After owning my home for 26 years and raising up the kiddos (all over the age of 21 now), it’s been a long time coming to update my kitchen. My dream kitchen is finally becoming a reality! My Ipad vision board with ideas through the years is finally paying off.
Kitchen cabinets are the backbone of the kitchen and one of the most important decisions to make when updating/remodeling a kitchen.
Considerations to think about are:
- Will you be staying or are you selling your home? This decision is going to determine your investment and the vibe of your kitchen?
- I’ve collected pics to create a vision board of the various styles that made me smile and if you are selling, make buyers smile.
- I measured location of walls, plumbing fixtures, and where appliances would be located.
- I determined costs of using prefrabricated cabinets (cost effective if flipping a home or in my case had a tight budget, I’m a frugal gal) or if budget is not an issue you may want custom cabinets (you design everything, to fit your specific needs).
- I considered storage needs and cabinet space
- I decided on the style of doors/drawers, (flat panel doors/drawers work well with modern or transitional design, high gloss kicks the modern look up a notch). Raised panel doors/drawers suited for traditional and transitional spaces.
- Select the finish (solid wood, stained, lacquer or paint)
- I thought about return on investment. If you are going to sell you want to select what is trending and has a timeless style (white cabinets in a flat panel or shaker style have replaced the darker wood colors of days gone by)
- I decided on the type of hardware (knobs, handles and hinges). Chrome works well for a modern look, if you are using dark wood for a traditional look, brushed nickel or oil rubbed bronze can do the trick.
Because my kitchen is small, I like to entertain and get the most from my 1500 sq. ft. home (the more people that fit the better), other considerations I had to think about were:
- Reconfiguring the layout to maximize efficiency to create an open light, bright and airy space (I’m a Realtor so I’m always thinking of what buyers like).
- I gained additional storage space by installing lazy susans in the dead space of the corner cabinets. I now actually have less cabinets, more storage space and more usable square footage than my old kitchen provided.
- I used a simple design to make the small kitchen appear larger.
- More storage was achieved with the wall cabinets, by extending to the ceiling. Today in the homes that I tour with buyers I’m seeing the high-up space being used for storing of infrequently used kitchen items.
- I opted for an off white palette to visually open the space.
- I tied the color into my existing rooms that have a light trending grey.
- I’m seeing base cabinets moving away from doors and toward drawers, making storage more accessible.
- I used IKEA European-style cabinets (they offer a great warranty and exceptional craftmanship) to gain more storage than traditional rail-style cabinets found in the States. They also have soft-close on drawers and doors, which is a must if you want to elevate buyer perception when selling.
I’m jumping for joy to say goodbye to my old, dark and dingy wood cabinets and hello to my open, light, bright and airy, white cabinet doors! In my next post, I will let you know about how I selected my kitchen counter to get a cool modern vibe in my small kitchen.
If you are thinking of selling your home or just need a facelift, I’m a Real Estate Home Staging professional and as a Realtor with Redefy Real Estate who provides a flat fee and full service can save you thousands of dollars when it comes time to sell. I can be reached at 303-217-3821 or Jwilliams@redefy.com. Talk to you soon.
