Starter’s Guide to Renovating Your Kitchen
Refurbishing your kitchen is one of the best decisions you can make for your home. Not only will it give you a visually pleasing room, but you can customize it to suit your cooking needs, taste, and preference. The upgrades can also transform your house into an attractive multi-functional area, where family members and visitors will enjoy dining, entertaining and socializing. Kitchen renovation, however, is a relative term and varies from one home to another. Which means, what works in one setting might fail miserably in another.
Luckily, by regarding the below factors, you can determine the best way to give your kitchen that fabulous makeover.
Have a remodeling plan
Since a kitchen remodeling exercise is a massive undertaking, it is advisable to have a plan. After all, unless you know what you want to accomplish, it might be tough for you to move. The plan should help you answer the following questions:
- What do you want to do? What design are you after, is it Gourmet, Entertaining, or a family-centered kitchen?
- Are you renovating to have a more marketable property?
- Why and when do you want to renovate the kitchen?
- How will you go about it?
You should have the answers to these questions firmly etched in your mind. They will prove handy when you want to create the remodeling checklist and budget.
Think of the layout
One of the secrets to a functional kitchen renovation is the room’s layout. The design affects how you move in the kitchen, the food preparation workflow, and the cooking time. It also hinders the effectiveness of the kitchen when there is more than one person in it. A door or window in the wrong position might also make life unbearable. Similarly, a poorly scaled island can prevent the ease with which a person can move from the sink to the range and vice versa.
For these reasons, ensure your final design makes life easy for you. For instance, you could change the position of the doors and windows if you feel they are in the wrong place. Or, if your room has an L-shaped layout, adding a peninsula to it will transform it to a horseshoe design. With such a layout in place, the kitchen will be not only more efficient, but you will have more counter space.
Consider the room’s Size or square footage
When coming up with a kitchen upgrade design, you must consider the capacity of the room. For instance, installing an oversized island or cooking appliance that takes up more than three-quarters of the space, is inappropriate. Unless of course, if you intend to expand the kitchen by knocking down the walls. Similarly, if the room is spacious, being frugal with the furniture might create an ugly sight. Hence, whether the room is tiny or gigantic, you must go for a proportionate design. Be candid with yourself and ascertain the amount of space you have.
Factor in your Lifestyle
Bearing in mind that it is your kitchen, it is critical for it to accommodate your lifestyle, cooking needs, and habits. Moreover, the kitchen renovation décor should complement the architectural design and tone of your home. Ask yourself whether the makeover reflects the type of cook you are, how you prefer working in the kitchen, as well as how you entertain your guests. The answers to these questions will help you identify the perfect design for your kitchen upgrade.
Assess the house structure
Most homeowners hardly take the time to determine the state of their buildings. They hastily start the kitchen upgrading to encounter architectural, plumbing, or electrical barriers. For instance, one might accidentally damage the plumbing or the electrical cables during the upgrade. The good news is that you can avoid such. Just invite a certified technician such as a plumber, electrician or architectural engineer. They will assess the building and help you identify where the plumbing and wiring are. Additionally, the specialist will also determine whether or not your property has the structural integrity to accommodate the renovations.
Have a budget
It is impossible to carry out a kitchen renovation without having a budget in place. You must know beforehand how much the entire exercise will cost. The amount should include the price of the materials and supplies, as well as the labor or contractor’s fee. When setting the budget, try to be as realistic as possible. Likewise, stick within your financial limitation to avoid falling into debt. If you realize that your renovation costs are beyond your means, do not shy away from substituting your choice of materials for cheaper ones.