Our Process for Custom Kitchen Remodeling in the D.C. Metro Region

Updated

2/10/2026

At Zen Renovations, our custom kitchen remodeling process begins with listening. We focus on your priorities, ensuring every step is guided by your experience so you can engage creatively as your space takes shape.

As a DC Design Build Remodeler, our in-house team manages your renovation from first sketch to final paint stroke. We provide budget-first transparency, ensuring every design and financial decision remains aligned throughout. At Zen, we live and work in Washington, DC, and Montgomery County, giving us the local expertise to navigate historic guidelines and permitting efficiently, keeping your kitchen renovation on schedule.

Ready to explore what's possible? Schedule a complimentary 30-minute video consultation to discuss your kitchen renovation.

Our Zen Design+Build Process

Calm by design, our process provides clarity, structure, and focus. You make the decisions, we guide the experience. The result is a kitchen that works beautifully for how you live.

Step 1: Initial Consultation

Our design-build process begins with a 30-minute call to review your goals and confirm alignment. If it's a fit, we schedule an on-site visit to explore your space, take measurements, and identify opportunities within your budget

Complimentary Kitchen Mock-Up
Before any contract, we have the ability to offer potential clients a 3D design rendering using our photorealistic Chief Architect system. This allows homeowners to experience the layout, light and flow of a potential kitchen design, before even signing a contract.

Step 2: Design

As a design+build firm, design decisions, pricing, and construction planning happen together, not in separate phases.

The first step is to sign a design agreement. The design agreement sets out the scope of work for the project as well as an estimated budget. The scope often includes new cabinetry, countertop and backslash. Often a wall is removed between the kitchen and a dining room. Recessed lighting and pendant lighting are frequently added, and wood floors are replaced and/or refinished. At every decision point, we provide clear financial guidance so the plan stays aligned with your investment.
View our kitchen pricing guide to see typical investment levels.

Your designer guides your renovation through two phases. Your design timeline varies by project scope and includes meetings (in-person and virtual), drawings, preparation of inspiration boards, vendor coordination, and material selections.

Phase 1: Schematic Layout
We meet to establish design objectives and understand your preferred style. Your designer measures the space, prepares drawings, and analyzes structural constraints, including wall modifications and plumbing relocation impacts. You review layout options, provide feedback, and sign off on the final schematic.

Phase 2: Detailed Finish Selections
Working with Crystal Cabinetry and preferred vendors, your designer guides selections for:

Cabinetry and hardware
Countertops
Wall and flooring tile
Plumbing fixtures
Lighting
Paint palette

Custom Crystal Cabinetry

Every Zen kitchen is designed around our partnership with Crystal Cabinet Works. From day one, your designer works directly with them to create semi- or fully custom cabinetry designed for your layout, storage, and how you use the space. Cabinetry is built into the design from the start, not sourced afterward, and is backed by a limited lifetime warranty.

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Custom Crystal Cabinetry

Step 3: Build

The construction contract is the second agreement in our D.C.-based design-build kitchen remodeling process. With layout and materials selected, this contract finalizes the scope and cost of your kitchen renovation. Your in-house design+build team handles the work with a deliberate, grounded rhythm.
Once contracts are signed, construction begins, a dedicated project manager becomes your single point of contact throughout the build. They coordinate scheduling, track material and fixture deliveries, and manage communication with vendors, artisans, and inspectors so you're not fielding constant questions or chasing down answers.

Your project manager handles:

Construction prep and permitting coordination
Proactive status communication
Timeline and sequencing coordination
Budget tracking
Problem-solving and issue resolution
Material delivery scheduling
Site safety oversight

Our project managers are on-site regularly, overseeing progress and quality at each phase: demolition, framing, mechanical systems, tilework, cabinetry installation, and finishing details. They keep the work aligned with the design, timeline, and budget, providing proactive updates on what's happening each week and what to expect next. When decisions arise, they bring you solutions with clear guidance.

Step 4: Completion & Warranty

We walk the space together to ensure everything functions as intended, and we remain available to support your kitchen as it continues to meet your everyday needs.
We design and build with the long view in mind, selecting every material, layout, and detail to age gracefully alongside your routines. Your kitchen renovation is a significant investment, which is why every remodel comes with a five-year workmanship warranty along with the limited lifetime warranty with Crystal, reflecting our commitment to lasting quality and thoughtful, intentional design.

Our Process in Practice: A Northwest D.C. Kitchen Remodel

This Manor Park rowhouse kitchen remodel reflects our kitchen remodeling process in Northwest D.C., where listening comes before design decisions. The homeowners wanted a kitchen that allowed them to cook while staying connected to their children, the dining room, and the backyard.

Rather than starting with finishes or layout ideas, we focused on circulation and sightlines. Through early conversations and an on-site review, it became clear the issue was not square footage, but how the rooms related to one another.

We guided the homeowners through a clear set of options, showing how removing a dividing wall and reorienting the kitchen toward the backyard would change how the main level functioned. With the plan and budget aligned from the start, decisions stayed focused and the renovation moved forward without surprises.

The result is a kitchen that works for this family. Parents can cook while keeping an eye on the kids, meals move easily between the kitchen and dining room, and the backyard is part of daily life instead of an obstacle.

Ready to Experience a Calmer Kitchen Renovation?

If you're considering custom kitchen remodeling work in the D.C., let's start with a conversation. We'll discuss your home, your aspirations for the space, and what's possible within your budget. No pressure, just clarity.

Schedule your free 30-minute consultation or fill out our online form to see if we're the right fit for your renovation. We respond within 24 hours.

You can even review our pricing page right now, if you’d like to understand costs before we connect.