6 Common Kitchen Renovation Mistakes to Avoid
Each year, thousands of savvy homeowners across Toronto opt to renovate their kitchen. After all, the kitchen is the beating heart of any home, and the epicenter of everything from meal preparation to congregating during dinner parties, or grabbing that ill-advised midnight snack.
A newly renovated kitchen is also one of the most highly sought-after features prospective home buyers look for, and is a project that can significantly increase the value of your home.
Yet, when it comes to getting a great return on your investment, you need to take into consideration the kitchen renovation cost in Toronto, and avoid several common renovation mistakes that can quickly derail a successful project.
In this guide, we’ll take you through some of the most common kitchen renovation mistakes to avoid. Follow these tips and make sure your next project ranks among the best kitchen renovations you’ve had the opportunity to be a part of.
A Little Planning Goes a Long Way
It’s not uncommon for the excitement of a kitchen renovation to get the best of a homeowner, causing them to ‘jump the gun’ and get in over their head too quickly.
It never hurts to tap the breaks and take your time, especially during the early stages of planning. Make a list of all the ways your kitchen is currently underperforming or not meeting your needs. Categorize these into sections covering aspects such as countertops, appliances, flooring, lighting, cabinets, shelving/storage, and layout.
Working with a Toronto-based kitchen renovation contractor early on in the planning phase can help make sure you’ve left no stone unturned. They can also help you keep your expectations and options in alignment with your budget, as well as help you make concessions for building codes and other factors that might put a damper on your big ideas.
Prioritize and Budget Responsibly
No one is saying you can’t have the kitchen of your dreams on a budget. But we are saying you need to be realistic and responsible. Like the Rollings Stones once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you might just get what you need”.
When performed by a skilled kitchen renovation contractor, the best kitchen renovations can yield up to 81.1% ROI according to data from Zillow. That said, you still need to be realistic with how much you spend in order to optimize the cost/value ratio. Most experts recommend spending between 10-15% of your home’s fair market value. This number can help you prevent both overspending as well as going too cheap and skimping on quality products or skilled labor.
Focus your spend on those aspects of the kitchen that are necessities for improved quality of life, and work backwards towards the ‘nice to haves’. When budgets are tight, spending the majority of your budget on the most critical aspect of your kitchen while applying budget-friendly TLC to the rest of the space is a great approach.
Don’t Fall in Love with Passing Trends
Kitchen renovation trends come and go like the seasons. It might be tempting to jump on the latest trend you’ve set your heart on, but this is often a major reason for ‘buyer’s remorse’ in the home remodeling space. This doesn’t mean you need to scratch the entire design concept though. A good kitchen renovation contractor can help you perfectly blend practicality with designs that will stand the test of time, taking inspiration from current trends while looking ahead to the future.
Don’t Neglect to Give the Layout the Attention it Deserves
There are three key zones in your kitchen that are paramount to consider when planning a renovation: the refrigerator, the stove, and the sink. These three areas form a triangle that represents the paths you’ll be taking most often when working in and around the kitchen. Sixty percent of time spent in the kitchen is spent at the sink therefore it is very important that it should be of good quality. Installing the best stainless steel sinks from allorausa.com will give a fresh look to the kitchen.
These ‘busy’ areas need to be convenient and efficiently accessible, making the most use of your space without hindering performance.
Don’t Let Shiny Objects Skew Your Good Judgement
Buying ‘cheap’ doesn’t generally make sense, but neither does paying top dollar for the newest ‘shiny object’ or new technology. Be realistic, putting your needs first and investing in aesthetic but durable materials in areas that will be heavily used. Self-closing cabinet drawers, for example, might be a fun little hat-trick when you have guests over, but unless you’re a chef multitasking frequently, you likely don’t need this added luxury.
Watching HGTV Doesn’t Make you a Pro
Even for the most capable DIY’er, tackling a major kitchen renovation is generally above their pay scale. Kitchens are complex, requiring electrical as well as plumbing and other specialized work to be done to code. Not to mention being both time consuming as well as dangerous, this task is one that is best left to a professional kitchen remodeling contractor.
The Kitchen of Your Dreams is Just One Renovation Away
If you’ve been wondering if now is the time to remodel your kitchen, wonder no more. With Kitchen Land in your corner, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll have a team of industry professionals with combined decades of experience helping you transform your kitchen into something truly amazing.
No matter which kitchen renovation contractor you choose to help with your renovation, avoiding the common mistakes in this guide will help get you off to a good start.
