Nora Duran: Welcome to our exclusive series with Jordan McCants, the mastermind behind Adonis Kitchen and Bath, where we delve into the art and science of transforming your home. Today, we are thrilled to have Jordan with us as we embark on a journey to enlighten homeowners about achieving their ultimate dream spaces.

Our goal is clear to equip you with the insights and strategies for a seamless and successful home renovation. Whether it’s that bespoke kitchen you’ve been dreaming about or that comprehensive remodel, we are here to ensure your visions come to life with authority and style. So I have Jordan here. Hi Jordan, could you please introduce yourself?

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Yeah. Hello, Nora. So my name is Jordan McCants. , I am one of the owners and founding members of Adonis Kitchen and Bath. I actually started the company , with my brother, Josh. It was his brainchild. He’s been doing this a lot longer than me. But, since he’s not here, I think I’ll suffice.

Nora Duran: Perfect. Thank you very much. Our first question is a big one, but it’s something everyone wonders about. What is the best way to design a kitchen?

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: So the best way to design a kitchen. So here’s going to be the most important thing when designing a kitchen. Everything needs to work together, right? So if you were to give me the most beautiful tile, the entire planet, let’s say it’s 250 per square foot, whatever it may be, I could find a space where that tile doesn’t work.

And if you were to give me, , a budget of 3 per square foot for a tile to make a beautiful masterpiece of a bathroom, , then I could find a way to, to make that work and blend with the remaining aesthetics. The most important key component is that everything is. Working together as a system and that everything is interconnected.

So I typically recommend with first, you need to dissect what you’re looking for and what type of aesthetic you like. And then only from there, can you actually start the journey of selecting different countertops and having options and colors and all those. So most important thing is to start with the big picture or backwards from there.

Okay. 

Nora Duran: That’s fascinating. Now I want to dig a little deeper when it comes to designing a kitchen. What are the five key factors people should consider? I’m sure there are so many details to keep in mind, but I want to know what’s your top five. 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Sure. So I know I have a top four, right? See if I can think of a third one.

 So budget. Is the first thing people need to start with, because that’s going to let you know whether or not you have to keep the same or do something different or do something perfect, right? If you don’t have the budget for a remodel, you’re going to limit yourself and a lot of times it could just be better to wait as opposed to attempt to get something done for half of what it really should be.

 Another one of the things you’ll need to look at is the space. Right? So this, the space that you have available, you need to see what potential you have within that existing, those existing four walls that exist. Now, of course, kind of ties back to budget. You could always change that space. I mean, you can take down walls, you can pull things out, build on additions, you can do all sorts of stuff like that.

But, the space is going to be the next. Most on it. And then once you get past your limitations of budget, your limitations of space, then you’re looking at aesthetics, right? So then it’s when you walk in there. What do you see? And how do you feel? Right? So that’s going to be, that’s always the one that everyone thinks of.

Whereas , people, most people know what type of style they like. They know what colors they like. And then,, another important thing to consider is going to be what functions, or features you’ll need out of that space. Thanks. So, if you cook a lot, , it can be useful to have an additional, maybe a bar sink in the island or maybe a pot filler, by the range.

Those types of things really come in handy depending on what you do in the space. Same thing with bathrooms. You know, there’s a lot of opportunities with different types of showers, steam showers. And a lot of opportunities for how you illuminate spaces, bring them to life, you know, different, those are my top four, the budget, space, aesthetics, and then features.

Nora Duran: Mm hmm. Great points. And moving on to something a bit more specific. What do you think is the most ideal kitchen layout? I feel like this one can really vary based on personal preference and space. Right. But I want to know what’s your ideal kitchen layout.

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: So this can go a lot of ways. So to me, the ideal kitchen layout, I want to see something spacious. I want to see something fun and calm. Bye. A lot of that is in the eye of the beholder. , that’s why, you know, customer modeling can be important. We have had clients in the past whose ideal layout differed from mine.

 So as much as I want to say, Hey, I’m the expert. I know everything. I know what everyone’s going to want. I don’t. The ideal layout is really what’s going to work best for you. The only thing I will say is you have to consider space. You have to be able to move around. But other than that, you know, some people use things very differently than other people use things.

So, process always needs to identify how the space will be used. If you want to get to the root. Of what’s going to be their ident, their ideal layout. 

Nora Duran: Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, for those planning a remodel, having a checklist can be super helpful. What do you think should be on a kitchen remodeling checklist?

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: A kitchen remodeling checklist. That’s, 

So, I’m going to go back to the key considerations. So, of course, you want to keep in mind that budget, you want to keep in mind the space, the aesthetics, the features, all of those things. You really want to be thinking about how that space is going to be used. Beyond that, there’s all sorts of things that people can use.

Now we have Pinterest, , which is awesome. So what I see very commonly is we will go to a house and, people will show us what they found, what they like, things that they’ve used, things that are speaking to them. , so I would say, you know, , we might be at the point where we’re almost beyond that, but I would say get a bit of space together, , get some inspirations for things that you’ve seen and be able to discover new things that are out there instead of just limiting things that you can think of in your brain, so.

Yeah, I don’t know that there’s a perfect checklist.

Nora Duran: Okay, thank you. Thank you for your information and for your opinion. So with so many factors to consider, what would you say is the most important factor when designing a kitchen, if you have to pick one?

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Budget, I hate to say it, but yeah, if you don’t have budget, you don’t have anything, right? You gotta be able , to do it right, you gotta be able to do it right. Having low budget just leads to regrets.

Nora Duran: I see. And, I mean, I totally agree. And, let’s Move on with budgets. All right. So what do you think? Is a realistic investment for a kitchen remodel? And this is the trickiest part for the homeowners, but what’s a realistic investment? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Sure. So the average for the past year, we’ve been just probably been between 60 and 70.

 It is possible to do them for less, but there are also many situations where it turns into much more. We have a lot of times where a kitchen remodel could turn into a first floor model. And it’s just. Without even thinking about it, , you’ll start in the kitchen, but then the next thing, you know, Hey, I want to carry the flooring through the rest of the floor.

And well, if I’m doing the flooring, got to do new base board. If I’m doing the base board, got to paint that might as well paint the walls. If I’m painting the walls, I kind of want to make this an accent wall, this paneling. And then it’s a very easy way to turn a 70, 000 project into a hundred grand plus project.

 Now on the reverse end of that, we have seen. Kitchens if they’re much smaller, right? If you have a small footprint, here are the four factors for what things will cost. There is the size of the space. There is the finishes and options of the space. So if you’re going with entry level versus high end or very custom stuff, whether or not you’re relocating things is another big factor.

And then there’s whether or not the house. Flights back, so I don’t know where you are. We’re in Akron, Ohio. That’s where we’re based out of. So there are some places, you know, Hudson Strip Falls, Akron, where we can run into houses that are, you know, 70, 80, 90, a hundred years. Plus old. And those ones will fight back, they will, but if you have a project where everything is working with you, if it’s a small space, if you can go with some, I don’t want to say cheap stuff, we have certain products that we set a minimum for what we’ll work with, but something closer to that minimum, something where we’re not relocating things and something where the house isn’t fighting back, I mean, people could find themselves in the thirties, it’s But, , I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t really recommend going beneath that, unless you have a higher risk tolerance.

Sometimes it can go all right, you just found a contractor that’s losing money and they don’t know it yet. Or sometimes you can get into a situation where it’s a person that doesn’t have, doesn’t have, your best interest in mind. Or it can be just a situation where. They just have some lessons that they have to learn themselves.

It’s not necessarily, it’s not always bad people doing cheaper models. They might have the best intentions, just sometimes they don’t know what they’re doing.

Yeah, I’d say the more you got, the safer you are.

Nora Duran: Good advice. Budgeting is always a tough one. And now Organization is key in any kitchen. And what type of organization do you recommend in kitchen projects? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: There’s organization, depends on what we’re talking about. There’s the organization through the planning and design process. There’s the organization through the project execution.

 I know that we have a particular process that we’d like to stick to for both of those. As of right now, subject to change, we’re always open to if there’s a better way to do things, we might change it in the future. Right now, we have a three step process. Every remodel, right? There’s going to be that initial walkthrough.

There’s going to be a second meeting in which I’ll introduce Josh, the project manager for the project. We’ll go over more details. We’ll go over what to expect through the process, all that. Then there’s the design phase. And, one of the reasons we actually start getting the preliminary estimate first, because it lets people during that design phase know if they can bump things up, or if they need to reel things back in, to get the price where they want it to be.

So , that’s our process for, the planning and the design in a nutshell, and then as far as execution, there’s a whole bunch of stuff, using zip walls, covering up the vents so the drywall dust doesn’t spread throughout the house, protecting the board of the cam board, , all that stuff that just keeps it safe on the off chance that, , that something bad happens, you gotta prepare for that, and then also, huge one, , actually this should have been number one, because we see this a lot, having all of the materials on site when you start will save your life.

If you want to inspect those, if the base cabinet comes in damaged, you might need to wait for replacement people, your countertops, and you don’t want to have your kitchen torn up. During that process, that type of, , that type of organization keeps a lot of people safe and people it’s supposed to fully satisfied and, considering it a perfect outcome as possible.

Nora Duran: That’s really insightful. Thank you. And now I want to talk about trends as they’re always changing. What is the current trend in kitchen cabinets? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: So that’s an easy way to start an argument, for one. So we went to the kitchen and bath industry show, earlier this year. We talked to some of the designers out there and there’s a lot of trends going on and there’s no right answers because a lot of those people are very well versed in what they’re talking about and there’s just, a lot of them can’t agree.

 So I know that. So earth tones seem to be a trend that hasn’t really died, but it’s coming, it’s becoming more alive again. I think earth tones will always stick around because I just think as people we kind of like earthy stuff, you know, we like water, we like light, so I think we’ll always like the hints of greens and browns and things like that.

 Another trend that people are talking about is like those bold monochromatics like you saw in the 70s, like those crazy super bright ultramarine, neon, blah, blah, blah, pinks and yellows and oranges. And then there’s also, new neutrals. So that wasn’t something that I heard the designers talk about, but I read an article about it.

 So it’s just pale pinks and, the muted yellows and things like that. Just to give things, just, just breaking up things with the monotonous grays and blues and whites. , as much as I, listen, I like some of the shaker white options out there. I will never hate, on some of those kitchens.

 But that seems to be the thing where I haven’t really seen designers say that’s going to be the long term play. It looks like we’re getting away from a lot of the, The white kids. So really just, yeah, but it’s, we’re also in Ohio, so , we’re not a hub, so there are like, you’re going to see the places like California, Nevada, New York, all those places, you guys are going to see the trends before we will.

 I’m just listening to you guys. 

Nora Duran: Yeah, that, that was interesting to hear the new trends and I kind of want to move on to countertops. What would you say is the best countertop for a high end kitchen? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: So

if you’re looking for resale, you want to go with something that people recognize the name of. Quartz, Quartzite, stuff like that. Cambria is an excellent option. Granite, it’s a big one. So It’s for us. People need to remember that because we walk into a lot of kitchens where people didn’t realize that granite was for us.

They never resealed it. We’re starting to get some issues or you don’t need to worry about that. There’s also a product called that I was actually mispronouncing under 300 walkthroughs call. That’s how you announced it. D. E. K. T. O. N. But it seems to be like the product. It’s. Cosentino who also makes

 But it has, I believe it was 800 degree heat resistance, a low po. You don’t need to reseal it. , They make it on , a press that gives it a really good hardness profile. It also doesn’t have like wheat weak points to break upon. So that one is, I’m impressed by it. I’ve seen a lot of different solid surface materials and I like a lot of different solid surface materials, but I haven’t seen.

I haven’t seen anything like Dekton. Definitely something to look into. Actually, there’s a financial building. , it’s not in America, but there’s a financial building somewhere in the world that has Dekton plating siding on the building. That was a big, expensive show off y move, but looks good. That’s probably the best product if you don’t care about people recognizing the name.

Nora Duran: I see that was a great recommendation to learn about that. And on the topic of luxury, what do you think is the most luxurious type of kitchen countertop? Is it the same one that you just said? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Problem with Dakton is once again, just people don’t know the name. When it comes to luxury, I feel that people want a certain level Of recognition, when they’re doing things that are luxurious.

That’s why, you know, I’m sure you could build a very nice watch yourself for a million bucks. But there are a lot of people that are going to buy a certain brand because they want people to know what they’ve spent. You don’t get that from Dakton. People don’t know what that is. So if you’re looking for that recognition, I would say Quartzite, quartz, granite.

I’m not a fan of marble. Stay away from it. That’s my recommendation. 

Nora Duran: Great. Now let’s talk about something that often gets overlooked, but it’s so important. Lighting. How does lighting affect kitchen design and functionality? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: So if you change the book a lot, right? We did a project. There’s one that I think about a lot.

It’s on our website. It is, , S. Y. Akron. And in that kitchen, it was an earthy kitchen that you wanted to have a certain feel, to it. So in that kitchen, we didn’t go with the just standard recessed lights all throughout and then do a pendant light above the sink or the island or the peninsula.

 I’m sorry to say, and it lights above the sink, but we didn’t go with that for that particular project. We kept it a lot more modest. We kept that lighting very warm and it gave it a very different feel. And at the same time, you can make a cozy kitchen feel like an industrial space. If you do very bright white lights throughout, , and then also there are, , there’s functional lighting as well, under cabinet lighting, stuff like that, , in cabinet lighting, even project lighting, some scenarios, above cabinet lighting.

But, , yeah, lighting definitely, , it plays a huge part. And if you don’t believe me, just turn the light off. I mean, , it’s that simple. So, yeah, definitely lighting layout is something that requires some foresight and, you do want to look at the, remaining scheme of the project to make sure that you can’t misspell the same place and everything.

Nora Duran: Yeah, lightning really does make such a big difference. And finally, for our listeners looking to upgrade their kitchen appliances, what are the key considerations they should keep in mind when selecting kitchen appliances? How does it affect the overall look of the kitchen? 

Jordan-Adonis Kitchen and Bath: Oh man, appliances are getting out of this world.

 I don’t even want to advise you on that by the time this comes out, even if it’s like a week from now, there’s going to be all sorts of new crazy options out there. The stuff that I’m seeing with appliances, do a Google search. I’ve been the year and type in, you know, fancy appliances and , you’re going to see a lot of crazy stuff.

 Obviously back to space, keep in mind that layout, you either want to pick your cabinets with your appliances in mind or pick your appliances with your cabinets in mind, but keep those considered for each other. But, but yeah, as far as appliances, I’m not even going to open that. Pandora’s box there.

That’s a whole different podcast.

Nora Duran: Okay. I see. I see. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us today. This has been incredibly informative and to all our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We hope that you get some valuable insights for your kitchen projects and until next time, happy remodeling!