Recreating Your Old Kitchen
The first step is to complete our comprehensive Kitchen Questionnaire. When we have received your questionnaire in our e-mail, we will contact you to set up your first design conference.
And, welcome. It's the first step of a long process, but you will like the end result.
Not quite ready yet…
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You need to learn as much as you can about kitchens. You, after all, are the primary kitchen designer. All the professional does is refine your ideas into a workable plan. The smarter you are about kitchen design, the better your kitchen will be.
Another good place to start is with our complete articles index.
Reading these articles will give you a good idea of what you want in your new kitchen. Read all about designing and planning a kitchen. You should know about cabinets, countertops, flooring, lighting and the basic rules of kitchen design.You need to have a basic understanding of the construction process and have a budget in mind. You should be prepared to deal with the temporary inconvenience of a major remodeling project.
The articles on this site were written by our kitchen and bath design staff to help you learn what you need to know about kitchens. These have been widely reprinted on many other websites, but here are the very latest revisions of the originals. Take the time to read about the many interwoven elements of a well-designed kitchen.
Your kitchen is probably the most actively used room in your home. On average you will spend over 1,100 hours each year in your kitchen. Today's kitchen is no longer just a place where food is prepared. It has become the administrative and social hub of your home.
Unfortunately, it is also likely to be the worst designed room in your home, and one of the most expensive to fix.
Even new homes commonly have kitchen problems — primarily because whole-house plans used to construct new homes are seldom developed in consultation with a kitchen and bath design specialist.
The kitchens look good. In fact, the kitchens often look great. But they often don't work very well.
Add Value to your Home
The very good news is that the value-added to your home by an updated kitchen will offset most of the cost of your new kitchen. A kitchen is generally considered by real estate professionals to be one of the remodeling projects that pays for itself when you sell your home. (Your bathroom is another room that almost pays for itself when updated with new fixtures and features.)
The bad news is that the cost of adding all those splendid features you have always wanted can be a little jaw-dropping.
That is where we come in.
The Small Kitchen Specialists
We know how to design, plan and build wonderful kitchens that conform to all of the accepted design rules and building codes.
We know that most of our customers do not have enough space for a giant "designer" kitchen. So we have become the small space specialists — using imagination, ingenuity, creativity, and the latest technologies to pack more features and utility into fewer square feet.
Beautiful, Functional, Adaptable, Affordable Kitchens
Most importantly, we know how to design affordable kitchens by careful substitutions of less expensive alternatives that will still give you that special look and feel.
Designing and building the right kitchen can be a daunting task.
Just sorting through the incredible variety of options available for cabinets, countertops, flooring, appliances, organizers, accessories and lighting can take an enormous amount of time and effort.
We help you pare down these choices into something manageable, then incorporate them into a kitchen design that is uniquely yours.
Matching the Heritage of Your Home
We know that you probably bought your house, at least in part, because you like its architectural style. It fits the way you live and it's in a neighborhood of houses similar to yours that make up a very special place. How to update your home with all the modern conveniences and still keep its historic character is one of the issues we frequently face when designing a kitchen for a heritage home.
Owners of heritage houses are keenly aware that a contemporary chrome and glass kitchen does not go well with a 19th century Victorian home, but what does? Victorians did not have kitchens like we have today, so how do we build a fully functional modern kitchen that looks like it could have been a part of the Victorian Era?
You first have to fully understand the period. Victorian and Craftsman kitchens have their own look and feel, resulting from the technology, economics, social trends, and popular aspirations of the time. Understanding these influences is the key to a successful design. A period kitchen tells a story. It discloses the hopes, struggles, successes, and disappointments of its original owners. It incorporates the technology and design trends of the era.
The expansion of American railroads after the Civil War had an enormous impact on Victorian kitchens, as did the sudden avalanche of processed foods in the 1920s and '30s on kitchens of the Arts & Crafts period. Thirteen million returning war veterans and technological advances such as Formica® and mass-produced, factory cabinetry had a profound impact on kitchens in the immediate post-war years after 1945.
These historical events shaped the kitchens of their times, lending them unique features and their characteristic appearance. Capturing that heritage look while adding modern equipment and conveniences takes a bit more work than merely selecting cabinet doors that look more or less Victorian or have a certain Craftsman feel.
Our Computer-Assisted Design
Getting that design just right requires merging the available space with the features you desire, then compressing it into something you can afford.
Our computer-assisted, three-stage design process organizes and focuses your planning efforts. We will guide you step by step through the process required to turn your ideas and dreams into a beautiful and functional kitchen; first by working with you to develop a full-color concept design, then drafting a full set of working construction blueprints, and finally by building your kitchen using the latest cost-saving techniques and materials.
Our design-build process is widely recognized as the fastest and most economical way to remodel your kitchen. Studies conducted by Pennsylvania State University for the Construction Industry Institute found that the design-build approach to remodeling takes on average 33% less time and costs up to 30% less than conventional remodeling. We combine everything under one roof: carpentry, cabinetmaking, countertops, plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation, even tiling and glazing so that every aspect of the work is coordinated and controlled.
Our No-Nonsense, Plain English, Lifetime Cabinet Warranty
We guarantee our workmanship. And, we back up that guarantee with written warranties, including a warranty on our cabinets for as long as you own your home.
Our promise is very simple: if any defect in our cabinets resulting from poor workmanship is discovered at any time during the warranty period, we will fix the problem at no cost to you. We could not make it simpler. No other remodeling company that we know of has this much faith in the quality of its work. We promise to do it right, and we stand behind that promise.
Your Kitchen Reflects Your Unique Style
Our common-sense, adaptive design and building practices result in kitchens that are precisely fitted to our clients.
Every kitchen we build is unique. We do not build cookie-cutter kitchens. We never ask our clients to adjust to a kitchen that does not quite fit because it is the only one we can buy from our preferred cabinet supplier.
We don't use stock factory cabinets, so we are not restricted to the stock sizes and limited menu of features that cabinet factories offer. We make our own cabinets out of any wood, in any style, and in any size needed; and as far as accessories and organizers go — if it is made someplace in the world, we can get it, and if it can be made out of wood, we can probably make it.
All of our cabinets are custom-made and custom-fitted to you, your kitchen space, your work habits, and your lifestyle. But, even with all of this customization, our prices are usually lower than those charged by big lumber stores for their factory-built cabinets. How can we do that? Our low-overhead approach and local Nebraska cabinet shop mean we don't have to add the cost of an expensive showroom or cross-country shipping to the price of our cabinets.
So, Let's Get Started
When you are ready, fill out our kitchen questionnaire. This will get us started with a design for your special kitchen.
If you are not quite ready yet, take a look at the list of articles below. These are just a few of the many remodeling articles we have on our site to help you get started. A much more extensive list is available at our Index to Articles. Check it out while you're here.
When you finish reading, contact us and let's discuss how we can help you design and build your new kitchen.
Rev. 05/05/20