Considering a kitchen remodel project for your place may come into your mind in 2 ways. Whether you are planning to sell your place and would like to add more value to the house before putting it to the market or you basically get tired of dealing with your old kitchen cabinets that have a moldy wood smell and non-functioning drawers. Regardless of the reason for the renovation, you should always consider your material selections for the project carefully, especially the ones that resemble 4 focal points of your kitchen; cabinetry, countertop, flooring, and the backsplash.
The color combination of these materials is very crucial. At least 2 out of those 4 items’ colors should be matching or within the same side of the color palette in order to have an optimal outcome and there should also be a 2nd color that is in contrast with the main color. You wouldn’t want to have a full black or full white kitchen where you can’t feel any depth, have at least 2 colors. Other than the color, there are different perspectives for the selection of each material.
1-) Cabinetry
Kitchen cabinetry is always the most important part of a kitchen remodel project. It should be easy to reach and clean also must provide you enough and useful space for placing your kitchen stuff. But when you are making the selection, first thing you will look at will be the door style and color. Considering what is your household circumstances will be the smart move. For example; if you have little children or pets, stay away from easy to scratch materials such as thermofoil or acrylic, otherwise, keeping up with treating the scratched doors will not be easy.
You should always consider your material selections for the project carefully, especially the ones that resemble 4 focal points of your kitchen; cabinetry, countertop, flooring, and the backsplash.
Don’t forget that the style of cabinetry door will be the main character of your kitchen. If you end-up choosing a light wood braided door, there is no way to turn this into a contemporary place. If you like the contemporary style; stick with plain panel doors with sharp colors that can pop-out from the remaining of the kitchen. If you are a traditional style lover stay within door styles that have visible wood grains.
2-) Countertop
If you don’t care about the maintenance and long-term outcomes natural stone is a way to go. There are various numbers of different natural stones in the market. They are being used as countertop materials but the most common ones are granite, marble, and quartzite. Granite and marble stones have a very wide price range that starts from a very affordable price to a sky-high level and of course; the more you pay, the more unique stones you get.
Granite countertops are still the #1 choice of the consumers. Even though the rising star of the kitchen remodel market, man-made quartz countertop, is started to be very competitive and popular due to their innovative textures and durability. If you are cooking a lot or you have a clumsy household who spills drinks and drops food on the counter constantly; find the best matching texture of man-made quartz to complement the rest of your kitchen. Quartz is a non-absorbent material against most liquids (except chemicals). And all other natural stones would absorb any type of liquid that stays on top of it for more than half an hour which leads to having a stain on the counter that may or may not come out in time.
3-) Flooring
There are many options here but the commonly preferred materials for kitchen flooring are porcelain/ceramic tiles or hardwood. Vinyl flooring used to be a popular material back then because of its ease of cleaning. Nowadays, it is not a popular option due to lack of style and harder to maintain in the longer run. Same circumstances as selecting cabinetry will be a decision-maker here; having pets is a good reason not to lay hardwood in your kitchen otherwise paws of your pets will do a good amount of damage. And that will force you to do a refinish and also good luck with that. Especially if they accidentally urinate on the hardwood floors, even refinishing may not help if it is a big amount.
If you don’t have to worry about those and want to have a hardwood floor, consider not having a very light color. Having light color floor requires a continuous and good level of cleaning. Or it doesn’t; if you don’t mind every small stain or dirt to be seen while you are cooking for your guests. Porcelain/Ceramic floors are also easy to clean like vinyl floors but the amount of grout must be minimalized. Grout is the part that gets dirty and it is not too easy to keep it clean for a long time. Especially a light color grout.
4-) Backsplash
There are three options for kitchen backsplash; tile, painted wall with a small height countertop backsplash, or full height backsplash made out of the countertop material. The full height option is a good one if you have access to the backsplash wall from the other side of the wall since you won’t be able to access it easily when needed and only if the countertop material has a unique & wide texture that you can’t get enough.
Don’t even bother going to a full-height stone backsplash if you are using a no-wide texture stone. A painted wall option can be considerable if you are on a budget and just want to do a kitchen remodel with minimal cost.
Still, the best and most commonly used option is backsplash tiles. If you are cooking a lot and your cooking involves a lot of grease, stay away from non-polished natural stones. Because they will change color by absorbing all the grease and steam you will be making. Instead, stick with porcelain/ceramic tiles that can give you a neat look with less maintenance required.