The kitchen is said to be the heart of the home, where food is prepared and cooked with love to nourish, sustain and care for your family and where loved ones come together for holidays and special occasions.

As the most important room in the house, your kitchen should feel like a comfortable and inviting space for you to cook, eat and entertain. If your kitchen has seen better days, we’ll look at some tips to upgrade your kitchen and give it that much-needed renovation.

Kitchen Flooring

When it comes to kitchen flooring options for your home bear in mind the multi-purpose function of this room. It often experiences the most footfall, being the epicenter for social gatherings, children running in and out from the garden and the room where all the family meals are prepared and eaten.

Your choice of flooring should be durable, long-lasting and easy to maintain. Take into account the ease with which spills and muddy footprints can be cleaned up and also its ability to withstand chemicals from domestic cleaning agents. Some of the options include:

• Hardwoods: A classic choice, hardwood floors can create a warm, cozy feel to your kitchen. Not being naturally water-resistant, excess moisture or high humidity can cause hardwood to warp, however, with the correct protection, a water-resistant finish can be achieved.
• Stone: Durable, waterproof and easy to clean, stone can offer a stylish alternative, especially for warmer climates. Naturally cool, stone flooring choices include marble, granite, slate and travertine.
• Cork:  An inexpensive and eco-friendly option, cork offers a soft, springy feel which is great for absorbing sound and is less likely to smash any dishes that may fall onto it compared to a harder material such as stone. Cork can also be treated to make sure it repels water.

As a rough guide, flooring should take up about 7% of your entire kitchen’s renovation budget.

Kitchen Appliances

Your kitchen appliances may also be due for an upgrade, although this will largely depend on their life expectancy. 

On average, the lifespan of a range stove is 14 years, a refrigerator is eight years and a dishwasher is 12 years. Keep track of how old your kitchen appliances are and factor this into your remodeling. As a general rule, if your appliance needs repairing and it is over halfway through its life expectancy it is best to replace it rather than get it repaired. In the long run, it will save you the money and effort of possible future repairs.

If you do decide to upgrade your appliances then give thought to how you would like the finished look to be.  A style that suits your lifestyle and aesthetic means asking yourself about the purpose you intend for this room.

Do you intend to cook and prepare meals for your family only or do you plan to make this room a place for dining and entertaining guests? Perhaps you want to make this room more of a functional room for doing laundry as well as cooking, with a separate dining room for eating.

Whatever your intentions are, consider the feel you would like this room to have and install appliances that match this aesthetic. Your preference may be a homely and comforting farmhouse feel,  a sleek and sophisticated modern design with minimalist features, or a Grecian-style kitchen with Mediterranean styling notes that incorporate bold and earthy colors.

Storage Options

Ample storage is key for any successful kitchen renovation project. With enough places to put away dishes, cutlery, ingredients and cleaning products your kitchen will look and feel clean, organized, and uncluttered giving you plenty of space to carry out your duties.

Before embarking on your kitchen redesign, give some thought to the following features which can make a world of difference to your kitchen experience:

• Undersink drawer: The space underneath your sink can be a handy place to store cleaning supplies and other kitchen essentials such as garbage bags and reusable grocery bags.
• Pullout trash and recycling: With the convenience of simply sliding out and keeping odors at bay, a pullout option for trash and recycling can make it easier to throw things away and saves floor space in your kitchen that a bin would otherwise take up, making sweeping and mopping the floor that little less cumbersome.
• Customized drawer organizer: These can of course be purchased separately, however, incorporating drawers with this added feature included will ensure the sections are the perfect fit and design giving your kitchen a high-end feel.
• Spice storage: A cabinet with a  built-in spice rack offers one of the most practical and time-saving storage options in your kitchen. Rather than rifling through your individual jars of spice, having them neatly displayed before you in a colorful display is not only convenient, it also has a certain visual appeal.
• Walk-in pantry: A built-in, pull-out pantry is a great upgrade to any kitchen. Offering ease of access and housing everything you need in one location, a walk-in pantry also helps keep your kitchen tidy, organized and free from clutter.

Lighting

How you light your kitchen will determine the ambience and feel of this room. A combination of task, accent and ambient lighting can be used to give the space a multi-purpose function.

Begin with task lighting by asking yourself where you require the most direct light for tasks such as safely preparing meals, finding ingredients or reading recipes. Ambient lighting can accompany task lighting, where focused illumination is not needed. This could be through dimmer switches, recessed lighting or ceiling flush mounts.

To create a softer mood to the room, accent lighting can be used to bring warmth and an inviting, incandescent hue to the space, perfect for those evenings where you are entertaining guests. This can be achieved through pendants, wall sconces or spotlights.

Cabinet lighting can also be a practical feature allowing ease of access to items that may otherwise be dimly lit, while at the same time creating a modern look to your kitchen.

With these four tips in your mind when planning your kitchen remodeling project you can be sure the final outcome will be successful and pleasing to the eye.