Kitchen Renovation Overview

Tips For Your Kitchen Renovation

A kitchen renovation is one of the most popular home improvement tasks among homeowners. It’s also one of the most complex – chiefly because there are multiple stages and tradespeople involved. Ensuring that each step of the renovation is perfectly coordinated will help to make it a stress-free process with a satisfying outcome.

To map out a plan, talk to your kitchen designer or cabinet-maker and ask them to clearly explain how they work and what will happen once your renovation begins. This will really help, even if you are organising your own tradespeople, such as plumbers and electricians, to ensure all trades are booked in at the correct stages of the process and all necessary items are bought.

The 10 steps below will guide you through how the process generally works, regardless of whether you decide to do or oversee all of the installation and building work yourself or engage a kitchen designer to oversee it for you.

‍

STEP 1: Designing your kitchen
The first step, and one of the most exciting in any kitchen renovation project, is the design process. Don’t rush this stage. Take your time to ensure you explore all layout options and material choices with your designer. Spending some extra time now will ensure you don’t have any regrets later, and will also help the rest of the process to run smoothly.

Once you have decided on the design of your new kitchen and chosen all your finishes, fixtures and appliances, it’s time to place your orders. The lead time for the manufacture of new cabinets, for example, will vary greatly depending on the supplier and the materials you choose.

STEP 2: Removing existing cabinets
Once you have placed the order for your new cabinets, the supplier will be able to give you a date for delivery. Prior to receiving them, your existing cabinets will need to be removed – note, this is a good time to get the take-away menus ready while your kitchen is out of action. Alternatively, dust off the barbecueand move out onto the deck if the weather is fine or set up a temporary kitchen space where you can eat inside.

You may choose to remove your existing cabinets yourself or you may prefer to engage the same tradespeople who will install your new cabinets to do it for you. Either way, you will require a plumber and electrician to disconnect all your appliances, sink, tap and gas outlets before the cabinets are removed. Removal of the existing cabinets will generally take no longer than one day.

TOP TIP: If your existing cabinets are in good condition, then consider advertising them for sale through second hand buy-and-sell websites.

STEP 3: Beginning the building work If you are opening up a new window or are removing or building some new walls as part of your kitchen renovation, this is the stage when the majority of structural work will take place. It will need to be scheduled so that it is completed prior to the date the new cabinets are due to be delivered and installed. Check with your carpenter or builder how long they think the work will take. As a guide, minor building work will only take a day or two to complete. Rough installs for all plumbing and electrical work should take place at this stage, too, including wiring for your appliances and any new lighting or power points that will be installed.

STEP 4: Installing cabinets Now the exciting stuff really starts to happen. Once the necessary building work has been completed, your new kitchen cabinets can be installed. This will take somewhere between one and three days, depending on the size of your kitchen. You can choose to install your new kitchen cabinets yourself or have them installed by a professional cabinet-maker or builder.

STEP 5: Setting the benchtop
If you have chosen laminate or solid timber benchtops for your new kitchen, they can usually be manufactured at the same time as your cabinets. This means they can be installed simultaneously by the same tradespeople.

Granite, engineered stone, solid surface materials (such as Corian) and stainless steel benchtops should all be installed by a specialist. They will need to be measured up and templated first so they can be made exactly to size. Manufacturing time for these benchtops is generally around 10 working days but will vary depending on the supplier.

STEP 6: Connecting electricals and plumbing You are almost ready to start using your new kitchen. Once the new benchtops have been installed, your plumber and electrician can come back to install and connect appliances such as the oven, cooktop, sink and tap. TOP TIP: It is recommended that you wait for 24 hours after an under-mount sink has been glued into place before having the plumbing connected. This allows time for the glue to set properly.

STEP 7: Fitting the splashback
Regardless of what material you choose for a new kitchen splashback, it can only be installed after the benchtops are set. After that, a tiled splash back can be carried out immediately, but a splashback of toughened glass or stone will once again need to be templated and measured by a specialist so it can be made to size. Templating can take place the same day your benchtops are installed and manufacturing time is generally around 10 working days.

If you are having power points located in your splashback, arrange for your electrician to come back to finish connecting these once the splash back installation has been completed.

STEP 8: Enjoying your new kitchen Gather friends and family around, use your new appliances to prepare and cookup a celebratory meal, and enjoy your wonderful new kitchen.

TELL US Have you been through a kitchen renovation? Tell us what you thought was the most significant part of the process or share a tip about one of the steps to our email: info@kitchenhaus.co.nz or call us on 09 948 0280

‍