Three quick tips for renovating on a budget

February 12th, 2015

Appliance Talk Kitchen Promotions Sinks Sinks, Taps & Water

A kitchen renovation can be a bit like a piece of string – lengthy, complex, and full of complications, or straight, taut and streamlined.

If you’ve set yourself a budget for your kitchen renovation and plan to actually stick to it (unlike the contestants of all too many renovation-based reality TV shows), then here are a few simple tips for making your kitchen look its best without spending too much:

Keep it simple

Before you start renovating, look at your kitchen.

REALLY look at it.

Closer.

Okay, that’s too close. Back up a bit.

There we go.

Now ask yourself – how much of this NEEDS to change?

The answer just might be “less than you first thought”.

Unless there are some MAJOR structural issues with your kitchen’s layout, you will most likely be able to improve the room’s appearance quite a bit with just a few smaller, largely cosmetic changes.

Where possible, try to avoid relocating anything that relies on electricity or water connections, such as the sink or dishwasher, as rerouting plumbing and wiring can quickly become a massive (and expensive) hassle.

Create a consistent style with matching appliances

Going through those renovation inspiration magazines, you’ll often find that the best kitchens are themed around a particular concept.

The Modern Kitchen. The Minimalist Kitchen (seen below). The Retro Kitchen. You get the idea.

Even those of us without an eye for design (or a massive budget to play with) can give our kitchen a similarly consistent sense of style, simply by selecting appliances that match well with one another. For example, a trio of stainless steel appliances will look much better alongside one another than when one’s steel, one’s white, and one’s coloured.

Another way to help keep your kitchen consistent is to select all of your appliances from the same brand. Appliances that share manufacturers usually also share similar design philosophies, making them look even better when installed alongside one another.

Little details make big differences

While big appliances such as the fridge and the oven tend to grab all the attention when you look at a kitchen, the smaller details in the background of these items can make just as big a difference to your kitchen’s appearance. Plus, it’s usually less expensive to freshen up a kitchen with new light fittings, door handles or shelving, than making more sweeping changes.

You can make a big difference to your kitchen simply by updating the sink and tap – try choosing a design that’s attractive and functional rather than just purely utilitarian. Sure, the sink isn’t the most glamourous part of a kitchen, but it is an area where many of us spend a lot of time, so making it look its best and function perfectly can really pay off in the long term.

Get started on your renovation – win a new Franke Sink

To help you kick off your very own kitchen renovation, Appliances Online is offering the chance to win a Franke sink pack.

These reliable and high-quality sinks help your kitchen to look amazing, and also make food prep and washing up much easier, thanks to the assortment of accessories that fit with them.

To enter, just visit the Appliances Online Facebook community and tell us your favourite kitchen appliance that you couldn’t live without, and why.

And if you put these tips into action when it comes to your kitchen renovation, let us know how it goes, and share your photos so the rest of us can see how it’s done!