My HVAC Hobby

Remodeling your kitchen can be a great investment, since it not only allows you to improve its appearance, but also increase your home's value and improve the function of the space at the same time. Before rushing into your design decisions and calling a contractor, consider some of these things first.

Improve the Function

When you are remodeling your kitchen, you want to be careful about affecting the function of the space. This often happens when you have a small kitchen and are attempting to re-arrange appliances and countertops to fit a certain design idea you have in mind. While there are many ways to remodel a kitchen, you want to improve its function, not take away from it. Consider placement of the sink, dishwasher, cabinets, and countertops and how each component would work.

Consider the Size and Layout

This is another remodeling faux pas that people often forget about. If you can remodel your kitchen with its current layout, that is often ideal. When you get to making large renovations like rearranging the entire kitchen, you might be dealing with knocking down walls that are load-bearing. This is when consulting a remodeling contractor is a good idea.

Assess the Electrical Wiring First

Another thing you need to make sure you do before remodeling your kitchen is to have the electrical system inspected. The wiring in your kitchen might be connected to your home's HVAC system, which means it is not something that can be moved if you are attempting to move around the layout. If you are knocking down walls or affecting the walls of the kitchen, you need to know what type of wiring is there and whether or not re-wiring needs to be done. Even if you are doing the majority of the renovations on your own as a DIY project, wiring is not something you should be handling on your own, so contact electrical services before starting a DIY remodel. 

Remodeling and investment

Lastly, when choosing what parts of your kitchen to remodel, think beyond appearance and consider the long-term investment. With the right choices, your remodeling project can increase the value of your home, with things like upgrading the countertop and flooring materials, and creating more of an open concept that buyers are looking for. Having new stainless steel appliances might also be more enticing to home buyers if you ever decide to sell your home. The kitchen is often the most used room of the home, so it is a good place to start with renovations.