What you should know before renovating your kitchen

Few renovations can make an impact on a home like a full kitchen remodel. After living in his home for a decade and a half, Family Handyman Creative Director Vern Johnson decided to make some major changes to his kitchen space.

“Over the last fifteen years, we’ve lived with a kitchen that was about 2.7m by 3.3m – and it just was not functioning,” Johnson says.

Johnson knew gaining more functionality and lots more space would require an extensive renovation. So after spending a few years ironing out project plans and design details, he knocked out a wall and got to work. Ten months and many lessons learned later, the kitchen remodel was complete.

If you’re taking on a similar project, here are some important nuggets of information Johnson picked up throughout the process.

Johnson took this on because he had room to expand adjacent to the kitchen. “We decided to take out a wall and use up space in the former dining room that we never used before,” he says. “And now it’s all coming together.”

In many cases, knocking out a wall is all it takes to change the flow of a room. Just be sure any walls you decide to take out aren’t load-bearing.

Don’t have that option? Here’s how to make the most of space in a small kitchen.

Even the most carefully planned renovations can (and often will) fall behind schedule. Plans can change, materials can arrive weeks late, and installations you thought would take a day can stretch on for the whole week.

Knowing this, Johnson presumed his kitchen remodel would take at least a month longer than he planned – six months instead of five. Ultimately, though, it took about twice as long.

“My advice is, expect it to take a long time so you’re not frustrated when it does take a long time,” Johnson says.

There are the top 10 kitchen design mistakes.

One thing people can often overlook when planning a renovation is the amount of busy work involved. Kitchens are complex rooms with a mix of appliances, cabinets and other potential complications. Ultimately, a project of this scale will require you to become something of a general contractor.

Organisation and communication are key to successfully redesigning a kitchen. Unless you’re planning on DIYing every little aspect, you’ll need to communicate and coordinate with sub-contractors.

The best way to keep a remodel operating smoothly is to have a plan fleshed out and ready to go before you even pick up a hammer. To avoid as much stress as possible, make and follow that plan as best you can.

Can’t afford a complete new kitchen? These 15 cheap kitchen upgrades can make a huge difference.

Once you’ve started the redesign, try to avoid sweeping changes to the initial plans, though it’s OK to adjust your design here and there. One of Johnson’s favourite aspects of his new kitchen is its arched passageways, a design choice not in the initial plans.

“Originally we weren’t going to change the passageways,” Johnson said. “But after we had demoed out all the walls, plaster, etc, we saw it as on opportunity make the architectural enhancement at that time.”

Learn the 20 kitchen and bath trends on the way out.

When designing your new kitchen, how it looks will not impact your everyday life nearly as much as how it works. Johnson spent a lot of time considering cabinet options. How the cabinets and drawers functioned turned out to be the deciding factor, not how they looked.

Think through your personal preferences when designing your kitchen rebuild. How much kitchen storage do you need? What kind of storage do you prefer? It’s not often you get to build a space to your exact specifications and desires, so take your time. Your future self will thank you every time you set foot in your revamped kitchen.

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Source: Family Handyman