Tips For First Time Remodelers
Posted on July 24th, 2020
First time remodeling your kitchen? Keep these tips in mind.
1. Know Your Lifestyle
It sounds logical but think really hard about your lifestyle now and in the near future (the length you plan on living in your current home). Do you have kids or plan to soon? Do you plan on aging in this kitchen? Consider your life in your new kitchen before you start any renovations.
2. Make A Wise budget
Naturally we always recommend choosing a realistic budget with a little wiggle room for those unforeseeable roadblocks so you don’t end up spending money you don’t have. However, we also recommend making a wise budget based on your home’s value. While you may want to update to a $100,000 kitchen, there will be limits to the return on your investment based on your home’s location and market value. Consider comparable homes in your area - those that have updated their kitchen and those that haven’t - or talk with a real estate agent to get an idea of what kind of ROI you will likely get to determine a smart budget.
3. Hire The Right People
If you’ve ever heard nightmare renovation stories, it’s always because of a bad contractor. Instead of spending all your time choosing materials or settling on an appliance brand, you should spend more time vetting the General Contractor and subcontractors. There will always be some type of issue with any renovation but good contractors will find a way to affordably solve them whereas a bad contractor will make them worse.
4. Start With Cooking Appliances
The type of cooking appliance you choose could alter the large part of the layout of your kitchen. Whether you choose a single or double wall oven, a slide-in range, a separate cooktop, or an under-cabinet microwave will impact the design of your cabinet, gas or electric hookups, and proper ventilation.
5. Splurge On Cabinets
Cabinets are the backbone of the kitchen and the real money-maker when it comes to adding value to your home. There isn’t enough paint or hardware in the world to put cheap or outdated cabinets on the same level as new, quality cabinets. Plus with so many new features like organized storage, soft-close drawers, and pull-out garbage, it’s the one item you don’t want to cheap out on.
6. Prepare To Live In Discomfort
The kitchen is the one room you probably use the most throughout the day and it will become very apparent just how much the moment it’s out of commission. Washing dishes, cooking meals, even making your morning coffee will become difficult if not impossible so be prepared to order a lot of takeout and to relocate your coffee station to another room in the house. There will also likely be a lot of noise throughout the remodel so you’ll want to consider scheduling meetings around the workers’ downtime if you’re working from home.
Schedule an appointment with one of our kitchen designers today.
