3 Signs You Are Ready for a New Kitchen

We all know the kitchen is where all of the real action in the family happens. What other place in your home can claim to have hosted cooking, eating, homework, bill pay, conversations, arguments, apologies, laughter, and love. Kitchens are also the most common place to find a back door, so they are also a common entryway into the home as well!

Whether you’re the family chef or not, we all spend more time in the kitchen than we realize. However, the structural and functional aspects are not to be overlooked, and will definitely contribute to how you spend that time. Whether that be enjoying it with loved ones or trying to wrestle things into submission. Take a look at these three common pain points that many homeowners see in their kitchens. Do they sound familiar? If so, it may be time to consider remodeling your kitchen. At the very least, maybe you are ready to invest in updates to make better use of the space and make your time there more enjoyable.

Everyone seems to whine about not having enough storage space in their kitchen. (well, not these folks) To compensate for lack of shelf space, many people overload cabinets and pantries by stacking items haphazardly. Heavy canned goods can easily cause head and foot injuries when they’re knocked over. Even the lightest objects, such as plastic container lids, become dangerous when they land on a kitchen floor, and turn into slip-and-fall hazards. In extreme cases, excessive weight can lead to pressure build-up that over time can loosen shelf supports and/or bowing of the wood, causing shelves to collapse, and possibly even “pancake” on top of each other.

Small countertops quickly become even smaller as they overflow with appliances, cutting boards, and aspiring cooks. Knocking elbows during meal prep may sound harmless, but even playful fighting over a few precious inches of counter space could lead to serious consequences when both combatants are wielding chef’s knives. Smaller counters also mean that tools and food will get pushed out to the edges, which makes them more likely to slip off the edge, leading to spills and shattered glass.

Often overlooked as a vanity design element, poor lighting in any room is a major defect which easily leads to dangerous situations. Simply put, you need to see what you’re doing! This could not be more true than in your kitchen, where you’re working with high heat, handling sharp objects, and having to move quickly. There are many everyday kitchen utensils that become camouflaged in a dark drawer, and will poke, jab, scratch, or cut when you reach in. Many homeowners opt for simple, LED under-cabinet strip lights which plug into a standard receptacle. Although these can help to shed light on many of the darkest corners in your kitchen, they’re it rarely a cure-all. Consider a kitchen re-design that incorporates open or floating shelves in addition to upper cabinets, which invites both natural and artificial light to reach more of those dark corners.