Practical Must-Haves When Upgrading Your Kitchen
The kitchen is more than just a cooking space. Over the years, kitchens have been a source of memorable home-cooked meals and the place where family recipes passed down come to life. With time, however, even the brightest and most beautiful kitchen starts to feel a bit worn out. Paint starts to fade, cabinets break down, and appliances stop working; ominous signs of a dying kitchen and every reason to revamp your kitchen with an upgrade.
Pick a Starting Point
There’s often a lot to consider when it comes to remodeling, so it’s unsurprising to feel stuck. Several parts could use an upgrade, including sinks, cabinets, walls, pipes, or even the wiring. But whichever aspect you choose to address first, kitchen appliances will always make the list.
How About a New Kitchen Faucet?
A kitchen faucet is most likely one of the most used utilities in any kitchen. It’s, therefore, no surprise that they get worn out a bit quicker. So, what exactly should you look for when considering a replacement for your kitchen faucet? Well, keep in mind things like functionality, material, aesthetics, and warranty. A well-designed and durable faucet could be the difference between a repair every few months or something that sees you through the next decade.
Some of the Best Kitchen Faucets In 2019
There’s the Ufaucet stainless steel faucet that comes with a single pull-out sprayer and a lever handle. This particular faucet is made using brass and has an appealing nickel color. Its middle part is rotatable by a full 360 degrees, which plays a crucial role in the extendable spray hose reaching more dishes in the sink.
The extendable hose offers aerated stream which conserves water by mixing it with air. The hose also provides a streaming function perfect for washing ingredients and food. The faucet’s 20-inch nylon sprayer can also comfortably fit underneath a majority of kitchen cabinets.
Another excellent faucet is the APPASO single handle kitchen faucet that comes with three settings, namely stream, spray, and blade sweep options. It also comes with a flexible 20-inch hose that can wash those hard-to-reach surfaces.
The spray head’s ball joint function allows you to rotate it 360 degrees while cleaning. The spray head’s nozzle is made of high-quality Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS for short). This allows for easy removal of calcium, scale, and mineral buildup from the spray head, maintaining a clean faucet. The DIY installation process is pretty straightforward and takes about 20 minutes to finish eliminating the need and cost of a plumber.
The Moen 7594EWBL arbor is worth mentioning. This product comes with a MotionSense Wave refers to the touchless activation carried out with a single sensor. This fantastic feature allows you to turn the faucet on and off with a simple hand wave, eliminating the need to turn the handle manually.
Moen’s kitchen faucet also has an expandable hose that allows you to wash dirty dishes that are hard to reach. The reflex system in the hose will enable it to go back to its original position after usage automatically. Its intelligent Power Clean spray technology offers up to 50 percent more spray power, making hard-to-reach areas much more comfortable to access.
Do a Dishwasher Revamp?
After that amazing Sunday dinner comes the issue that probably affects most households; nobody ever wants to do the dishes! Thankfully, the dishwasher was invented to tackle this issue. Put in your dirty dishes, press a button, and just like that, your dishes are good as new.
Candidates For 2019’s Best Dishwasher In
There’s the Bosch SHX3AR75UC Ascenta stainless steel washer that’s a bargain given its level of performance and amazing features. The dishwasher is inspected, and quality checked a whopping 485 times before leaving the factory to ensure it passes all the necessary tests.
The machine’s impressive overflow feature prevents leaks even before they happen. The incredibly quiet motor system operates at only 50 decibels, with three-layer sound insulation, ensuring peace and tranquility. Its speed cycle feature also verifies dishes are clean and dry in an hour. The unique sanitize cycle operates at a much higher temperature, thereby eliminating 99.9 percent of bacteria.
The EdgeStar BIDW1802SS that comes with an 18-inch built-in dishwasher is ideal for smaller spaces while still having sufficient interior space for an eight place setting capacity. At the front of the unit are digital push buttons that allow you to choose between the six wash cycles, namely heavy, normal, energy-efficient, glass, rapid, and rinse.
The light indicators show the cycle of the wash the unit is in, and a buzzer sound goes off when the wash cycle is over. A leakage sensor in the dishwasher automatically shuts off water flow when a leak occurs, protecting your home from any water damage.
The Whirlpool WDT710PAHZ with a stainless steel built-in dishwasher has a capacity of 13 place settings, making it ideal for large families or a large host of guests. Its three wash arms are highly efficient for getting rid of even the messiest used plates.
The machine’s soil sensor can detect the extent of how dirty the dishes are and make the necessary performance adjustments to ensure dirt-free dishes. The heavy cycle is tailor-made for those hard to wash dishes that often take a lot of time and effort to clean. Even on its most vigorous cycle, this dishwasher only produces a noise level of 51 decibels making as quiet as it is impressive.
More Kitchen Remodeling Tips
There’s undeniably a lot of planning that goes into remodeling a kitchen. There’s a whole list of things that need to get done, from new appliances to wiring and plumbing services. With all these factors to consider, hiring a general contractor might be a good idea. Professional help could save you a lot of time and finances down the road.
Also, have a budget in place. A renovation is going to cost you, and you need to have an amount in mind that you’re willing to spend.
Lastly, consider your home’s design and work around it. The house’s design may restrict some renovation concepts, so don’t try to push it. Again, here’s where a contractor comes in and gives you a scope of what’s doable and what isn’t. Going against the fundamental design of the house to incorporate a revamp could end up costing a lot more.
So, if your kitchen feels a bit tired then consider remodeling. It might just give your home a much-needed makeover.
Resources- The Spruce, This Old House, Architectural Digest, Forbes