Seven Common Kitchen Remodeling Mistakes

 

 

When it comes to kitchen remodeling, often we hear the same complaints from homeowners about what’s incorrect or frustrating about their kitchens. Most of these issues come from a kitchen not being designed with the owners’ needs in mind.

When designing your kitchen, it is crucial for you to think about how you live in your home; how you use or would like to use, your kitchen; and think about your lifestyle, habits, and taste. If you consider all these points, it will drastically improve your kitchen's functionality and overall aesthetic appeal, as well as eliminate the common problems listed below!

1) Not Enough Storage Space

One of the most common kitchen complaints is a lack of storage space which can lead to disorganization, clutter, mess, and frustration.

 Here are some potential solutions

• In smaller kitchens, ample upper and lower cabinets should be utilized.
• Drawers offer more storage for pans than cabinets, and drawers make accesses to pans and other dishes easier.
• Consider installing upper-level cabinets that extend to the ceiling, with a stool nearby for reaching the highest items.
• Clever storage options like secret drawers or hidden spice racks make for excellent discrete storage.

Carefully thinking about your storage from an early stage of the design process will ensure that you include enough of it and, in the long term, make for a much happier kitchen environment.

2) Poorly Planned Layout and Workflow.

A bad kitchen layout will make you work much harder than necessary and ultimately stop you from enjoying it. Your kitchen should work specifically for you, with a workflow and layout designed to cater to your individual needs.

Things to Consider

• Lifestyle
• Habits and kitchen requirements
• How many people live in your house
• Who likes to cook
• What your preferred cooking style is

With all these things considered you can now begin to break your kitchen into zones: prepping, washing and cooking. This will make for a more fluid kitchen design and increase your efficiency while cooking.

 3) Lack of Counter Space

A lack of countertop space, or counters not being positioned where you need them, is a recurring design problem that can lead to extreme frustration.

The countertop creates part of the kitchen workflow, so this will help to determine where and how much of it you need. A common mistake is not leaving sufficient space next to or opposite of the oven or refrigerator. Having space next to or opposite an oven and a cooktop is essential to safely transport your hot food from the stove to the counter, without having to frantically search for open counter space.

When planning counter space, it is also important to consider the social aspect of your kitchen. They say the kitchen is the heart of the home for a reason because it is typically a universal gathering space (who wouldn't want to hang out around food)! So, when you are planning your next kitchen remodel don't forget about counter space for your trusty sue chef cooking or your chatty friends who love to sit in the kitchen and talk while you cook!

4) Badly Spaced Cabinets and Appliances.

It’s essential that cabinets and appliances are well-positioned for easy use and well-spaced apart. For instance, walkways should be around 36 inches wide so that drawers and doors can open clear of one another.

On the contrary, you don't want everything to be too far apart. For a fluid workflow, you don't want to have to take more steps between appliances than is necessary. Also, it’s important not to place wall ovens and microwaves so high that you can’t reliably remove hot food from them.

Think also about which way your cabinet and appliance doors open. For maximum ease of use, and where it’s possible, these should swing according to the surrounding kitchen space.

 5. Poor Ventilation

Suitable ventilation in the kitchen permits the removal of grease, cooking smells and steam. Without proper ventilation, cooking odors can otherwise linger on you, your clothes or any furniture, which in most cases is unpleasant in an open floor plan.

Choose the highest-quality model you can afford, and make sure that you pick the right size of ducting to fit your desired hood. This should make for quieter, more powerful removal that’s also more energy-efficient and less likely to break.

Also, keep in mind how loud your ventilation hood is, and consider searching for models with quieter motors. This is especially applicable if your kitchen is part of an open-plan living space, or is large enough that everyone regularly gathers in it. They should comfortably be able to have a conversation or hear the TV while someone else is cooking.

6. Insufficient Task Lighting

Often homeowners complain at the lack task lighting that is present in their kitchens. This kind of lighting is essential in kitchens because it concentrates direct light onto specific areas. These are mainly areas where you’re preparing and cooking food, such as the countertop, stove and sink areas. When designing your kitchen think about the areas that could extra light and incorporate it by using the various like future options that New Age Contractors offer.

7. Poorly Planned Outlets and Switches.

Often, you don’t realize that electrical switches and outlets aren’t where you need them until after the kitchen remodel is finished. If you follow the steps listed above and plan accordingly, you can save your self a lot of heartache and frustration down the road! Think about all the instances where you would need an outlet like: the coffee maker, microwave, blender, or phone charging station and plan your outlets around those usages.