It has been said that “the kitchen is the heart of the home.” But what do you do when your kitchen needs an update? Maybe you’re just bored with your current kitchen design or maybe you’re looking to put your house on the markethttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but you know the kitchen is going to need some work to bring in top dollar. As a general contractor I always try to form a plan with my clients before we launch a remodel no matter what the motivation behind it is. Most people want to remodel a room to freshen it up or even modernize it without giving up all of the classic features. Here are some ways you can do that in your kitchen.
Floors
Whenever I meet with a potential client to discuss their remodel/redesign I like to have them break the room down into the relevant components. For examplehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com if we were renovating a bathroomhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com we would discuss floorshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com countertopshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com fixtureshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com and lighting. Every room in your house has 4-5 key parts that will really drive what you want to do in your remodel. We generally ask our clients to start at the bottom and work their way uphttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com so the first thing we address is the floors.
When you’re looking at new flooring for your kitchenhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com you generally want to keep one thing in mind: practicality. Yeshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com I have remodeled homes that have carpet in the kitchen. There is simply no way to keep something like that clean and it will quickly be significantly more trouble than it could possibly be worth. So if we eliminate carpet from the equation (pleasehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com PLEASEhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com let us eliminate carpet from the equation)https://www.stream-dvdrip.com we need to look at some easy to clean surfaces for your floors. There’s a reason that most kitchen flooring is done in earth tones: it’s to hide inevitable stains. The “classic” look is the old linoleum square tiles that became prominent back in the 1880’s in England. By the early-mid 1900’shttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com the trend had spread to America and a lot of older homes still have that style in them. There’s nothing wrong with this style if the rest of your home has a mid-19th century style to it. Howeverhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com we don’t want to do a classic floor to that extreme if the rest of your home is more modernized. You can do a classichttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com clean look without reverting to mid-century style.
Kitchen flooring doesn’t get any more classic than 18×18 tile. You can pick it up at any home improvement store and can find any color pallet or pattern that you want. It’s an excellent way to freshen up the look of your kitchenhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but maintaining the classic feel of the heart of your home.
Walls
Rememberhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com we’re working our way uphttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com here. When meeting with clientshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com I generally don’t try to interfere much when it comes to their wall color unless they ask me my opinion. Of coursehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com painting any room in your home a randomhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com eccentric color damages re-sale value (ask any Realtor)https://www.stream-dvdrip.com but when we’re talking kitchen wallshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com there are things you can do to update your look without even touching every wall. A simple backsplash on one wall (generally behind the sink or the stove) gives your entire kitchen a fresh new look without doing any sort of extreme makeover. As a matter of facthttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com it’s entirely possible to update the look of your entire kitchen simply by adding a backsplash to one wall.
When a lot of people hear “backsplash” they immediately get an image of white subway tileshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com and while that’s a viable optionhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com there are plenty of others out there for you. You’ll want to take several things into account when you’re deciding on a backsplash (wall colorhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com floor color/stylehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com appliance color) but a basic geometric pattern on one wall of your kitchen is a quick and affordable way to keep your kitchen classic but still give it a much needed update. The complexity of the tile you choose will really determine how much of a statement your backsplash makes. You can find tile in any shape or color that you can imagine buthttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com a standard geometric tile with a complimentary colored grout quickly changes the entire look and feel of the kitchen while maintaining a classic approach.
Countertops
This is the area that will make the most noticeablehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com impactful change to your kitchen. Making a good decision when it comes to your countertops is the quickest way to completely change the room. There are a TON of options on the markethttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but none is more classic than the traditional granite countertop. There are a multitude of patterns and colors that you can choose fromhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but this is the one area where I generally advise people to not try to cut corners. If you’re looking to increase your home’s valuehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com this is an area that you should see as more of an investment than an expenditure.
When most people hear about granite countertops they recoil and assume it’s going to break the bank. Yeshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com it is more expensive than butcher block and some other “lower end” optionshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but at the end of the dayhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com granite is well worth the added cost. Not only does a granite countertop give your kitchen a more eleganthttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com high-end lookhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com they are also easy to cleanhttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com stain resistanthttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com and simple to keep bacteria free. A slab granite countertop generally runs between $40 and $60 per square foot while granite tile is just $5-$15 per square foot. On averagehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com homeowners wind up spending somewhere between $2https://www.stream-dvdrip.com000 and $4https://www.stream-dvdrip.com500 on materials and installation on granite countertops. That number may startle you on the surfacehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but when it comes to home improvementshttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com you get what you pay for.
Your kitchen update can ultimately be whatever you want it to behttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com but it’s most important that you finish the project happier with your kitchen than you were when it began. Don’t be afraid to invest the money needed to get it donehttps://www.stream-dvdrip.com and get it done right. Your kitchen can get a fresh facelift without forfeiting the classic touches that you’re looking for.