A kitchen remodeling project is a great investment to make this year. Whether you’re thinking of selling the property or you simply want to refresh the interior and overall ambiance, starting with a kitchen remodel is the way to go. Thanks to the many sources of inspiration and ideas, there is no shortage of kitchen designs, new appliances, and beautiful colors to add to the kitchen.
Every successful kitchen remodeling project begins with careful planning. You need to know exactly how much you can afford to spend on the remodel and scale the project accordingly. You can also benefit from things like concealed storage – and more storage space in general – through careful planning. Before you start planning your own project, however, here are seven kitchen remodeling tips you should know.
1. You Don’t Always Have to Go Big
There are many ways to give your kitchen a new lease of life, and most of them don’t involve doing a complete remodel of the kitchen. Unless you really have the budget for an extensive project or you need to make big changes to the kitchen, there is no need to do a complete remodel at all.
Simple changes can alter the look of the kitchen substantially. Adding more storage space, changing the color scheme of the kitchen, and doing a countertop replacement is often enough to give the kitchen a new look.
2. Think Storage
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Storage is an important element of every kitchen. To keep your kitchen functional, you need to add sufficient storage space to the area. There are several ways to do this, including adding concealed storage to areas, such as under the kitchen island or in recessed walls.
More storage is only the beginning. You want to make sure that the storage space you add to the kitchen is also functional. Using RTA Depot shaker cabinets, for instance, lets you add more space while boosting functionality at the same time.
Speaking about storage, don’t forget to think about utilizing space that isn’t normally used. The space under the kitchen window is a good example. You can add a cabinet that extends all the way to the bottom of the window for an instant boost in storage space.
3. Don’t Forget Lighting
Lighting is another key element you don’t want to miss when doing a kitchen remodeling project. There are now more LED lighting options than ever, so you have an extensive array to choose from when it comes to lighting the kitchen.
Try using concealed light whenever possible. Concealed light, when placed properly, gives the kitchen space sufficient lighting without the discomfort of exposed bulbs and LED lights. Concealed lighting is also a good way to add warmth to the kitchen, especially at night.
Aside from the main lighting setup, you can also utilize strip lights to add accents to the space. Once again, concealed lighting is the concept to stick to in this case. Adding warm strip lights to the bottom of your hanging cabinets is a good case of how adding the right accent can alter the ambiance of the room.
4. Keep the Walkways Wide
Many of us struggle with limited kitchen space. Space limitations can indeed make a kitchen remodeling project tricky, especially when you have big ideas and a lot of new appliances to add to the kitchen.
A simple way to make the room look bigger is by keeping the walkways wide enough for traffic. Don’t be tempted to enlarge the center island or add more cabinets to the space just because you can; it doesn’t take much for the space to feel cramped and cluttered.
Ideally, you want at least 36-inches of space around the kitchen island. If your kitchen doesn’t have an island, simply maintain enough clear space in front of the cabinets to give the illusion of space.
5. Design for Traffic
Sticking with walkways, you can take it a step further and design the kitchen for through traffic. You’ll be surprised by how altering where things are positioned to take into account extra traffic can make a kitchen more fun to use.
Design the space to minimize people bumping into each other. The general rule is to start with the cooking section, and then continue with the storage area, the kitchen sink, and then a big refrigerator to complete the cycle.
This type of circular design works well even when you have limited space. Traffic flows in one direction and the kitchen is a lot more functional this way.
6. Consider the Details
There are several details that homeowners often neglect when doing a kitchen remodeling. The first one is height. The height of your microwave, for example, greatly influences the functionality of your kitchen.
Normally, you want the microwave to be around 15 inches above the countertop. Of course, you are free to adjust the height of the microwave and other appliances to your liking. You may want to take the kids into account when designing things in the kitchen too.
Another detail that is overlooked a lot is the corner. You have two cabinets forming a corner and you end up with two cabinets that cannot be fully utilized because the doors keep banging into each other. These details matter; the direction of your cabinet doors, how you utilize corner space, and the way cabinets are arranged dictates the overall feel of the kitchen as well.
7. Save and Splurge
Just because you are doing a complete remodeling project, it doesn’t mean you have to splurge on everything. This is why planning the remodeling project is important; you get to plan for things like using the old countertop as a material for your new backsplash or any DIY project you want to take on during the remodeling.
There are plenty of opportunities to save throughout the project. Avoiding changes to the original plumbing and fixtures is a start. There will also be times when you want to splurge a little; that’s OK too!
