Do we ever really have enough space when it comes to our kitchens? With so many people spending more time at home than ever before, it only makes sense that you'd want to extend your kitchen and make more room for your family to have meals. However, extending a kitchen can be challenging when you don't know where to start.
Not to worry, though. We'll help you plan the kitchen extension of your dreams with this guide. We'll walk you through some key steps and considerations to help you develop the best ideas for your kitchen extension and help you better prepare. Let's get started.
Consider your roof before you start designing the kitchen's interior.
Before any planning even begins, the first thing you should consider is your roof. The chances are that your kitchen is on an exterior wall as not many homes have interior kitchens with no windows. Therefore, when you plan a kitchen extension, you'll likely be extending your roof as well. So, when you're shopping for a contractor to handle your renovation project, you'll need to find yourself a reputable roofing contractor as well, such as this Merritt Island roofing contractor.
Some critical considerations here include whether you want to match the roof extension with your existing roof, update the entire roof while you're doing the kitchen, or whether you want a new roofing material for the extension alone.
Choose a shape and design for your kitchen extension.
If you're extending your kitchen, the shape and design will be changing too. Therefore, you should consider what kind of kitchen you want. For example, some popular kitchen designs are U-shaped, L-shaped, and galley kitchen layouts.
U-shaped kitchens are perfect for open-plan kitchens, especially when you don't have room for an island, as you can create a similar convenience by converting one side of the "U" into additional seating. L-shaped kitchens are ideal when your kitchen space has room for an island or a dining table. These kitchens give an open look and help meld your dining and cooking areas for a more informal kitchen. Finally, galley kitchens aren't a top choice for a kitchen extension unless you're extending inward instead of outward from your home. However, galley kitchens can be an efficient layout when working with a narrow kitchen.
Keep in mind that when you choose a layout for your kitchen, you'll be needing new countertops as well. If you're looking to update your kitchen with a more upscale look, the countertops are the perfect place to start. Many companies have affordable options, such as this company offering cheap quartz countertops.
Don't forget to consider what flooring options your new kitchen will have.
You may not think the flooring is a significant part of a kitchen extension. However, it's a critical step in the process as you're extending your kitchen, not building a brand new one. So, you'll need to consider if you want to expand your existing flooring with the new extension or if you want to tear it all up and start fresh with new flooring.
The significant considerations with keeping your floor are your budget and flooring availability. Keeping your floor and adding on is the most affordable choice if your budget is an issue. However, you also have to consider your existing floor's availability. For example, it may have been discontinued if your flooring is older. If that's the case, you'll have no choice but to replace the entire floor unless you can find a retailer that still has some of your flooring in stock, but that's a longshot.