Redesigning your existing kitchen or designing a new kitchen for the first time is exciting. It’s so exciting, in fact, that if you’re not careful, you’re likely to forget some pretty important questions that could make or break your space.

How many kitchen cabinets is enough?

For many people, there’s no such thing as too many kitchen cabinets. If you’re redesigning an existing kitchen, you may not get to decide how many cabinets you have, unless you’re changing your configuration, or adding an island. The age-old equation requires six-square-feet of cabinet space per person, but we all know that won’t leave room for fifteen cereal boxes, your Crock Pot, your Instant Pot, your wok, or your Vitamix and Jack Lalanne juicer. So, start with the age-old equation and then add extra space for your cooking habits and appliance addiction.

Pro-tip: When you talk to your personal design team at KitchenFX, tell them what kinds of appliances you use and store in your cabinets, what your cooking habits entail, and where you’ve been feeling pinched on space.

What are the biggest pain points you need to solve?

Refacing kitchen cabinets or refinishing them solves the major visual pain points of look and feel. But if you’re ready to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars redoing your cabinets, make sure the functionality gets some of the attention. Whether your pain point lies in not having enough space, cabinets that are too high to reach, or a strange and dysfunctional configuration, now is the time to solve those problems. After all, painting otherwise anger-inducing cabinets is really just putting lipstick on a pig, and you won’t stay happy long.

Pro-tip: Talk to your designer at KitchenFX about your pain points in your kitchen. Whether it’s strange shelving sizes or cabinet sizes, too-tall cabinets, or the way the cabinet doors open, there’s a solution, and we’ll help you to love your cabinets for life.

Is this renovation about form or it about function?

Akin to admitting and speaking out about your pain points, you need to be honest with yourself about the purpose of your kitchen project. If it’s all about moving from avocado green to stark white, the transition may be smooth and simple. But if what you really want is a corner lazy susan, a pull-out spice rack and a hidden cutting board, a refacing project won’t make those things magically appear.

Pro-tip: Start the conversation about your new kitchen by listing everything you wish your kitchen had, and didn’t have. Then put those things into columns: must have, nice to have, could live without. Then talk to your designers at KitchenFX about what’s possible and whether it will fit into your budget.

How much space are you willing to sacrifice?

Inevitably, adding kitchen cabinets or a kitchen island is going to reduce the amount of free floor space in your kitchen. And if you’re committed to the island, you may not also be able to install the breakfast nook you saw on that Home Makeover unless the seats are also a walking path. If your goal is the opposite—to gain space—consider the cabinets you’re getting rid of, and whether what’s going in their place will solve problems or create new ones.

Pro-tip: Talk to the kitchen experts at KitchenFX about ways to combine your ideas to save space and create unique living areas that bring joy to your kitchen and your life. A kitchen island might easily become a dual-use breakfast bar if done correctly.

Who’s using this kitchen?

Before you sign on the dotted line for your kitchen redesign project, take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself who is going to use this kitchen: you or Giada de Laurentiis? We all watch the Food Network and dream about whipping up Giada’s famous Chicken Piccata. But committing to changing your kitchen is a lot different than committing to changing your cooking habits, and the last time we checked, that Chicken Piccata only required one pan on the stove, not some celebrity kitchen you’re never going to use and will regret paying for.

Pro-tip: The designers at KitchenFX have been constructing and refinishing kitchens for over 30 years. Talk to them openly and honestly about your lifestyle, cooking habits, and which celebrity chef you wish you could be, and let them help you make good design decisions for the life you lead and the inner chef you may or may not embrace.

Designing, or redesigning, your kitchen is one of the most exciting adventures you can embark on, especially if you’ve been staring at the same cabinets, floors, counters and backsplash for a long time. Asking the hard questions up front, and giving honest (even if painful) answers, can make your new kitchen the happiest place on Earth…for you.