THE DOS AND DONTS FOR KITCHEN RENOVATION: PART 1

Renovating your kitchen is a large undertaking that will need a good portion of your attention. You’ll need to think about all the technical aspects as well as the financials, and this all needs to be done without forgetting the design and style of your space! This is a lot to think about and it’s understandable that you might feel overwhelmed already! So, keep the following in mind before tackling your next kitchen renovation project!

DO

Match the kitchen style to the whole house

People often choose not to renovate their whole home at once, which is very understandable! Renovating can be expensive, time consuming and stressful! Because of this, when you choose to renovate one area at a time, you’ll want to dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to this one area. During this process, it’s important to keep the style of the rest of your home in mind. You don’t want to find that you’ve chosen a style that contradicts with the rest of your home! For instance, there is no point in creating an ultra-modern kitchen if the rest of your place is decorated as an English cottage, and vice-versa, even if a mix & match look can sometimes be successful.
 

Think practically

Your kitchen is a place where you spend a lot of time chatting, eating, working… and sometimes cooking! Because of this, your kitchen is a hybrid space that is fundamental to the balance of your home. In order to enjoy this space as much as possible, you have to think practically.

The best way to practically plan your kitchen is to keep the work triangle in mind. This model links the three main kitchen elements, the sink, the fridge and the stove, ensuring that you can easily and readily access all three. Once you have these fundamentals planned out, try not to clutter the rest of your kitchen space as this will make working in your kitchen complicated.
 

Hire tradies for technical work

Wanting to renovate on your own is more than honourable, but for some parts, doing things by yourself can turn out very badly! So, it might be best to hire a tradie for the more complex, technical work. For instance, if you have your heart set on a kitchen location that is away from your water mains, then you’ll need to use a product like what Saniflo offer. For this installation, you will need to contact one of their accredited tradies, so that you can be sure of the outcome. One of the common reasons that I hear for people not wanting to hire a tradie and instead attempting work themselves is that they think it will save them money. Unfortunately, it can end up costing you more. If you attempt you plumbing works alone and don’t do it correctly, in the end you will be out of pocket a lot more.

DON’T


Minimise the need for storage

So you fell in love with a magnificent kitchen that you saw in a magazine. The space is absolutely beautiful and you think that it will be perfect in your home. The best part is that it doesn’t even seem like it’ll be that complicated or expensive!  This fantasy happens to the best of us, but there is something about this designer kitchen that the magazine doesn’t tell you. It’s not very practical. Those lovely open spaces that create a sense of luxury aren’t meant to be used in the average home. These designer kitchens are more like a showcase product.

By all means, draw inspiration from these designer kitchens, but just keep the practical aspect of this space in mind. Particularly be really careful when it comes to storage. At the end of the day, your kitchen is a practical space and needs to be fully functioning!  Minimising your storage capabilities won’t make your kitchen less messy, it will just be a pain to tidy up!

Choose appliances at the end of the process

In the excitement of your new project, it’s common to want to start renovating as soon as you have the idea of the style you want. But be careful. Starting this process without choosing all the fittings and features just means that you are more likely to face nasty surprises towards the end of your renovation. For instance, if you don’t select your appliances before you start, you might accidentally design an inappropriate space for them. If this happens, you’ll find yourself needing to buy made-to-measure appliances that will cost thousands!

Be too trendy

Renovating your kitchen is a massive process and not one that you want to go through it too often. In order to avoid doing so, avoid choosing the latest trends and instead select a long-lasting style so that you won’t have to change your always outdated kitchen’s design every year or two. Remember: brown tiles with flowers patterns were trendy once…

Read: THE DOS AND DONTS OF KITCHEN RENOVATION: PARt 2