Washington, DC
Kitchen Remodeling

Ask any experienced chef—success in the kitchen starts with a solid recipe, and Four Brothers approaches kitchen remodeling exactly the same way. Here are a few of our favorite secret (and not so secret) ingredients when it comes to cooking up a kitchen renovation that tastes as good as it looks.

What’s better in a kitchen: cabinets or floating shelves?

Do you have matching dishes? Seriously, this the kind of “no right answer” question our kitchen designers absolutely love. While we won’t pick a side (yet), it’s important to note that it’s critical for decisions like this to be finalized in the initial stages of design. No shade of dove white dishes will look good sitting on a droopy, under-supported shelf.

What are the first steps in a kitchen remodel?

Every kitchen renovation is unique, but successfully navigating the process from the initial design consultation to breaking ground does not work without a general structure. Our in-house team of architects, kitchen designers, and interior designers has developed and continues to refine our process. The general steps are outlined below:

Initial Design Consultation:  This meeting at your home is critical for the kitchen design process to get started on the right foot. Meeting with you in the space and having an open conversation allows us to understand your vision for the new space. The problems with your current kitchen are just as important for us to understand as how you hope to use the new space. Are you a passionate chef? Do you entertain often? How does your family use the kitchen on a day to day basis? We’ll come with a list of questions to help organize thoughts, but the meeting should be informal and conversational.

Schematic Design:  We’ll use our prior conversations and measurements to put together a presentation of what the new kitchen can be. Usually there will be multiple options, and our presentation is tailored to your preferences for format. Typically, we’ll use a combination of 3d renderings, 2d plans and elevations, and a storyboard for finish concepts.

Revisions to Schematic Design:  You will come away from the schematic kitchen design meeting with a lot to think about. Typically, our clients give us feedback within a week that allows us to work towards a final schematic plan. We combine elements of two or three options that were presented in the first meeting to arrive at a final schematic (or conceptual) plan.

Trade Walkthrough:  Once you’ve signed off on the schematic design, we will schedule a walkthrough with our trade partners. We’ll spend a good part of a day in your house meeting with plumbers, electricians, engineers, and others. These will be the tradesmen and women working on your project, and it is important that we communicate well at an early stage. Their feedback will also allow us to develop accurate pricing.

Selecting Finishes:  By now we have a good idea of your aesthetic and will likely have the kitchen finishes planned in broad strokes. It is time to begin selecting, pricing, and documenting exactly what will be used in each section of the kitchen. We will help you prioritize selections by lead time and connect you with any showrooms that you are interested in visiting. Many of our clients finalize all or most of their selections in our offices, and we try to curate your choices to a few good ones. Others prefer to spend the time to visit tile, counter, and appliance vendors with whom we have existing relationships and negotiated discounts.

Construction Documents:  Once finishes have been selected, plans will be brought to a level needed to communicate the design intent to the construction team. While some of these drawings are boring and technical, other elements are critical to make sure the final product is refined and detailed. We’ll need your input from time to time, but the ball is largely in our court at this point.

Do I need a building permit for a kitchen renovation?

After the design is complete and before construction on a kitchen remodel can begin, a building permit is required. While many firms do not pull permits for smaller jobs, it is almost always a good idea. It gives both the homeowner and the contractor peace of mind knowing that the job will be inspected by a knowledgeable third party.

While requirements vary between jurisdictions, a building permit for a kitchen can generally be obtained in a day in Washington DC, Montgomery County, and Northern Virginia. As long as the remodel is not part of an addition or larger home remodel, the process is usually handled in person as a “walk-through” permit. The drawings needed, however, can be different depending on where you are working.

The District of Columbia requires the most thorough set of plans, including plumbing and electrical diagrams. If you are renovating a kitchen in a historic district such as Georgetown, Capitol Hill, or Mount Pleasant, you will also need to visit the historic desk if you are replacing windows or making other exterior alterations. If structural work is involved, it is recommended and often required that a structural engineer stamp the plans.

Montgomery County and Northern Virginia kitchen renovation permits generally require fewer drawings, as they rely on inspectors to enforce building code, whether it is shown on the plans or not. Like in Washington, the trades (plumbing, mechanical, and electrical) will be required to obtain their own permits. The two biggest procedural differences between working in Maryland and Washington DC are:

1.  If you are remodeling a kitchen in an incorporated township like Chevy Chase, you are often required to obtain a separate permit. This is done independently from the Montgomery County permitting process.

2.  If the renovation project is in Montgomery County or Prince Georges County, you will need to get plumbing inspections from WSSC as well as from the county. This can add additional days to the remodel.

Whether you are renovating in Bethesda MD, Arlington VA, or Washington DC, your kitchen designer on contractor should do the research well ahead of time to make sure you are prepared with your permit when construction begins.

How soon can construction on my kitchen begin?

A smooth kitchen renovation does not happen by accident. Rather, it is a carefully choreographed and meticulously planned series of steps that should be coordinated weeks in advance. In addition, the process is largely the same for the smallest kitchen in a Washington DC rowhouse as it is for a kitchen remodel in a Bethesda McMansion. Our kitchen designers coordinate with our in-house carpenters as soon as the final plan is agreed on and we have received a signed construction contract and deposit. The preparation begins as follows:

Ordering:  We identify items with the longest lead time. Typically, these are kitchen cabinetry and windows and doors (more or less eight weeks for both). However, tile and specialty items can also take a surprisingly long time to arrive. Once we identify the bottlenecks, we can prioritize.

Scheduling:  Once we have a good sense of the arrival dates of materials, the kitchen designer meets with our in-house construction team to review the project. There are several parts to the meeting:

Plan review:  Having another set of eyes on the plans before the home remodeling work begins often allows us to prepare for potential bottlenecks and spot problems ahead of time. Everyone is on the same page before the renovation begins.

Building a Construction Calendar:  The construction team builds a day by day calendar that is shared with everyone on the team. A home renovation is a linear process, and if certain milestones are not prioritized, the project can extend for weeks. Generally, the critical milestones are close-in inspections (to allow subfloor and drywall to begin), setting of the base cabinetry (to allow for the counter template which typically takes a week between template and install) and counter install (to allow for backsplash tile and plumbing and electrical finals to begin).

Pre-construction Meeting:  Our kitchen designers and construction team will meet with you at your house one to two weeks before the remodel is scheduled to begin. This allows us to plan for practical considerations such as a temporary kitchen during renovation, what hours we will be working, and what areas of the house we can use for staging materials if needed.

Adjusting on the Fly:  Having the kitchen design and construction teams in-house has many advantages; however, it also puts the responsibility squarely on us to make sure the process is seamless. On a typical day, our construction and design teams make between ten and twenty phone calls, emails, and texts with outside parties to keep the wheels turning. Supplies and finishes are ordered, tracked, inspected, stored, and delivered. Trade partners are scheduled, confirmed, reconfirmed, and adjusted based on progress. And of course, there is an open line between the kitchen designer or architect who played a critical role in the beginning and the team who is managing the day to day of the renovation. Throughout the process, the calendar will be updated, and you will be informed of any critical changes or adjustments.

Steve Hershberger

Written By Steve Hershberger
Updated: March 2, 2023

“Four Brothers is an exceptional outfit. Everything from the planning stages to the design to the execution was done well. This contractor is organized, thorough and true craftsmen. I highly recommend them to anyone in the Washington, DC area.”


M.G.R.
Brookland,
Washington, DC

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