Two tips to ensure you're satisfied with your kitchen renovations
Here are some things you can do to ensure you're satisfied with your kitchen renovations.
Use your other home decor as inspiration when deciding on the kitchen's new look
It's important to take inspiration from the rest of the décor around your home when deciding what colours and materials the new kitchen should have. Whilst the rooms in a home don't have to match each other, there should be some sense of cohesiveness that connects them and makes them feel like they all belong in the same building.
If, for instance, after looking at the kitchens in an interior decorating magazine, you pick a kitchen style that is beautiful, but is completely at odds with the style of décor that is in the other rooms of your home (for example, if you opt for a restaurant-style kitchen that features stainless-steel benchtops, along with stainless-steel kitchen cabinet units, and the rest of your home is decorated with shabby chic décor), walking from any of those rooms into the kitchen will be a shock to the system and will give those who do so the impression that they've entered a different property.
This jarring experience could not only be unpleasant for you and anyone else you live with but could also be a point of consternation for prospective buyers should your home ever go on the market. As such, it's essential to choose kitchen materials that are cohesive with your home. If, for instance, you've opted for white, streamlined furniture everywhere else in your home, then stick with plain white gloss kitchen cabinets (or shaker-style white ones with clean, simple lines) whose aesthetic is similar to this other furniture.
Ensure the kitchen is designed to suit your personal cooking style
You should also ensure that the changes you make to the kitchen alter it so that it suits your personal cooking style. For example, if you cook complicated meals that require you to cook several different things in several saucepans at once, then it might be sensible to fit an integrated hob with six burners, instead of four, even if this means having slightly less counter space on the particular benchtop into which the hob is fitted.
Additionally, if you don't like to have to be too cautious when cooking and want, for example, to be able to lay your hot saucepans directly onto the benchtops after taking them off the hob, without worrying about the benchtop getting discoloured by the heat, you should choose a granite or stainless-steel benchtop that is heat-resistant and thus able to tolerate the temperature of any hot items you leave on it.