Whether you have just moved home and are moving into a property with a kitchen that leaves a lot to be desired, or whether you have been slowly but steadily working on your property over the years in order to bring it up to date, sometimes kitchens can age pretty badly. The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the house, so it is essential that you have a kitchen that you can be proud of. People don’t want to have to cringe every time they go to make themselves a sandwich.
Good kitchen design is all about finding what you need, buying something that is designed to last and buying something that is conventional and attractive if you are looking at selling the property on at some point in the future. If you want to create a kitchen you can be proud of, sometimes you need to look at it from the point of view of a professional designer, or even perhaps get advice from a professional. In some cases you will need to be ruthless when looking at what can be changed and what needs to be scrapped. In order to take a look at what you can do to liven up your current kitchen design, take a look at our 6 top tips.
1. Natural Stone Flooring
While some people like to choose laminate as a sturdy and affordable way of getting kitchen flooring that looks authentic, yet doesn’t come with the hefty price tag,there is no beating the real thing. Natural stone flooring offers a fantastic range of unique designs, styles and colours to ensure that no two floors are quite the same. Some types of natural stone flooring allow for underfloor heating, which makes a great luxury during the colder winter months.
Sometimes re-vamping your kitchen can be done just by changing a few aspects of your kitchen. By changing your flooring style, you don’t have to uproot everything within the kitchen and you don’t have to take everything out of the cupboards or store it elsewhere. While natural stone flooring can get expensive, it is designed to last and looks utterly fabulous.
2. Clear out your Fridge and Freezer
If you have a fridge and a freezer full to bursting with old junk, vegetables and fish from a diet you never actually started, or several portions of Grandma’s lasagne that you just couldn’t get rid of, sometimes that in itself brings you down. In clearing out your fridge and freezer you can start back on the path of keeping on top of your kitchen cleanliness, and you could even discover a few older dishes you had forgotten about!
3. Bin That Which you do not Use
We all have those appliances or gadgets that we bought once following a fad or an extremely convincing advert, used once and then pushed to the back of the cupboard, never to be seen again. While those blenders and toastie makers and temperature checkers might all be useful inventions, if you never use them then what is the point of having them?
Give yourself a period of six weeks and bin everything you haven’t used more than twice within that period. It will help you get rid of a lot of the clutter within your kitchen, leaving your kitchen feeling brighter and more spacious. No more dusty appliances!
4. Get a Pet
Whether a living, breathing pet or a pet of the more green and leafy kind, having something that grows and changes in your kitchen will really help to liven up the place. A small fish tank with a colourful background or a little collection of hardy cactus plants don’t just make nice scenery, they are also talking points and can help reduce stress when you need to take a moment and just sit and watch.
5. New Doors for a New Look
Sometimes simply changing the face of things can really help put a new perspective on an old room. If you happen to have an in-frame kitchen, you’re in luck as you can easily replace the doors and ‘faces’ of many of your kitchen cabinets for a more updated, newer look. You can even choose to mix and match your colour styles if you like. If you’ve had your current cabinet faces for a while and fancy a change, this could be the change you are looking for.
6. Play the Long Game
If money is your issue, you may want to wait a little while. Taking your time and investing in a proper kitchen that is built to last will work out far cheaper in the long run in comparison to making a purchase on cheap materials that you will have to replace every other year. As the kitchen is one of the most widely used and widely seen rooms in the property, it is important that it stands the test of time.
In order to play the long game and to design a kitchen that lasts for years to come, you need to be prepared to spend a bit of money. This should be reflected in your chosen budget for any kitchen renovation.
A lot of kitchen design features nowadays comes down to personal preference and taste. What seems to be hip, hop and happening right now may take a nose dive in a few years’ time, so it is good to invest in a design that you feel has some stability in this ever-changing market. On the other hand, if you don’t have any plans to move anytime soon, why not go with what makes you happy? At the end of the day, it is your kitchen and you have to do what feels right.
Article provided by Mike James, an independent content writer working together with Chandler Stoneworks,Kitchen Worktop Specialists, who were consulted over the information in this post.