Renovate Your Kitchen Like A Pro With These Remodeling Tips

The kitchen in your home is arguably the most important room. That is where you meet with family members over a meal, the likely place you gather for enjoyment and chat, not to mention where you do all of your cooking and food preparation. The kitchen of today needs to be both beautiful and functional, balanced in terms of lighting, texture and color.

That is why it should come as no surprise that people tend to focus on remodeling their kitchens so much. If you are about to embark on a kitchen renovation journey, the following tips will help you along the way.

Planning is everything

Before you start with the renovation, you need to set the goals for the kitchen. That is when you decide on important aspects, such as storage space, traffic flow, lighting, electrical outlets, where your appliances will sit, etc. Planning is not only essential for the kitchen layout but also to help you establish a budget. Think about your must-haves and what you cannot do without in the kitchen. Outlining your ideal space in this way gives you and the kitchen designer something to work with.

Work towards an accessible kitchen

To ensure everyone can participate in family gatherings and work around the kitchen, you should plan drawers, appliances and shelves at a lower height. Leaving more space to move around means an easier time for walkers and wheelchairs. During kitchen remodelling, you make accessibility a priority.

Don’t shy away from new technologies

What better time to incorporate new gadgets and technologies into your kitchen? Nowadays you can benefit a great deal from things like over-the-range microwaves, smart taps and smart trash cans. Not only do they make work in the kitchen easier, but they also look great and add to its visual appeal. The goal of a remodelled kitchen should be convenience and that is exactly what new technologies give you.

Plan for clearance

Kitchen clearances require having enough space around the fridge, oven, cooktop and sink. For example, experts recommend having at least 15 inches of countertop space on both sides of a fridge or a cooktop; and about 20 inches of clearance on both sides of a kitchen sink. Also, make sure there is enough clearance near your oven and microwave.

Utilise counter space

If you are an avid cooker, you will appreciate having more counter space between the sink and the oven. That is where you will be doing all of the prep work. It’s a good idea to consider enough countertop space and also height. The latter is important if you are planning on letting your children help you out with some tasks. If you have the space, you can also consider an additional cooktop for this purpose.

Lighten up a small room

If you are not blessed with a large kitchen, you need to work with what you have. A small kitchen doesn’t need to feel constrained. One of the best ways to ensure comfort is to work with soft shades and lighter colours. You can even go with pastels, such as blue or delicate yellow for some striking focal points. Make sure you use all of the natural light to your advantage and skip window treatments. These are great strategies to make a small kitchen feel larger.

Don’t skip a focal point

Focal points exist to make the room more visually appealing and less monotone. A focal point is an area that your eyes are immediately attracted to when you enter. For kitchens, there are plenty of options. For instance, it could be a colourful backsplash tile area or a fancy pattern on the tiled floor. Keep in mind you can have too much of a good thing though. Too many focal points can overwhelm the space and subtract from its visual appeal. Choose one or two areas to make focal points and keep the rest with a simpler design.

Do not forget to budget

There is no denying the fact that kitchen renovations can be an expensive endeavour. This is especially when you have a large kitchen and you want to have additional features and new technologies incorporated. You need to be careful with your budget. Before the project even starts, you should have a hard limit on what you want to sink in the renovation. That way you will not find yourself overspending and making decisions you will later regret.

Layer the lighting

All kitchen experts agree that lighting is one of the most important aspects of the room. As a multifunctional space, you need illumination on multiple levels, which means layering ambient, task and decorative lights. Ambient lighting provides diffused brightness in the entire room, which can be achieved with any kind of ceiling light. Task lighting focuses on lighting certain areas to help you with specific tasks, such as food prep and washing. Decorative lights have the goal of creating visual appeal and can serve as focal points. Having a plan of how these three layers tie together and work in synergy.

Plan your storage

Storage space is another important aspect of the kitchen. No matter how small the space is, you will need some room for your appliances and cookware. Think about the kitchen inventory you want to store and then work out solutions, like drawers and cabinets. Consider alternative ways of getting more storage, such as utilising vertical spaces and having wall magnets for your kitchenware.

Educate yourself on trends but focus only on that

It is useful to keep an eye on kitchen trends and popular solutions. This is important because a kitchen renovation adds great value to your home. But don’t go off solely on trends. Ensure you also insert your creative vision and requirements in the process. That is how you will feel more comfortable in the space.

When you take into account all of the aforementioned tips for kitchen renovation, you will end up with a wonderful new space. Kitchen remodel projects don’t need to be overwhelming when you cover all of the important basics.