Undermount Sink – To Obtain More Efficient Kitchen

www.LKNcabinets.com offers FREE kitchen cabinet quotes for the greater Charlotte, NC area

The Secret of Good Kitchen Lighting

 When designing our kitchens, our minds immediately go to the “big things.” These include what kinds of kitchen appliances we will buy – the makes, the sizes, and colors of the refrigerator and stove, for example. Where will we fit them in? And what about more auxiliary appliances, such as the washing machine and dryer, which don’t necessarily have to be in the kitchen but often are? Then, there are the countertops – what color will they be? Will they be marble, formica, or wood? And how many kitchen cabinets do we need? What size, and how high will they go?

But the one thing that we often forget but can be just as important as any of the items mentioned above is kitchen lighting. The way that we light the kitchen can affect the ambiance and feel of the room. Yet we often forget this important point, and many kitchens are just fitted with a plain strip light to make them as bright as possible.

In fact, in many households the kitchen is the nerve center of the home. It is the place where we prepare food, and depending on its size it is where we eat, hang out, and for some of us it is the place where we spend most of the day. Therefore, the brightness of the light is not the main issue. We want the room to be homely, welcoming, and comfortable. On a cold winter’s day, we think of a warm kitchen as the place to come for a bowl of hot soup to relieve the chill. In many families, it is also the place where we can be ourselves; more formal meals are served in the dining room, but more private “family” time is spent in the kitchen.

For this reason, you really need two types of kitchen lights. On the one hand, they need to be soft and comfortable for those intimate, “hanging out in the kitchen” moments. But on the other hand, it is also important to have sufficient light to see what you are doing. You need to see very clearly whether the food is cooking properly, if there are bugs in the lettuce, and whether the food in the container you just took out of the fridge really does look like that.

So how do you juggle both of these needs? Here are some possible solutions:

-An attractive light fitting as an overall, overhead light. This does not have to be glaringly bright. In fact, it can be quite dim and provide the warm, friendly atmosphere of the home kitchen. But over the counters, you can fit small, bright fluorescent bulbs so that you can see what you are preparing. If you are fortunate enough to have a kitchen island, you could fit a pendant light over it to brighten your working area and which can be switched off when you are not there.
– Fit dimmer switches to the lights in the kitchen. This way, you don’t have to fit too many lights, and you can control the brightness and light as you need it. Turn it up while you are cooking and turn it down when you and your partner are having an evening cocoa before bedtime in the kitchen.

Whatever you decide to do, don’t forget your kitchen lighting in your design plans.

Retail Store Secrets- Find Out What They Don’t Want You To Know!

The biggest misconception of the building supply super store is that their prices are the best around. When you compare their prices to other local stores you will find that their prices might be better on the high volume items, but they are making their money on the accessories or larger ticket items. These stores will lead you in with a few low sale prices in their weekly flyers; they are banking on the fact that once you are there for the deals, you will end up picking up other products as well.

I found this out when I started shopping for kitchen cabinets. I was shopping for stock cabinets, and I was amazed at how limited of an inventory Home Depot and Lowes kept. When I asked a sales associate, he confided with me and said that Home Depot purposely will carry only a few choices of kitchen cabinets and the rest have to be special ordered. Of course these special order cabinets cost more money and make more money for the store. I then traveled to Lowes and found an even worse selection.

This was before I knew anything about RTA (ready to assemble) Cabinets or being able import them directly.   Once I discovered the world of RTA, it changed my buying habits and saved me a ton of money on the rental properties that I was working on. Of course since then, stores like IKEA have become popular with RTA cabinets and some companies even offer them within their cabinet selection (SUCH AS LKN CABINETS AND REMODELING)

The next secret I found was to avoid buying your kitchen counter tops at the big chain supply stores. I found that local kitchen stores carry the same thing but for far less in price. Look in your yellow pages and see what is out there. You’re bound to find some local stores that will actually care about saving you money and are willing to work on tighter margins to get your business.

Look online for appliances. Yes, they are expensive to ship, but if you find someone local, you’re going to save a large amount of money. If you find something farther away from your area, factor in the costs to get the item verse the costs at a store. Also you might be able to take that price you have found online and have a local store try to match that price.

The final item is the flooring for you kitchen. Again think local stores and avoid the super store. You will be tempted by prices at the big box retailers, but if your going with ceramic tile, prices are relatively the same and the small stores will more likely give you a discount because your giving them business. Lumber Liquidators are popping up everywhere for hardwood flooring, but you can actually get an even better deal if you know exactly how many square feet you will need and you shop the discount building supply stores for closeout deals. These are some of the areas LKN Cabinets and Remodeling uses to save clients money.

Keep all of this in mind and you will successfully save a ton of money on your new kitchen.

Source: RTAcabinetstore.com by Gary Nealon

www.LKNcabinets.com offers FREE kitchen remodeling quotes for the greater Charlotte, NC area