A Step by Step Guide to Effectively Remodeling a Kitchen
A remodeled kitchen will increase your home’s value, with a mid-range remodel giving homeowners a 58.6% return on investment. Your kitchen is the most expensive room you can remodel in your home, depending upon the type of fixtures and appliances you choose.
Remodeling a kitchen can range from swapping your cabinets and countertops to rearranging the layout and knocking down walls. Before grabbing your sledgehammer, you should first lay out your general kitchen design and budget.
This guide will discuss the steps you need to take before renovating a kitchen. Keep reading to learn more!
Step One: Decide What You Want
One of the first things you need to do is create a list of your “must-haves” for your kitchen. You can use this list to narrow down what items fit within your budget.
There are countless options for a kitchen remodel, but you’ll have to decide what’s important to you unless your budget is limitless.
You can figure out what you need and want by thinking about how your current kitchen functions for you. Consider these questions:
- Who does most of the cooking?
- What kitchen equipment do they use?
- Do any other activities happen in the kitchen, like office work?
- What are your favorite things about your kitchen?
- Are there any features your kitchen is missing?
- What colors and styles do you want?
- Do you want to change the layout?
Search for inspiration once you’ve created a list of what you want in your upcoming kitchen. You can look at home improvement websites or Pinterest to gather kitchen ideas. Sketch out a general layout of your future kitchen to get an idea of how the flow will be.
When creating your must-have list, you should also think about your goals for the kitchen remodel. Your goals might include some of the following:
- More storage
- Increase in your home’s resale value
- Bigger layout
- More countertops
- New floors
- Energy-efficient appliances
Step Two: Determine Your Budget
Kitchen remodels costs range from $4,000 for a small kitchen to over $50,000 for a lavish remodel. The price depends upon a variety of factors:
- Your location
- Kitchen square footage
- Type of cabinet, hardware, and fixtures
- Appliances
If you want to spend more money on an area such as kitchen doors, like this collection, you’ll need to cut back in other ways. For example, crown molding can quickly eat up your kitchen budget.
You should also set aside around 20% of your total budget for surprise costs. Your contractor might find out-of-date electrical wires or water damage.
Consider what aspects of the kitchen remodel you can do yourself to save money. The average homeowner can do backsplash tiling, painting, and hardware replacement. Save the more difficult tasks for the professionals.
Step Three: Figure Out Your Timeline
The timeline of your kitchen remodel depends on the scope and size of your project. The availability of materials and parts will also affect how long it takes.
It can take around nine months for your entire kitchen remodel. This includes six months for the planning phase and three months to build it.
Kitchen remodels aren’t something that shouldn’t be rushed. Take your time to get precisely what you want at the best rate.
Step Four: Find a Contractor
Now that you know how much you want to spend and what you want in your remodel, it’s time to bring in the professionals. A contractor and kitchen designer can help you stay on budget and track.
Your contractor will be the project lead for your remodel. They’ll provide all the materials and help the remodel stay on your preferred timeline. The contractor will also hire various subcontractors to do the work during the renovation.
Hiring a contractor is an extra cost but is something that you should build into your budget. They could save you money in the long run.
A kitchen designer will plan out your kitchen’s style, design, and layout. You can find independent kitchen designers or ones affiliated with local hardware stores.
Step Five: Demolition
If you hire a kitchen contractor, you likely won’t have to worry about demo day. You can handle the demolition yourself if you’d like to save costs or plan on doing a lot of the remodeling yourself.
Before you start tearing down walls, you’ll want to ensure the gas, water, and electrical is shut off in your kitchen. Empty your kitchen cabinets and remove the appliances. Lay down dropcloths on the floors that aren’t getting torn out.
You’ll want to plan for not having a functional kitchen for a while. Consider the following things:
- A temporary kitchen in another area of your house
- Bringing your essential appliances for cooking
- Purchasing a mini-fridge
- Stocking your temp pantry with plastic silverware and paper plates
Step Six: Start Renovating
Your kitchen contractor will handle all of the renovations if that’s the route you’re taking. If you’re handling most of the remodel yourself, you’ll want to tackle the following areas in this order:
- Update plumbing fixtures
- Install lighting and electrical
- Hang drywall
- Paint the walls
- Lay your flooring
- Install your cabinets
- Place your countertops
- Hang your backsplash
- Bring in the appliances
Step Seven: Move Back Into Your Kitchen
Once your kitchen remodels are completed, it’s time to move back in. If you worked with a contractor, walk through the remodel with them. You’ll want to run through the project checklist to ensure everything in the contract gets completed.
After you’ve done that, you can dismantle your temporary kitchen and get back to your routine.
Follow Our Steps for Remodeling a Kitchen
Remodeling a kitchen can be a time-consuming project but is well worth it. You have the chance to create the kitchen of your dreams while improving the value of your home.
Read one of our other articles for more tips and tricks on remodeling your home.
