07 Oct 9 Tips to Consider When Remodeling Your Kitchen

Kitchen Remodeling

One of the biggest challenges to any remodeling project is design, especially a Kitchen. Here’s 9 tips to consider when remodeling your kitchen:

1. Consider how you really use your space. The first step in planning your kitchen remodel is deciding what you want your kitchen to do for you, and how it reflects and reflects the way you live. Do you want an intimate place for drinking coffee and reading your daily newspaper, a large spacious kitchen that’s perfect for entertaining, or a space that’s ideal for family projects and homework?

2. Get ideas. Start your planning with a visit to a premium tile or cabinet store that offers displays that show the latest in kitchen design, including the use of floor, wall and countertop materials such as tiles, stone, and granite. In addition to great on-line resources such at Houzz and Pinterest, read home improvement magazines, check out kitchen remodeling books from the library, visit friends who have remodeled their kitchens recently and check out model homes to see the latest in kitchen design from today’s home builders. Visit KeystoneRemodeling.com and review some on-line remodeling photo’s in the gallery!

3. Make a plan. Consolidate your ideas and create a remodeling plan and a budget. If you’re going to remodel it yourself, don’t be afraid to seek out information on the latest in remodeling standards.  One simple rule of thumb though, no matter how much you budget for, add 20 percent to cover the unexpected costs that come up once you get into your project.

4. Bring it up to code.  Above all, hire a state licensed contractor. If the contractor is not licensed there’s a reason and it won’t be for your benefit. Check your town or city’s website to review or download building code requirements related to kitchens – in particular codes for plumbing, electrical and windows. Even if you’re doing it yourself, you may need to pull a permit from your local town or city and obtain an inspection(s) for some elements of your project, such as electrical work.

5. Include popular features.  Give your kitchen a more contemporary look and feel. Include popular features in your remodeling project adding value & appeal at resale time.  Consider  second sinks, custom cabinetry, a second oven or microwave, an island, decorative glass and stone tile, more storage space, better lighting and extra-wide wall tiles are among the most popular features in today’s homes.

6. Respect the “kitchen work triangle“. The No. 1 complaint about most kitchens is that they’re difficult to work in. The kitchen work triangle is that imaginary line between the center of the refrigerator, the center of the cook top and the center of sink. For maximum efficiency, the total distance of the lines that make up this triangle should be no more than 26 feet.

7. Keep it “Elegant. Focus on using materials and fixtures that exude quality, warmth, and timelessness. To create an elegant, more spacious look, consider marble or granite counter-tops, stainless steel appliances, adding more windows, mixing tile textures, sizes, colors, types (natural stone, ceramic, porcelain, glass), and embracing neutral colors and whites.

8. Reduce clutter. Everyone likes a spacious, clean kitchen. For many kitchens, the greatest challenge to achieving more space is cutting the clutter and hiding items that you don’t want to see such as stacks of mail, overflowing junk drawers and cabinets bulging with unused pots and pans. To achieve a less cluttered look, keep the refrigerator door clean, avoid placing appliances too close together and creating tight spaces that are difficult to clean. Use large wall tiles to eliminate grout lines. And add storage to free up valuable counter-top space.

9. Green is in and here to stay. When remodeling your kitchen, consider using fixtures that save water, replace old windows with new energy-efficient windows, and consider installing counter-tops, wall tiles and flooring made from recycled materials, such as recycled glass mosaic tile or natural stone products, which act as a natural insulator. Finally, don’t forget to use the opportunity of remodeling to make space to recycle paper, cans & bottles.

Learn more at http://KeystoneRemodeling.com