Kitchen Remodeling Tips
Things To Keep In Mind
Once you have your space planned out the biggest challenge in remodeling your kitchen is to not only choose good materials and colours for it but also create a lively interior that incorporates appliances and cabinets with structural elements.
Trading Spaces: Geography of Your Kitchen
The National Kitchen and Bath Association
defines the kitchen work triangle as an imaginary straight line drawn
from the center of the sink, to the center of the cooktop, to the center of the
refrigerator and finally back to the sink. The triangle formed by these
imaginary lines should total 26 feet or less for maximum efficiency. To further make your kitchen user-friendly
it is important that no entry, appliance or cabinet doors block each other when
you open them. If you have an island in
your kitchen, an appliance or door on it shouldn’t hit an appliance or cabinet
door across from it.
The
current trends in kitchen remodeling see the area as adjacent to the dining
area or a dining room; this allows the cook to keep contact with guests and
family members despite the defined borders.
One way to
distinguish the kitchen from the rooms around it is to have its ceilings higher
than the dinning area’s where the setting is more intimate.
Small Kitchen Spaces
In
space-challenged kitchens, finding enough storage space is often a problem.
Cutting back on your cabinets and opting instead for a walk-in pantry as well as
removing those items that you hardly ever use are easy ways to make space for the items and appliances you do need in your kitchen. So move your china out of the kitchen and into the dining area; use this new found space for your pots and pans.
Your
countertops can differ in heights; this allows for visual variety and also
helps to maximize productivity if
there are more than one cooks in the area.
Vary your cabinet door styles to make your space more visually
interesting; after all your kitchen does not have to be uniform in its outfit:
use one style of door for your wall cabinets and another style for the
island. On the same note, choose
different cabinet paint colour or decorative finish; burnt orange for the
island and gentle yellow for the surrounding cabinets; apply wood stains that
are darker for the island and lighter for the rest of the area.
Hiding Spaces
To hide or not to hide, that is the question for many home owners. For some, being able to see your refrigerator or oven is not really that bothersome. Luckily, for those who do find appliances to be rather unsightly, there are panels that you can install to disguise these machines. Just make sure the panels match your cabinets.
For those items that you can't really hide, like your stove top, installing a raised ledge or breakfast bar on your island or kitchen peninsula can help that stove top disappear. And what about double ovens? If they are installed in the wall, well then there isn't much you can do. However, installing one or both ovens into your island will help make sure that oven is out of view.
An easy way to help your appliances blend in with their surroundings is to buy stainless steel. Because stainless steel appliances reflect the color of their surroundings, and since the material is pretty neutral to begin with, these appliances are often much less noticeable. Plus, they add a sophisticated touch to any kitchen.
