Many families share memories in the kitchen. It’s the one room in the house where everybody gets connected over shared food. It serves as a witness to every celebrated moment. It nurtures and it nourishes. Somehow, while a home serves as the go-to for rest and reset, the kitchen seems to be its backbone.
So as homeowners, how do we make sure it provides good food? We fill up the pantry, we keep it tidy, and of course, we make changes when necessary. From time to time, renovations are made. And in changing your benchtop design, what are the things we should keep in mind?
- Your vision
Identify what and why you want to change your kitchen benchtop. Is it because it’s damaged already? Did you find a refreshing inspiration? Do you want a complete overhaul from traditional to owning a smart kitchen? There are no right or wrong answers to these. Except, it asks for your honesty. From your vision comes the planning, budgeting, and the whole renovation process. This will require effort and time. Decisions have to be precise. So to avoid last-minute changes, they have to be finalized the soonest. Take note that you may need to eat TV dinners in the living room or the spare dirty kitchen once renovations start. So, it may compromise your comfort and your family’s in the process.
- Planning
As you change your benchtop design, opt for the affordable, yet lasting kind. There are engineered stone surfaces that cover durability, strength, and sustainability. While wooden or stone benchtops give a refreshing look, there are Caesarstone, Paperock, Laminex, Silestone, and Dekton. You could also have a rough dark timber stain finish idea to incorporate into the kitchen design. All of which is possible, that too seamlessly. To check its compatibility with the rest of the kitchen wares, consider heat as well from the cooking wares, oven, microwave, and water heater. Dishwashers also generate heat and that generated by the fridge and coolers themselves. Also, water is a big factor to consider. There’ll be a lot of washing and cleaning up. Therefore, the overall utilization of the renovation you will make should be planned out.
- Budgeting
While you heed for functionality, change, and sustainability, the costs play a great role in adjusting everything. As your vision requires additional equipment perhaps, your budget should be a standing determining factor of what to consider and what to scratch off the list. The beauty of it though is that you can research on your own. Look for what materials to use on the internet. Numerous articles were published talking about a lot of how-tos when it comes to interior design. And in case you prefer a professional touch, there are those published featuring experts’ opinions and points of view. Interior designers also have their websites nowadays that feature their work. All of these could help in cutting your costs down so take advantage of it and plan well. Time also eats up money. As you put your contractor to work, that is paid service. So, if your renovation is not planned well, it may come to a point of extending these services and paying more.
- Renovating process
The whole renovation is a total of many processes interconnected and co-dependent of each other. While the best approach would be to do an overhaul when you renovate, it depends on your budget yet again. Renovating just the desktop is alright. But if you want the entire kitchen to be changed up, you may suggest starting with the cupboards, cabinets, and shelves first before doing the benchtops. It could be something you want to do from scratch, for example by changing the hardwood primer altogether. In that way, measurements for the benchtops would make more sense. Cabinetry usually takes 10 days to finish. Plumbing, lighting, tiled splashbacks, and glass splashbacks will depend on the benchtop installation.
As everything is put in place, the overall benchtop design, be it marble or terrazzo, reflects a lot about you. The preferred kind, how it’s utilized and how the accents play their hues with their placements, it’s all you. So no matter how you had made it a smart kitchen or a replica of Julia Stiles’, change is good. Embrace that energy.
