Makeover Your Home with a Kitchen Renovation

Renovating and remodeling a kitchen is a big job with a potentially big payoff. The addition of more space, improved lighting, and better appliances can breathe new life into the entire home. It is a process that requires careful pre-planning and expert execution, so it is important to find the right designers and contractors for the job.


Photo: Luxe Pros

It is just as important that the designers and contractors follow your lead even as they offer their own suggestions. After all, they don’t know your home or family as well as you do. If you want your kitchen renovation, before and after, to be a huge improvement, then continue reading.

Kitchen Renovation Planning

Before you start your kitchen renovation, you should complete the following checklist to ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible:

  1. Create a budget – you should create a budget prioritizing your needs, followed by your wants. You should also have a 10-20 percent cushion in case something goes wrong, or you encounter a problem that you need to address.
  2. Find the right designers and contractors – when looking for the people to help you, you should look at their previous work and find out whether they have a good reputation or not. They should be able to offer advice based on your suggestions. What we learned renovating in Auckland is, be communicative and anticipate any problems before they happen.
  3. Check up on building codes and permits – every district has its own rules and regulations regarding structural, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing alterations. You should find out if you need a permit for any aspect of the renovation, or if it is allowed at all.
  4. Create a temporary kitchen – you will not be able to use the majority of the kitchen during the renovation, so you should establish an area with a microwave, mini-fridge, and temporary versions of the things you need, but won’t have access to, during the remodel.


Photo: Bruan Wark Designs

The Next Step in Your Kitchen Renovation

Once the renovation has begun, it is necessary for you to check in regularly to make sure that all is going to plan. You should not pester the builders, and they should not be too bothered that you want to see how the work is going. It is your kitchen after all. Make sure if you are renovating, to follow all of the strict permits to avoid any files. You should also try to stay calm during this period. It can be stressful but you need to stay focused in order to make sure that you don’t miss anything that can come back to haunt you later. This is also where unexpected problems might crop up and where the extra money you put into your budget will become useful.


Photo: Simon Adamczyk

The Final Step in Your Kitchen Renovation

The final step is the renovation itself. Once the kitchen is complete, you should do a thorough inspection to make sure that everything meets your requirements. This punch list can include small things like slight scratches to bigger things like a light switch not working. Make a detailed list and send it to the responsible party so that they can make the necessary corrections.

Once all of that is done, the only thing left to do is relax and enjoy your new kitchen. It is a long journey but one that is worth taking since the kitchen is the heart and soul of the home.

5 Kitchen Decor Ideas For Your Home

Shine some new light on your kitchen decorating with these easy but trendy kitchen decorating ideas!


Photo: Redl Kitchen Studio

1. Paint Your Cabinets A Shade Of Blue

You can replace “blue” with any color, because the purpose of this aesthetic choice is to modernize your cabinets and, in turn, your entire kitchen, as well. You don’t need to install new kitchen countertops, painting your cabinets is enough to make a huge impact. Most kitchen cabinets are white, and this is a very plain, very boring, look for a kitchen. Instead of sticking to plain old white, you can use blue or green or red, which makes your kitchen pop out and look inviting and very sleek and stylish!

2. Put In A House Plant Or Two

House plants make your kitchen look inviting and very natural. They invite feelings of nature and trees and grass, while putting out a very fresh scent into your home. On top of that, they have been proven to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, which only aids in making your kitchen even more inviting and even more relaxing and soothing, rather than inviting feelings of stress and anxiety and clutter.

When you put in a house plant, you should also make sure that the space of your kitchen itself is clean and free of any clutter or disorganization. That way, you can put the plant anywhere, allowing it to grow with incredible ease! 


Photo: Haven Design and Construction

3. Place Amish Furniture In Your Kitchen 

Amish furniture is a type of furniture that is designed to be an heirloom, passed on for generation after generation, giving the recipients an idea of what life was like, many years ago. As you can imagine, Amish pieces of furniture – such as Amish bookcases and Amish kitchen hutches – are made of incredibly durable materials. They are meant to last for quite some time, and that is, indeed, what they do.

The real reason that this is a great idea, however, is because Amish furniture is incredibly beautiful. Made with fine materials, and stained delicately, these pieces look great no matter where you put them! 

4. Place A Chalkboard On Your Fridge

This is a fun and cute little way to spruce up your kitchen and give it a timeless design! You can use this little chalkboard to add notes, to write things down, to make little drawings, and as a way of organizing your to-do list, or to write down the ingredients for a recipe! It’s simple, and you can find small ones for incredibly cheap these days, but it’s also a great way to have some fun! And if you have kids, your kids can – and most likely will, in our experience – make little drawings for you, which is always pleasant to see when you walk in your kitchen!


Photo: Grove Park Construction

5. Put Up Some Posters And Pictures

Depending on the size and scale of your kitchen, this option may be less practical and useful to you. You can use posters to add some visual flair to your kitchen and to really breathe some life into a space that may, otherwise, be rather dull.

You can frame family photos and put them in your kitchen, and you can buy posters and prints that speak to you and put them up, as well! Whatever you like, put it u