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If you’re considering renovating your home, you could be surprised by how much it might end up costing. That could be enough to put anyone off getting it done. One of the easiest ways to minimise this is to go room-by-room and get things done only when you can afford them.
That begs the question of where you should start. Remodelling your kitchen can be a great start, considering how much you’ll use it. It’s seen as the heart of the home, after all, so there’s no reason not to consider this first.
Getting the renovations done is a lot easier to say than it is to do, however. With a few specific tips, you can avoid any stress you might otherwise go through. Seven essential options stand out for this, as they’ll have more of an impact on the process than you could think.
Remodelling Your Kitchen: 7 Essential Tips
1. Plan Ahead
Having a solid plan for your kitchen remodel is essential to making sure you don’t need to put up with much stress or hassle. It avoids the need for any last-minute decisions and rushing around. Ask yourself a few questions when you’re doing this, such as:
- How much space do you have?
- What’s essential for your design?
- Do you have much to spend?
By considering these questions, and a few others, you’ll make sure you have a solid plan for your remodel by the time you’ve started. It’ll avoid a lot of headaches once the process starts.
Of course, if you’re using a professional company that specialises in new kitchens to install yours for you, they’ll take on most of this planning on your behalf, so it’s worth bearing that in mind if you want to take the stress out of your kitchen remodel.
2. Don’t Overlook Faucets
When you’re imagining what your kitchen will look like once the remodel is done, you’ll likely think of the tiles, countertops, and appliances. There could be a few areas you’re overlooking, however. What about the faucets?
These are vital parts of your kitchen, but you mightn’t have thought about them with your plans. They’re more than worth putting an investment into, given how much you’ll use them. They’ll also tie into the kitchen’s aesthetic, so you should make sure they look nice.
Brushed brass tapware can be a great option for this, as it’ll fit in with almost any kitchen design.
3. Make It Accessible
You’ll want your kitchen to be as accessible as possible once you’ve remodelled it. Make sure you have enough floor space for you to move around without restrictions when you’re using the kitchen.
At the same time, make sure there’s some extra space for other people to move around when you’re cooking. Accessibility can also mean ensuring everybody can use the countertops, appliances, and other areas.
Take the height of countertops, appliances, and sinks when you’re doing this. It saves a lot of hassle once you’ve started using the new kitchen.
4. Plan Clearances
Your cabinets will need a certain amount of clearance for them to open properly, as will some of your appliances. You’ll need to keep these in mind when you’re designing your new kitchen. It’s vital to making sure you can use everything you want when the remodel is done.
If you don’t, you could end up having an unusable cabinet, or something that takes a lot of work to put stuff in and take stuff out of. Nobody wants that to happen. Consider the swing direction of the cabinet and appliance doors, and determine how much space in the kitchen you’ll have to work with.
It’ll save you a lot of headaches after the remodel.
5. Use Counter Space Wisely
Counter space will be one of the larger areas to focus on when you’re remodelling your kitchen. You’ll need it to prepare any food you’re cooking. You’ll have to be smart with design and installing this so your kitchen is as functional as possible.
You don’t need to just think about square footage when you’re doing this, but also the height. Make sure it’s the right height to let you prepare your food properly. You wouldn’t want to bend over or reach relatively high when you’re doing this, after all.
Having two different counter heights could be recommended if you have any kids who want to help with cooking.
6. Lighten It Up
Lighting is always looked at as a secondary concern in the kitchen, if it’s even thought of. You’ll naturally need to have the right lighting in your kitchen, which is often difficult to get right. You should spend a bit of time and effort on this when you’re designing your new kitchen.
The right placement is vital to this, as is making sure you get the right type of lights. If you’re worried about space, you can always consider recessed lighting.
7. Play With Colour
Kitchens have traditionally been white, with a minor bit of colour to stand out a little bit. That tradition doesn’t mean you can’t play with colour in your kitchen, however. It can make much more of an impact on how the room looks than you’d think, and you wouldn’t even need to paint everything to do this.
Instead, it could be as simple as putting a few splashes of colour in the right places. By contrasting these off-the-floor colours, for example, you can create a balanced colour palette that’s more visually appealing.
If you do want to go above and beyond, you can even consider repainting the cabinets. You won’t need to replace the cabinets if you take this approach, saving you quite a bit of money if you do it.
Remodelling Your Kitchen: Wrapping Up
Remodelling your kitchen often seems as though it’ll involve a lot of stress and hassle. That’ll only happen if you don’t know what you’re doing. By being prepared and keeping a few things in mind, you can avoid almost all of this.
Making the kitchen accessible, getting the right faucets and other essentials, and using the counter space wisely, and in other areas can all be helpful with this. While that means spending a bit of time planning things out, it avoids a lot of work and hassle during the renovation process.
There’s no reason not to take advantage of the renovation tips.
