General Considerations

What is your budget for remodeling?
Do you know how long, a minimum amount, you will live in this house?
What do you like most about your current kitchen?
What would you like to have in your new kitchen?
We recommend that you make a list with three catagories: must have, desire to have, and don't need. This helps you focus the priorities of your remodel and helps you align your budget with what's really important to you and your household.
What activities will take place in the kitchen? Entertaining? Homework? Internet surfing, video games or computer use? TV? Paying bills? What do you do now? What do you want to be able to do?
Achieving functionality and pleasing aesthetics, what looks right and works best for you?

Cabinet Layout and Style

What wood, style, color and construction? For example cherry costs more than oak, plywood construction more than fiberboard constuction, raised more than flat door style and paint and specialty finish more than a standard stain.
What storage necessities (recycle bins, small appliances, food articles, pots and pans, trays, liquor, pantry, spices, pet food, etc.)
Which appliances and what size?
What is your work flow — prepare, cook, serve, and clean up?
Does more than one person cook at a time?
Do you need a baking center?
Will you eat in the kitchen at a snack bar, an island, or table?
Do you want decorative cabinets and accents such as glass doors, open shelves, legs, appliqués, etc.?
Which cabinet hardware (knobs and pulls)?

Solid surface or tile? For example granite, quartz, and Corian cost more than laminate.
Which color, style, and edge details? Upgraded edge detail (more detail) costs more than those standard with the product.
Do you want or need a backsplash? Full backsplashes cost more than standard 4" backsplashes.
Do you want an undermount or an overmount sink?
What are your durability requirements? Do they vary depending upon where you are in the kitchen?

Where do you need electrical outlets and/or switches?
What lighting do you require? Room lighting? Task (under cabinet) lighting? Decorative?

What flooring material do you require — tile, laminate, hardwood, cork, bamboo, etc.?
Which color and style?
What are your durability requirements? What are the traffic patterns? Does the kitchen open to the outdoors? The garage? Children? Dogs?