do it yourself

Kitchen Remodeling Tips

Every year, various Realtor groups poll home improvement stores and other Realtors to come up with a list of home improvements that actually add value to your house. Year after year, the top results are the same. Kitchen remodeling is the home improvement job that adds the most value to your house. In fact, you’ll recover 80-90% of your kitchen remodeling costs in the added value to your house – more if you’re handy enough to do the work yourself.

#1 - Monetary Value of a Remodeled Kitchen

At least as important as the added monetary value of kitchen remodeling is the more subtle benefit – a newly remodeled kitchen is more likely to sell your house than virtually any other home improvement you can make. The kitchen is the heart of the home for most people, and a welcoming, warm and modern kitchen is an overwhelming factor in the decision to buy one house over another. But kitchen remodeling is an awfully broad term, and some kitchen remodels are more valuable than others in a buyer’s eyes.

#2 - Cosmetic Changes

Which kitchen remodeling jobs should you tackle if your primary intent is to make your home more appealing to prospective buyers? The Realtors have the answer for that question as well. In general, the recommendations are for cosmetic changes rather than major changes to structure. The top five kitchen remodeling jobs recommended by Realtors are painting, cabinet re-facing, new countertops, new floors and a modern cook-top range.

#3 - Kitchen Painting

Painting is the easiest and most affordable kitchen remodeling job on the list – and it’s also the one most likely to be an effective selling tool for your house. Fresh, clean walls in a neutral color are best. Warm neutrals make everyone look and feel their best, and go with just about any décor. Don’t choose an offbeat or unusual color no matter how much you like it. The more distinctive the color, the more likely that prospective buyers will be wondering how hard it will be to paint over.

#4 - Kitchen Cabinet Re-Facing

Re-facing your old cabinets to give them a fresh new look is the second most popular and effective kitchen remodeling project. If there’s plenty of cabinet space in your kitchen and the cabinets are structurally sound, putting a new face on them is a far more affordable option than replacing your kitchen cabinets. New countertops can spruce up your kitchen and make it more appealing. Opt for ‘natural’ feeling materials like faux stone or one of the new wood composites. Tiled countertops are another option, but many women are going to be looking at all those little grooves and imagining all the time they’ll have to spend cleaning between the tiles.

#5 - Kitchen Floor

A new floor can change the entire feel of your old kitchen. There are thousands of options available, but two of your best options are natural wood or a solid color linoleum. A new cook-top range is one of the few appliance purchases that will actually make a difference in selling your house. It’s an instant update kitchen remodeling job that will make your entire kitchen appear more modern. More extensive kitchen remodeling jobs like adding windows or a cooking island are iffy propositions if your main intent is to add value to your house. Stick with kitchen remodeling jobs that are most likely to appeal to the broadest range of buyers.

Arthor and Source: Chris Robertson

How to Remodel a Kitchen - Getting Started

When remodeling your kitchen you need to look at the entire kitchen and what will need to be replaced. Do your tiles, sink, kitchen floors or cabinets seem warn down, or are they damaged, maybe it is time to remodel your kitchen. Paint or refinish your cabinets instead of replacing them. In many older homes the cabinets are made from solid wood and are of higher quality than you can purchase today, today the low to mid-end cabinets are made from particleboard or some type of resin and or Formica.

You can enjoy installing new furniture, replacing cabinet doors for a quick and cost effective way to give your cupboards and cabinets a facelift, get your kitchen cabinets refaced it is less expensive than redoing the entire cabinets with new ones. Add some details to your kitchen by using light-colored cabinets or glass doors and don’t forget to create more storage inside each cabinet.

Steps to Take Before Remodeling a Kitchen

Kitchen Remodeling Tips

Baring it to the essentials, you’d say that kitchen remodeling should be easy, as easy as pointing your finger over the right direction: putting therefrigerator here and installing the sink there. That, however, is the planning of a conventional designer living decades ago. There are now so many magazines and books to tell you the best kitchen remodeling tips.

The kitchen of today has evolved more than what it is naturally intended for. Yes, it still has to grill those tenderloins to meaty juiciness, but today the kitchen has to put up a number of guests in its confines. Treatment of kitchens had made many to consider these rooms as guest accommodating next to living rooms. While in the past they are more inclined for efficiency, over the years kitchens are becoming as much aesthetically pleasing and comfortable as it is efficient as the margin that separates the two becomes more blurred.

Kitchen - Remodeling Tips from the Pros