January 2007

• Linda's Tips

• Sherwin-Williams 2007 Color Trends Forecast

• Keeping the Winter Blues Away from Your Woodwork

• A Woman's Perspective ~ Home Plan Makeover

Linda's Tips

This month's tips are provided by Bruce Meller of Home Forge Remodeling Inc.

Dream Kitchen Remodeling Tips

Your kitchen is arguably the most important room in your house. Food – its storage, preparation and consumption – is one of our most basic needs and key to our sense of security. “Warm kitchen feelings” is a phrase used in our house to evoke happy memories of the family gathered around a well-supplied table.

A remodeled kitchen certainly adds more to the resale value of your house than any other room, including adding a master suite. Plus – if your family is like mine – everybody gathers there, no matter how many yummy hors d’oeuvres I put on trays in the living room.

Each of us has different wants and needs for his or her dream kitchen. That’s why there are so many plans – some with islands, some with dining counters, bar areas or pass-through features, some with butler’s pantries or office areas, some with keeping rooms.

The following dream kitchen remodeling tips can be incorporated into almost any design, thereby “ramping up” the things you love about your particular kitchen.

• Increase your counter space – pull bottom cabinets forward and install a deeper counter top to increase work space. Think of it as reclaiming the original counter space you now have to share with your toaster, your cookbooks, sugar tin, etc.
• Mount faucets on the wall above the counter – this makes it easier to clean behind the sink.
• Install an extra-large garbage disposal. It takes up the same space, provides the best value for minimal cost and decreases clogs.
• Replace bottom cabinets with multi-tasking drawers, pullout shelves or open shelving – no more standing on your head to see what’s in the back of the cabinet.

Install the strongest exhaust hood and vent it to the outside. photo by Raymond Andreski

A snack area on one end of the island will keep children out of the main traffic flow. photo by Raymond Andreski

• Choose a refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom. This places the refrigerator at a convenient level for accessing the majority of your daily food needs. Consider making that bottom freezer a pull-out drawer (see tip #4 for reasoning).
• Install a sink with a main bowl that’s large enough to accommodate oversized pans – to eliminate struggling to wash half the turkey roaster at a time or spraying the rest of the kitchen rather than dirty dishes.
• Put in the strongest exhaust hood (or downdraft) you can afford and vent it to the outside. This is invaluable for eliminating smoke or food odors in a hurry.
• Place a built-in banquette in the eating area. This saves space normally taken up by freestanding chairs and increases storage for dining-related items like linens, flatware and turkey roasters.
• Designate a snack area (either in an island or one end of the available counter space) with its own food storage, prep area and compact refrigerator or refrigerator drawer. This will keep hungry kids from hanging on the door of an open refrigerator scrounging for after-school snacks.

Bruce Meller is president of Home Forge Remodeling Inc., a full-service kitchen and bath residential remodeling company headquartered in Decatur, Georgia. For more information about Home Forge Remodeling, visit www.HomeForgeRemodeling.com.