We just finished huge kitchen renovation - actually what used to be the kitchen is now a panry 1/2 bath and laundry area and we built a new kitchen on.
After having done two big home improvement projects, one thing I would do differently, I would have the architect make a to scale 3-d model of the room. The plans can be so misleading, I thought our masterbath was going to be too small for the huge tub I picked out, when I saw the drawings, I thought, "I'm gonna hit my knees on the tub when I go potty" I the smallest potty I could find, but there was plenty of room - maybe it is actually too big!
With the kitchen, the space where we go into it from the side entry looked plenty big on the drawings, but it is a bit tight, and when the fridge door was opened it used to bang into the counter on the other side, we had to do some moving over after everything was in which I think could have been avoided with a model.
Also, on the second project we had the architect supervise the GC, it was more $ upfront, but we saved money in the long run, the final budget was very close to the proposed one. He was a bulldog at fighting the GC over the "extras" which we had a lot of problems with in the first re-do. GRRRR.
I mean I don't know how much crown moulding is supposed to cost per foot, but the architect did.
