Renovating a kitchen for a home can be a very fulfilling experience the can change the feel and layout of the home entirely. Done right, this could stand to yield great benefits to a real estate investor in attracting people to occupy the renovated residence. If the residence’s kitchen is not fully functional, short on storage, or lacking in energy, it might be time to give the heart of your home a fresh look with a much-needed renovation. However, if you get too ambitious, waste too much money, are not sure what you seek as a result, or simply don't know where to begin, you are liable to make some costly and time-consuming mistakes. Avoid these all too common kitchen renovation errors that so many others have encountered.
Too Much Of The Same Material
An all-too-common faux-paux in kitchen design is the tendency to unilaterally cover the kitchen in similar colors. This could be a case of having white ceilings, tiles, walls, floors, and appliances. It could even extend to a full array of stainless steel appliances that can also make a kitchen look rigid and confined. However, a healthy mix of colors, tiles, textures, metals, and other materials promotes a relaxing and inviting environment.
Excessive Open Shelving
Many people like the sleek look and like to have their dishes and utensils out in the open for easy access, but getting it out in the open can look cluttered. People are less likely to be turned off from purchasing a residence where their kitchen does not afford them some form of reservation and privacy, allowing them to hide their older, novelty, and overall weird kitchen peripherals.
Electrical Outlet Shortage
It’s easy to overlook how much kitchens actually require in terms of electrical outlets. If not in use, it’s possible to not see a bunch of empty outlets as a waste of wall space, especially when they are scattered and dispersed around the kitchen. However, general contractors should keep in mind that while open outlets can feel excessive, there are situations where they may get quite a bit of use. Whether it’s a crowded kitchen at Thanksgiving dinner or a household with a growing family, the seemingly excessive amount of electrical outages tend to get quite a bit of use. Of course, these need to be positioned strategically around the kitchen. Putting them too close to each other can result in a tight space of trying to get an active coffee maker, charging cell phones, and a large toaster to all be active at once.
The Trash Factor
The size and shape of your trash can are two facets of a kitchen redesign that are frequently overlooked. Whether you need a place to cover your private cabinets, require more space for trash than just a small can afford, or can stow the trash away under a sink, you need to plan the kitchen renovation around accommodating any potential desired uses. Many home buyers are excited at the prospect of installed garbage disposals, a kitchen attributes real estate investors are well-served to consider. Designing a kitchen with no room for the trash disposal is missing an essential and necessary kitchen component.
Poor Lighting
Another often undervalued necessity of kitchens is the lighting factor. A kitchen used for entertainment is a place where sufficient lighting is vital as people are unlikely to want to sit together in the dark. Those who frequently use their kitchen for cooking and baking tend to require additional lighting to make their activities more enjoyable. From a cleaning perspective, better lighting affords people the ability to clean up the kitchen area better with many crumbs and stains being more visible with good lighting.
Insufficient Storage
One of the biggest turn-offs from a kitchen is the lack of storage space. When completing a kitchen renovation, it is the ideal time to look for ways to expand storage space. There are many clever and effective approaches to doing so without eating up a ton of room. For instance, additional shelves can provide more room in the already allocated space. Similarly, islands can provide an additional countertop, with many drawers or cabinets underneath that yield additional storage room.
Poor Ventilation
Assure that a specialist optimizes the ventilation citation in the renovated kitchen as this is a common concern for future home buyers. Not properly addressed ventilation results in safety concerns for the kitchen’s users and their guests.
Resale Considerations
Many engaging in real estate investing often get caught up in designing a home to their dream specifications rather than one which is geared as sales. While one’s own home can be spruced up to their desires if one never intends to leave, someone who is intending to put at home up for resales needs to consider how certain attributes of a kitchen can draw in or turn potential buyers away. For large-budget pieces, it helps to think about soft tones and fabrics that won't annoy anyone's tastes and save the flashes of color for fleeting or easily replaced elements. Investing in higher grade kitchen equipment can also help in boosting the sale price with a state-of-the-art type kitchen being offered, but be cautious of overdoing it, or the prospective buyers will feel it is too much for them.
Conclusion
The kitchen is the lively hub of a home. It's one of the few rooms in the house that is guaranteed to get frequented daily so it's important to have it be convenient and practical while being appealing to interested buyers. Functional considerations are a big deal, with the kitchen needing to provide ample lighting choices, good ventilation, a good amount of storage space that does not greatly minimize the room space, and have a sufficient number of electrical outlets. From an aesthetic standpoint, the kitchen needs to be visually appealing with a variance of colors, as well as the presence of both open and closed shelving. Of course, since the home is being designed for sale, the kitchen should overall be designed in a way to appeal to the maximum number of prospective buyers.
If you have a renovation project coming up and would like a free estimate, give us a call at 281-901-0707.
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