--Pick wall colors
--Make sure all appliances will be on time and have their install instructions/dimensions on hand for the cabinet makers
--Pick your counter. pick your counter edge
--Pick your backsplash
--Think about your drawer organizers and what will go in each drawer--do you know what will go in each drawer?
--Where are your electrical outlets
--Do you want a Tapmaster or NeverEmpty?
--Have you ordered/purchased your garbage disposal
--Have you picked your hood?
--Pick your handles/knobs
--Automatic close drawers? All those bells and whistles that you have considered--figure it out now whether it's in your budget and you want them
--Flooring?

Make an inventory of ALL your appliances and drawers. Organize yourself so you have no (or limited) surprises when the kitchen is done. For instance: oh my, my food processor doesn't fit the depth of the lazy susan. Figure it all out while you have all your stuff visible, measureable, inventoried.

Super exciting to be starting soon!! Congrats to you! Love school teachers and think they are our unsung heroes. Thank you for teaching our children :)

Great list firsthouse

That is a great list, firsthouse.

Also, one thing I didn't do, but would recommend to someone who has some lead time, is to create a binder with printouts of all of the specs and installation information for your chosen appliances, faucets, sinks, and lighting. That way, when they're ready to start work and start asking questions, you've got a quick reference with everything in one place.

Also, assuming you're staying in the house being remodeled, you can also start thinking about what you'll need for a working kitchen while yours is under construction. I also used some of this time to cook a lot of food and stock my freezer with things we could eat during the remodel. That has been a tremendous help!

Good luck getting through the wait!

Thanks firsthouse and BakerJen!

--Pick wall colors
I feel I can't do this until I see the granite (and cabinets) installed with this lighting. We're just going to go with some version of off-white walls. I think someone had the whole house sprayed swiss coffee at some previous point. I'll probably change the tone slightly, but stay pretty basic on wall color.

--Make sure all appliances will be on time and have their install instructions/dimensions on hand for the cabinet makers --Have you picked your hood?
Range, hood, and fridge ordered. The only thing with a long lead time is the Bluestar 30" RNB in Cobalt Blue. I ordered everything that I knew I was getting from the same local appliance place when I ordered that.
W/D (yes, they're in the kitchen) and DW shouldn't take long. I can order them any time.
Waiting with baited breath for new Miele's to be released in the US. I realize that they may not be available at the time everything else is installed. I can live with that. It's my understanding that as long as the electrical is set, I can have it installed later. I'll just hang on to my microwave a bit longer. (I'd love confirmation that that's an okay plan.)

--Pick your counter. pick your counter edge
Granite on hold, will go visit it with fabricator to talk templating and actually buy it. Need to have a meeting of the minds with DH on edge. :/

--Pick your backsplash
When we changed granites, we've opted to change backsplash. We were going to go with Heath's Modern Basics because of cost and availability, but when we opted for a less expensive granite of a different color, we decided we needed to go with some of their Classic Field and likely special order. We picked out Frost the other day. Will take it down to the granite and make sure it works.

The tile is a 4-week lead time special order. I'm thinking I'd rather wait until the granite is installed to be certain. (And also watch the Heath site for overstock deals...I'd happily run up to Sausalito if something showed up.) I think that's an okay plan. There seem to be no shortage of people who are ABB, so I think that's an okay plan.

--Think about your drawer organizers and what will go in each drawer--do you know what will go in each drawer?
I'm planning on Wood Hollow organizers, so I'll need to wait until the cabinets are in, I think. The sizes of drawers are so different than what I've got now, I am having a hard time imagining what will go where. Also, currently we just have one U-shaped area that's all cook/clean/prep, so I'm having trouble figuring out what items will end up clumping into those areas. Example: right now there's one 30-ish" wide drawer that holds all regularly used large spoons, spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, wine and bottle openers, potato peeler, etc. I know some of that will migrate over near the range, some will stay by the sink and fridge, some will move to the island, but I don't feel I can make those decisions until I'm working with the new layout.

--Where are your electrical outlets
Not much is changing there, besides adding the island and getting plugs there.

--Do you want a Tapmaster or NeverEmpty?
I've got a Delta Touch2O now, and we're opting not to go for one like that again. I think I'll miss it, but we're going to wait and see. I may add a Tapmaster later. I can do that, right?

I'm not familiar with NeverEmpty and google wasn't helpful. I'd love to find out what it is to find out if I need/want it. :)

--Have you ordered/purchased your garbage disposal
Garbage disposal replaced about 6 months ago, so we'll use that. I got a big/nice/quiet one and am happy I did. The GC suggested going to a switch on the counter. I meant to ask here about that. Is that what most people have these days? I've only ever used a wall switch. One of the reasons he may be suggesting it is that the wall the sink is on is masonry and so the switch for the Garbage disposal is on the side wall. One side step away, but still not the most convenient place. Thoughts?

--Pick your handles/knobs --Automatic close drawers? All those bells and whistles that you have considered--figure it out now whether it's in your budget and you want them
I thought that handles would be the ongoing research project while waiting for cabinets. It turned out that we were just shy of a discount threshold on our cabinets (HD if you spend $X, you get $Y off). So we ordered the handles with the cabinets. Yes, they were more expensive than elsewhere, but they ended up being free this way. AND, it was one less decision to make. It came at a time I was feeling particularly overwhelmed. DH was good with it, so we went for it.

Cabinets are Innermost so they come with soft close, full extension, etc.

--Flooring?
That was the other project this weekend. We recently had LVT installed the LR/DR/halls. Next weekend it's going into a couple of the bedrooms. We'd thought we might run it into the kitchen too, but when we were looking at Maple cabinets, I thought it would be too similar/yet different. It's a light walnut look. I've uploaded it here. Now that we're going with Natural Cherry, and since I've recently seen pics of badgergal's kitchen. I'm thinking it might work well. We did bring home a sample of some stone looking LVT, but I'm thinking it might fight with the granite.

binder
Great idea! I have papers all shoved in a folder, but that includes about 37 different iterations of the same thing. I should keep that stuff in a folder and file it and start a binder with just the final stuff. I have several notes in Evernote with the electronic stuff, but I should keep a hard copy in a central place.

cook ahead
This would be good for me to start. Thanks. I'd read that before but it'd gone out of my head. We've got freezer space in the garage freezer that I should aim to fill. :)

Thanks for indulging me. I am sure I'm driving everyone around me nuts. And worse yet, people at work are like 'So what's the latest on the kitchen' and I've just had to say 'waiting' recently. So thanks for making me see both that I've BEEN doing stuff, it's just not that exciting to the non-TKO and that there ARE some things that I can be doing now.

Cal quail, you have it together. Wish I was more organized. Curious, how are you handling the washer/dryer? Stackables? Thanks.

It's NeverMT:

Here is a link that might be useful: NeverMT

Mags438
Short answer: Picture below with counter missing. We're still working on configuring the counter to get behind the units easily. Also, ignore the fact that they're showing as two dishwashers, I told KD to use them because the specs were right.
Long answer:The W/D have been a source of contention since we've been here. We've currently got black front loading Samsungs that match the current black JennAir slide in range and don't bother me at all. But they bother DH. And I admit, they are a little large in comparison to other things in the kitchen.

The first designer/GC combo thought they could stack a smaller pair or move them to the eastern wall where there's just a door to a breezeway vs. where they are which is the northern wall where the range is moving. When we got the design, the W/D were in exactly the same spot. DH freaked. We tried every which way to move them elsewhere in the house or move them somewhere less obtrusive, but there just isn't anywhere else.

So we're getting the smaller ASKOs that fit under a standard height counter. It's just the two of us, so I'm fine with the size and we're not going anywhere, so I'm not worried about resale. We finally realized that since THEY weren't going anywhere, we just need to get over it and work with what what's available. They're 'titanium' color, so hopefully will blend well enough with stainless appliances elsewhere in the kitchen (but the range on the same wall will be cobalt blue). There will be a 21" pantry between the range and W/D that should break things up.

The thing we didn't realize until part way through the second KD/GC combo was that because the wall they're on is masonry, they will have to sit 5" out from wall. :( So while they'll be narrower, shorter, and less deep, they'll still be out past the pantry. We tried again to see about stacking or something, but there's a window that they'd block on the eastern wall. We almost thought about ditching the window since we're adding a light/panel/window in the breezeway door, but then they'd be showing 'up high'. This way, they'll still be unobtrusive when entering the kitchen from the dining room/family room.

sjhockeyfan
Thanks. Soap dispenser in general is something that I DO need to think about. I've never had one. I don't recall ever even being in a house with one.

Right now I have two glass/stainless soap dispensers on my sink: one for dish soap (we wash a lot by hand) and one for hand soap. I've been sort of embarrassed to ask. When people have a soap dispenser in the counter, is it always for hand soap? I've been thinking about the whole air gap/hose/change-out-air-gap-after-inspection-to-soap-dispenser thing. I'm still undecided all the way around.