The questions most homeowners don’t know to ask — until it’s too late to change the answers.
Before you sign, order, or approve a layout, know what deserves a closer look. A 44-page interactive planning guide and workbook for the decisions and conversations that help protect your investment.
A kitchen remodel brings together decisions about your home, your budget, and how you live. Most homeowners begin with inspiration. The harder part is knowing what needs to be decided first.
A choice that seems small today can affect cabinetry, ventilation, electrical work, or the schedule tomorrow. Once work is underway, changing it can mean paying twice.
You don’t need every answer. You need to know which questions come next.
The information gap
The questions you ask now can change what you spend later.
Your designer and contractor bring years of experience to the conversation. You may be doing this for the first time. Knowing what to clarify — and when — helps you participate before choices become expensive to change.
The appliance that changes the plan
A larger range can affect cabinetry, ventilation, electrical requirements, and the budget. Discovering those requirements after plans or rough-ins are approved can mean paying to redo work.
The number that leaves questions unanswered
A quote is only as useful as your understanding of what it includes. Allowances, exclusions, and provisions for concealed conditions deserve a conversation before you sign.
The beautiful layout that misses daily life
An inspiration photo can show what you love. It cannot tell your designer where your family needs storage, how you cook, or what frustrates you now.
What’s inside
44 pages. A clearer path before you commit.
01
Plan
Define what isn’t working, the size of your project, and whether it makes sense for this house.
02
Budget
Find your comfortable investment range, understand what it covers, and plan for what you can’t see yet.
03
Appliances
See how one selection ripples through cabinetry, power, plumbing, ventilation and layout.
04
Design
Function before finishes: the working kitchen, storage, cabinetry, selections and lighting.
05
Next Step
Who is managing your project, how to compare proposals, and what to bring to the table.
Your working copy
Fill it in. Save your progress. Plan with confidence.
The Roadmap isn’t only something you read. It’s an interactive planning guide and workbook. Type your answers and check the boxes right on the page, save your progress, and pick up where you left off.
Bring it to your first meeting on your laptop, tablet or phone, or print it with your answers already filled in. It opens in free apps you likely already have. No special software required.
A glimpse inside
Preparation you can put to work.
Guidance and visual examples from inside the guide. Tap a page for a closer look.
Selected pages from the 44-page Roadmap. The working pages, where you type your priorities, budget range, wish list and project brief right into the PDF, are only in the download.
Look beyond the total
Two proposals. Are they promising the same kitchen?
Both can look professional. Both can say “kitchen remodel.” What matters is understanding the work, allowances, and responsibilities behind the number.
Illustrative proposals · Project totals concealed so you can focus on what is included
The same heading can cover different work.
In these examples, one electrical scope reconnects what is there. The other includes new circuits and lighting. Those are different commitments.
A total needs context.
Allowances, exclusions, and who coordinates the work shape what you are agreeing to. They deserve a conversation before you choose.
The kitchen you’re investing in deserves a plan.
What you’ll walk away knowing
Know what to ask. And why it matters.
Why appliance selections must be locked in before cabinet design begins
What questions to ask a contractor before you ever sign a contract
How to build a realistic budget that accounts for what’s behind the walls
The difference between what you want and what you need — and how to communicate both
What to clarify about your scope before discussing proposals
What to bring to your first professional meeting
Which early decisions affect the choices that come next
Who this is for
For the homeowner who refuses to go in unprepared.
You’re planning a serious kitchen remodel and want to start right
You’ve had contractor conversations that left you feeling behind
You want to protect a major investment with real knowledge
You’re meeting with a designer or builder soon and want to walk in prepared
You want the kitchen you envisioned — not the one you settled for
You can hire excellent help. And still arrive prepared.
Whether you hire a full-service designer, a design-build firm, or a contractor, your priorities and decisions still matter. This guide helps you communicate them.
Use it before your first meeting, while defining your scope, and before major commitments. Its greatest value is early, when you have more room to ask, compare, and adjust.
The Roadmap is preparation guidance. Your professionals will still need to assess your home, develop plans, and confirm project-specific requirements.
What clients say
Real homeowners. Real remodels.
“I had no idea appliances needed to be decided before the cabinets were even designed. We almost had to rip out our hood rough-in because we changed our range selection too late. This roadmap would have saved us that conversation — and the extra cost that came with it.”
Rebecca · Atlanta, GA
“I went into my first contractor meeting with my roadmap filled out and he actually commented on how prepared I was. For the first time in the whole process, I felt like I was in control of my own project — not just along for the ride.”
Daurice · Decatur, GA
“I almost made three decisions in the wrong order before I read this. I didn’t realize how much those early choices locked in everything that came after. Worth ten times what I paid for it — and I say that having just finished a full kitchen remodel.”
Lindsay · Marietta, GA
“I’ve renovated three homes and I’ve never had a resource like this. Shelley’s experience comes through in every page — this isn’t theory, it’s exactly what happens in the real world. I gave a copy to my daughter before her remodel started.”
Esther · Virginia Highlands, Atlanta
Before you meet with anyone
The best time to ask is before you commit.
A kitchen remodel begins well before demolition. It begins with understanding what needs to change, what your home can support, and which decisions depend on one another.
That is the preparation I want you to have when you sit down with your designer or contractor. That’s what this Roadmap gives you.
— Shelley Giles, Owner, Atlanta Classic Kitchens
Before you purchase
Know what you’re getting. And how to use it.
What exactly do I receive?
A 44-page PDF you can type into and save, delivered as an instant download. Type your answers and check the boxes right on the page, save your work, and return to it before important decisions. Prefer paper? Print it, with or without your answers.
Do I need special software?
No. The Roadmap opens in free apps you likely already have: Adobe Acrobat Reader on a computer, Preview on a Mac, or the Files app or free Adobe Acrobat app on your phone or tablet.
When should I use it?
Its greatest value is early — before your first meeting, while defining your scope, and before major commitments — when you have the most room to ask, compare and adjust.
Is this a design or consultation service?
No. This is a guide to informed planning and professional conversations. It does not include a custom design, consultation, or project management. Your professionals will still assess your home and confirm project-specific requirements.
Does it apply outside Atlanta?
Yes. The planning sequence applies to kitchen remodels anywhere. Costs, codes and requirements vary by project and location, so confirm specifics with your local professionals.
The Kitchen Remodel Roadmap
“Get the consultation before the consultation.”
The questions, priorities and planning perspective behind a more informed kitchen remodel. Built from 25+ years of design-build experience.
