Renovating a small kitchen yourself becomes manageable because one is dealing with much smaller spaces as compared to undertaking king-sized kitchens. Today, kitchens are increasingly becoming an important facet of the overall home residential design. According to the Homeowner’s Workbook: How to Remodel Your Kitchen, most homeowners normally find themselves in a period of exploration for close to a year as they reflect whether to engage a professional or take a Do-It-Yourself approach to the renovation question.
For those who have decided to start right away with the DIY approach, here are several simple steps worth taking.
Make Use Of Designs Suitable For A Small Kitchen
Generally, the most widespread small kitchen layouts are One Wall, U-Shaped, L-Shaped, Gallery or Corridor. These are excellent designs which offer lots of opportunities for the majority of DIY enthusiasts. The majority of small kitchens are essentially longer in length as against being wide. Embrace those designs which are suitable for smaller spaces.
Identify The Simple Areas For Scaling Down
For example, those big double sinks so common in many kitchens take up so much unnecessary space. Additionally, reflect on if you really want to continue having bigger appliances. Those side-by-side wide refrigerators are surely great, but do you really need them? Are you living as a couple or are you single? For instance, the market has also got more reasonably priced smaller dishwashers today which may be more suited for a small kitchen.
Determine What Are Your Values
If it so happens that for example storage is a top priority for you, then you will have to maximize on kitchen cabinets perhaps at the cost of some appliances during your kitchen renovations. Are you really in need of a breakfast bar in your kitchen? If that is the case, you might have to sacrifice some of your cooking counter space to acquire your breakfast bar.
Employ Stock Cabinetry.
Among the greatest things regarding renovating small kitchens is that it becomes easier to use some DIY cabinetry. This kitchen cabinetry type may be found on many shelves of many home improvement outlets.
At the back of cabinets is so much space that is rarely used. Maximize on this for instance by installing roll-out shelves.
Utilize larger tiles on the floor as they make small kitchen to look larger.
You could enhance light intensity in your small kitchen by utilizing wood species that are brighter-colored for your cabinetry and tones that are neutral for the counters.
Researchers at Open University are recommending that as we build and renovate kitchens, we need to factor in the aspect of older people living with us or even who may be living independently. This calls for a radical re-thinking in the ways we are designing one of the central features of the home, the kitchen. The researchers led by Sheila Peace, a Professor of Social Gerontology, found out that existing kitchen designs in general are causing problems for aging users in terms of bending and reaching.
Whether, it is a big or small kitchen being renovated, the Open University research team has come up a design guide for kitchen designers, installers and manufacturers based on their findings, titled The easier kitchen: making it happen.
