FAQ About Kitchen Design
Since the recession, many people have decided to remodel their homes instead of spending the money to move. Many homeowners have FAQ about kitchen design so that they will receive the most for the money and not waste their budget on a design that will not work for their space or style of kitchen.
Q: What is the "Work Triangle"?
A: The kitchen work triangle is the area covered by the sink to the refrigerator to the main cooking area. This should form a triangle for optimum ease and speed in moving around the kitchen.
Q: Why is a kitchen "work triangle" important to use?
A: The kitchen work triangle connects all the key or main kitchen activities: preparation of the food, cooking the food and cleaning the dirty dishes. All this happens within the triangle or nearby it. The main purpose of the triangle is to help everything go smoothly and remain functional in the kitchen.
Q: How much should a kitchen remodeling job cost?
A: This is a good question that many homeowners worry about before they start to look at kitchen designs or solicit construction bids. A real estate agent has a formula when they tell homeowners to spend nothing less then 5 percent and nothing more than 15 percent of the total value of their home. This would mean that a homeowner should get a current appraisal if they want an accurate estimate to budget for a kitchen remodeling job.
Q: How much should we budget for cabinets?
A: Of the 5 to 15 percent rule, a real estate agent says to allow 50 percent of the cost of the total job for cabinets. The remaining 50 percent will go towards lighting/electrical work, flooring, finishing, countertops and plumbing.
Q: How long will my family be without a kitchen?
A: This will depend on a few factors and each kitchen design is different. Many kitchen design and installation companies will take out pieces of a kitchen and replace each piece so that a family will not be without a total kitchen for very long. The job that takes the longest is the kitchen cabinets and these can take several weeks. Once a kitchen is designed and put to paper, the contractor could tell a homeowner how long to prepare for being without a kitchen.
Q: Is there a big difference between "semi-customized" kitchen cabinets and "fully-customized" kitchen cabinets?
A: There is a big difference between "semi-customized" kitchen cabinets and "fully-customized" kitchen cabinets. The "semi-customized" kitchen cabinets are mass-produced in sizes that represent 3-inch allotments, which accounts for a lot of wasted space. This is made-up by using 'spacers' and sometimes the cabinets may look uneven. The "fully-customized" kitchen cabinets are made-to-order and are the exact specifications that a designer will put on the blueprints. There is much less room for error but the end product is more symmetrical and worth the extra cost.
Q: Will my new kitchen design have GFCI?
A: Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters or GFCI will monitor the electrical current pulsing through all circuits and insure they are balanced. If the electrical current is not balanced, the GFCI will turn off the electricity to the kitchen. The purpose of GFCI is to prevent anyone from receiving an electrical shock, which could be fatal. All sockets, breakers, circuits and switches are required to have GFCI in the kitchen and bathroom where water and electricity are often working close together.