Kitchen Remodeling Tips

Pierre and Laura are newlyweds. They have been in their new home for about 8 months and they feel it's time to remodel their kitchen since they have settled into the current layout and feel they know what they would like to change.

Pierre grew up around his dad's construction company and helped on many projects, so he's confident that he can navigate vetting and hiring each tradesman, and plans to navigate completing the project on his own. Laura has always loved the idea of DIY projects and taking a room from drab to fab!

They agree that they will save SO MUCH MONEY if they complete it themselves, completing the painting and trim themselves, and hiring subcontractors where necessary. Plus, it will be fun--their first home improvement project as a couple! So they build their Ideabook on Houzz.com and get started, removing cabinets, drywall, and travertine flooring.

If there had been no complications, they may have fared well. But they ran into snags and setbacks, because their home was located on Earth. Let's see what happened.

• Money wasted. They spent their upfront investment of $6000 obtaining plans and permits, using friends who could give them a good deal, but hadn't considered that they had a "dream design" with no concept of what it would cost to build it. Oops! 
• Time wasted. They spent 2 to 3 nights per week plus lunch breaks, for 4 weeks to talk to several trades, attempting to get the best deal by comparing 3 to 4 companies within each trade. 
• Time wasted. They attempted to coordinate individual tradesman including a cabinet guy, a plumber, electrician, flooring guy, drywall guys. They skipped the painters, and finish carpenter because they figured it would be too expensive. The steep learning curve created more wasted time.
• No advocacy. 8 months later, they have a hardly-functional kitchen, the cabinets had been built incorrectly, so they are on round two of cabinets, and they have no one to advocate for them.
• Blame shifting. The subs are blaming each other for mistakes and refusing to return to the job site to finish their work.
• Increased stress and weight-gain. But seriously. They are still grabbing In-N-Out four days per week because they can't cook at home.

Avoid wasting time, wasting money, and having a never-ending-project. These are the reasons that we advocate for you to hire an expert. Your time and peace of mind are INVALUABLE. Therefore, it's worth it to invest in efficiency. 

Rest assured. We can help you write the ideal remodel story. You're in the right place! 

In this article, We'll provide five tips to help you make a great decision about your l-shaped kitchen. 

#2 Clarity is Key: Know Who You're Talking To

#3 Design Mistake to avoid in an L-Shaped Kitchen

#4 Reface or Replace? Let's Talk Cabinets!

#5 L-Shaped Kitchen with an Island Layout

Conclusion

Why choose Teknik for Your L-Shaped Kitchen?

Hey, do you ever feel like your kitchen cabinets are so difficult to navigate that you’d rather not bother taking everything out, just to get to the back of that one lower corner cabinet? Do you want the formula to maximize storage in your small u-shaped kitchen without spending an arm and a leg? In this article you will discover solutions to your problems of:

• upper cabinet storage,
• lower cabinet storage,
• limited countertop space,
• value-engineering and cost management,
• and finding the best contractor is for the job.  

Boy, do we know how it feels to shop for the best ways to improve storage and wonder if any remodeler can deliver on the design you want.

But don’t worry. You’re in the perfect place! 

In this article, I’ll answer all your questions so you can make a great decision about your kitchen for you and your family.  

Storage Solutions for Upper Cabinets

Replace your existing cabinets with deeper cabinets to maximize storage, for large dishes such as Pottery Barn serving dishes, etc.

• Remove center divider so your cabinet box is no longer cut in half.
• Remove over-sized face frame—usually 2 ½” around the perimeter.
• Adjust the height of each shelf within the cabinet box, or if cabinets do not go to ceiling, add additional upper cabinets for less frequently used and seasonal items.

Making these three simple changes to your upper cabinets can increase storage capacity by 15%-30%!

U-shaped kitchens are often small kitchens. Since you are stuck with two poorly organized corner cabinets, they end up feeling like a crawl space, requiring you to crawl in in order to get to your pots and pans.

• Remove over-sized face frame— usually 2 ½” around the perimeter.
• Remove center divider so your cabinet box is no longer cut in half
• Replace the builder grade side hardware with new Euro slides which are installed underneath the drawer, so you can gain another inch of width per box. 
• Convert your bottom doors into drawers for easier access and less strain on your hips and back.
• Customize drawers, pegs, dividers, full 110% extension of hardware.
• Install lazy susan, pull outs, dividers, & inserts.
• Bonus: These changes help you eliminate wash basins full of lids and miscellaneous items!

These items can improve cabinets storage by 15% to 30% per box! 

**Note: The favorite solutions among our clients over the past ten years is replacing cabinets doors with full-extension deep drawers. 

Countertops

Why choose Teknik for Your U-Shaped Kitchen?

After decades of experience, we've built our entire business around solving these problems.  Discover the Teknik difference in our three step plan.