6 Kitchen Remodeling Tips and Tricks

A kitchen remodels can be one of the most daunting and most rewarding of any home renovation. The kitchen is always a high traffic area and a place where people in the house will congregate. It is important to think carefully and consider every aspect of how you want your kitchen to work after the renovation is complete.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you plan and design the kitchen of your dreams.

1. Find Existing Space
   If possible, avoid the permits and extended work of building an extension to expand the size of your kitchen. Look at your home closely for hallways or closets or sunrooms for ways to incorporate a larger area within the already existing structure. This will take months off the time it will take to complete and save you from dealing with permits and inspections.
2. Search and Research
   Make sure you are making several trips to appliance stores to find and highest quality and best possible prices on your appliances and fixtures. Spend time online reading reviews and reliability ratings and don’t forget to research what the experts are doing. Watching some episodes of HGTV’s Flip and Flop can be inspiring and filled with useful information.
3. Lighting Is Important
   Get rid of any outdated lighting and replace with directed light and recessed lighting. Open up your space to as much natural light as possible and use light in places where you need it most. Make sure you’ve thought about where you want the light to be and what kind of light will make the space seem bright and open but not harsh.
4. Out With The Old And In With The New
   Gut it! The best way to get the most out of your kitchen renovation is to begin with a clean canvas so to speak. Starting from scratch will help you get the most out of your design potential and create the kitchen you’ve always wanted.
5. Leave Room for People
   Wide walkways are a must in the kitchen. Make sure you plan walkways in your kitchen to be at least 36in wide and 42in inside the cooking zone. Placement of appliances, like the stove, are also very important because you don’t want kids or guests to have to cross the cooking zone to get to the island seating or to a table. In the kitchen form must follow function!
6. The Matter of Fixtures
   There are a lot of products on the market for kitchen hardware and appliances, and the prices range from cheap to expensive. It’s important for your renovation that you not cut corners on your floors and cabinets since they will ensure the highest traffic of almost any room in your house. Stay away from wood floors, and consider other flooring tiles like porcelain. Use cabinets with solid wood facing and plywood box construction. Look carefully at the construction of all your fixtures so you don’t end up with that infuriating drawer that just won’t open.