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Why Kitchen Renovations are a Great Idea
By Regina Tayman
Your kitchen is the heartbeat of your family’s home. Everything
happens in the kitchen. In a society where big family meals, family
gatherings and socializing with friends at home is making a huge
comeback, ensuring your kitchen is up for the challenge is really
important.
If your kitchen is looking a little like limp lettuce that has stayed
too long in the fridge, it is time to do something about it. Kitchen
renovations can be as simple or as extravagant as you decide to make
them.
Sprucing up your kitchen for your personal use, make sure it is
comfortable, paint it colours that you really like and that you can live
with. Renovating your kitchen is a great idea if you are planning on
selling your home. Kitchens and bathrooms sell homes. Period!
Updating can be as easy as a new coat of paint, ensuring that your
benchtops are in mint condition, and having your cabinets in their best
possible light. Say you have wood cabinets, and they are a bit dinghy
but you really cannot afford new cabinets. Look carefully at them, are
they dirty and grimy or out right damaged? If they are damaged, they
will need to be repaired. Maybe that means buying one or two new cabinet
doors (that match the others in style). A couple of ways to update the
cabinets are to remove the faces, scrub them clean and then repaint
them. Another method is to give the cabinets a super good scrubbing with
a grease removing soapy cleaner and then apply a good canuba wax over
the faces, let it set until it is covered in that waxy film and then
give them a good buff out and polish with your own elbow grease. You
will be amazed at how much better those well worn looking cabinets will
suddenly appear.
Your benchtops and appliances are just as important. Any outdated
appliances simply must be replaced – otherwise you are going to lose
money on the sale! The benchtops should be in pristine condition. No one
wants to buy someone else’s neglect or deferred maintenance. The newest
trend leans toward granite benchtops. This is fine for some kitchens,
but if you have an older, historic type of house, make sure that the
benchtops actually compliment the style of the home. For those with
tighter budgets there is always tile or even laminates that look like
granite.
Whatever you do, when you are renovating your kitchen, do not forget the
floor and splashbacks. Those two areas make a huge impact on the overall
design and look of the kitchen as every other item in it.
Kitchens truly are the heartbeat of your home. Make sure that yours
reflects not only your style (if it is for personal use) but the style
and period of the home it sits in. Moreover, if you are getting ready to
sell your home, kitchens are critical in the process. Go and take a peak
at some of the other open houses in your area. Look at the kitchens you
are competing with – and take yours up a notch! Sale for top dollar is
as good as a done deal. |
