Many food bloggers are serious foodies -- and blog readers and other food bloggers have learned to rely on us for great recipes, cooking tips, kitchen shortcuts, ingredient sources, cookbook favorites and more. So no surprise: while many food bloggers could whip a five-course meal off a hotplate without breaking a sweat, when given the chance to build their dream kitchens, well, they're equally serious about creating kitchens worthy of dreams.

Building a dream kitchen is serious business. For many families, the kitchen is literally and figuratively the 'heart' of the home: the single room where family gathers one, twice, three times a day; the place where much 'living' and conversation takes place; the room which must most adapt to changing family circumstances; the room which opens up to neighbors, friends and other visitors; and -- oh right -- then there's the business of storing and preserving food, then cooking and eating it.

For many families, building a dream kitchen happens just once in a lifetime. It may require professional help, significant planning and a major financial investment. At minimum, it requires soul-searching about the dynamics of cooking, eating and living. The kitchen is the most complex room in a home (think, what does a bedroom need, just a place to sleep and a place for belongings?) with competing priorities of three dimensions plus budget, utility and aesthetics. It's difficult and often expensive to fix mistakes. Budget trumps dreams.

With the experience of seven of my fellow food bloggers, let's take a serious -- and seriously practical -- look at what to expect when considering a dream kitchen. This will be a series of posts. Three are in the can. But if there's one thing I've learned from these food bloggers is that they love-love-love to talk about their kitchens. So if you have a burning question about a dream kitchen, if you can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere else, please, ask away. I'm willing to bet they'll be happy to provide their perspectives. (For practicality, please pose questions in the comments. I'll coordinate answers in future posts.)

We've got a good mix of food bloggers here -- three recently finished their dream kitchens, two others some years ago, one is mid-construction, another is ready to break ground soon. One made a smaller kitchen and added a wall while others made the more usual moves of removing walls to create larger kitchens. Several employed professional help. One is an architect, himself and uses a recent client project as an example. Some stayed within budget, others went way over. What's it like to build a dream kitchen? Let these food bloggers share their range of experience.

Married with Dinner

Anita and her husband Cameron completed their San Francisco kitchen in 2007. Their project was "... somewhere between a remodel and a renovation. We moved all the plumbing and electrical around. All the walls were taken down to the studs. We added a window in the kitchen and opened up the back wall of the house. All the doors and walls stayed where they were, but we actually added a wall and made the kitchen smaller to create a hallway between the kitchen and the master bedroom. Our clever architect made the space seem larger and definitely more useable." The result "... certainly isn't a big space full of lots of fancy appliances, but it's a little more than 'simple and inexpensive'."

YEAR: 2007

PROJECT: Extensive remodel of a single-family house

PICTURES: See the new floor plan and photographs of Anita's dream kitchen.

PROFESSIONAL HELP: "Do work with a design professional – you will get what you pay for and more. We’ve planned three kitchens by ourselves, but this time around I knew our job was big and complex enough that we needed help with space planning and project management. Despite knowing this, we were VERY reluctant to pay what our architect wanted for the design. It seemed like we were taking so much money out of the construction/materials budget to hire him, and we were beside ourselves with second-guessing. We pulled our hair and fretted for weeks over what we’d done. But in retrospect, we both agree that it was the best money we ever spent on the house — or on any house."

PLANNING TIME: "Years!" says Anita. "We’d remodeled another kitchen mostly by ourselves a few years back, but we knew we weren’t staying in that house long-term. So we filed away some of our favorite ideas—things that weren’t really smart things to do for a short-term situation—and used a lot of them for this remodel."

CONSTRUCTION TIME: 2 months for a useable space, 6 months to complete

KITCHEN GOALS: "To create a highly functional two-cook kitchen with plenty of storage and work-surfaces, lots of light (daylight & artificial), and an aesthetic that suited our 1920s house. We also wanted more separation between the master bedroom and the kitchen."

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "We spent a of time talking with our architect about the kinds of cooking and entertaining we do. The biggest tactical thing we did was to add the wall/hallway. It made the space smaller, but it actually meant that we have four walls of cabinets rather than the two walls we used to have. Aesthetically, we spent a fair bit of time looking at old-house kitchens (historical photos and new kitchens that felt old) and took some of the best ideas from both. To bring in more daylight, we added French doors to the breakfast room, and created a window opening between the kitchen and the breakfast room. The new ‘not a window’ is the exact size of the existing window to the outdoors, so it feels like an original; there’s an illusion that the breakfast room was added later, which it wasn’t."

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: Only from a food blogger: "I might hire a lighting consultant to go over the plans to make them more photo-friendly. But that’s a very niche problem, something only a food blogger would care about, and it’s likely something we can modify in the future if we decide it’s an issue."

BUDGET: Five figures, a "budget" kitchen remodel in San Francisco -- "It’s hard to say what the kitchen cost, since we also remodeled our master bath, breakfast room, and laundry at the same time. We saved by buying appliances and other big-ticket items (tile, countertops, cabinets, bathroom fixtures, etc) ourselves and coordinating the deliveries. If you have the flexibility to work from home, and the storage space to keep multiple giant boxes somewhere on the property, this is definitely the way to go."

ACTUAL: "Pretty much right on budget, surprising because we made some changes along the way although some of them (hardwood floors vs cork) saved significant labor costs so balanced out. We also incurred unexpected and costly permit inspection issues with the City and a sizable plumbing fiasco smack in the middle of the job. (Good news: Once the contractors are already ‘living’ in your house, adding a few hours of labor to fix a broken sewer line is surprisingly inexpensive.) We budgeted 10% for contingencies which we mostly didn’t have to use, a pleasant surprise."

Photo by Joseph De Leo courtesy Andrew Mann Architecture

The Perfect Pantry

Lydia and husband Ted live in an old log house in Glocester, Rhode Island, a small, somewhat rural town. When redoing their kitchen in 2000, the footprint remained the same but "... we removed everything, including the flooring." To retain the spirit of a log house, their kitchen design called for open storage (no cabinets) and wooden countertops combined with stainless steel appliances.

YEAR: 2000

PROJECT: Major remodel of a single-family house

PICTURES: Lydia's log cabin dream kitchen

PROFESSIONAL HELP: "Be decisive when you are sure of what you want, and don’t allow your design ideas to be compromised by contractors who want to find the easy way to do things. My own contractor on my current kitchen, bless his heart, told me, when I needed to have my stove custom-vented through two layers of log wall, 'Everything is possible. It might just take a bit longer, and cost a bit more, but everything is possible.'"

PLANNING TIME: 6 months

CONSTRUCTION TIME: 4 months although, Lydia says, the "... actual work probably could have been completed in a month. There was a lot of waiting time while the contractor finished another job."

KITCHEN GOALS: "To create a space that is comfortable for me to cook, with lots of work space and countertops that are the right height (I’m short!), and a room in which others can cook with me or hang out while I cook."

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "No cabinets—all storage is open. Lowering the height of the center work table by half an inch made it perfectly comfortable for me. A few custom-designed pieces, like a stainless steel table with a built-in knife slot, drawers, and shelves below, and a spice rack built for the spices I actually use, have made a big difference. In fact, the space is so comfortable that I’m able to hold classes in it!"

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: "My only regret is that we didn’t pop out one exterior wall of the room to add a few feet in length. Because our house is a log house, that would have been difficult (read, 'expensive'), though not impossible. We tried to keep the 'might as wells' under control, but in that one case, we really should have done it."

BUDGET: $10,000 plus appliances
ACTUAL: Within budget

Dog Hill Kitchen

After five years of saving and looking for land to build on, Maggie and her family are about to break ground on a magnificent home in northern Michigan, including, she says, the "... most important room, the kitchen"!

YEAR: 2008

PROJECT: New Construction - breaking ground any day now!

PICTURES: Maggie is chronicling their building experience at Building on Dog Hill but for now, Maggie cooks at the food blog Dog Hill Kitchen.

PROFESSIONAL HELP & PLANNING TIME: "We worked with the builder designing the house for six months and are now working with a kitchen designer."

CONSTRUCTION TIME: To soon to know.

KITCHEN GOALS: "Create a functional kitchen that will be versatile in style and last me a long time."

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "Focusing on how I cook to determine the layout, creating a lot of storage space, making the higher cost items (appliances, counter tops and cabinets) more neutral/versatile in style and color."

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: "I wish I had gone to appliance showrooms earlier instead of just looking online and in magazines. I need to see the layout in person. I put it off too long."

BUDGET: $38,000 (kitchen only)
ACTUAL: Fingers crossed!

A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen

Kim Morgan Moss lives in Charleston, South Carolina and with her husband is mid-remodel. They've saved all the plaster walls that could be, while adding 2400 square feet, including a second floor, a third-floor art studio and a brand-new kitchen.

YEAR: 2008

PROJECT: New kitchen during complete home remodel - still under construction

PICTURES: Kim blogs at A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen, she'll be unveiling her new kitchen any day now!

PROFESSIONAL HELP: "We used the designer from the company we purchased the cabinets to help with the layout. My husband and I did the design together. He renovates houses; I have a design background and love to cook so together we had an idea of what we wanted."

PLANNING TIME: 8 months for the kitchen

CONSTRUCTION TIME: time will tell

KITCHEN GOALS: Create a new kitchen with a breakfast room. I also wanted a beautiful kitchen that was functional and reflected my design style. My husband who does renovations, had different goals.

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "Floor plan definitely helped. Giving thought to how I cook, what I liked and didn’t like in previous kitchens."

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: "I wish I given more thought to -- and financially anticipated and prepared for -- the budget constraints. We want to be in soon and my options are dwindling for a few items. I should have been more involved in the process."

BUDGET: Cabinets $10,000, appliances $6000, floor and countertops $5000 plus gutting the kitchen and adding a breakfast room
ACTUAL: On target for the kitchen

Bistro 613

For six years, Shelly Rauch and husband Dave had thoughts about renovating the kitchen in their four-bedroom home in Newport New, Virginia. In 2007, when finances finally allowed, they moved quickly, making decision in just four weeks, then using up another four weeks for construction. They kept the same footprint but removed a hanging cabinent that blocked the view between the kitchen and the eating area. They replaced windows, appliances, trimwork and painted.

YEAR: 2007

PROJECT: Kitchen remodel

PICTURES: Oh boy, did they paint, just check the photos of Shelley's new dream kitchen

PROFESSIONAL HELP: "My husband is himself a contractor, and was able to arrange a team of people that we knew would produce quality work in a timely fashion."

PLANNING TIME: 4 weeks

CONSTRUCTION TIME: 4 weeks (though everything was done by the third week, the bay window was delivered a week late)

KITCHEN GOALS: To make the kitchen more user friendly for both cooks, and more inviting/comfortable to our guests.

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "With an obstructing cabinet removed, the kitchen and eat-in kitchen are now one continuous space. The colours, from the walls to the granite and floor, have gone from cool to comfortable and warm. We also have more storage space, a real boon."

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: "I wish we’d had the money to get double ovens and an independent cooktop where the island is. I also wish I’d looked a little more closely at the mechanics of how different types of pull-out drawers work: I may have done a few of those differently."

BUDGET: $15,000
ACTUAL: $30,000

StephenCooks

Stephen Smith is both an architect and the food blogger at StephenCooks. In 2008, he embarked upon a near-gut renovation of an 1865 townhouse for a client in Portland, Maine. For the kitchen, all but the exterior structural walls were removed, an internal structural brick wall was removed and replaced with a steel beam. The new kitchen was built in the new space.

YEAR: 2008

PROJECT: New kitchen part of complete renovation

PLANNING TIME: 9 months

CONSTRUCTION TIME: 6 months (for entire project, not just the kitchen)

KITCHEN GOALS: #1 Goal: Build a kitchen perfectly fitted to the clients' lifestyle. (He cooks while she's nearby, she cleans up.) Other Goals: Without wall cabinets, create storage space where nothing is stored behind anything else so everything is visible and accessible. A space for entertaining, with the kitchen and dining room open to each other but separated by a stand-up bar that creates a natural place to hang out while dinner is being prepared but screens kitchen chaos during dinner itself. Plenty of natural light while accommodating restrictions on new and modified windows in a home located in an historic district. Aesthetic goals: The home is of Victorian vintage so the kitchen needed to look appropriate in the overall house without being a reproduction antique kitchen. The client also likes the traditional Tuscan themes of stone, rustic tile, old metal and simple cabinetry.

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: "The client inventoried every item needed in the kitchen, including its dimensions and where it was going to be used. This was a practical step that really worked."

BUDGET: Appliances and plumbing fittings/fixtures $15,000; tile $2500; cabinets $12,500; stone $10,000; lights $1700. Other work (paint, plumbing, carpentry, demo, steel, doors, windows, skylight, plaster, electrical and mechanical costs) were not separately budgeted.
ACTUAL: Within budget

Food Person

Janet Majure and her husband stripped their 1920s house in Lawrence, Kansas to its studs in 1993, remodeling the kitchen and adding a 3/4 bath and other work.

YEAR: 1993

PROJECT: Major Renovation

PICTURES: Janet's dream kitchen

PROFESSIONAL HELP: "DO use a professional. You’re planning a working space, not just something pretty."

PLANNING TIME: Thinking: 6 years, Planning: a few months.

CONSTRUCTION TIME: About 6 months

KITCHEN GOALS: To make limited-space, outdated kitchen far more functional and attractive.

HOW GOALS WERE ACCOMPLISHED: 1. The new floor plan. It eliminated a peninsula that chopped up the already-limited space and allowed the creation of a sort of modified/enlarged galley-style plan, which greatly expanded counter space and provides multiple work areas. We lost a breakfast nook but retained some seating by putting stools at/under one counter. 2. The lighting. We have task lighting under all wall-mounted cabinets and on track where there aren’t cabinets, also a spot over the kitchen sink. 3. Open storage. Although it has some drawbacks, I can see and grab essentially every pot, pan, knife, utensil and measuring item I need without opening a cabinet."

WISH DONE DIFFERENTLY: "I’d have chosen a different flooring. We went with pine to 'match' the other floors in the house. But 1990s pine flooring when finished little resembles our old-growth quarter-sawn pine floors, even in color. Although I appreciate its resilience compared with, say, ceramic tile, it has worn badly and needs to be replaced."

BUDGET: $30,000
ACTUAL: $34,500 (15% over budget)

Still to come in the Dream Kitchen series

Many thanks to these seven food bloggers for sharing their experience! But wait, there's more still to come. Look for these posts over the next couple of weeks.

How to Select and Manage an Architect, Kitchen Designer and Contractor

How Green Is Your Dream Kitchen?

Your Questions
And don't forget, if you have a burning question about a dream kitchen, if you can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere else, please, ask away. (For practicality, please pose questions in the comments. I'll coordinate answers with the seven food bloggers in future posts.)

BlogHer food editor Alanna Kellogg dreams about replacing a kitchen wall with a bar-height counter but until then, she's happy to dream about today's recipe for the "best ever" new potatoes & green beans.