Rewarding Ways to Enhance Your Kitchen
If you’re like many people, you probably spend a substantial amount of time in the kitchen every day. Whether doing so to prepare food, eat it, or to simply keep the room tidy, you’re more likely to thoroughly enjoy the minutes and hours spent in the kitchen if the area looks and feels appealing. Fortunately, there are some practical ways you can turn your kitchen into a room you love, resulting in impressive payoffs.
Install Under-Cabinet Lighting
A well-lit space tends to boost the mood. Adequate illumination also facilitates cooking with more confidence, especially if you’re adding spices or doing other delicate tasks. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have lots of natural light in your kitchen, or you chose some effective overhead lights. Even in those cases, you may not have thought about installing lights under your cabinets.
That approach not only gives a dramatic effect that’s sure to earn compliments from visitors, but it also provides more light to shine down on the surfaces underneath, such as your countertops or the sink. One simple but effective way to use this kind of lighting in the kitchen is to select strip lighting. It’s readily available and not hard to implement.
Get Creative About Storage Space
Adding more storage to your kitchen is another thoughtful thing to do. Even if you have a small kitchen, it’s easy to maximize storage space in ways you may not have considered before. For example, wire shelf risers are reasonably priced, and they enable taking a tiered approach to storing things inside your cabinets or nestling items in cubicles.
Also, think about mounting shelves to the inside of your pantry door. Then, you’ll have extra places to stash non-perishable items. If you tackle the pantry, consider rearranging your current food supplies. Place the goods so the items with the longest use-by dates from now are at the back, and the stuff that expires sooner is at the front. Then. you’ll be more likely to stay aware of everything you have and not let stuff get stale before use.
Invest in Marble Countertops
If your current countertops look a little tired or outdated, consider upgrading to a marble countertop. That material is elegant and long-lasting, so it’s a smart enhancement to make. Take the time to learn about which companies in your area specialize in marble additions for homes. You’ll probably find that getting an estimate for the project is straightforward and fast.
For example, Colonial Marble and Granite is a company in Pennsylvania that provides instant quotes through its website. It’s also a family-owned business. So, by choosing that business — provided you’re in the area — or one like it, you’re supporting the local economy.
If you are going to upgrade your countertops, it would make a great opportunity to look at your sink. You don’t need to get a whole new sink, but if your tap is starting to look a bit worse for wear you should consider a brass kitchen tap for your sink. Upgrading your taps while you’re already getting your countertops changed will save multiple jobs and can be included in the initial quote.
Plan a Day or Two of Painting
A can of paint can revitalize your kitchen. Plus, many people find that painting is a relaxing activity they can do well even without having attempted it before. You could paint your kitchen’s walls or tiles or add paint to cabinet doors. Any of those options give the kitchen a new, fresh look without requiring a major remodeling effort.
Spend time browsing through the various paint colors, either online or in a store. It’s also ideal to have a mental image of your ideal outcome before starting to pick out paint. If you can collect some examples of hues you like by cutting them out of magazines or adding them to an online document for later retrieval, those reference points will keep you on track and increase the chances of ending up with a shade of paint you’ll enjoy for years to come.
No matter what strategies you choose to revamp your kitchen, ponder whether it’s best to do the improvements yourself or hire a professional. While some possibilities are likely within your abilities, you’ll get better results by bringing a professional to assist with anything that’s outside your comfort zone or involves sizeable new additions.