There are very few things that make a house into a home more than a kitchen. Tender thoughts about home are not complete without tasty smells wafting from the kitchen and family laughing around the kitchen island. This is why having the right kitchen design is so important to create those happy lifetime memories.
The design build of a kitchen depends on what the homeowner prefers and resale value, regulations, and cost. To help navigate through these, there are five questions that should be asked before beginning a kitchen renovation.
Unlike many other parts of home remodelling, renovating a kitchen is full of rules. An example of a rule that could be easily broken is not having enough ventilation for the cooker. Some countries don’t need any ventilation while others require exact fans to a certain specification. Make sure to do research on the local regulations before beginning kitchen remodeling.
- Is this design breaking any rules or regulations?
If it is discovered that a kitchen remodel idea that looks good turns out to be illegal, try to rearrange it. If this doesn’t work, it could be time to call in a contractor or interior designer to make it work. - Is this kitchen renovation an idea, or a plan?
Lots of people have kitchen design ideas, but they never make it to the planning stage. This is an important difference because a plan includes details that may make or break the kitchen. Make sure that a full plan is in place before beginning to spend large amounts of money on a kitchen renovation. - The “devil is in the detail”
Some smaller details that should be planned well in advance include that countertop material, kitchen cabinet style, handles, and fixtures. These may seem like small details but they can completely change the way the kitchen looks and feels. Having cabinet doors or drawers, and knobs and handles are small details that can have a large effect. Going with stainless steel fixtures is a given. - How will this affect the Value?
Resale value should always be on the mind of the prospective home renovator, and with that the next question is: How long is this kitchen going to last? If the plan is to just make this kitchen look nice before selling the house, making a modern kitchen with contemporary colour styles is a good idea. This will impress the next buyer and lead to an increase in resale value. - Why are you renovating the kitchen – for form upgrade, or for function improvement?
If the kitchen is being renovated because it is no longer functional or it is showing its age, a slightly different approach is needed. To retain resale value over a longer period of time, avoid modern styles and colours. Instead of going for a contemporary look, aim for a simple and clean style.
Form is very nice, but a kitchen has to also be functional. It is easy to forget that the main purpose of a kitchen is to cook food and get messy. That leads to the next question: how will the kitchen be used? A kitchen has to fit the people who will be using it the most to cook. For Example, people who often host guests while they cook may go for an open layout with lots of space to allow for communication with the guests while cooking. People who host more formal gatherings often may go for a closed kitchen with open shelving and without a breakfast nook.
However the kitchen will be used needs to fit perfectly with the type of kitchen that is designed. Some ways to figure this out would be to spend time with the pre renovated kitchen or a different kitchen and see which features work and which don’t.
