The kitchen is often considered the heart of a home. Not only will you whip your meals up, but your lovely visitors will also gather around the kitchen to have a chat. Therefore the kitchen is the most preferred section of the house to renovate, here we have an all in one kitchen remodel guide for you to follow.
Homeowners tend to remodel their kitchens due to various reasons. Therefore, every remodelling is different from the other. However, there are several common steps that you must follow when remodelling your kitchen.
This article will guide you through these steps so that you can remodel your kitchen as per your expectations.
1. Understand your need for kitchen remodeling
As said before, every kitchen remodel is different. Each remodel will differ depending on the requirements of the tenant. Therefore, before remodeling your kitchen, you should understand why you are doing it.
There are three main reasons why a homeowner would remodel their kitchen:
Improve the quality of living
This is the most common reason why people renovate their kitchens. There is a saying that looks are not everything, but a beautiful kitchen is appealing and eye candy. A beautiful kitchen can impact your life positively.Â
After all, most people spend most of their time in the kitchen, even when they aren’t cooking. As a matter of fact, most homeowners tend to adopt the new trend of making the kitchen open, so that it blends well with the rest of the house.
Therefore, it is best to keep the kitchen more appealing to improve the quality of living.
To increase the value of the home.
The value of a house would depreciate over time (not the land value). Therefore, it should be remodelled every once in a while.
An old kitchen can make a significant impact on the value of the house. Therefore, the homeowners tend to change their kitchens’ colours, layout, and fittings from time to time to increase the value of the house.
Improve the efficiency
This is the least common reason why a tenant would remodel their kitchen. However, this cannot be neglected completely.
Planning an efficient kitchen would entirely depend on the expectations and routines of those living in that house. If the owner feels that the current setup of the kitchen could be improved to increase efficiency, then they would remodel their kitchen.
2. Set your budget
After identifying why you should remodel your kitchen, you should set up the budget. Having a clear idea about your spending capacity is crucial for planning your project.
Since no two remodelling projects are the same, the cost of remodelling also differs from one job to another. However, you can spend only a certain amount for your project, whether it’s your own money or borrowed.
Therefore, figure out how much you could spend on the remodelling. Once you figure that out, don’t plan your project for your entire financial capacity. To bear the hidden costs, you should leave around a 10% to 20% allowance from your total spending limit.
These hidden costs can be additional labour, material, shipping and delivery charges, etc.
We cannot specifically state how much a remodelling would cost. However, the following table indicates how the cost would be generally incurred when remodelling a kitchen.
Cost item | Portion of the budget |
Cabinets and Cupboards | 22% |
Electrical and plumbing | 18% |
Finishing and final touch ups | 18% |
Appliances | 10% |
Countertops | 10% |
Flooring | 10% |
Demolition & cleanup | 7% |
Design | 5% |
The above cost breakup includes the material and labour costs incurred in each situation. This is generally what your cost would look like. Therefore, consider these costs and plan your budget according to your remodelling requirement.
3. Plan your new kitchen remodel layout
This is where you gather the experts and decide how your new kitchen should look. Do you want it to be an open kitchen or an isolated kitchen? Do you want a kitchen island? How should the lighting be done? Do you need new cupboards?
There are various things that you could do to remodel your kitchen.Â
Your new layout or design should match your budget and your need for remodelling. This is a challenging situation for a person in general. Therefore it is better to get expert advice at this stage.
There are designers and contractors from whom you could get help. The designers will design the new layout, showing how you should arrange your kitchen, the appliances, etc. However, they are not the ones who do the construction.
Therefore you should also contact a contractor to get a brief idea about the costs involved when putting the design into construction. As a rule of thumb, you should obtain at least three quotations from three contractors for the job.
These quotations should indicate the cost breakup for each activity, so you can match your project according to your budget.
4. Prepare for the demolition
Here comes the most challenging part of the renovation—the demolition day. Once you decide on a layout and a design, you might have to tear down the old kitchen.
You might have to deal with the dust and dirt during demolition. If you plan to remain in the house when the demolition starts, you must get ready for certain things. They are:
- Organise a separate place in the house as a temporary kitchen.
- Ensure that you have enough space to make small meals.
- Bring in only the essential appliances to the place.
A demolition would last for a day or two. However, the entire remodel could take another couple of days. Therefore make arrangements to organise the supplies, equipment, and a place to prepare your meals until the project is completed.
5. Remodel your kitchen and wrap-up
Once the demolition is done, the remodelling begins. We believe that the following order of steps is ideal for completing your renovation.
- Do the plumbing and electrical wiring.
- Install the new flooring.
- Install new lighting.
- Paint the room.
- Add the cabinets and cupboards.
- Install isles and countertops.
- Add a backsplash.
- Place the appliances.
Once the dust settles, check out your new lovely kitchen. Check whether your project has any parts that need further attention and do the final touch ups. After completing the above checklist, you can resume your new kitchen’s normal duties.
How to find a reliable contractor
Kitchen remodelling and renovations can be quite complicated and would require expert experience and creativity, depending on the job’s nature. Therefore it is ideal to hire a professional contractor for the job.
If you visit our website, you can find various contractors in your area. Request quotations from a few of them to find the most suitable option depending on your budget. However, you should always remember to prioritise quality over cost. If you have a decent budget, make sure to choose quality options instead of picking the cheapest one. We hope that you get your dream kitchen soon!
