Undergoing a full kitchen renovation is exciting. You are building your dream kitchen from the ground up, nothing can get in the way of your creativity, and at the end of the process you will be left with a show-stopping kitchen to wow your friends. Be careful, however, not to fall into a few common traps a lot of people find themselves in through poor preparation. Below are five mistakes you can easily avoid with a little extra planning.
Leaving Extras to The End
A common mistake among people wishing to remodel a whole room is to focus solely on the larger areas in their initial plans. While it is important to decide early on countertop material, flooring, paint color and whether to fit an island, leaving the smaller details until after the project is underway can cause problems down the line. For example, if you buy stools before looking for your ideal island you may find your seating comes up too short to sit at.
Say you find a gorgeous refrigerator that perfectly matches your theme and vision. If you have waited until your kitchen framework is completed then you may find the dimensions are wrong, and either the fridge won’t fit into the space the contractors have built, or it will have unseemly gaps on both sides. In both cases it could spoil the efforts you have made to craft the perfect kitchen. Choosing a kitchen layout includes doing the legwork before any remodeling begins to make sure every box is ticked. This includes knowing the measurements of every appliance ahead of time.
Settling for Compromises
Before you set the workforce loose in your home you should be absolutely convinced about each piece of the puzzle you have drawn up. Take your time when setting your ideas down on paper to make sure the entire project comes together exactly as you envision it. Get together with the project leader – usually a general contractor – and hammer out every point of the renovation until you are both on the same page. Once you start conceding certain features of your model the process can become sour if you’re not all in on what is replacing them.
Often when working with a general contractor you can feel the pressure to bend to the will of the professional – sometimes with good reason, as they are in this line of work and therefore know what they are talking about – but don’t ever settle on a compromise that you are not totally behind. They might have the best interests of quality standards and logical building knowledge, but you should have the final say on what ends up in your home.
Being Indecisive When Laying Out Your Kitchen
In the same vein as settling for compromises, indecisiveness can lead you down a road where you eventually end up stuck between multiple ideas, in the end leaving you with a mismatched kitchen that doesn’t conform to one consistent style. Do not let any work commence until you have the entire end product mapped out in your head. This includes the layout, the flow from cooking to serving to cleaning, and any upgrades and extras you may be interested in.
The best way to keep indecision away is the same way you’ll avoid most renovation mistakes – being prepared. To make sure you aren’t tempted by a fancier fridge or a bigger sink do the research first. Be meticulous, you’ll find that more time and effort go into planning the perfect renovation than the actual project itself, for you anyway. Changing your mind mid-build will lead to extra costs, delays and potential exasperation from your building team if they have to constantly change plans throughout a project. Save them and yourself extra hassle and come in fully clued up.
Doing It Yourself
We’ve all been there. You read up on how to install a sink, put up shelves, and wire up lights. Surely this isn’t so hard right? Well, as mentioned in the Settling For Compromises point, contractors and designers are paid to do this. It’s how they make their living so trust in them that the extra money will be well spent and reflected in the finished product. Professionals can identify any flaws in your plans, suggest more durable or more stylish materials for your budget, and offer up some ideas of their own that you might not have thought about.
It is imperative to do a decent background check on any contractor or designer before hiring them. Look into previous customer reviews or ask around your neighborhood for a well-regarded local business. You should also sit down and thoroughly discuss your plans with the individual that would be taking on your renovation to establish a good rapport and relationship. This way you can bounce ideas off each other and make the procedure much more enjoyable.
Losing Sight of Functionality
When you’re choosing a kitchen layout without having it laid out in front of you it can be easy to get distracted by style over function. The last thing you want is to get to the end of the renovation only to find your high-tech uber-modern feng shui kitchen is completely unusable. Again, a kitchen design expert can help you with this, and this is where compromises work best. They can show you the practical benefits of a tweak here and there to squeeze every bit of potential out of the space you have.
If you feel like you’re struggling to get the feel right, boil it down to the three most used places, the stove, the sink and the refrigerator. Get the locations of those right to maximize your efficiency and the rest of the room can fall in around it.
Other important aspects of a renovation include laying down a consistent theme, looking at unique trendy features, and making the most of any potential storage space. Consult with whoever you work with on these, as well as the rest of the issues here, to avoid any nasty slips in your renovation.