How to Plan a Kitchen Makeover

Does your kitchen need a makeover? Proper planning is the key to creating a room you'll love for years to come.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Cabinetry sets the framework for the rest of the room's décor. Kitchen cabinets are now available in choices to coordinate with every decorating style. Treatments such as a honey chocolate glaze or platinum lustre finish can be used to help your kitchen cabinets blend into the rest of the room. Details such as color accents, decorative drawer pulls, and architectural molding can add visual interest to your kitchen cabinets. Glass cabinet doors with a crisscrossing flute pattern can let in light without exposing the contents of the cupboards.

2. Your countertops can be practical as well as decorative. Ceramic tile, laminate, solid surface, and natural stone are some of the material possibilities you can choose from for your new kitchen countertops. To take advantage of each material's unique properties, homeowners often opt to use different countertop materials in selected areas. For example, you could place marble countertops in an area used for baking and ceramic tile near your stove to take advantage of the material's superior heat resistance.

3. Ergonomics has influenced many elements of contemporary kitchen design. As the science of measuring efficiency, ergonomics helps homeowners create kitchens that make meal preparation easier and more enjoyable. For example, the contemporary kitchen is often organized to create distinct "work zones" for preparation, cooking, and clean up. When designing your kitchen, ergonomics encourages you to think about how things could be done instead of how they have always been done. The result is a space that is customized to your particular needs.

4. After beginning a kitchen renovation, many homeowners discover that there simply isn't enough space to accommodate their needs. To change the layout of your kitchen, you can borrow space from adjacent rooms by removing or moving an interior wall. If you need more space for food preparation and can't expand into an adjoining room, you may wish to consider building an addition to your home. As the most extensive type of kitchen renovation, however, room additions will require the assistance of architects, carpenters, electricians, and other building professionals.

[nifteelady23]

on 10/31/2009 Where do you find designs, pictures of ceiling renovations. I am looking for an Italian style kitchen make-over. I want to change from a drop ceiling with plastic panels. I have a mobile home.