The kitchen is often considered the heart of the home, and with good reason. This isn’t only a room for preparing food – it’s where the family comes together to chat, entertain guests, and generally interact at various points in the day.
As such, revamping the space can seem difficult at first. With so many different use cases to consider, there’s a lot to take on, and it’s hard to know where to begin and what to prioritize.
In this article, we’ll go through the process with 8 straightforward steps you can use no matter what style you end up choosing.
1. Determining Your Expected Budget
The first thing you need to take care of is the budget.
It’s common for people to get so carried away with planning their dream kitchen that they forget how much a revamp costs. This is one of the most expensive rooms in the house, so you and your partner will need to think carefully about how much you realistically have to spend. A good way of figuring out your budget is by using one of the many budget planning apps available that have been designed specifically for home renovation.
2. Giving the Place a Deep Clean
Once you’ve got a budget in mind, it’s time to start the process of rudimentary planning. You’ll need to see what you’re working with, so it’s important to give the place a thorough clean and declutter.
If your kitchen hasn’t benefited from this process for a long time, you’ll likely be shocked at how different the space looks afterwards. From this standpoint, you’ll be able to see exactly what needs changing because you’ll have a better idea of the overall layout.
3. Considering Your Cabinetry and Hardware
By far the biggest difference you can make to a kitchen is with reconfiguring and redesigning the cabinetry and hardware. Your countertops sit atop this framework, and it determines what sort of layout you’ll have (you might want a more open-plan design with cabinets going around the perimeter, for example, or perhaps an island would suit better).
You don’t have to get new cabinetry, of course. If you’re happy with the overall layout, you can opt to paint the doors of your cupboards and drawers and change the handles to fit in with a fresh aesthetic.
4. Updating Your Countertops
Countertops serve a major functional and stylistic purpose. You always want to choose hardwearing materials so that you don’t have to replace the units anytime soon, and there are many different fashionable choices on offer to fit any kind of look you’re going for.
Just be aware that countertops are one of the more expensive parts of the kitchen, and the harder-wearing they are, the higher the cost.
Again, there’s also the option of having your existing countertop resurfaced if you already have something of high quality installed.
5. Choosing New Lighting
Lighting is a key aspect of any room, but it’s particularly important to get it right when it comes to the kitchen.
For starters, you’ll want to ensure you have adequate directional lighting in place so that you have good visibility when cooking, and if you’re using the space as a dining room, you’ll likely benefit from color-changing LED bulbs that give the opportunity to set a mood appropriate for the meal. Edison bulbs are another type of lighting you could consider – these give off a lovely warm glow that feels both modern and homely at the same time.
Head to your local hardware store and ask for some advice. You can also take a look at Pinterest for inspiration.
6. Re-Finishing Your Flooring
Flooring can often be one of the most challenging elements of a kitchen revamp, because there are so many ways you could change things.
If you already have a hardwood floor installed, a sand down and varnish is usually your best option. If your flooring has degraded quite badly and is comprised only of cheap pine boards, you might want to consider laying down laminate flooring instead, which is hard-wearing, looks great, and doesn’t cost as much as adding an entirely new hardwood floor.
Painting and varnishing are also options for all types of wooden boards – just make sure you use the right paint and sealant for the type of wood you have.
7. Deciding What to Do with Your Appliances
It almost goes without saying that your appliances are going to be one of the most costly elements of the project, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
While buying a brand new cooker, fridge, dishwasher, and so on could be very pricy, there’s always the possibility of purchasing just one appliance you really need and keeping the rest.
And if some of your machines have broken, you don’t necessarily have to throw them out – appliance repair is an option, which can keep a high-quality device functioning for many years to come.
8. Re-Considering Plumbing and Electrics
Finally, think about your existing plumbing and electrics and whether anything would benefit from a change.
These elements of the kitchen often slip by, as people assume what’s there already is sufficient. In reality, though, there’s usually room for improvement. You don’t want to refit a brand new kitchen only to find that degraded pipes require refitting not long after, and your existing wiring may be inefficient for the upgrades and require future-proofing.
Once you’ve settled on your design and have taken out the elements you don’t want anymore, it’s important to have a plumber and an electrician assess the room for adequacy and reconfigure your fittings as needed.
Wrapping Up
The above eight points cover the main elements you’ll need to think about as you go forward with revamping your kitchen. There’s more to it than this, such as deciding what wallpaper or paint you want and adding other forms of decoration and quality of life features, but this should get you most of the way. Good luck!
