Ask any remodeler which rooms they work on most and you will get the same two answers. Kitchens and bathrooms have led residential renovation for decades, and it is not fashion driving it.
Both rooms are used every day by everyone in the house. Both are dense with plumbing, electrical and cabinetry, which means dated ones are genuinely inconvenient rather than merely unattractive. And both are the rooms buyers look hardest at, which is why homeowners preparing to sell so often start there.
Getting the brief right
The mistake we see most often is starting with the finishes. Tile and cabinet doors are the enjoyable part of the decision, but they are the last part. Start instead with what the room is failing to do. Not enough prep surface. A shower you cannot turn around in. Nowhere to put anything down. Fix the function and the room will feel transformed even before the finishes go on.
Building for the long term
A growing share of our bathroom work is aging-in-place, and it is worth thinking about even if you are years away from needing it. Curbless shower entries, wider doorways and solid blocking set into the walls for future grab bars cost very little at the framing stage and are expensive to retrofit later.
