The heart of a home is its kitchen, and having a functional one can make or break your enjoyment of your space. If you’re considering renovating your kitchen, you probably have a list of potential upgrades and changes you’d like to make. That said, kitchen renovations are incredibly complex and span a wide variety of trades and disciplines, so odds are, there are many aspects of your kitchen renovation that you haven’t thought about yet.
The complexity of a kitchen renovation is why most homeowners choose to hire professionals and why they tend to be so expensive. The average kitchen renovation in Canada costs around $25,000. So, before you spend this considerable sum of money (or even if you are planning to DIY your project and save big on costs), consider these 11 things that nobody tells you about renovating a kitchen.
What Nobody Tells You About Kitchen Renovations
Your kitchen is the heart of your home, and renovating it is a significant undertaking. Whether you are choosing to work with a contractor or do it yourself, you’re sure to encounter some surprises that will have you exclaiming, “why did no one tell me about this?” Our list will help you prepare for the unexpected and pave the way for a smooth kitchen renovation.
Whether you’re hiring a contractor for your home renovation or taking a do-it-yourself approach, here are six areas (plus four bonuses for DIYers) that might have you thinking, “why did no one tell me?”
1. It’s Expensive, Even if You DIY
As we shared earlier, the average kitchen renovation cost is around $25,000, but that number is just a guideline. Depending on your renovation plans, your renovation could cost much more. If you plan to hire a contractor, you should get a quote for the entire cost of the project in advance, but that might not insulate you from unexpected extra costs.
The cost of home renovations has been on the rise in Canada, in large part to the increasing prices of building materials. If you plan to use a contractor, ask them how they plan to mitigate these unexpected extra costs and the protocol if there are unexpected cost increases mid-project. Discussing these possibilities with your contractor in advance will help you avoid surprises mid-renovation.
2. Practicality Should Win Over Aesthetics
While a beautiful kitchen can be a sight to behold, the reality is that your kitchen is the workhorse of your home, and it should function as a day-in-day-out center of productivity. That means that while those white cabinets and marble countertops may be aesthetically appealing if you spend every moment in your kitchen cleaning up spatters and worrying about damaging your countertops, you’ll enjoy your space much less overall. Try and balance functionality with aesthetics wherever possible, especially in the areas of your kitchen that will experience the most wear and tear, like the countertops, sink, and appliances.
3. You Should Live With Your Kitchen for at Least a Year Pre-renovation
If you’ve recently bought a home, you might be itching to dive into your kitchen renovation immediately, but we think that’s a mistake. Instead, try living in your kitchen for at least one year. This time will help you develop a routine and discover how you use the space, how your daily activities flow within the kitchen, and how you can improve it. For example, you may find yourself set on a specific layout before you move. Still, as you live with the kitchen, you might discover that wall that you thought needed to go serves to block the sound from another room or contains essential plumbing or structural support that would be costly to reroute.
4. Some Trendy Kitchen Upgrades Are Overrated
Trends largely influence home décor, and while some, like white cabinets, will turn into classic design choices over time, others are simply trends and are, in our opinion, overrated. An excellent example of an expensive and overrated trend is an over-the-stove pot filler. While this trend might seem helpful, adding plumbing behind your stove will be costly, and such a distinct design choice will instantly date your kitchen if it falls out of favour. Another example of an overrated trend is a black granite or quartz kitchen sink. These sinks might look sleek, but they are notoriously difficult to keep clean.
5. Budget-Friendly Options Do Exist
IKEA kitchen cabinets have a solid reputation as an affordable, good-quality cabinetry brand with many customization options. That said, they’ve become so prevalent that their most popular styles are easy to spot in any home. If you want an IKEA kitchen but don’t want a cookie-cutter style, companies (we like Semihandmade) build cabinet doors to fit IKEA cabinet boxes. By pairing IKEA cabinet boxes with Semihandmade cabinet doors, you can achieve a custom look without the astronomical cost of totally custom-made cabinetry.
6. Your Contractor Is Usually Right
Once you announce your intention to renovate your kitchen, it may seem like your friends and family suddenly have no shortage of renovation horror stories – many of them including inept contractors or tradespeople. We think it’s important to do your research when choosing a contractor. Still, if you’ve found an experienced company with plenty of good references, we also recommend that you heed their advice.
If your contractor points out that your vision may end up impeding your enjoyment of the space (for example, if your ideal island placement will disturb the typical traffic pattern in the home), it’s essential to listen to their suggestions. Experienced contractors will have renovated dozens of kitchens, and they know what works and what doesn’t. You’re paying them for their expertise as well as their labour, so it’s wise to make use of it.
7. Always Check Every Order as Soon as It Arrives
Once your kitchen renovation is underway, you’ll be surprised at the sheer number of deliveries that will begin arriving on your doorstep, many of which may come weeks or even months before they are needed. We recommend checking the deliveries for accuracy immediately when they arrive, instead of when you need the items. Immediately reviewing your deliveries will allow you to find and reject damaged or missing items before the return window has closed and with plenty of time to receive replacements or missing pieces before the day of installation.
What Nobody Tells You About DIY Kitchen Renovations
While the advice above is suitable for DIYers and those hiring out their kitchen renovation, the suggestions below will benefit anyone considering doing their kitchen renovation themselves.
8. Some Things Are Worth Hiring Professionals For
While most Canadians who choose to do their kitchen renovations themselves will do so in the name of saving money, some parts of a kitchen renovation may make sense to hire out. In particular, any aspect of your kitchen renovation is challenging to redo or requires a high level of skill or attention to detail. Two examples of these types of tasks would be drywall and tile setting. Both require great attention to detail and are difficult to repair or replace if you make a mistake.
9. Hire a Designer to Review Your Kitchen Remodel Layout
If you are doing the kitchen design yourself, consider hiring a designer for an hourly consultation to review your layout. Kitchen design is a science, with many rules regarding countertop height, appliance and lighting placement, and more. While you may have thoroughly researched the best practices and designed your kitchen layout carefully, a designer can validate your design with an experienced and practiced eye.
10. Your Kitchen Renovation Cost Will Be 25% More and Take 25% Longer Than You Intended
Despite your best-laid plans, you’ll soon find that renovating a kitchen is an adventure that will take you on many unexpected detours involving money and time that you hadn’t initially budgeted. For this reason, we recommend that you compile your final budget and add a 25% contingency fund for unexpected expenses to your kitchen renovation cost. If this is your first renovation, you may want to increase that amount to 35% to account for the many small items and tools you’ll need to purchase. Likewise, expect your kitchen renovation to take longer than anticipated since you’ll be learning new skills for the first time and probably making mistakes along the way.
11. Take the Time to Prepare a Temporary Kitchen
Finally, suppose you are renovating your kitchen yourself. In that case, you’re probably working in the evenings and on weekends, which will extend your timeline for completion from weeks to months. Since you’ll be living without a kitchen for a few months, it’s essential to take the time to set up a temporary kitchen. Consider purchasing a hot plate and tabletop microwave to make basic meals and purchase some shelving to store your dry goods. The ability to cook at home will save you time and money and make the entire process less stressful and disruptive.
The Bottom Line
Whether you choose to work with a contractor or do it yourself, renovating a kitchen is a significant undertaking. When you announce your plans to renovate to family and friends, we have no doubt you’ll be inundated with kitchen renovation ideas and advice. That said, there’s a lot that no one will tell you. The list we’ve compiled above will help you prepare for some of those unforeseen surprises and smooth the road to a beautiful, functional kitchen that you’ll love for years to come.
