Am I crazy - Mocked up kitchen

[Jack]

My wife and I are close to settling on a new floorplan for our kitchen. It is a major re-do.. knocking down walls etc. Now I want to make sure it all works, I am thinking about demolishing the walls and everything else in the entire space, then mocking in our new floorplan, using folding tables and anything else I can find/build to replicate our final plan. That way, I figure we will see any potential problems.. it will be a week or two of living like we are camping.. but I think it could yeild some good info on whether or not our final design is the right thing.

We know we want to go back to the exterior walls and start over, so there is no downside in taking out all the interior walls (we already have cleared with builder what walls go.. and which can't be touched to to structural integrity) and essentially taking it back to the walls.

Anyone else every tried this? Any Suggestions?

[RayV]

They've done just that on TOH and found flaws in the design. If you have the option/time to do this, I think it's a good idea.

[PipeDown]

Its not a bad idea but will cost you time. When do you plan to order materials like cabnets and flooring? Before or after? Waiting until after will cause a big delay(actual lead time may be longer than the typical lead time quoted in the store to potential customers) and if ordered before, what if you do change the plan, more delays.

You can certainly get a head start using one of the several consumer level home CAD programs to design the room and do a virtual walk through. One program prints templates so you can cut them out and make a scale model.

With this extra step, your mock up will be a final reality check rather than a planning step in the critical path.

If you really want some qualified advice. The $200 or so you will spend on a kitchen planner will help ensure you didn't leave anything out of your design. A missing trim panel can delay appliance installation and cost days.

[Pete C.]

I'll second the CAD suggestion. I've used Floorplan3D 3D from IMSI (~$40) and find it very easy to use to test design ideas. FP3D's render engine can even give you lighting that includes daylight based on location, time of day and day of year. Kind of nice to see where the sunshine will land.

Pete C.

[Jeff]

Could you take down some of the walls but leave the kitchen functional? As others have said check on the time to order and receive cabinets. Around here the housing market has slowed down but lots of folks are remodeling so delays could be significant.

Most of our new lower cabinets are large drawers. I feel this is better than cabinets with doors and slide out shelves. Similar cost but much better use of space. We mocked up the drawers and put various combinations of pans, bowls, etc in. Our upper cabinet doors don't have a divider between opening pairs of doors, again gives more flexibility in the space behind the doors.

Finally to meet current code several additional breakers and wiring had to be added.

Good luck