When it comes to renovating my home, the kitchen is the room I am most excited about tackling. The kitchen is traditionally the heart of the home; it’s where you cook and eat your family meals, the space where you have a coffee with your best mate as they tell you about their latest news, and it’s the area where you continue your attempts to create the perfect creme brulee.
Kitchens come in many different styles and configurations so it’s vital that you select the right one for you and your family. Get it right (and don’t spend too much money renovating!) and you could see a lucrative return on your investment as it increases the value of your home. Take a look at these tips to help you create a “show home” kitchen look for less.
Use The Incentives
Whenever I venture out to explore the range of kitchens available, I easily get befuddled. Do you want pan drawers or a wine rack? How much space do you need to leave for white goods? Quartz or composite? The choices seem endless and can leave you feeling more confused than before you started your research. Think about your requirements and head to a kitchen showroom to chat to a member of staff about their kitchen ranges. The chances are that they will invite you to have a go at creating a basic plan of your ideal kitchen using their in-house computer program. This is usually an entirely free service in the hope that you will use them to buy and install your kitchen. Armed with this, you can then locate the kitchen of your dreams.
Go Ex-Display
Pay particular attention to the ex-display models when walking around the showroom. These will be kitchens that are already set up for you to have a mooch around and that have been out in the store for a little while. If you don’t mind the odd fingerprint here and there, which you can clean off when it’s fitted in your own house, you can walk away with a discount of up to 50%. That granite worktop and selection of solid oak units doesn’t seem so far out of reach anymore. It pays to be savvy and try your luck. Ex-display kitchen ranges often take a long time to shift and show rooms will be happy for you to take it off their hands to give them more space to show off their latest ranges.
Dining
If you’re fortunate enough to have enough space to eat in your kitchen it pays to incorporate a dining area. The classic dining table and 6 chairs configuration is ideal to create a homely kitchen. Imagine the meals with the family around the table, tucking into your latest culinary creation. The dining table is where lifelong memories are made, so it pays to research the look you are after. You could opt for a minimalistic glass topped table with metal chairs to echo the stainless steel of your swanky new fridge freezer. Or, if traditional is more your thing, you can purchase that large solid oak dining set. Whatever you choose, look out for deals and promotional offers to save you that bit of extra cash.
Decorating
The most cost effective way to decorate your kitchen is to opt for trade paint. In the twenty-first-century trade paint ranges go beyond matt white and magnolia. You could add a splash of colour to create a more unique look or stick to classic monotone hues. You could explore the option of a statement wall if you fancy an eye catching geometric print adorning one of your kitchen walls.
When it comes to flooring, lino is a fantastic way of getting a tiled look without splashing the cash. You could fool all of your visitors with a high-quality linoleum that mimics slate, Victorian red tiles or sandstone slabs. Even by opting for the more expensive lino, you are still saving hundreds of pounds rather than choosing the genuine tile. Another plus with lino is that you’ll never have to worry about a cracking a piece of slate and stress about how you can’t find a replacement piece.
By renovating your kitchen, you will inevitably be adding value to your property. On top of this, you’ll be creating the homely, bespoke heart of the home that you’ve always longed for. I can’t wait to get started on my own kitchen makeover – the DIY version, of course! – so watch this space for more blog posts about my project over the coming weeks. If you have any tips for saving money on kitchen renovation please leave me a comment below – I need all the advice I can get 🙂
This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
