Kitchen Remodeling in Avon Lake, Ohio

What we usually walk into

Most Avon Lake kitchens we look at fall into two groups. The homes closer to Lake Road and Walker Road tend to have a kitchen shut off from the dining room, with one small window and a single bank of upper cabinets. The streets running south toward Avon Belden Road usually have the room but not the storage: an open plan kitchen with a wide island and shallow cabinets that swallow everything you put in them.

The problem is rarely square footage. It is where the storage sits. Pantry space is thin, the corner cabinet is a dead zone, and there is nowhere to land groceries between the garage door and the counter.

We start with the layout, not the door style. Once the walls, windows and appliance runs are settled, the cabinets get drawn around them. Then we supply and install the whole thing with our own crew.

The changes that come up most

Opening the wall between the kitchen and the dining room is the request we hear most in Avon Lake. It changes the sightline through to the back yard, which matters in homes where the yard is half the reason people bought the house.

After that it is storage. Deep drawers instead of a base cabinet with one shelf. A pull out beside the range. A corner unit that actually swings out. Taller uppers so the dust shelf above the cabinets disappears.

Islands come up constantly. In the newer homes south of Walker Road an island already exists but sits too far from the sink run, so every trip becomes four steps. We move it, resize it, or add seating at one end so it stops being something you walk around.

Countertops usually change with the cabinets. We template after the boxes are set, so seams land where you want them and the overhang matches the stools you already own.

Before you start

Start with measurements. A rough sketch with wall lengths, ceiling height, window positions and where the plumbing sits is enough for a first real conversation at the showroom.

Check with the City of Avon Lake building department early. Structural work, electrical changes and moving plumbing usually need a permit, and that is far easier to sort out at the planning stage than in the middle of the job.

Plan for living without the kitchen. Set up a temporary counter with the microwave and the coffee maker somewhere else in the house, and decide where the refrigerator goes while the room is open.

Bring photos of what you like and what you cannot stand. The second list is more useful than the first. It tells a designer what to design around.