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Why Every Kitchen Remodel Should Have a Focus

When you’re remodeling your home, you have specific reasons for doing so. In the kitchen, there are both aesthetic and functional reasons to remodel. But so that you don’t become overwhelmed during the design process, it’s important to choose a focus for your remodel.

 

In other words, you need to create a list of priorities for your new kitchen. This way, you can decide what is truly most important. By making sure that your must-haves are included, not only does this focus the design process, but you’ll end up with a much more complete space in the end.

 

What should my kitchen design focus be?

 

One common issue with kitchens is not having enough space. Another common issue is  functionality or poor use of space. The last common issue is outdated style. While a kitchen remodel can certainly address all of these three things at once, you still need to focus on which issue is the most important one for you to have solved.

 

It’s very easy to say just knock down a wall and add an island. While this is potentially a solution for one or more existing problems, it’s not the only potential solution. Sometimes, the existing kitchen actually is large enough already, functions fairly well, but has a very outdated look. Cosmetic improvements may be all you need rather than tearing it out and starting all over.

 

But if functionality is a problem, reworking the floor plan should be the focus. Sometimes, you can actually reuse existing cabinets and countertops in the new plan. By focusing on the functionality of the kitchen floor plan, you can decide what works, what doesn’t, and how things can be reshuffled to work better.

 

If space really is the issue, then yes, expanding the kitchen into an adjoining room, such as a formal dining room, is often a great solution. But bigger isn’t always better. You have to decide what works best for your home, and there isn’t always a wall to knock down.

 

Let the budget be a positive for creativity, not a negative.

 

Once you know what your kitchen design focus is, it’s important to know what your budget will realistically allow you to do. But rather than worry about having to cut corners to stay on budget, focus on priorities first. For example, labor, cabinets, and countertops are the most expensive parts of any kitchen remodeling budget. Once these considerations are covered, you can decide what other less important factors need to be accounted for. That’s when you can get creative.

 

While it’s good to stay under-budget, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use most of your remodeling budget. After all, while you’re in the process of a major remodel, you may as well put everything into it that you can, within reason. Oftentimes budgets hinder people’s creativity, but really, they should be a way to force you to be creative. These creative solutions may lead you in directions that you may not have considered before and the end product could be better for your discoveries. While it’s easy to obsess over little details during the design process, focusing on the big stuff early means that the little things are allowed to fall into place later.

 

Your Design Team Knows How to Focus

 

One of the great advantages of working with a design-build team on your kitchen remodel is that your focus is clear from the early stages of design until the finishing touches are being made on the finished kitchen. By having a focus throughout the process, your remodeling goals are clear. By knowing exactly what your new kitchen is meant to solve, you’ll end up with a better end result