Modern Family Kitchens
February 24, 2022
We hope you are well and persisting through these rough times with an (occasional?) smile. You might just brighten someone’s day, right?
Many of our clients continue to work on their projects and we’ve learned a few things from these lo-oong months of Covid.
First, expect things to take longer than they might have in the past. Although the factory that builds our cabinets to order is almost always on schedule (about six weeks from order to ready-to ship), shipping itself is slower to some parts of the country. Tip: double your estimate (say 2 weeks rather than 5 days) for shipping.
Appliances, flooring, tile and other materials can take longer to arrive also. Plan accordingly.
You’ve probably already seem an increase in prices and costs in general. Same is true for appliance, cabinet and many other suppliers of kitchen remodeling goods. Keep looking for sales and order your materials as soon as you are able, whether or not you take immediate delivery.
Next, if you are going to proceed, you might want to set up some guidelines, a protocol, for contractors, workmen and delivery men. This will most certainly include MASKS at all times, inconvenient though they might be. You can insist. In some parts of the country they are required by law but anywhere they aren’t, they still save lives. Use them and require anyone who enters your home in regards to your project to wear one, too.
Another part of a reasonable Covid protocol for workmen is to offer just one bathroom and have cleaning supplies and lots of hand sanitizer available and encourage their use. You are the customer, after all. Make sure to sanitize that bathroom (and any doorknobs, or other surfaces touched or handled) at the end of the workday.
Packages and materials coming into your home can also be sanitized easily by spraying them. Research the best method and follow the guidelines. This might seem overly cautious but with kitchen projects there can be many, many items (and people) entering your home, items touched by many, so your risk is greater.
If you are living in your home during the project (and most do), wear a mask and even vinyl gloves (which help keep you from touching your face). Gloves are cheap online and, given the number of items and people entering a home during a remodel, wearing them until the end of the day, and through your own sanitizing/cleanup, is another recommendation.
We surely understand how it is easy to get casual about Covid precautions after all these months and because many of us are immunized. But keep in mind that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Kitchen projects always demand a lot from homeowners but a bit of extra work–these and other special precautions–are just smart. “Keep it simple but keep it sanitized and safe.”
February 24, 2022
DO YOU NEED A KITCHEN DESIGNER?
Can your own idea and drawings get you the kitchen you want?
There are really two main types of kitchen remodeling projects. First, there is the project in which a low-cost, relatively simple kitchen improvment project. This might include painting cabinet doors, new appliances, painting the kitchen walls, or even adding backsplash.
For these projects, you can purchase your own materials and either hire a contractor or handyman, or DIY. Such projects don’t need a kitchen designer. If you have the resources you can consider an interior designer for color and materials design, but this is entirely differernt from a kitchen designer, who will create an ideal layout for a major remodel.
The second type, therefore, is a major kitchen remodel in which cabinetry, countertop, appliances and often walls, are replaced. This type of project needs a kitchen designer! Hands down!
A kitchen design is a detailed layout of items for your new kitchen, inch by inch. It serves as inspiration and guidance for you, the homeowner, to purchsse the right type of appliances, the right quantity of countertop.
It also will enable you to get a bid from a contractor who can view your expert drawings nd know exactly the work that will be required of him/her. This is key to hiring the right person and having an accurate bid for labor.
Once your project is underway, your design drawings will guide the installer, also. It is a major mistake to let a contractor or installer (no matter how skilled that person might be at building, installing, remodeling, etc.) to make design decisions on the fly.
A kitchen designer has specified the exact layout you want. Often the cabinetry materials, appliances and countertop all fit to these sepcifications. Without expert drswings you can only hope it all fits and comes out looking and functioning the way you want it to.
Here is one common example. Many drawings people do themselves have a sink and stove across from each other in a kitchen. Very common. But consider how, in use, this might become a problem. Open the stove door while someone is at the sink and boom, a tight space at best, an accident at worst. It seems obvious but is one of the most common mistakes made on did-it-myself design,
Kitchen design is often offered for “free” at some big box stores, or for a very low fee. Always, consider what you get for free these days. Would you base a $40,000 remodel on a free design? Be very very wary of free design from large stores.
Then there is professional designer where you pay the designer for their expertise. What do you get? You get expert and often elegant drawings that will make installation go much faster and smoother. Worth $500? $1000? That depends on you. Keep in mind that you don’t need a designer to come to your home in almost every case. A kitchen designer works from measurements. Also the communication that is a huge part of kitchen design process can these days be done by phone, email and video chat services.
Pick out a good kitchen designer, and unless you have a simple project in which no layout is involved, you’ll get a muich better result for your kitchen remodeling result.
January 29, 2021
PERSONAL SERVICE IS NOT DEAD
So many services have become phone robots and online chat windows. Where are real people to help?
Remodeling (or building) a kitchen is a big project. It is a big expense. Even if you have a good contractor, you need experts to help you choose materials and to ensure the finished result is beautiful.
Professional kitchen designers are invaluable. Architects and contractors just don’t have the time or training to design an optimal kitchen. Nor do they have the time or patience!
Don’t skimp. Hire a professional designer and make sure it is someone who will spend the time listening and revising until it’s perfect for you.
-Susan
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© 2022 Modern Family Kitchens LLC
Brilliant design. Elegant cabinets.
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