ᐅ New Construction – When to Gather Information About the Kitchen and Bathroom

Hello everyone

We are currently planning our new build with an architect.
When is the best time to visit the kitchen showroom or start bathroom planning to ensure that all windows, doors, and walls can remain as planned?
How did you handle this?

Best regards,
milkie

We planned the bathroom directly with the floor plan and also finalized the entire sanitary equipment.
We planned and ordered the kitchen shortly before the screed was installed. It has been stored at the seller's warehouse since the end of January and will be installed in the second week of March, as soon as the tiles are laid. You have to factor in roughly 8 weeks of delivery time for the kitchen, which fits well with the timing of the screed.

Without a floor plan, it’s just a complete waste of time.
Or better yet: Start now and prepare yourself for an early reality check... Bathrooms and kitchens are always the most expensive parts, with added luxury touches.

Once you have a to-scale floor plan, you can dive into the kitchen madness...
Our rule of thumb: The initial quoted price divided by 2.5 should be your target price.
We had to negotiate hard and long, but in the end, we got one supplier that far down.
First price over €25,000, finally paid under €10,000 (roughly $11,000).

For the bathroom, we stuck to the standard offered by our house provider and saved ourselves from buying bathroom furniture... €500 (about $550) for a particleboard vanity cabinet? No thanks. The €50 (about $55) Ikea version looks hardly different and achieves the same effect.

We planned the kitchen very early to allow for adjustments to windows and doors. It’s important not to start this too late. We also planned the bathroom together with the floor plan from the beginning.

You should at least have an idea of how the kitchen or bathroom will look. If you can still make some changes [I]that would be even better. So, if the building permit / planning permission has already been submitted, you have to live with the existing conditions.

Our floor plan was roughly finalized in March. We submitted the building permit / planning permission application in June. In the meantime, I had considered having a sink on our prep island. This would have required a drain there as well, which I would have needed to inform our architect about so she could plan accordingly.

There are also homeowners who build the house around the kitchen. They cook so often and with such passion that the kitchen is meant to be the highlight of the house. In that case, you really need to start planning earlier.

A floor plan is already available. We can still move doors and windows.
Then we will arrange consultation meetings as soon as we have the revised floor plan. Thank you!