If you’ve had the slightest exposure to the real estate business, you must know that ‘kitchens sell homes’. A great kitchen not only provides a lot of convenience and mental satisfaction when working or eating there but also helps boost the value of the real estate.
You don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune to give your kitchen a premium look. You can easily do that within a limited budget, only if you plan everything right and get the most out of what you already have. Also, if you do it the right way, it can be quite an exciting experience in its own since you get to remodel the whole space exactly as you like.
To make the process easier and to save you a lot of hassle, we have put together this step-by-step guide on how you can achieve the right order kitchen remodeling in Kingwood.
Step 1: Map out the plan.
Sketching out what you really want in the very initial phase helps a lot later on. This sketch may include an actual drawing or simply listing down all major decisions to be taken. For the most part, you’ll need to decide on the budget, appliances to be installed, parts to be repaired or completely demolished, and the workers to be hired to carry out the plumbing and electrical work.
You also need to decide on the color scheme and other design elements here so that the next steps can easily follow. If you’re not an expert yourself, you may also need to outsource some parts to an external contractor or designer so make sure you have some space in your budget for hiring such professionals.
You can start by creating a checklist for everything that needs to be done so that you can easily track your progress while you’re on it.
Step 2: Demolish or tear out the old stuff.
Once you’ve figured out what parts can be reused and what parts need to be completely destroyed, it is time to get rid of the old stuff. Rip out everything you don’t want such as the walls, cabinets, flooring, fixtures, or even appliances. It is recommended that you hire experts for this step since the job can get very nasty and you may end up damaging stuff that you may need later.
Step 3: Figure out the plumbing and electrical work.
Next in order is getting the plumbing, gas, and electrical work done. This again needs to be handled by skilled workers who will do the job in lesser time and more professionally. This might require some drilling in the walls and flooring and even destroying and reconstructing parts of it.
Considering the nature of this step, it is best that you leave it to a professional construction crew.
Step 4: Get new flooring and walls.
Flooring and walls can take a week or two to complete. You can play around with different styles and materials according to the initial design you planned. Some of the most commonly used materials for floors include laminate, tile, and hardwood. Ceramic flooring is the easiest to clean and does very well for homes with young kids.
The walls can either use good quality paint or wallpaper. You may also use ceramic tiles for the walls but that is totally up to you and your budget. Make sure you have the dimensions of the cabinets and appliances to be installed so that you can make the relevant cuts and fittings accordingly.
Step 5: Build the storage cabinets.
Once the walls and the floors are ready, it is time you install the storage cabinets. Installing cabinets is fairly easy to feel free to do it yourself if you need to. Most people use ready-to-assemble cabinets to save time since they can be installed in as little as 20 minutes each.
Whatever option you choose, make sure that the cabinets are high-quality and long-lasting. Weaker cabinets run the risk of breaking down after a short period of time.
Step 6: Install doors, windows, and countertops.
If your new kitchen follows roughly the same structure as the older one, there isn’t much to do with this step. You can simply clean the windows with a solid cleaner and get the doors polished.
If you’re adding new doors and windows, make sure you use appropriate insulation. Unsealed kitchens can go heavy on the budgets in cooling and heating bills and make the space uncomfortable in general. Also, make sure you take care of the small gaps so that they do not create any problems later.
At this point, you may also install the countertops yourself as they are not going to take a lot of effort.
Step 7: Start fitting new appliances.
It is finally time you bring in your new appliances and get them up and running. These appliances may include basic ones such as the stove, microwave, refrigerator, water dispenser, etc. You may also add some luxury appliances such as a wine chiller or a bar counter.
The appliances must also be reliable and affordable as you’re going to be using them for a very long time. You may require some repair or maintenance work done every now and then so make sure that the brand you use is well-known and common in the market.
Step 8: Get the final detailing and inspection done.
Till now, you are mostly done. At this point, you just need to run final checks on all plumbing, gas, and electrical work and check for any problems. Check for any gaps in the fittings or any inconsistencies in the floors, walls, cabinets, and countertops. Be sure to pull out the checklist you made at the start to see if you really are done with everything.
Congratulations! Your kitchen remodeling project is complete now.
