Kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms of a house which can significantly increase the value of your home, and substantially improve its selling potential. Having a new kitchen or bathroom fitted can also be an expensive hobby. Luckily there is a solution.
After years of the government’s austerity measures, many companies are realising that people have to do things on a budget. Instead of that expensive kitchen, fitted from scratch, a kitchen makeover can get you the kitchen you’ve always dreamed of, at a price you can afford. No matter whether you want a contemporary kitchen or prefer a more traditional style, here are a few ideas to consider. Mix and match from them or make up your own – to suit your requirements and budget.
Make a Want List:
Make a list of the improvements you want in the kitchen. Start with the ‘must have,’ down to the ‘if we can afford it’ things. When it comes to pricing up the work you can always mix and match accordingly. Items one, two, and three you’ve agreed, maybe miss four and five, but you can still afford six, and keep within budget. Doors and Worktops:
The most cost effective way to give your kitchen an immediate new look is to replace those old, tired, doors, draws, and worktops with new. Whether your existing kitchen is an old fitted one, or a superstore’s flat-pack, makes no difference. Many of today’s home improvement companies will measure up your units, and provide doors, draws, and worktops to suite the existing carcasses.
Here Comes the DIY Bit:
By now you know the style, colour, and finish you want in your soon to be new kitchen. While waiting for your new worktops, doors, and draws, it’s time to get a few tins of paint in – unless of course you’ve decided to have the whole thing tiled. Remember the carcasses are going to remain, so they need to be painted round, plus the ceiling. Any paint drips or splashes will only end up on the old tops, doors, or floor, which are being replaced.
Check Out Your Floor:
How’s the kitchen floor, old cracked and worn vinyl tiles? With your new worktops and doors arriving, a new tiled floor will set them off a treat.
Kitchen Islands:
Do you have a kitchen which is reasonably large, but always seems short on storage and preparation space? Or maybe a large floor area, most of it taken up by that old kitchen table and chairs?
Now might be the time to consider replacing the old furniture with a kitchen island. Your home improvement company can provide a unit tailored to suit the available space, giving you more preparation space, more storage space, and room for six breakfast stools for the family.
Upgrade your Accessories:
With the kitchen beginning to look brand new, it seems a shame to hang on to those old taps and other fittings. Check the budget, can you stretch to upgrading your taps, even if you are keeping the existing sink. Dual or mixer taps, or a fully integrated tap system which supplies boiling or chilled water at the touch of a button.
Anything Left in the Pot:
With anything left in the pot check through your kitchen appliances. Perhaps it’s time to replace kettle or toaster with a new model, to suit the new kitchen decor. Buy some new kitchen crockery, cutlery, and kitchen towels. But don’t forget to leave enough over, for that first cup of tea.
You’ll be seriously surprised just how much you can save by getting a kitchen makeover. Contact your local home improvement company today, and start making that list.
Andy Morley is a keen DIY enthusiast and spends his weekends renovating his house, he also works for Aquarius Home Improvements based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire in the UK.