Kitchen Remodeling in Willoughby, Ohio

Two very different kinds of Willoughby kitchen

Willoughby kitchens are not one type. On the streets around Erie Street and downtown, the kitchen is often its own room with a single doorway into the dining room and one window over the sink. Wall cabinets stop well short of the ceiling and a soffit takes the rest of the height. Storage runs out quickly, because most of it is fixed shelves behind doors rather than deep drawers.

Out toward Lost Nation Road and the east side of town the picture changes. Ranches and split levels there tend to have one long cabinet wall, a short return, and the basement stairs cutting into a corner. There is usually room for a real island, but only once the fridge door swing and the walkway width are sorted out.

We design for the kitchen actually in front of us. A designer works from your measurements and photos, walks the layout with you at the showroom, and puts the cabinet run, appliance spacing and countertop into a single plan you can sign off on.

Storage, walls, and where things sit

The first change is nearly always storage. Base cabinets with fixed shelves become drawer banks. Dead corners become pullouts. The cabinet above the fridge becomes something a person can reach without a chair.

The second is the wall. A lot of Willoughby homeowners want the kitchen opened toward the dining room or the family room. Sometimes that works with a header. Sometimes the wall is carrying load and the better answer is a wider doorway. We tell you which one you have before you fall in love with a layout.

The third is where the sink, range and fridge sit. In older Willoughby homes they usually ended up where the plumbing happened to land. Shifting one of them a few feet changes how the room works more than new doors ever will.

Resale is worth thinking about too. Buyers around Willoughby and the rest of Lake County look hard at kitchens and bathrooms, so a clean cabinet run, a solid countertop and decent light keep working for you whether you sell or stay put.

Before you start

Start with what annoys you. Write down the five things you dislike about the kitchen you have now. That list shapes a design faster than a folder of saved photos does.

Permits for work that touches structure, plumbing or electric go through the City of Willoughby building department. We tell you what your job needs and we build to what an inspector expects to see.

Then plan for living through it. The old kitchen comes out before the new one goes in, so pick a temporary home for the coffee maker, the microwave and the fridge, and decide early where everyone will eat. Because one team designs, supplies and installs, you are not sitting idle waiting on an outside supplier between stages.

Bring photos and rough measurements when you visit. An hour at the showroom with a designer, real doors and real slabs in front of you gets you further than any amount of scrolling.