There are many reasons to consider a kitchen remodel. If you love to cook, the benefits of a kitchen remodel are self-evident. You can upgrade and redesign the room in precisely the way that suits you best for the type of cooking that you like to do. However, even if your idea of cooking is to open up your favorite food delivery app and you do your best to never set foot in the kitchen, renovating that room can be a great idea because it may substantially increase your home’s property value.
In fact, it is one of the most reliable renovations for driving up what your house is worth, so if you are thinking of selling a few years down the road, it may be worth it to put some of your resources toward this. Finally, even if you aren’t a particularly committed cook if the kitchen is unattractive and out of date, a renovation can improve your quality of life by making the place more attractive and easier to use. At the same time, there are some pitfalls it’s important to avoid when you are embarking on such a big project, and the tips below can help you make the right choices.
Work With Professionals
Even if you love DIY, there are elements of redesigning your kitchen that you should consider leaving to professionals. Chief among these is the design itself. A professional kitchen designer can actually manage the entire project for you, taking away the stress and tediousness of dealing with vendors and contractors, but even more importantly, they can save you from rookie mistakes in your own design conception. They might also be able to make suggestions that you would not have come up with on your own. Beyond this, there are other tasks you should hire professionals for as well, including anything to do with plumbing and electricity. If your plan involves fully gutting the area, this is also better left to contractors. If you have a gas stove or are installing one, this is a job for professionals as well.
Make a Budget
You’ll need to make a budget and then build in a cushion because renovation projects often exceed even the most careful estimates for both time and money. The budget will give you an idea of what fixtures and appliances you can afford and may mean you’ll need to scale down your ideas of what you want to do or perhaps even that you can scale them up. At this stage, you can also start to consider how you will pay for the remodel. If you don’t have savings to cover it, a better option than using a credit card is to take out personal loans from a private lender. This can provide you with better interest rates than a credit card, and you can shop around for a loan that suits you.
Get Your Order Right
Another important thing is the order in which you do certain things. Although appliances aren’t actually placed until the end, you should choose them early on so that any adjustments necessary to accommodate them can be made. This is true for the sink as well. You should wait until your cabinets are placed to order your countertops because they need to be measured at that time. Those measurements could be different because of how they fit against the wall. While you are thinking about the order of things, think about the order in terms of how you use your kitchen as well, particularly your workflow around your stove, sink, and refrigerator and how that will affect where you place them. This consideration can also be extended to your countertop material. The pros and cons of epoxy vs granite can significantly impact how your kitchen functions.
Pay Attention to Details
This is also a time to address the many small details that are often overlooked, but that can really make a big difference over time. To start with, don’t make the backsplash an afterthought. Put careful consideration into choosing something that is attractive and stylish. Think about creating storage space as well.
In addition to racks on that backsplash, you could also consider toe kick storage under your cabinet doors for things you don’t use often but want to be able to put your hands on easily, such as unused cloth napkins or a small folding step ladder. You could even build some office space into the kitchen area, with shelves or recessed wall space for papers and extra outlets to plug in your electronics. Think ahead as well. If you aren’t replacing certain appliances, you may still want to leave additional space in the cabinets around them so that you can put something bigger there in the future. At the same time, while you are thinking of all these details, you should also make sure that you don’t lose sight of the big picture either. The different elements of your design need to work together.
