Remodeling Like a Pro

Best Renovation Tips Revealed

Renovating a kitchen isn’t the most intuitive process. The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), San Diego chapter’s 200-plus membership of certified designers have a lot of kitchen remodels under their collective belts. Sandra Tierney, CMKBD, the organization’s membership chair, shares seven of the best tips.

1. Gather all the pricing for the items you want before you even start, so you go in with a realistic idea of your budget.

2. Look at what you’ve chosen—cabinets, flooring, countertops and tile. Build your color scheme off your favorite.

3. Everything doesn’t have to match. Just because you have a brushed-nickel faucet doesn’t mean your cabinet hardware has to be brushed-nickel too. Good design is a balance of contrast, texture and materials.

4. Be mindful of whether you’re left- or right-handed. “If you’re right-handed, you need more counterspace to the left of the sink and vice versa,” Sandra says.

5. Save yourself some dough by understanding the electrical requirements of appliances before you buy. Every appliance needs its own circuit. While an induction cooktop is great, it needs a lot more amps. Also, make sure you measure your appliances correctly. The majority of mistakes that happen in a kitchen are appliance size errors.

6. Choose deep drawers rather than cabinets with roll-out shallow trays that can topple over. Install pull-out pantries and make certain they are accessible from both sides. 

7. Don’t buy for once-a-year needs. Do you need two ovens when you only use both on Thanksgiving? Try a countertop oven you can tuck away.

Wants List

If you’ve been dreaming of a remodel for some time, no doubt you have a Pinterest board or Instagram collection of lots and lots of saves. Time to edit that down. Check for similarities among the photos and start making a board of actual product wants in terms of tile, finishes, lighting, fixtures, hardware and more.

Award-Winning Designs

Check out the NKBA San Diego kitchen designs that took home the top honors at this year’s annual Star Design Awards Gala. You might find some ideas you have to have. Scroll through them all here.

Learn more: Contact NKBA San Diego Chapter.