Money Saving Tips for Remodeling Your Kitchen

Any homeowner who has ever tackled a kitchen remodeling job understands just how quickly the costs of the remodel can spiral out of control.  In order to get the kitchen of your dreams without breaking the bank, it is important to plan ahead, and to watch out for those things that can quickly drain your hard earned savings.

The costs of the typical kitchen remodeling project break down into a number of different areas, including cabinetry, countertops and lighting.  Since cabinetry represents the biggest cost for most kitchen remodeling jobs, we’ll start with some money saving cabinet tips.

·         Look at your current and proposed kitchen and try to determine if you can reduce the number of cabinets.  It may be more cost effective to choose a smaller number of larger cabinets than a lot of smaller ones.

·         Try to keep modifications to the stock cabinets to a minimum.  Modifications to molding, the addition of decorative materials and other such changes can be a real budget buster.

·         Be sure to look for quality first, and do not let yourself be dazzled by a cabinet that is beautiful on the surface and poorly made underneath.  Choosing high quality cabinets will make the remodeling project less costly in the end.

·         Be sure to consider function as well as form.  The cabinets you choose should be functional as well as beautiful. Countertops are of course another expensive part of a kitchen remodeling project.  It is important to look at these money saving tips when choosing and installing your new counters.

·         Look carefully at the material you choose, since the material will no doubt represent the largest cost.  There are a number of less expensive materials that look and perform just as well as the most expensive materials on the market.

·         When choosing a color or a pattern, take note of differences in price between the various styles, and shop accordingly.

·         Be sure to shop around as much as possible.  The prices for the same countertop materials can vary widely from source to source.

Lighting is another big expense for the typical kitchen remodeling project, and there are ways to trim costs without sacrificing quality.  Some of our favorite money saving tips for lighting and lighting fixtures include:

-  Think carefully about the number of fixtures you really need, and try to cut back where you can.

-  Look at a variety of different lighting models and options, and consider price, quality and overall value.

-  Consider installing energy saving light fixtures.  These lighting fixtures can be less expensive to install, and they can be most less costly to use as well.

 

There are of course many other ways to save money on the typical kitchen remodeling project, and a little bit of knowledge and advance planning can go a long way.  It is important most of all to work out a budget before getting started, and to review your spending as the project continues.  You may be surprised just how much money you can save on the kitchen of your dreams.

By B.E. Conrad

From: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/savekitchenrem

Picture: http://dallasmodel.org

Small Kitchen Design Tips

Small kitchen design can be challenging but one of the first things use should think of when designing a small space to make sure that you have enough storage as well Is room to move around when preparing meals.

Depending on how your kitchen is situated, you might consider adding a small kitchen island which will give you extra counter space is well at storage space. But if the space you have for the kitchen is too small to include an island you might be best going with a galley style design which has cabinets lined on either side of the kitchen aisle.

One way to make more space in a small kitchen is to take advantage of every inch by hanging pots and pans from a rack chained to the ceiling or a pot rack on the wall. This will open up space in the cabinets for your other kitchen gadgets plus it has a bit of character.

if you are installing newer cabinets you can try to include a pantry cabinet that goes all the way up to the ceiling which will give you a little bit of extra space up at the top we you can store items that you don’t use every day.

Colors are important in a small kitchen and you want to design the kitchen to look as big as possible so lighter colors are often chosen especially for the cabinets. Glass doors in the cabinets can also look good in small rooms.

When buying appliances for the kitchen, you might consider some of the more compact and space-saving appliances that are available on the market today. However, you don’t want to skimp when it comes to the sink and deeper is better for cleaning up those big pots and pans.

Another important thing to considering a small kitchen design is the lighting. Be sure that you include for under cabinet and under counter lighting as this will make the kitchen appear more inviting and bigger as well as add illumination to your kitchen tasks.

from: http://www.perfecthomedecor.com/kitchen/smallkitchendesign.html