Choosing your builder or cabinet maker to renovate your kitchen is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming as there are so many decisions to make. There are many different kinds of kitchens and the style you choose will dictate to a certain extent how many other decisions must be made. A modern kitchen design requires fewer materials, so not as many decisions will be needed.

That said, there are still choices to be made about what you want in materials, appliances, colours, textures and so on, so here is a kitchen renovation timeline to help know which to consider first.

Step 1: Choose the appliances, lighting and sink/s. This will help when it comes to planning the design and development of the layout as your professional kitchen designer will need to know what space is left over for cupboards, how big the bench space is and where these things will fit.

Step 2: Choose the countertops, tile and cabinets. This allows you to layer the materials together and get a good idea of what the colours will look like. When placing samples of things together to see how they look, make sure you do it against a stark white background with no other colours nearby. The reason for this is that other colour will reflect on your items and change the shade slightly, so you don’t get a true idea of how they blend in with each other.

Step 3:  Decorative touches such as door handles, cupboard door shapes and ornamental lighting need to be taken into consideration – especially the latter. You have to know where the lighting fixtures will be before the electrician arrives.

Step 4: Flooring. It can be really difficult to match a new flooring colour with old, which often happens when you renovate the kitchen and want to match the new flooring to the rest of the floor. The best way to get a close match is to paint samples of stain on samples of the actual flooring you have chosen.

Step 5: Paint colour. Paint swatches should also be compared next to white otherwise they will change slightly to reflect other colours nearby. If you choose to have a white kitchen, you can’t simply purchase white accessories and expect them all to match. There are many different shades of white, so it is essential to compare the colours.

Step 6:  Furnishings and accessories. Many people consider this the fun part and want to do it first. However, if you do that, you may not be able to match these items with the paint colour or a tile colour. The furniture mostly consists of chairs tables and bar stools. Accessories can vary with spice racks, area rugs and artworks possible additions. If you still feel overwhelmed it might be best to let the professional kitchen designer do it all.