If your kitchen is looking a bit outdated or rundown, or you just want to overhaul the design, you are probably starting to realize what a job you have on your hands. Remodeling can be great fun, but also fraught with anxiety and frustration. You worry about the expense, and getting everything just right; it can disrupt your daily routine.
Above all else, be patient with the process, and give careful thought to what you want and need. The more clarity you have, the more confident you will be in making decisions, and the more likely it is you will end up happy with the results. One of the best things you can do at this point is bone up on common remodeling mistakes—armed with this knowledge, you can minimize your own.
Not Seeing a Designer’s Work in Person
If you are enlisting professional help in designing your kitchen, don’t make this common mistake. Sure, pictures can give you an idea of their handiwork, but are not enough. Ask to see the kitchen in-person. Most satisfied previous clients would probably be very happy to show off their new kitchen and help the designer land another job.
Going Too Trendy
Be careful with going too trendy with kitchen design. While you want to create modern up-to-date look, don’t go overboard with all the current hottest trends. Like fashion and anything else, super-trendy kitchen design has a limited shelf-life. Don’t hesitate to add some trendy touches, but keep the bulk of the design to classic looks that never go out of style.
On a related note, keep the ‘personality’ to the smaller things, like appliances and accessories. The idea of orange cabinets probably sounds really cool, but think about how you might feel about them a couple of years from now.
Unless of course, you have a lot of dough to work with, and could easily re-do your kitchen again completely in a few years time—but, chances are you don’t, so be careful!
Forgetting about Functionality
When remodeling a kitchen, it is easy to get caught up in the big, exciting things; you love investigating all the different options for flooring; you will happily spend hours online looking for the perfect cabinets. Heavy focus on the aesthetics is understandable, but remember you also want to create a functional space. You want big enough countertops to store appliances, and prepare your food with ease. You want adequate storage space to house all your kitchen ‘stuff.’
Before you start designing your kitchen, take note of the functional issues you are having, and what you would like to improve, not just what color you want the wall to be, or whether you want bamboo or recycled glass tiles for flooring.
Completely Gutting the Space
Before you completely destroy your kitchen as it stands now, take a moment, and think if this is completely necessary. It sure sounds like fun to build a new space from scratch, but remodeling is an expensive undertaking, and doing a solid once-over of the space, is a particularly good idea if you have budget concerns.
Kelli Cooper enjoys blogging about all things home improvement; if you are looking for windows in Chicago, check out Gilkey Window Company.
