Smart Ideas To Help You Get The Best Value When Remodeling Your Kitchen

Evaluate Your Kitchen Needs

Although you may have really loved your kitchen when you first purchased your home, times change and it’s very common to become dissatisfied with your kitchen as your lifestyle, cooking and socializing needs change. When considering a big Remodel, it’s wise to avoid impulsive moves. Before you make any major changes, take some time to reflect on your needs and expectations.

One very important consideration is the resale value of your home. You’ll want to be sure to remodel your kitchen in a way that makes wise use of your money now and increases the value of your home. You want to design a kitchen that meets your needs and works with the size and style of your house.

You may be surprised to learn that selecting basic components such as dishwasher, sink, oven, cook-top, refrigerator and dishwasher can be somewhat complex. You’ll need to determine just the right combination in terms of size and function. You should do this far in advance of starting your remodel. Begin by considering this expert advice.

Nine Smart Tips To Help You Size Your Kitchen Remodel Correctly:

1. Avoid splurging on a Kitchen Remodel that outclasses all others in your neighborhood. If most of the homes in your neighborhood sell for $100,000 and you spend $75,000 on your kitchen, you are sure to lose money. You may love it while you have it, but when you are ready to sell your home you will have a hard (or impossible) time recovering your investment.

2. Be sure your kitchen matches the rest of your home. Having a mismatched kitchen (e.g. a tiny galley kitchen in a generously sized home or an ultra-modern kitchen in a quaint Victorian) will strike a discordant note for potential buyers should you ever decide to sell your home.

3. Use standard designs and colors. Even though you may have a penchant for a particular color or artistic style, it isn’t smart to build this into your kitchen remodel. According to Susan Nilsson of Asheville, North Carolina’s American Society of Interior Designers, highly personalized kitchens discourage potential buyers because they feel they will need to remodel in order to assert their own personal style. That’s why it’s smart to keep your kitchen neutral and personalize with accessories.

4. Strike a balance between your wants and needs. You may really love elegant cooking gear; however, if you don’t really cook much you won’t get real value by investing in high end equipment (e.g. warming drawers). Design your kitchen remodel with your actual use in mind.

5. Think about your plans for your life before starting your remodel project. If you think you will be moving soon, don’t do a complete remodel. Just spruce things up a bit. Even if you believe you will never move, remember that life has a way of surprising us. You don’t want to be so deeply invested in your kitchen that it will impact you negatively financially and/or emotionally should you need to move on in the future.

6. If your home is in need of overall updating and remodeling, avoid focusing only on the kitchen. Instead, do a general freshening up of the entire home and a modest kitchen remodel. In this way, the rooms of your home will be in harmony with your kitchen. Peggy Deras, a kitchen designer in San Francisco, says that the relationship between the rooms of your home is important to the overall feel of your home.

7. Budget consistently for the appliances and fixtures in your kitchen. Don’t make the mistake of spending a fortune on one item and pinching pennies on all the rest. This will inevitably spoil the effect of your remodeling job.

8. Choose spaciousness over opulence. Even though you may long for expansive cabinet space and a massive central work island, keep in mind that simple, open space is always a good selling point for a home. It also helps make your home more livable while you are in it.

9. Visualize yourself using your remodeled kitchen. Once you have made all your measurements and identified your choices, imagine your new kitchen in your mind’s eye. Imagine a variety of scenarios in order to see just how well your new kitchen will work for you. Will it be easy to get in and out of the kitchen with bags of groceries and other items even during inclement weather? Is there ample counter space to set down bags of groceries, and is that counter space close to the fridge and pantry? When you are cooking, will you be able to move easily from one workstation to another? Do you have a long walk from the refrigerator to the stove? Are you going to have a problem with conflicting doors or other awkward situations? Will there be enough space in your kitchen to entertain friends or sit around the table with your family?

Ready, Set, Go Remodel!

Once you have thought through all of the considerations presented here you are ready to plan your budget and move ahead. Budgeting should be your final step because you will have a very clear image of the kitchen remodel you want, and you will have done your homework regarding the materials, appliances and other components you will need.

One important thing you should remember about budgeting is that you should never cut it too close. Plan a little cushion into your budget so that you will be able to meet unexpected expenses when they inevitably occur. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a bit of that cushion left over to get started on your next project.