12 Kitchen Renovation Mistakes To Avoid

*This is a collaborative post on kitchen renovation mistakes to avoid

There is a lot to consider when renovating a kitchen. Many homeowners end up overlooking important details in the process. Such blunders could be hard to put right afterwards and could end up being a constant source of regret. Just what are some of the most common kitchen renovation mistakes? This post delves into some of the most common kitchen renovation oversights so that you can avoid them and build a kitchen that you’re happy with. 

Sacrificing countertops

Many of us underestimate how much countertop space we need in our kitchen. On top of having space to prepare food, it can be useful to have space for plating up food or using countertop appliances. Plus, if you’re cooking with other people, having more countertop space makes it easier to carry out multiple food prep tasks at the same time. 

Therefore, unless you’re lucky enough to have oodles of unused countertop space, you should be wary of trimming your countertops down. A wider fridge or a larger sink is unlikely to be worth the reduced countertop space. 

Not extending cabinets to the ceiling

When installing new overhead kitchen cabinets, a lot of remodelers leave a gap between their cabinets and the ceiling. This space can attract dust, mould and cobwebs that are hard to reach. In other cases, this space gets used to messily store food and crockery.

Why not extend cabinets to the ceiling instead? This is a much cleaner and practical solution that uses the entire vertical space of your kitchen. All that clutter on top of your cabinets can be hidden away instead, plus you don’t have to clean the top of your cabinets any more. 

Overlooking outlets

The amount of electrical devices and appliances in our homes has significantly increased in the last few decades. This includes the number of plug-in kitchen appliances that the average person owns. A lot of us have a limited number of sockets. This can limit how many appliances we can use at the same time. 

A kitchen renovation could be a chance to install extra sockets. This can eliminate the inconvenience of having to unplug the toaster to use the kettle, and could allow you to justify extra appliances like air fryers or slow cookers. 

Rejecting the kitchen triangle

The kitchen triangle is a design principle that involves creating a triangle between your sink, refrigerator and oven. This makes it easy to switch between these three workstations. Many people unintentionally make the mistake of rejecting the kitchen triangle by placing all of these kitchen elements on one side or blocking the triangle with an island or pillar. This can make cooking and preparing food more awkward.

Try to preserve the kitchen triangle, or make an effort to incorporate this triangle into your new kitchen layout if your current kitchen doesn’t utilise it. When adding a kitchen island, consider incorporating one of three workstations into the island to maintain the triangle. This will help to create a sense of flow in your kitchen.

Unnecessarily moving the sink

There are times when moving a kitchen can be a practical move. However, there are other times when it can cause more hassle than it is worth. Relocating a sink also means relocating pipes. This can often be more expensive than many people realise. 

If you want to replace your sink, try to put your new sink in the same location as your old sink. This will reduce plumbing costs and could allow you to spare more of your budget to other aspects of your kitchen. Only move your sink if it’s in an awkward place.

Cramming too much in

Extending a kitchen can often be expensive, and so many homeowners try to use the space they already have. However, you need to be reasonable as to how much you can cram into a tiny kitchen before it becomes impractical. Some people try to squeeze islands into small kitchens, resulting in narrow walkways that more than one person cannot use at a time. Others end up extending countertops or cabinets to the point that doors cannot open fully.

Understand the limit as to what you can achieve in the space you have. If you desperately need more storage space or countertop space, and you fit them into your existing kitchen, an extension may be necessary. Alternatively, you may be able to knock down an interior wall and extend your kitchen into another room such as the dining room or living room (this will mean that your dining room or living room will be smaller). 

Providing insufficient lighting

A lot of kitchens are poorly lit. A single overhead bulb is often not enough to light up all the corners and recesses of a kitchen. This is something that many people can overlook when planning a kitchen renovation.

Consider installing several recessed lights across your kitchen ceiling to illuminate the entire space, or opt for some track lighting or multi-arm lighting with bulbs facing towards all four corners of the room. You can also install lighting underneath kitchen cabinets to help light up countertops. Decide whether to opt for cool lighting or warm lighting in your kitchen – cool lighting is brighter and typically looks better in a modern kitchen, while warm lighting creates a relaxing atmosphere and may look better in an older rustic kitchen. This article at IdealHome.co.uk offers a more detailed guide to kitchen lighting. 

Getting measurements wrong

When measuring your kitchen, it’s vital that you double-check measurements. Getting measurements wrong can be an expensive mistake – you could end up with an oven that doesn’t fit in a gap, a countertop that’s too short or cabinets that don’t line up.

Take your time to measure your kitchen so that you’re getting accurate measurements. Make sure to stick with either metric or imperial measurements, so that you don’t get inches and centimetres mixed up. Remember to account for the thickness of materials – if you’re opting for a thicker countertop and you want the countertop surface to be at the same height, you’ll need to make sure any new cabinets placed underneath are smaller than your existing ones. 

Trying to do it all yourself

Seasoned DIYers with experience in the construction trade may be able to pull off a kitchen renovation by themselves. But for most people a kitchen renovation can be complex and time-consuming. While you may feel confident carrying out certain jobs, there may be other tasks where you don’t know what you’re doing. YouTube tutorials can help, but may not be enough to carry out the job properly. 

Tasks like hanging cabinets, installing electrics, moving plumbing and knocking down walls are often best carried out by a qualified professional. Then there is the task of designing the kitchen – which may require an interior designer or architect. Interior design services as found at sites like https://souq.studio can help design your kitchen, while there are likely to be many specialist tradespeople in your area that can carry out tasks like installing electrics and plumbing.

Getting only one quote

Some people are so eager to get their kitchen renovation done that they don’t take the time to shop around for quotes. Instead, they end up accepting a quote from the first contractor they can find – which often isn’t the best quote.

Collecting many quotes can help you to work out the average rate so that you know what is a good deal and what isn’t. Some contractors will also be willing to match the price of any existing quotes you’ve had, potentially giving you access to discounts you wouldn’t have otherwise got. Just be wary of taking on a contractor who charges much less than other contractors – they may be charging very low rates to make up for a bad reputation, so check reviews beforehand too. 

Going way over budget

It’s important to set an affordable budget and try to stick to it as rigidly as you can. Going over budget could result in you having to take on extra debt that you hadn’t planned for just to finish your renovation. This could lead you to regret your kitchen renovation if you’re then having to pay off expensive debt repayments.

Work out exactly how much you can borrow and try to keep your renovation within this budget. Take your time to create a detailed list of costs and try not to leave any important expenses out. 

Timing it wrong

Kitchen renovations can be disruptive, so it’s important that you plan them for the right time, otherwise it could cause you a lot of stress. Avoid renovating your home while starting a new job or when planning a wedding. Make sure that you also haven’t planned to have guests round while the renovation takes place. 

If you don’t feel you need to be in the property while the renovation is taking place, you could plan your renovation to happen while you are on holiday and give keys to contractors. You can then come back home to a new kitchen and not have to deal with all the upheaval. Of course, this does mean hiring contractors who you can trust to enter your property without you.