Ways to Save on Your Kitchen Remodel

Kitchen remodeling never fails to ranks a good spot among the most rewarding home improvements any homeowner could undertake whether to enhance quality of living or boost New York home value. But these tempting benefits also entail a lot of risks that if not carefully handled could end up with a disastrous finish and a broke homeowner, and that can be you. For any home improvement to be a success, it takes quality products and craftsmanship and as we know these comes for a cost and a good one at that. So whether you are in Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Staten Island or Brooklyn; know the ways to save on your kitchen remodel without busting the budget and cutting corners.

1.      See Beyond the Initial Costs When undertaking a kitchen remodel, the initial cost that you would have to squeeze out may seem overwhelming. But if you look beyond and see the long term benefits, you’ll realize that all the costs would be worth it and can even prove profitable with the good boost on home value that you’ll get. Keep this idea in mind whenever you have to spend throughout the project. Whether shopping for supplies or hiring contractors, weigh carefully the cost versus the long-term value.

2.      Do What You Can  Though it is advised to hire a kitchen remodeling contractor to get your project finished in the most time and cost efficient way, there are still tasks that you can do yourself to cutback on labor costs. A word of caution… never underestimate what a kitchen remodel task entails. Make sure you have what it takes to do it successfully; otherwise, you will be throwing away instead of saving money.

3.      Focus on Efficiency Not Size Other than saving money, it is also important to save space in your kitchen remodeling project. This is especially true with New York kitchens where limitation in space is a common issue. The most practical way to be acquiring more square footage is through maximizing the use of space and not tearing down walls. Storage is among the most crucial elements that can help you achieve this. Forget shelves that unnecessarily eat up more space, and opt for pull-out drawers and other such organizational features that let you keep more for less the space. When shopping for appliances, you can browse through compact models that work as good and have the same features as their bulkier counterparts.

4.      Do Your Kitchen Remodel When Contractors are Not Busy There are certain times of the year when contractors are not doing much work and are more than willing to take on the job for you. Other than affording your kitchen remodeling the attention that it deserves from your hired contractor, the down time also lets you avail of amazing discounts from qualified contractors.

5.      Avoid Relocating the Sink Having your sink moved is much more complicated and costly than you think as this will mean changing the routes of your plumbing too. If you can, just keep the current layout and get creative in making it work better for you and the household. But if relocating your sink is unavoidable, then use this opportunity to upgrade the pipes.

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Remodeling a Kitchen – Your Options

If you are like many of the homeowners today you are probably thinking about remodeling a kitchen as part of your big home improvement project for the year. Probably one of the main reasons why you are going to remodel your kitchen is the fact that you like to cook. You may even just want to do it out of necessity in an effort to bring more organization and also be able to give it a more homely feel to you and your guests.

Although there are still a lot of the more traditional kitchens that are still in existence in today’s home, there are a lot of modern elements that you can add in an effort to add luxury and convenience to your kitchen. A lot of the kitchens today have changed as much as their owners have in the past few years. You are one of the many that have become more demanding of your time, and seem to have less and less time of that time left to cook.

You are like many in America today who seem to always be on the move and constantly looking for various ways to save time. But yet you may also be like the others who are more interested in having a trendy kitchen rather than one that works for you in the saving time factor. Because of the fact that there are so many different options that are available, it is no wonder why you might become frustrated as a result.

When you are beginning to remodel or even build your kitchen you need to first consider your options. And the options that pertain to the appliances in the kitchen should be your first priority. You need to ask yourself what kinds of things do you want and need in your kitchen. Do you want state of the art appliances or just any model that is affordable and semi stylish? Are you looking at the option of two ovens, or just the plain old traditional one oven?

Another thing you will need to also consider is the amount of workspace that you are going to need. Possibly you want to look into a center island for example to provide you with more workspace. If you happen to have young children you will also have to take certain safety measures into account as well.

Also you need to look at the space that you have available. This will tell you how much room that you have for your add-ons that you are looking into. Also another important factor to consider is your cabinets and pantry style.

Finally you are going to want to choose the style of your kitchen. Are you going for a more sophisticated look or a more country appeal? Once you have this in mind you are going to want to begin searching for decor items and appliances that will go with your overall theme of your kitchen.

Remodeling a kitchen is not a difficult task. You just need to set out some ideas to get the project done successfully and to help you create a space that you are proud of for years to come.

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Kitchen Design Considerations

It is certainly true that kitchens have come a long ways over the years in regards to their “prestige” in a house. It used to be that kitchens were only found in the rear of the house, tucked away out of sight out of mind more or less. Fortunately, this is not at all the case any longer. Once people realized that more often than not, when people casually gather together in a house, whether it be a formal holiday party or a casual get-together, the kitchen is often the focal point. Because of this kitchen design has evolved to include much larger spaces as well as spaces that transition seamlessly into family and dining areas.

If you are in the process of planning a new kitchen, there are a number of things you’ll want to consider when it comes to your design. For example, will your kitchen have an island? What kind of lighting do you plan to have? What kind of appliances? What about the overall feel; will it be rustic, modern or something completely unique that you come up with on your own? As you can see there are many things you’ll need to decide on in a creation of your own personal kitchen.

Because of this metamorphosis of the kitchen into a family room/great room, kitchen islands or, alternatively, “peninsulas”, are very useful. They allow the cook, chef, host/hostess or whomever is doing the work in the kitchen to have a surface to work on while still being able to easily engage in conversations and activities with everyone else. Without a kitchen island type setup like this, the person in the kitchen would constantly have their back turned to everyone else. This is certainly not an ideal situation for either side of the coin.

The color of your kitchen cabinets will go a long ways to setting the tone for the overall kitchen. Bright colors and create a fun, funky atmosphere while stateless steal or brushed steel will create a very modern but rather cold, and he septic feeling. If you were to go with natural wood, the lighter woods such as birch, beech or ash will contribute the lightness to the kitchen whereas the medium range would might be chestnut or cherry. For something darker, you can simply apply darker stains rather than necessarily spending a lot more money on harder, darker woods. The call is yours.

Kitchen lighting plays a huge role in the design of your kitchen, yet it is often overlooked or is the last thing to be considered. This shouldn’t be the case. Remember, a lot of time will be spent in the kitchen most likely. There’s no reason to be straining your eyes in dim light or in harsh light when there are so many options that can contribute a positive feeling to a space. For example, if you happen to have a smaller kitchen, the use of smaller spotlights can be used to make it look larger than it actually is.

Of course the countertop is a critical choice you’ll need to make for your kitchen. Many people opt for the natural stone materials such as marble, granite and limestone for the counters. Another option would be to go for ceramic tiles. With Randy tiles you will have a tremendous variety of sizes, colors and patterns to choose from. Besides ceramic tiles, you can also get solid acrylic surfaces with at least as many choices when it comes to colors, patterns etc.

My two personal favorite countertop materials are concrete and wood. I like concrete because it is durable and versatile and because I have installed numerous concrete countertops always with great success and very happy owners. Would… well, what is simply beautiful though it can get somewhat abused over time due to water and household chemicals. Finally, stainless steal is yet another option. A very clinical, modern look. Completely different from the wood countertop, but done correctly they can be at least as stunning, just in a different way. Just be aware that while they will not absorb stains (hence the “stainless” part of the name), they do tend to scratch fairly easily.

Speaking of scratching… this article has barely scratched the surface of options you may want to consider when planning out your new kitchen. But isn’t that the way of creating your home? Each and every room, and each every aspect of each row, has so many different facets to consider and that you can tweak to make your own. And that my friend, is the beauty of creating not just a house, but a home.

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