Kitchen remodeling can be lots of fun, but it also requires some planning and hard work. It’s fun to fill your head full of ideas and exciting to watch your new kitchen take shape! Here are some kitchen remodeling basics to help you get started transforming the most used room in your house.
First things first – you should know exactly what you want out of your kitchen remodeling project. Unfortunately, not all of us are great at thinking up ideas. One way to generate some ideas and get your creative juices flowing is to look at lots of kitchen pictures to get ideas. You can find tons of pictures on the internet or in remodeling magazines.
Look at pictures and save your favorite ones. Once you’ve got all kinds of designs saved, ask yourself why they appeal to you. Look for some similarities. These are the things you should use as design principles for your kitchen remodeling.
Size should be the main consideration when you’re thinking about overall design. With a bigger kitchen, you’ll have a lot more flexibility. If you have a small kitchen that’s just about big enough for you to turn around in, you might choose a one-wall kitchen design. This type of design focuses on just one area of the kitchen that tends to be the center of attention. If done right, it can give the whole room an entirely different feel. A one-wall kitchen design also makes the best use of space.
A really efficient kitchen design concept if you’ve got the space is the classic kitchen triangle. Imagine a triangle where you’ve got the fridge at one point, the stove or oven at another, and the sink at the other. This regulates workflow for the cook, allowing the easiest movement from one point to another. If you’ve got a couple cooks working together, it keeps everybody from bumping their heads together.
You should also think about the entire overall design. Most people choose a certain theme for their kitchens. For example rustic, French country and modern are all popular designs. You don’t have to spend a lot of money completely re-doing your kitchen in one of these styles; even just a few touches like doing countertops or a color scheme for the walls can give it a certain feel.
One of the biggest decisions you will need to make when remodeling your kitchen is whether to use a professional or do the job yourself. Doing the job yourself will probably end up costing you less but you really have to make sure you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you could end up messing around with the plumbing or causing electrical problems in your home that will cause major headaches later. You also have to make sure you’ve got all the permits you need if you’re making any serious changes.