If you're like most people, your kitchen is one of the most populated and popular spaces in your entire home. That’s one of the main reasons that kitchen remodeling projects are the most common home improvement tasks across the entire country. So, when you’re planning your kitchen remodel how do you make sure you’re getting the most out of your investment? We’ve collected some of the most helpful tips we’ve come across to help you answer that exact question.
Balance Fun and Functionality
When it’s time to design kitchen remodels at your home it’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of possibility, but finding a balance between design choices you want and those that make the most sense is absolutely crucial to ensure that your new kitchen serves your needs properly. Think about how the space is going to be used and adjust your designs to account for that usage, particularly when it comes to things like spacing, traffic flow, and ease of access. This usually means adjusting placements of things like appliances and kitchen cabinets which are some of the most used parts of the room. If you’re finding it difficult to visualize how you and your loved ones could best use the space, it may be worthwhile to speak with friends who have kitchens you particularly like or to kitchen designers, themselves, who are experts at this kind of thing.
Don’t Over Accent
It’s always a good idea to tastefully explore accent points throughout a newly renovated room, be it small flares of color or eye-catching details like hardware or lighting. However, your kitchen can quickly become over-saturated with these little touches and lose it’s overall appeal. When you’re planning your kitchen remodel try to establish one or two major focal points for the room. Typically it’s best to make these points majorly used areas or items which were especially splurged on. One of the most classic of these focal points is your chosen countertop or island. These surfaces are actually fairly affordable compared to other items in your kitchen renovation and are sure to catch the eye of anyone passing through if highlighted with small matching accents in other parts of the room.
Storage Needs
Homes become cluttered and messy for a number of reasons. One of the most preventable of these is a shortage of space to store thing. Your kitchen remodel can address this need very easily if you make careful considerations about kitchen cabinet installations or refurbishments. Allowing for maximized storage while carefully accounting for things like ease of access and opening effectively creates a space with more than enough space to hold all the things that would otherwise pile up. Likewise, your major appliances should be carefully arranged so that people can move from sink to fridge to stove and countertop in just a short space whenever possible. When you’re talking to your kitchen remodeling contractors make it clear that you’re interested in storage that’s both spacious and smart enough to make your kitchen usage as convenient as possible.
Let there be Light
Nothing will show off your newly renovated kitchen quite like natural light so whenever possible align your designs with windows and skylights so that your kitchen design has it’s best features highlighted. That said, if your dinner party runs a little late you want to have a complimentary lighting system wired to keep the space as comfortable and attractive as it was during the day. Consider installing decorative running lights over surfaces like countertops and islands to maintain ambiance throughout the night without losing any of the functional, necessary lights over features like the sink, dishwasher, and stove. This is a portion of kitchen remodeling that particularly calls for the help of professional kitchen renovation specialists, however. Electrical work should never be attempted by a homeowner who isn’t trained to handle the work. For that reason, it’s wise to budget for lighting services early in your plan development to make sure that when the time for a lighting remodel comes you don’t have to settle for less than the quality you want.
Kitchen Designers Worth Their Salt
Kitchen remodels can be particularly involved and pricey if not handled carefully. With even a basic kitchen serving as a heavily used room, you’ll want to ensure that you get kitchen remodeling contractors who have the best qualifications you can find. So whether your project requires a licensed contracting team, an architect, or a CKD (certified kitchen designer), you should take time to thoroughly research the workers in your area. Checking things like reviews, past projects, qualifications, and experience levels are all excellent ways to make sure that your kitchen design plans are handled by people that can make the most of your space within the budget and ideas you discuss with them.