Kitchen Remodel – Adding Function and Value to Your Home

If you want to do a home improvement, you have to decide which is more important, increasing the value of your house or just making it comfortable for you. If you build a deck or pave your driveway, it would make your life easier for you, but it won’t help your home be worth more. However, if you fix up your lawn, or put siding on your house, it will make your home more expensive, but it won’t matter to you as far as comfort.

Many homeowners are looking for the best of both worlds: a home improvement project that improves both the value and the function of the house. A kitchen remodel fits both of these criteria. Although this project improves the appearance of your home, it also adds functionality which makes food storage and preparation much more convenient. This combination of function and style can dramatically increase your home’s value.

A number of trade publications track home valuations and the effects of certain additions to a home, and in most of these publications, the best improvement that you can make to your home for the purpose of adding value is a kitchen remodel. Unlike other remodeling projects, a remodeled kitchen can add more actual value to your home, and even add more than the cost of the remodeling in many cases.

A kitchen remodel also makes your home more comfortable, particularly if the room is remodeled to meet your cooking and storage needs. High quality appliances can be purchased for increasingly reasonable prices, and provide more efficient storage and cooking capabilities while also adding a touch of elegance. Adding new cabinets and counters gives you flexibility to choose the right look for you, while new fixtures make food preparation and washing dishes much easier.

Most home improvement stores offer advice for do it yourself remodelers that can make even a kitchen remodel into a reasonable undertaking. Because remodeling the kitchen is one of the most popular projects, the materials needed to complete the task are relatively inexpensive and readily available. If you are able to do the remodel yourself, you can save a lot of money, which adds to the value of completing a kitchen remodel.

If you are thinking about improving your home in the long run, or just want to prepare to sell it right now, it is important to remodel your kitchen. It would be very beneficial to do this, because the new design will be appealing and valuable. You will get more in return than what you put into it and it will pay off in the end.

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Should You Replace Your Countertops When Remodeling Your Kitchen?

Did you just decide to remodel your kitchen? If so, what exactly do you want to be remodeled in your kitchen? Most homeowners only want to have a specific area of their kitchen remodeled, some want everything remodeled. If you only want to upgrade an area of your kitchen or if you would want a totally changed kitchen, then you should be looking for a new kitchen countertop. If you are looking on buying a replacement countertop what kind are you trying to get?

When you decide its time for a new countertop, for your complete kitchen changing plan, there are so many things you need to bear in mind. The most important thing to remember is your kitchen cabinets. Kitchen countertops are always being placed ahead of cabinets or cupboards. If you are wanting to remodel your cabinets too then you should buy everything that you may possibly need when you purchase your new countertops. This will help you match your countertops better to your cabinets in the long run rather then having to go to the store multiple times.

The most important thing to keep in mind is, when looking for new countertops keep them in your price range. The most affordable of all countertops would most likely be the laminate countertops. Even though being the most affordable, most people think they are too plain. If you are not only wanting to change your kitchen looks, but enhance the style of it as well, you are probably looking for a whole new look. Most people want to replace their countertops with a fine wood or marble.

Even though it is probably most important to you to make it look nice and attractive, it is also very important to keep it in your price range. If you are changing the look of your whole kitchen, it might do you good to write down a list of things you may want to make budget. If you accidentally spend too much you will find it later on hard to remodel with no money.

If there is a possibility that you might already know what type of kitchen countertop you want to buy, you might not know when you see your options. If that happens then you should just start looking everywhere you can for your prefect countertop. Even if you look online or in a local home improvement store, you will most likely come across a few countertops you like, many with different colors and designs. I think browsing on the internet is the best way to gain ideas. In fact looking for countertops at multiple places is good to match prices, which is most important when remodeling your kitchen..

After you have bought the type of things you want to use for your kitchen countertops, whether they are laminate or fine marble, you will want to know how it is going to be installed in your kitchen. If you wanted to, you could seek assistance from a professional kitchen remodeling expert or a general contractor. Maybe you would want to install it yourself? With directions, you could install your new countertop faster then waiting on assistance, even if you don’t know how to put stuff together well. Every countertop and its pieces come with essential directions, but in case not you can always go out and buy a how to book about putting a new countertop in.

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How to Remodel Kitchen Cabinets by Yourself

There are a number of different methods you can use to remodel your kitchen cabinets, the method you choose will ultimately depend on how much money you have available to spend on this project. It will also depend on what you intend to achieve. If you are on a small budget then you can refinish existing cabinets in order to give them an updated look, if you have more money then you could consider replacing the cabinets with new ones. When you are considering remodeling kitchen cabinets you should also consider the rest of the room.

You can make your existing cabinets look like new by refinishing them. First you have to sand them down, and then painting them in your chosen color. In order to make this project easier you should remove all the handles and door pulls so you can get the whole surface evenly painted. It’s important to make sure the surface is prepared properly otherwise the paint may start to flake off. If it is necessary you can use solvent based solutions in order to remove old paint work.

While you are preparing the surfaces you should also make sure the woodwork is cleaned and sanded to an even level. This is important so that when the job is completed there won’t be any imperfections, and all the doors will match. When you have finished sanding make sure you remove all of the dust before painting or staining. You should treat the doors the same so that they all look the same.

Create a Display Case

You can use glass doors in your kitchen cabinets to create a beautiful display case for your glass ware, or fancy china. If you have an L shaped cabinet and want to turn it into a display case then you could consider using sliding glass doors. By using glass doors in your kitchen cabinets you can make your kitchen appear much bigger.

While you are remodeling your kitchen cabinets it is important to realize that you may have to loosen your work surfaces slightly so that you can repaint the visible faces of the carcasses. If you’re going to do a job then you should do it properly! There’s nothing worse than a horrible streak of different colored paint work running along the top of your cabinets. This is also a great opportunity to clean any of the crumbs and dirt that has accumulated in these crevices over the years.

If your kitchen cabinets are in very poor condition then you may need to remove them from the wall in order to carry out all this work. If you remove the cabinets and sit them on the floor you will often find the project is much quicker. It is a slight nuisance to remove everything from your cabinets and then take them down, but personally I think it’s worth it!

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