Throughout the Fall season everyone uses their kitchens to host parties, dinners, events, and to prep food for cookouts. You also get to know the areas your kitchen needs upgrades in. Appliances that don’t work correctly, outlets that don’t operate, broken cabinets, leaking faucets, and many other problems within your kitchen can cause needless headaches when all you’re trying to do is prepare for a good time. Using your kitchen so frequently throughout the Fall season, makes going into the Summer season the perfect time to get your kitchen renovated.
As you begin considering your renovations, here are some things to keep in mind:
1) What are your goals?
Whether you’re looking for more counter space, more cabinet storage, more outlets, or just a face lift, the goals you have for your kitchen should determine how your new kitchen is designed. If you want more counter space, but have more than enough storage, you can rearrange the new cabinet layout, so you have more counter space. If your layout is fine, but you want to have more room in your kitchen, then you can talk to your contractor about removing some walls and opening up your living space. Or maybe your current kitchen layout is fine, but its outdated and all you need is a face lift.
Discussing your goals with your contractor is important, as it could prevent you from spending money on a kitchen you won’t enjoy.
2) What is your budget?
After you have determined what your goals for your kitchen are, it’s time to determine your budget. Look at your finances and see just how much you want to spend. You don’t want to end up in a position where you have a brand-new kitchen, but no money to spend on a dinner with your friends and family to break it in.
Kitchen renovations can be pricey depending on the size, finishes, and cabinets/countertops you have or want. Because of this, you want to make sure that you are spending your money in the right places. Make sure that the areas of your kitchen that you spend the most amount of money on, line up with your goals.
Ask your contractor for a couple of different price options, and listen to their suggestions. They most likely have done a lot of kitchen renovations, and can help you avoid spending money in areas that aren’t that important.
3) Where are your problem areas?
Every kitchen has problem areas. And most likely, you are the only person who knows where or what they are. Show your contractor the outlets that don’t work, the leaking faucets, the stove burners that never turn on, or mention that strange noise you hear whenever you are preparing food. Your contractor can help you solve these problems, and resolving them should be high up on the priority list during your renovation.
And don’t forget those seemingly insignificant problems either. You would be surprised how much damage can be hidden within a loose panel, a dripping valve, or a random noise.
4) Where are your improvement areas?
Any time you are in your kitchen prepping a meal, and you begin to think, “Man, it sure would be nice if…” is a signal that your kitchen has an improvement area. These little inconveniences are half the reason you are getting your kitchen renovated, so don’t forget about them during the glamour of designing your new kitchen. Think back to the times where you looked for an outlet and had to go to the other side of your kitchen to find one. Or the times you had to play jam your groceries into the cabinet, and now every time you open your cabinets, something falls out. Or maybe, you are always running out of countertop space or squeezing past the person using the microwave.
The kitchen renovation process is the perfect time to improve these areas of your kitchen. Bring them up to your contractor, and ask him to help you find good improvements.
And lastly, and most importantly, make sure you find a good contractor. You don’t want someone who doesn’t care about their job or your house to come in and destroy your home. Look for someone who is going to communicate with you every step of the way, who will go the extra mile to make your dream a reality, and who is knowledgeable enough to get the job done. If you need a contractor, call us, Express Home Improvements at
(412) 568-3828
Thanks for reading! We hope it was a help. Feel free to reach out with any questions!
