Things to Consider Before Renovating Your Kitchen

As one of the busiest areas in your home, your kitchen receives a fair amount of foot traffic. In addition to serving as a place for food storage and meal prep, the kitchen is the primary congregation space in many households. Given how important a functional kitchen is to the wellbeing of any family, renovating this space is no small feat. Jumping into a kitchen remodel without sufficient preparation is likely to result in copious stress, strained finances and a frustrated family. So, if you’ve been toying with the idea of renovating your kitchen, make sure to consider the following factors.

Your Choice of Contractor

When it comes to kitchen renovations – or any type of home renovations, for that matter – your choice of contractor is vitally important. While a dependable contractor is likely to complete the job on an agreed-upon timetable and avoid going unreasonably over-budget, it must be noted that not all contractors are equally obliging. Hiring the wrong person for the job can put a tremendous strain on both your finances and your patience. To help ensure that you don’t get stuck with a lemon, you’ll need to do your homework before deciding who to entrust with your kitchen renovations.

First off, make a point of limiting your choices to licensed contractors. Going the unlicensed route may seem like a good way to cut costs, but all the money you’re liable to spend on hidden fees and various other headaches is likely to wipe out any short-term savings. Furthermore, many licensed contractors stand by their work and will guarantee their labor and assorted materials for up to a year after a job’s completion. On the flipside, because unlicensed contractors aren’t beholden to any state boards, they have no incentive to make similar guarantees.

Additionally, most unlicensed contractors lack insurance or bonding, meaning that you’ll have a hard time getting them to cover any damage they cause to your property. Before making a final hiring decision, request to see proof of licensing and insurance. If a contractor refuses to provide either, take this as a red flag and give the job to someone else. To start your search for the right contractor, open up your web browser and look for “construction companies near me”.

Length of Time

A full-scale kitchen renovation can take quite a bit of time to complete. Depending on the size of your kitchen and the scope of the project, your family may be without a functional kitchen for weeks, if not months. Given how important kitchens are to the basic functionality of any household, it’s imperative that you have a workable plan in place for how you’ll be storing food and preparing meals while renovations are underway.

For example, if you still intend to purchase perishable food items during this period, hooking up a refrigerator in your basement is liable to prove helpful. However, in the absence of a stove and oven, most of your family’s usual meals will prove impossible to prepare. To ensure that you and your crew still have hot meals to look forward to, consider signing up for a daily meal service while your kitchen is being redone – and factoring the cost of such services into your budget.

Final Cost

An ambitious kitchen renovation isn’t going to come cheap. In fact, if you’re opting for a full-on remodel, you should expect to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Getting a detailed job estimate from your contractor and procuring the proper budget before work is underway stands to save you a tremendous amount of stress down the line. If you run out of money midway through the job, you’re liable to have a perpetually unfinished kitchen on you hands. Furthermore, since most renovations cost a little more (often up to 20% more) than their respective estimates, you’ll need to take this into account when budgeting.

The kitchen is among the busiest areas in any household. Not only is this the place where families come together for meals, it also serves as a makeshift office, homework spot and lounge area. As such, it’s only natural for families to want this space to be as comfortable and accommodating as possible. If your current kitchen is neither of these things, large-scale renovations may be in order. However, before proceeding to carry out a full-on kitchen remodel, there are a number of factors you’ll need to take into account.