So, you’ve decided to renovate your old and tired kitchen to give your home a fresh, new, contemporary look and possibly don’t know where to start.
Renovating a kitchen can be an expensive and daunting task for some but here are a few tips to help you create your dream kitchen without the stress.
- Firstly, set a budget and be realistic about what you can afford.
- Consider the options available, within your budget, for your cabinetry, benchtops, splashback and appliances.
- Visit some kitchen design showrooms for inspiration for layouts, colours and finishes such as Kitchen Connection who have many options available. Home decorating magazines and on-line galleries are great for inspiration also. Check out Pinterest for ideas and start putting together some samples and collect swatches. Tile showrooms are a good place to start as most have a range of samples of laminates and stone tops you can obtain to take home.
- Think about style and colour. This is extremely important. Do you like a minimalistic, contemporary, rustic or classic theme for your kitchen design? Do you like neutral colours, bold colours or a combination of both?
- Create a mood board or scrapbook of your ideas and samples that reflect your lifestyle and personality. This will help you narrow down your options.
- Assess your current kitchen layout for what you like and dislike about it. Does the new kitchen design have to be fitted to the existing floor footprint or do you have the option of a totally new layout because you can remove the current flooring? Replacing your flooring will give you more scope to improve on your current kitchen design.
- Is there an option to incorporate more storage? I love drawers rather than cupboards as they give you better access to your crockery and appliances.
- Can you incorporate an island bench? An island bench will give you more space for food preparation and is a great focal point of the room, especially if you use a contrasting colour for your base cabinets to that of the remaining kitchen base cabinets and overheads.
- Think about the benchtops. I love stone tops and a product like Caesarstone will add sophistication to your kitchen.
- 2 Pak cabinets look graceful and elegant but if you can’t afford the cost of a 2 Pak gloss finish, opt for Laminex Silk (a gloss finish that looks like 2 Pak without the cost).
- Think about your splashback. I love glass splashbacks but if glass is out of your budget, there are some exciting tile options available these days – colour and design is unlimited.
- The next step is to obtain quotes from tradespeople – a kitchen designer, plumber, electrician, tiler, painter and appliance retailer. Don’t be scared to obtain three quotes for each trade or supplier so that you can pin down your expenditure within your budget.
With your kitchen plans and quotes now finalised after your research and hard work, schedule your tradespeople. The kitchen renovation time-line will vary but plan for about 3 – 4 weeks depending on the extent of the job and the availability of materials and tradespeople.
Once the kitchen has been installed, check that everything is installed and working correctly, re-pack your crockery, appliances and glassware, start cooking and celebrate your new surroundings.
The images in this blog show the kitchen renovation I did in my apartment. The before photo was the kitchen when I purchased the property. The after photo is self-explanatory. I love this kitchen!
New kitchen at Ormiston apartment after renovation, using Laminex and Caesartone finishes
The original kitchen in the Ormiston apartment when I purchased the property
