May is National Home Improvement Month, and if you’re ready to start making some updates, we’re ready to help. We’ve got lots of ideas to help you get started on your kitchen remodeling project!
Where should you start?
Careful planning of your home improvement project will let you update your home while customizing your living space and increasing the value of your investment—all for a lot less than the cost of a new home. Since the room that is most often remodeled is the kitchen, we have some tips on planning the best possible kitchen for you and your family.
1. Define how your new kitchen will be used and who will use it, now and over the life of your kitchen. With this list, you are helping map out how the kitchen must function.
- How many people live in the house?
- Will you do much entertaining that will require staging in the kitchen? If so what is your typical size party? (6 people, 20 people, 40 people?)
- What are the ages of the people in the home who will use the kitchen regularly? (Children, teens, adults, seniors, anyone with mobility or range of motion issues?)
- What do you use your kitchen for on a daily basis? (Only cooking and eating, or will it be center stage for family activities?)
- How many people use the kitchen at the same time? Are they all cooking? (An efficient kitchen layout for one cook is different than what you need if two or more people are cooking.)
- What types of cooking do you do? (Mostly family meals? Lots of baking? Preparing gourmet meals?)
- How much refrigerator and freezer space do you need?
- How big and what type of range top/stove and oven (or ovens) do you want?
- Do you need a second prep sink? Or a pot-filler faucet at the stove?
- How much counter space do you need, and do you want an island?
- What type of storage will you need?
- If it’s important for your new kitchen to have a specific look or convey a certain impression, include this in your list.
- Do you have other special requirements for the kitchen?
When you have finished listing all these practical requirements of your kitchen, you’re not done yet!
2. Determine what you can afford or what you want to spend. These might not be the same amount.
3. Look around for ideas to help you communicate your design preferences for your kitchen remodeling. A website like Houzz can often provide you with all the reference and inspiration you will need. You can even create and online “idea book” with images you have collected.
4. List your priorities for the project. What are the most important things you want and can’t live without? What are things that would be really nice to have? What are the things you could do without if you had to?
With these 4 areas considered, you’re now well prepared to sit down with us to talk about the design process for your new kitchen remodeling. Because you’ve been smart enough to do your homework, the process will be easier and more successful than you ever thought it could be, and provide you even greater satisfaction with the finished project. Contact us today!