You can break every kitchen down to the same basic design elements. Cabinets, countertops, appliances, flooring, sinks and faucets, and finally the architectural details such as walls, ceilings, moldings.
I believe if you are trying to design a kitchen and plan out what you want by approaching each category individually, you can make the process much easier on yourself.
Kitchens can be extremely expensive. A lot of people become very ambitious when planning for their kitchen only to be disheartened at the cost of it all. My advice would be to not give up at that point until you have explored all the different options that are available.
You can still find quality at lesser prices. You may have to sacrifice some of those bigger ideas in order to fit your budget, but in the end, with some decent planning, it can all work out.
In my case, I am building my own cabinets which eliminates much of the expense right off the top. There are many custom cabinet shops who can build exactly what you want for a reasonable price.
I find that the quality of the local custom shop cabinets are better too. I have had these local shops build and install cabinets on a few new homes that I have built and there prices ranged anywhere from $7,500 to $10,000. This included installation and countertop.
I have also gone straight to Lowes Home Improvement Store and picked out some of there ready-made, ready-to-install cabinets and found them to be a decently built cabinet at a low price. A 12' x 10' L-Shaped kitchen including upper cabinets with counter, sink and faucet cost me roughly $3000.00.
Kitchens are considered by most people to be a focal point in a home. Family and friends tend to gather in this area to eat and socially engage with each other. Being such a multi-functional room, a kitchen should be large in order to accommodate these functions.
Obviously, some homes you just cannot fit a large kitchen into the space that is available. You would be surprised though at some of the clever space saving ideas that are available in order to get the maximum usage out of your kitchen.
