If your kitchen is starting to look a little drab after years of service, it might be time to consider an upgrade. But before you start calling contractors and having people traipsing through your home, plan first. Here are four tips for giving your kitchen a major upgrade and what to consider before taking the plunge.
Decide Whether To Restore or Replace
Take the time to decide if you really need to replace everything or if you can get away with restoring and refurbishing what’s already there. One of the best and fastest ways to give a kitchen a new look is to take the cabinets that are already there and make them look new. Painting and staining are fast ways to bring new styles to old cabinets. Replacing the hardware helps as well. Stone and marble countertops are expensive to replace, so investigate countertop restoration vs. replacement. Restoration has a lower impact on your kitchen and your life. A good countertop restoration involves sanding, polishing, and filing of cracks with resin. Sometimes old things still have plenty of life left in them!
Add a Kitchen Island
Kitchen islands add class and extra space to any kitchen. If you have room and the budget for a butcher block kitchen island, consider installing one. It smartens up the place, gives you an extra area for food preparation, and serves as a cozy little eating area for wine and snacks for guests. Depending on how much you want to spend, an island can be more than a cutting board. Some islands have sinks, storage space, and more.
Let There Be Light
Sometimes a space looks drab simply because of a lack of lighting. Re-evaluating the lighting set up in your kitchen and installing new lamps or opening a window for more sunlight can infuse a space with greater beauty and charm. Track lighting and similar high-positioned lighting can provide better illumination while staying out of the way. And make sure the lighting has a dimmer or similar control switch so that you can change the mood as needed.
Declutter the Kitchen
Here’s the last of our four tips for giving your kitchen a major upgrade. Declutter your kitchen. Get rid of extraneous decorations, devices, and other items that take up physical and visual space. It may be that all your kitchen needs to look better. So follow the adage that less is more. Getting rid of the old and not following it up with anything new can make a kitchen look larger, fresher, and more inviting!
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