800-788-7575
Once you’ve made the decision to redesign your kitchen, the process can, admittedly, be cause for anxiety. Many kitchen renovations are costly (in money, in time, in potential inconvenience) - and in a worst-case scenario, you may go through the whole process only to end up with a kitchen you like less than your current one.
To help make sure your kitchen redesign goes right, our team here at RTA Wood Cabinets recommends these 5 tips to make sure you end up with the kitchen of your dreams:
1. Inspiration
Ask yourself: if money, time, and available space didn’t have to be factors in your kitchen renovation, what would your ideal kitchen look like?
This thought experiment can be extremely helpful in getting to the core of your desires.
Is there a style you consider your own? Are there certain colors or materials that you gravitate towards? Would there be kitchen appliances you would love to use? Would there be a layout that would make your time in the kitchen feel easy or joyful or empowering? How would you want to feel when you’re spending time in the kitchen?
The more you know specifically and explicitly what you want, the more likely you’ll be able to figure out plans to actually get more of your desires.
In this process, it’s often useful to seek out inspiration from magazines, tv shows, and social media. You probably don’t even know all the possibilities there could be for your kitchen until you start seeing some concrete examples.
2. Goals
It can be wonderful to dream, but once you’ve spent time getting in touch with your desires, it’s time to come back to reality and figure out a true plan.
Reality typically forces us to make trade-offs. Though you might love both a modern black-and white style and a rustic farmhouse look, ultimately the extreme versions of these designs will contradict. You can’t have a black & white tile floor and an aged timber floor at the same time in the same place.
However, if you know these are your preferences, you probably can find ways to compromise – for example, an aged wood floor with patterns of whitewash and blackwash.
3. Budget
When creating your plan, it’s important to be cognizant of your budget. Once you figure out even an approximate budget, the number can guide you in your consideration of trade-offs.
For example, maybe you’d love both a top-of-the line stove and the most expensive marble for your countertops, but you don’t have the money for both. When you know your budget, you can decide whether it’s best to have the stove and forego the marble, or vice versa, or find some compromise in between with a mid-range quality stove that has the most important features you’d like with an alternative mid-range quality stone that mimics what you like about marble.
4. Timeline
Scheduling can also be a factor when it comes to renovations. If you want your project to be done in an expedited way, you may have to spend more money or possibly forego materials that might otherwise take longer to procure.
On the flip side, you also don’t want to wait too long. Sometimes homeowners get stuck in the planning process, and before you know it, years (literal years!) can go by and they’re still just “tinkering with design.”
It can be useful to figure out what’s realistic for your kitchen renovations and set yourself some deadlines to make sure you keep making progress.
5. Let’s Be Honest
Do your kitchen fantasies stack up against your real-world needs? Sometimes clients dream of elaborate, elegant kitchens that will impress their sophisticated friends, and forget that their first priority ought to be day-to-day functionality for a home with young kids.
For example, you may love the look of glimmering white walls, but if you’re currently in a life stage where you’re raising a young family, it’s probably more important to choose a design that can hold up to stains and messes.
When it comes to kitchen renovations, one of the most important considerations in terms of costs as well as the overall look of your new space is the kitchen cabinetry. If you make a smart, stylish choice about your new cabinets, it can set the stage for the rest of your kitchen redesign.
Want to learn more about beautiful, affordable ready-to-assemble cabinetry for your kitchen? Give our team at RTA Wood Cabinets a call at: 800-788-7575.