How To Survive A Kitchen Remodel
Taking on a kitchen remodel is both exciting and a little terrifying. It’s easy to fantasize about a double oven, but that can often turn into a double dose of anxiety once it comes time to start knocking down walls. We know there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, but we often hear that homeowners feel overwhelmed and stressed out about the renovation process. Before you pick out butcher blocks and a farm sink, it’s important to know how to best preserve your sanity during a kitchen remodel.
Here are our favorite brain-saving tips for a kitchen remodel. Add yours in the comments!
Avoid DIY
We get it. Fixer Upperhas a lot of great ideas for renovating old homes. Pinterest has adorable fixtures and upcycles that look easy. It’s your renovation and you can choose to DIY if you like, but we generally advise against it.
The problem with DIY is that many aspects of a kitchen remodel are best left to pros. Plumbing, outfitting, fabrication, and carpentry aren’t skills you can learn from watching a few YouTube videos. We’ve heard catastrophic stories of homeowners making emergency calls about their DIY the plumbing job. What they thought would be a fun project ended up ruining their new wood flooring. Yikes!
Don’t lose sleep and money over a DIY gone wrong. Call the pros to do the dirty work for you. And hey, if you have the itch to DIY, do it for your kitchen decor instead! Joanna Gaines has great ideas for kitchen curtain upcycles.
To Splurge Or Not To Splurge
A kitchen remodel is a delicate balancing act for any budget. It’s obviously a bad idea to cheap out on a remodel, but you also don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on every component of your kitchen. When designing your kitchen, determine what’s worth the splurge and what you’ll save on.
In our experience, items like second sinks, quality cabinets, and smart storage are worth the splurge. If spending a little more will give you a higher quality or better function, we say go for it.
To preserve your budget, know when to say ‘no.’ Avoid tempting luxuries like wine chillers or antique stoves from France. Unless you’re doing a luxury remodel, you’re better off investing your money in items that will extend the functionality of your kitchen.
How Are You Going To Eat?
This is the all-important aspect of a kitchen remodel that people forget about. If your kitchen looks like a Word War II battlefield for a few weeks, how in the world are you going to feed yourself?
The right option depends on your lifestyle. If you’re down with cooking over a fire pit in the backyard, we say go for it. Some of our clients set up makeshift kitchens elsewhere in the home with a crockpot, fridge, and microwave to hold them over. Or, if you’re really just over everything, a quick trip to the pizza parlor will fill you up with good-for-your-soul carbs.
Take The Before And After Photos
No matter how fast it goes, it’s still tough to live through a kitchen remodel. The hair-pulling moments seem much more worth it in hindsight when you’re standing in a shiny new kitchen.
People are much happier with their outcome when they remember what the kitchen looked like before the remodel. Take before and after photos to remember what you went through, and how much nicer your home is.
The Bottom Line
A kitchen remodel is a perfect way to boost your home’s beauty and function. Unfortunately, remodeling gets a bad rap. But renovating can actually be fun when you partner with an experienced renovator. Give us a ring and we’ll keep your sanity intact during your kitchen remodel!
