Are you ready to design a virtual kitchen? Let’s talk about nine things you can focus on for your home renovation.
Any renovation is a big time and money investment, and care needs to go into it as, if you get something not quite right, it will take just as much time and money to fix it in many cases. You should always make sure that your focus is in the right place before you start and that you know how you’re going to work towards your goals. When it comes to the kitchen, you’re dealing with one of the rooms that are most important in terms of practicality, utility, comfort, reliability, and more.
Let’s start with what to focus on to Design A Virtual Kitchen
The essential fixes
Of course, if there are any fixes that need to be made in the kitchen, then this should be your first concern. This can include fixes with your electrics and appliances, your surfaces and walls, your windows and doors, or otherwise. You’re going to be left unsatisfied and likely more than a little frustrated if there are still little flaws lingering that require your attention after you spend all that money and time transforming your kitchen.
Forging a new look
If your kitchen is looking a little outdated, then there are plenty of ways to upgrade its look. Changing the flooring and countertops is a good example, but these have more advantages that we will dip into later. Another way to improve the look of the kitchen is to change the walls as well as the backsplashes over your countertop areas. You can also consider making updates to the decor elements such as any wall art you might have or the knick-knacks that occupy the spaces that aren’t used for either food prep or for storage. You don’t need a big investment to change the look of a kitchen.
Making cabinetry better
There are a few different ways to upgrade the cabinets in your kitchen. When it comes to their looks, painting them or refacing them with new cabinet doors is going to make a big difference. However, accessibility should be the key here and there are a few ways to do it. You can, for instance, install a pull-out cabinet shelf that takes up less space when it’s open. Another way is to get rid of cabinet doors entirely, which essentially leaves you with open shelving. It can help create a more minimalist look in the kitchen while also making it easier to clean since there are fewer surfaces for dust and debris to get stuck to in the first place.
Investing in better countertops
The most important surface in any kitchen is, of course, the countertop. It’s where you’re going to be doing the majority of your food prep and your cleaning, so it’s going to dictate how you spend your time in there. As such, changing your countertops is so much more than just an aesthetic change. Changing to quartz countertops can, for instance, require much less maintenance than others due to the fact that it’s a more durable material than things like granite or wood. It’s also easier to repair. Your choice of countertops can also affect other issues. For instance, while granite and quartz are much easier to wipe clean than wood, quartz has the added benefit of also being antibacterial which helps you keep the kitchen a more hygienic place.
The flooring matters, too
While you might not be preparing food on the floor as much, it’s still important as it’s where the majority of dust, dirt, and debris in the kitchen is going to end up. However, you also need to consider your comfort when walking on it and how safe it is for your children, as well. When you look at flooring types for your kitchen, you need to consider your needs and your family’s needs in particular. Some qualities, such as making it waterproof, are vital, given that the kitchen is a wet room. However, choosing materials that are easy to clean, resistant to stains, and durable enough to withstand plenty of foot traffic is just as important, as well, and should factor into your choice.
Considering how you use the space
The kitchen is, beyond any other, a room that affects the practicality of living in that home. As such, it’s important to consider how you live in the kitchen and how you use it. Does it foster more efficient working in that space when cooking or cleaning, or does it get in the way? One of the aims should be to create a “kitchen triangle” that makes it easier to get your work done. This triangle is effectively a triangle that should be formed between the sink, stove, and refrigerator. If you’re looking to redesign your kitchen, try to create this uninterrupted triangle and it’s going to make going to and fro much easier and much less time-consuming.
Adding more storage space
When you’re thinking about how you’re using the space in your kitchen then you also necessarily need to think about how much space you actually have when it comes to storage. Larger kitchens are likely to have no problems when it comes to this, but owners of smaller kitchens might need to get smarter about it. Outside of extending the kitchen, some of the ways to increase storage space in a small kitchen can include making better use of vertical space, such as using more hooks and rails to use spaces outside of cabinets, as well as attaching trays to the inside of cabinets where you have space. Using clear food containers of uniform size can make your foodstuffs a lot easier to keep and organize than using boxes of different sizes, too.
Improving foot traffic
If your kitchen is situated in one of the hot spots of the home, then people are going to come in and out of it all day. This isn’t a problem unless you’re trying to get some work done in that kitchen or you want to minimize the mess caused in the kitchen. For that reason, you might want to consider ways of diverting foot traffic around the kitchen area. For instance, you can make sure that there are few pieces of furniture up against the wall surrounding the kitchen, or use a kitchen island to separate the meal prep space from the other spaces, so that people are more likely to walk around the central area of the room than directly through it. This is especially important in an open-plan or semi-open-plan home.
Making it a more comfortable space
Aside from being a practical space, the kitchen is a space that you’re going to spend plenty of time in, so it only makes sense to try and make it more comfortable. This might mean investing in more effective heating, perhaps even underfloor heating, as the cool, hard surfaces of the kitchen tend to get colder much more easily unless you’re cooking. Lighting, however, is perhaps the most important element of comfort as it can not only make the area much more welcoming but also makes it easier to work, since your workstations are going to be more visible. This increased visibility is also going to decrease the rate of accidents in the kitchen.
A kitchen has to fulfill a lot of purposes and meet a lot of criteria. You might not be able to get everything you need in one renovation, so consider which elements named above are most important, whether it’s one, two, or more.
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