Whatever the process, you might find something that just looks absolutely stunning and say, "I want THAT kitchen!!" It's easy to get enamored and swept away and forget to give notice to the practical details of your everyday use in the kitchen.

In the long run, though, the functionality of your kitchen designs will be the difference between loving your kitchen or being extremely frustrated with things.

For example, if there aren't enough kitchen cabinets to store everything you use in the kitchen and you have to squeeze and pile things up in them just to get everything you need into them it will be frustrating trying to access items you need without going through a big ordeal...and think about this as a daily occurrence.

Or if you don't have enough countertop space for the type of food preparation that you need to do you might end up spending a lot of time going back and forth between the refrigerator and stove and back again to the prep space, which might be great for burning calories, but then again might also be a nuisance and waste a lot of time that you don't have.

Or another consideration might be if you prep a lot of foods that could stain certain types of countertops, finding a countertop material that isn't easily stained by acids and alkalis or one that can be easily renewed should be a priority.

Or if you use lots of large types of pots and pans is the sink large enough to accommodate the types and sizes of pots and pans that you use daily? Is the dishwasher located near the storage cupboards or would you have to trek across the kitchen to unload the dishwasher and put things away?

So when planning your kitchen renovation, to make sure you get a kitchen design that will work for you and how you work in your kitchen, one of the first things you should do is to look at and assess how you use your current kitchen. What works for you right now and what doesn't work? What are some of the features you love about your current kitchen and what are some of the things you really don't love and want to change?

Getting clear about how you really use your kitchen and what you need in your kitchen designs to accommodate the functionality will help you have a kitchen that is beautiful in both design and function and be a kitchen you can truly love.