Renovating your kitchen can be exciting – after many months (or years!) of imagining and planning, you’ve decided to move forward with building your dream kitchen. However, even when everything goes smoothly during construction, it can feel like a nightmare when your regular routine is disrupted. Your house is a construction zone, there will be noise and dust, and you won’t have access to all your usual amenities. To help you through this, we’ve made a list of 6 tips to help you survive your kitchen renovation with ease.
Set up a temporary kitchen
While it’s inconvenient to not have access to everything in your kitchen, a lot can be done with just two electric burners. Think stir fries, pastas, breakfast foods, and one-pot dinner recipes. If possible, renovate your kitchen during the summer months so you can use your barbeque, and set up near a sink for easy cleaning if you can. And on those days where you just can’t face cooking a meal in your makeshift kitchen, have easy snacks on hand. Dried fruit, trail mix, and classic peanut butter and jam can be filling!
Buy paper plates and plastic utensils
Altering how you eat can be challenging enough, especially when there are dishes to wash by hand in a limited space. For easy cleanup, you can buy a pack of 100 paper plates for under $6 and a set of 120 plastic forks, knives, and spoons for under $20. And if the thought of throwing out that much waste doesn’t sit right, there are also compostable options that are made from recycled materials to minimize environmental impact.
Create a budget for eating out more often
While you can certainly make do with a makeshift kitchen, it’s understandable if you get sick of stir fries and pastas. Also, it’s nice to sometimes get away from the mess of a renovation. While eating out may not be a regular part of your family budget, it may likely become a bigger portion of your expenses when you don’t have access to a kitchen. So before your renovation even begins, anticipate how many times per week you’ll go out, multiplied by the timeline of the remodel to keep your budget in check.
Protect your valuables from dust
While we do our very best to minimize dust in your home during the renovation process, we can’t eliminate all dust and it can travel through the vents. Be sure to cover up your furniture and other valuable items to keep your home as dust-proof as possible.
Order as much as possible before the job starts
One of the frustrations that many people fear during a remodel is a delay in the timeline. The construction phase of a kitchen renovation takes an average of 6 weeks, sometimes longer depending on the extent of the remodel. Don’t forget the complete timeline – it can take weeks or months to plan and order supplies before construction even starts. Things like faucets, cabinets, handles, and lighting fixtures can take weeks to arrive, so it’s best to have these items on hand once the remodeling begins to minimize delays in construction.
Remember the big picture
While the noise, dust, and inconvenience can be frustrating, just remember that this a very short period of time in the grand scheme of home ownership. The temporary hassles of a kitchen renovation will be a blip on the radar when you look back on those times from your beautiful new kitchen!
If you are ready to remodel your kitchen, or have questions about the kitchen remodel process, schedule a conversation with us today!
Kitchens are the heart of the home and the centre of your family’s day to day living. But when you start to notice that it’s not as functional as it could be, or it has simply become outdated, it may be tempting to take a sledgehammer to everything in sight.
There are so many variables that go into planning a kitchen remodel and you need to truly understand how you would like to live, work and entertain in a new kitchen. So, before you pick up that sledgehammer, here are five questions to ask yourself to make sure you get the kitchen of your dreams.
#1. What bothers you about your kitchen?
Is there a cabinet and drawer that can’t be opened at the same time? Does the refrigerator door open away from your work area? Is your dishwasher too far from the sink? Not enough storage space?
If this is the case, you have a functionality problem. Luckily, there is a concept called the kitchen work triangle that makes it easy to understand how to get an efficient kitchen layout. Here are the principles:
- Each “side” of the triangle (e.g., the distance between the sink and fridge) should measure between 4 and 9 feet, and the three sides of the triangle should not exceed 26 feet in total.
- The work triangle should not cut through an island or peninsula by more than 1 foot.
- If the kitchen has only one sink, it should be placed between or across from the cooking surface, preparation area, or refrigerator.
- No major traffic patterns should cross through the triangle.
If your kitchen is perfectly functional and you feel like it just needs to be updated, what exactly needs to be updated? Would refinishing the cabinets give your kitchen the look you want? Or would you have to completely change the cabinets, flooring and countertops?
Decide if there’s anything in your kitchen you’d like to keep – this will be easier on your wallet too!
#2. What are your must haves?
Some people are entertainers who enjoy gathering their friends and family together for happy hour and appetizers and then moving to a big dinner table. If this is you, perhaps installing a kitchen island with comfortable bar stools and extending the dining space is important.
If you’re big into preparing everything from scratch and have all sorts of kitchenware, your kitchen remodel would prioritize storage so your dutch oven and canning supplies don’t take over your counterspace.
Maybe you’re the type that sees the kitchen as just a means to an end for cooking a simple meal with as little hassle as possible. If this is you, look into lighting options and personal touches like a pop of colour in the backsplash to make your space more appealing.
#3. What is my style?
Interior design can be tricky. Once you decide what design style suits you (e.g., traditional, contemporary, mid-century modern, etc.), you’ll need to determine what colours, textures, and materials best suit that style to pull the look together. Hiring an interior designer can take a lot of the guesswork out of this step!
#4. How much do you want to budget for your kitchen remodel?
A kitchen remodel can cost in the low five-figures for a small kitchen or a kitchen refresh, while a full gut and replace with new appliances and high quality materials can cost well over $50,000.
While you may have an extensive wishlist for your kitchen remodel, it may have to be pared back to fit within your budget. To get an idea of how much you should budget, check out this Ontario Contractor’s guide.
#5. How long are you planning to live in your house?
A lot of people ask us how remodeling will affect future resale value. While this is great to think about, you should remodel for your needs if you plan to stay in your home long-term. If you are simply looking to update your kitchen before putting it on the market in 12-24 months, consider what is selling in your area and use neutral colours.
If you are ready to remodel your kitchen, or have questions about the kitchen remodel process, schedule a conversation with us today!
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