area in front of you. Because what happens is you've got a 12 inch cabin. So you've got pretty tough place to light in there.

[00:28:14] Eric Goranson: So you want to have under cabinet and then of course, can lights up above. And my rules for can lights is if I've got six inch can lights in there, I do all I can to get those removed. Those are the best of the 1970s and eighties. I like to get down to a two or even a one inch, three inch if you have to, but two inch light if you go with a two inch diameter light.

[00:28:35] Eric Goranson: It makes it so much better in there as far as not having these big blasts of light in there that really ruin the space. So we've got a lot more to the top 10 mistakes rookie designers make from remodeling a kitchen when around the house returns.[00:29:00]

[00:29:00] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement for joining us on the radio show. Thanks for tuning in. We're in the last segment of our one of this week. So here we've been talking about the top 10 mistakes rookie designers make when remodeling a kitchen. If you want to find out more about us, give us a shout over to roundthehouseonline.

[00:29:21] Eric Goranson: com. And we do have a number here in the studio, 833 239 4144. That number again is 833 239 4144. Boy, we've been talking about a lot of great things here about kitchen design and my background being 30 years of kitchen and bath design experience. I've got had my certified kitchen designer through the National Kitchen and Bath Association certification since 1999.

[00:29:48] Eric Goranson: So I've been doing this for a little bit. Now, here's the one thing that we were talking about here. Lighting and lighting is something that is very detailed. You need to design it out. And it's [00:30:00] especially important for multi generational. Living. If you've got maybe mom, dad, grandparents, and you're taking care of an older family member, they need somebody that is 70 needs twice the amount of light that somebody 25 does on average.

[00:30:17] Eric Goranson: So you got to think about having control of light. So what I like to do is over light the space. So you've got a very bright atmosphere if you need it. But really programming that dimmer. So you have it down where it works for everybody generally, but if you lose something, or if you need to do some work in there, or you really want to bring it up a notch, you can do that.

[00:30:38] Eric Goranson: And so that's really that design. And so you really want to make sure proper can light recessed light placement in that space. And. Like I said earlier in the last segment, I like to go with the smaller 2 inch, even 1 inch can lights and it might take a few more of them, but it really changes the look in the room.

[00:30:56] Eric Goranson: Those 19, 7 inch can lights when you walk in, they look [00:31:00] so massive and they bring your eyes automatically up to that ceiling. And so it's better to go with the small stuff because you just really don't see it. And so you can walk into a room and go, man, I can't even see where this light's coming from. It just glows and that's really the difference when it comes down to it.

[00:31:15] Eric Goranson: A beautifully lit room. You can't tell why it's beautiful. You walk in and go, wow, this place glows. It's gorgeous. But a badly lit room, you could have the most beautiful design. You could have bought the most expensive cabinets, the finest countertops, the most high end appliances. And if you skimp on the lighting, it just doesn't look like you thought it would.

[00:31:38] Eric Goranson: So lighting is just as important as any of this. And the nice thing is you can do is you can put in multiple with these days with LEDs, you could put multiple, Under cabinet lighting systems. So you have one that maybe puts down a white light. You can have ones that you can control that you have all the different colors.

[00:31:57] Eric Goranson: You can do all of those things. You could do a toe kick light for the [00:32:00] middle of the night. There's a lot of different things you can do with lighting and explored. It's not that expensive for good stuff and something it will just elevate the entire cooking and design experience. So I can't say this enough.

[00:32:15] Eric Goranson: Lighting is one of the most important parts. Of that kitchen design. So next up here is a controversial one, but it's important. And we talked a little bit about it, but not using the corners correctly in a kitchen and every application is different. There is no hard rule here. Sometimes putting in that lazy Susan cabinet.

[00:32:38] Eric Goranson: What's got the little spinny trays in the middle on a base cabinet that takes up back wall dimensions, not the front, but back wall dimensions that traditionally takes up 36 inches, three feet by three feet. And then out front, you've got about a 12 inch by 12 inch area out there. And so you've got a, for a L shaped corner, [00:33:00] lazy Susan cabinet.

[00:33:01] Eric Goranson: The problem is, is sometimes that's not your best option. And this is where an experienced designer looks at it and goes, boy, you really wanted to have a 36 inch drawer bank. But right now you've got a 30 because that's all we can do. But if we eliminate the lazy Susan on either side of that, you've got two 30 inch drawers.

[00:33:22] Eric Goranson: We can make that much bigger. We could make that, you know, you could literally make that a much bigger drawer system. Now you're going to have to have a corner filler in there, but you could add nine inches of drawers on either side of that and have something. That's a lot. That's 18 inches of drawer space.

[00:33:39] Eric Goranson: That's going to act completely different than that lazy Susan cabinet that you're using a round thing in this awkward cabinet. So many times not using that corner can sometimes actually work out. So you have a. Better system. Now you're still abandoning that corner that can really work out to your advantage.

[00:33:57] Eric Goranson: Maybe you can put a cabinet to the back that you have to climb [00:34:00] under a countertop through Maybe that could be a recess in a in a closet for a safe behind it There's a lot of things you can sometimes do with that depending on the layout of the house But sometimes that can be a really cool space that you don't use and you get more storage depending on What you need for your kitchen so corners You Can be really handy, but they can also be very problematic, especially when you're sitting there and you're looking at it and you've got an appliance close by.

[00:34:30] Eric Goranson: And so maybe that lazy Susan door won't open correctly because it's going to bump up against a dishwasher or a range. And that's where sometimes not using that space can be more efficient. So that's one of those things that less can be more. Now, one of the biggest mistakes that I see here too is messing up the microwave location.

[00:34:51] Eric Goranson: I am not a fan of the 1980s, 1990s version Of the microwave shelf. You've got a deep microwave. It's hanging [00:35:00] up over the wall cabinets, hanging up there, hanging way out over the kitchen countertops. So you really can't stand in front of that for 27 or 30 inches. And you've got this behemoth of a microwave taking over the space and that place below it on the countertop.

[00:35:15] Eric Goranson: You can't even use. So that's really miserable for a design space over there. So I'd much rather see you go with a, maybe a microwave drawer that goes down in the base cabinets. That could be an option. You can do microwaves that are built in right into the oven. So you've got a single oven and a convection microwave over the top.

[00:35:34] Eric Goranson: There are a lot of different places. You can do a microwave built in with a trim kit and a base cabinet, maybe on the end of an Island. There's a lot of different options, or if you've got a bigger kitchen, maybe putting the microwave around the corner in the Butler's pantry. Lot less people using microwaves now in the kitchen, especially when you're talking Steve ovens, combi ovens, all these different things, maybe that microwave needs to go in the Butler's pantry around the corner and many [00:36:00] times building code will not allow you to put that inside a cabinet.

[00:36:04] Eric Goranson: Without it being a metal liner on the inside. So depending on what you've got going many times, that building code will not allow you to put it inside a pantry. So you can't just hide it in there only because they don't want you to be able to start that up, close the pantry door and forget about it and maybe hit 30 minutes instead of three, you forget about it and you burn the house down.

[00:36:23] Eric Goranson: And I have seen. People have gone in and done kitchen remodels for people that have tapped at one extra zero, walked off and jumped in the shower to have their TV dinner ready when they get out. And then the kitchen's on fire because they just hit the wrong button. So it's one of those things you need to be really careful with.

[00:36:44] Eric Goranson: Now, the final one here, my kind of top 10 mistakes that rookie designers make, and this is a big one and it really affects the overall space. When you have an Island is not giving enough walkway space. Around the island. [00:37:00] Now, this is a huge. Now, when I'm in a kitchen, my minimum workspace as far as between like the island and the countertop, my minimum is 42.

[00:37:11] Eric Goranson: My standard is 48 for two people at a minimum. Because here's what happens. You think about it. If you've got a dishwasher that door drops down, that's 30 inches right there. So it's really hard to be able to get around that in a kitchen with the dishwasher getting loaded. You got to have some space. You want at least a foot where somebody could squeeze around that, or you could stand at the end and load things in there.

[00:37:35] Eric Goranson: Now, second of all, you've got to get a refrigerator in here someplace and refrigerator many times as 36 inches. And you're going to roll it around. So you need to make sure you give yourself some, some space because you still have cabinet. Cabinetry face to face, but you still have a countertop overhang that's going to reduce that.

[00:37:52] Eric Goranson: So I really want to make sure you've got 42 to 48 inches around that. Now, when you add seating, [00:38:00] that adds a completely different mix to that because if you've got seating back there, you need to have about five feet of space. So somebody can sit there and somebody can walk around behind it. So you see all of a sudden, if you've got 25 and a half inches of space for the countertop on the perimeter You've got a 42 inch walkway.

[00:38:21] Eric Goranson: You've got a maybe 30 inch island depth. It's pretty shallow. That gives you a little bit of space there. Many times it's 42 or 48 or 54. Then if you've got seating over there, that's where you get that extra that extra 60 inches of 5 feet. Then you got a 25 and a half inch deep. Cabin over there. So all of a sudden you're pretty big space at that point, but you need to have that seating and that's where the mistakes get made.

[00:38:48] Eric Goranson: Is that I really want to as part of a design process when we have that design hammered out. I love going out into that kitchen space and I used to do it with virtual reality. The most I would [00:39:00] design it out in virtual reality and pick a point in the kitchen measured out when I was measuring it. And I would design it and say, this is what this is going to look like.

[00:39:07] Eric Goranson: And so you could really put on the VR goggles and take a look and see what that does. And it was really handy for spaces that you're really changing and re imagining because they can look around in the space and go, wow, that's what that looks like. Thanks for tuning into around the house. We'll see you soon.