Inexpensive Cabinet Knobs for Kitchen Renovations

In most instances, remodeling the kitchen entails with it an array of daunting hassles, one of them being the cost of the whole project. For those who cannot afford the time, energy, or money to spruce up the kitchen, do not despair. There is a way to revitalize your kitchen without having it cost an arm or a leg. Naturally, you will not be getting the cream of the crop materials, but it's still possible to manage a very desirable look for your kitchen with the available, inexpensive resources.

One the afore-mentioned ways is the installation of new cabinetry knobs and handles. Since the cabinet hardware takes up most of the space in the kitchen, it's the part which will end up having the biggest impact on the room's style flow. This means that it's very important that you pay attention to every little detail on the cabinetry, because good-looking cabinets can by themselves rejuvenate an old and dull kitchen. On top of all, not only is replacing the existing cabinetry knobs and installing new ones is simply a piece of cake, but even the more stylized doorknobs usually come at a very decent and affordable price.

It really makes no difference the kitchen design which you have, or what types of cabinets you have, there are always ways to find newer and fresher cabinet knobs and pulls which would do wonders for your cooking den. They come in a multitude of variants, including chrome, steel and brass for a more modern look, or of wood and copper for a more traditionally stylized cabinetry set. No matter what they're made of, they're usually very easy and simple to clean and maintain, as well as repaint or re-stain, giving you the opportunity to bring to life the inner artist inside of you.

Tag : kitchen,kitchen cabinets,kitchen renorations,kitchen design

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Kitchen Cupboards Design Ideas

In a kitchen transformation, the kitchen cupboards signify the most essential expense in your home improvement finances. Seeing as they are the attraction of this room, a good number of the unique alternatives about this are expected to be based on what you may decide. Your counter tops, appliances, and hardware options might rely upon the style and set-up of your cupboards.

Many of the cupboards available in these up to date times are crafted from plywood. Individuals who don't want this might select the real thing if they don't like the plywood. Of course there are a large amount of other resources that you are able to pick out from. If you require some ideas than search through a couple of kitchen design magazines. This will help to give you an idea of the kinds, colors and designs that you need to be using.

Take into consideration beauty and practicality. Go for kitchen cabinets that don't merely look good-looking - but are also functional. That would signify that you must make sure that they will be able to resist the beating of heavy cookware and dishes, along with several openings and closings throughout the day.

Think about sturdiness. Where thermofoil or laminate cabinets are better to clean and more affordable than sturdy wood, they are far less tough. It is really essential to learn what kind the warrantee addresses when purchasing ones designed with thermofoil or laminate.

Don't forget to pick out the right style of knobs and handles that might be good to use. There are a number of places where you may acquire these things from. Home Depot and Lowes are the more ordinary places.

It assists to use ornamental hardware for kitchen cabinets when attempting to give them a great edge. Just make certain that you select something that may match up flawlessly.

Tag : kitchen,kitchen design,kitchen ideas,kitchen cabinets

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The Classic's Back - Why Granite Kitchen Worktops Should Never Go Out Of Fashion

Granite kitchen worktops are back in a big way. Why? Because the UK has finally woken up to the fact that flat plastic kitchen worktops is not only ugly but impractical. It’s true, of course, that an MDF (Medium Density Fibre Board) work surface covered with that horrible rubberised vinyl kind of marble effect stuff is a lot cheaper than granite – but it also lasts a couple of years at most before all the water in the kitchen starts getting inside it and rotting out the chip board. Granite is impervious to pretty much everything, up to and including being hit with a hammer (well, a small hammer anyway) – it cleans easily and well; it looks amazing; and it goes with virtually every kitchen decor.

Put like that, one wonders why granite kitchen worktops aren’t in every home. There are of course cost limitations – not everyone can afford to pay a quantity of money now for a stone work surface, even though that total price, when parcelled out over the years of unending good service the granite will give, costs less than the cumulative cost of replacing MDF every two years. There are also limitations according to the quality of the rest of the fittings in a kitchen. It’s not just about looks – low cost cupboards simply won’t support the weight of granite kitchen worktops, so installing them in a budget range kitchen simply isn’t practical.

What we are talking about here, of course, is two different types of investment. The kitchen with the quality and longevity of granite work tops and mid to high range cupboards and so on, represents a large single sum in terms of initial outlay – followed by absolutely no maintenance costs. Good quality kitchen fittings pretty much last forever – so it’s only a change of style that warrants a change of kitchen. Your other kind of kitchen, with low mid to budget range fittings, represents a significantly lower single sum to outlay. However, its absence of granite kitchen worktops and good quality cupboards means that it is extremely susceptible to wear and tear – which, in turn, means that it will need replacing on a regular basis. That makes a whole series of lower cost single sum outlays, which add up, as a whole, to the same or even more than the cost of just having a high quality kitchen installed straight off.

The return to favour of the granite worktop, and its associated quality items, is as much a reflection of the shift in British attitudes towards homes as it is a simple change in tastes. The UK resident is now spending an average of just over 20 years of his or her life in the same property. That means that he, or she is buying, building and extending to last. New kitchen fittings need to be of high quality to last 20 years. Granite kitchen worktops, and all the associated bits and pieces, are that, and will do that. And that’s why they will always be in style.

Tag : kitchen,kitchen cabinets,kitchen island,kitchen sink

Prepare Your Kitchen In Time For Christmas

The most important meal of the year is slowly approaching. Roast turkey and all the trimmings will be the meal of choice for the majority of us this Christmas Day and to ensure that everything goes to plan you should make sure that your kitchen is adequately prepared for the occasion. Your home may be arranged in such a way that the dining area is actually in the kitchen and if you have guests coming round you want it looking its best.

Time may have run out for you to have a brand new kitchen installed for Christmas, but this doesn't mean that you cannot do something to make it look a more friendly and welcoming atmosphere. You could give all the walls a fresh coat of paint to help bring fitted kitchens back to life. A change of flooring could give kitchens such as yours a whole new appearance. Even changing the handles on cupboards and drawers can make a world of difference. A shiny and gleaming handle on its own can improve the look of the room substantially.

Certain appliances in the kitchen tend to lose their aesthetical appeal after a certain amount of time. You still have time to introduce a new kettle, microwave, toaster etc. to your home as each is essential and will make the room feel that little bit busier.

One of the main reasons why you should renovate kitchens as they start to lose their appeal is because it will enhance the value of your home. Everyone aspires to live in a home with a nice, functional kitchen, and if your home has it then it will increase the likelihood of it being sold at a price you will be happy with.

You will enjoy Christmas that little bit more when fitted kitchens offer such beauty.

Tag : kitchen,kitchen cabinets,kitchen table,kitchen design

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_A_Wells

Granite Kitchen Worktops For Long Lasting Beauty

There are of course many different materials from which one can construct a kitchen worktop. Not so many of them, though, that will retain their original good looks and functionality over years of abuse. Kitchens are full of mess almost all the time – food in preparation, food being eaten, food that’s done with but still lying around on plates and in pots, and of course the washing up, which splashes water and junk all over the place on a daily basis. Granite kitchen worktops are one of the only fittings that can be guaranteed to hold their looks as well as their function over long periods of time.

Granite, after all, has spent millions of years turning into granite before it gets made into a beautiful worktop. It is one of the most hard wearing stones in common usage – it’s easy to quarry, but once it is finished and polished, it can be hit with a hammer and very little will happen to its body. The immense heat and pressure of something like 60,000,000 years spent under a volcano has already sealed granite into an almost impregnable solidity: granite kitchen worktops are easily capable of withstanding a little splash back from an over heated pan of tomatoes.

Let’s contrast granite with wood – that way you’ll see exactly what we’re talking about here. Granite is hard and polished, which means liquids sit on top of it. They don’t stain it, and they are not absorbed by it. So: imagine pouring a tin of tomatoes onto a granite surface. It’s messy but it’s easy to clean up. 10 minutes later no-one would know the tomatoes had ever been there. Now – imagine the same thing on a wooden surface. Nightmare: tomato juice sinking rapidly into the wood, stain spreading everywhere and abrasive cleaning products out of the question. Granite kitchen worktops – no stain; wooden kitchen surfaces – blotched red and smelly within days of being installed.

That’s not to say that wood doesn’t have a place in the kitchen – wood is a very nice material in its own right and can deliver an excellent feel to a cooking area. It’s just not suitable for work surfaces. Chopping boards yes, worktops no.

Granite looks amazing, too, which doesn’t hurt – and it comes in a range of colours, according to the saturation of non quartz parts in its makeup. You can get granite – and, therefore, granite kitchen worktops – in just about any shade, from obsidian all the way through to pale rose. A kitchen can be colour coded with its work surfaces, when granite is used. Wood is, well, wood. It’s brown, or thereabouts – and if it’s any darker than that you can’t see the stains in it until they start to smell.

Wood also gets scratched easily – and scratches are ideal homes for all kinds of stink and-or semi lethal bacteria. Having a wooden worktop is a recipe for food poisoning. If you want to scratch granite kitchen worktops you’d need to do it with a roadside drill. For strength, beauty and durability – it’s granite all the way.

Modern Classics: Granite And Quartz Worktops For Beautiful Kitchens And Bathrooms

Kitchen decoration is back in a big way. The 80s, with their horrible faux technological ovens and microwaves, have died; the 90s, which bowdlerised farmhouse kitchens in a way that somehow took all the charm out of them, are no more; and the Noughties, with their appalling preponderance of white plastic, have turned up their little toes and gone to the great style graveyard in the sky. 2010 has been the year of proper kitchen decor: quartz worktops, granite worktops, lovely old school range cookers and monumental fridge freezers that took their lines, like all the best devices, from 50s Americana. Style and grace, welcome back to the place in which we cook.

There’s a thing about kitchens that people often overlook. We spend so much time in them; they should be decorated with as much care as the lounge or the bathroom. Indeed, kitchen and bathroom are the only two rooms in an entire house, be it never so huge, that a person is guaranteed to use every day. Obviously, people sleep in the bedroom every night – but waking hours can only call the kitchen and bathroom into play for certain. It’s no coincidence, then, that these are the two rooms in the house in which one would expect to find quartz worktops or granite worktops. Perhaps human kind responds better to this kind of material: long lasting, decorative, endlessly classy and fitting with anything. It’s like that natural cave substance has stayed with us through 100 million years of evolution and now we’ve used it to show off our civilisation and sophistication.

With great success, too. The bathroom is an ideal example of the ways in which quartz or granite can attune to every taste and style. Whether one’s feeling is for modern bathrooms, with huge walk in showers and the occasional minimalist planter in a corner, or classic country house rooms full of flowers and soap baskets – quartz worktops and granite worktops add that wow factor in both cases. One even gets the same effect from white granite in a “rock star” bathroom – you know, the kind where there’s two of everything and the bath is on a pedestal. No matter what the final look, those polished stone surfaces set it off just wonderfuly.

In the kitchen, the dark mass of granite, with its silver and blue flecks catching the glow from artfully placed spot lights, can make every meal (from snack to banquet) a joy to prepare. A super modern kitchen, with utility islands in open plan, looks frankly stunning when a bit of white marble is thrown into the mix. And don’t forget the colour matching capabilities of granite, which can come in any hue from dark black to light rose. Granite worktops fit all colour plans and decors because they blend: quartz worktops do the same thing because they add that perfect gleam of white, which goes with everything.

In both cases and both rooms, we all know there is something extra special about a polished stone surface. Do yourself and your house the favour you both deserve – get with the decade of good taste.

Built-in Appliances Can Upgrade Old Kitchen

It's easier than you think to have a real dream kitchen using materials and equipment currently available. Research Indicates that about 23 million American homemakers are wasting time, energy and a lot of good humor working in outdated, inadequate kitchens, most of them more than 20 years old.

If you're planning to remodel your kitchen this year, you'll want your new kitchen to include these general working areas: a food preparation and storage center cooking center, clean-up center laundry, sewing center, family dining area, and homemaker's planning center. And each will have its own storage. The overall appearance of your kitchen should be warm and inviting. New colored appliances can set the keynote for your favorite type of decor - either sophisticated modern or quaint Early American.

Here are some great ideas:

New pastel colored appliances can be used with a variety of color plans. However, if you still.prefer white appliances, you can add color to your kitchen in other ways!

The heart of your cooking center is your range. Choose the finest you can afford, and it will repay you with time saving and efficiency.

A modern exhaust hood above the range plays a functional role helping to keep the rest of your kitchen clean.

The wall behind your range should be of some wall material that-is easy to wipe clean.

Small utensils and condiments can be stored beside the range in handy shallow cabinets.

Base cabinets in the cooking center should be planned for condiment storage—a drawer file for saucepan lids; a heavy wooden pull-out shelf that doubles as a chopping block; a place to set hot casseroles and roasts; a knife drawer, and pull-out racks for trays; cookie sheets, broiler pans and other utensils.

Mixer and blender should be in the center for food preparation and storage. Roll-out shelves could store toaster and coffee maker, and other special roll-out drawers, bins and racks can hold dry foods canned goods and bottles.

The sink cabinet is the place for a convenient wastebasket and a pull-out rack for drying towels Your automatic dishwasher can be built-in under- the counter, and your sink should be equipped with a food waste disposer.

There should be ample food capacity for even a large family in your food freezer and refrigerator

Automatic washer, dryer, and clothes hamper make a compact center of your laundry area. Roll-out shelves in a base cabinet provide handy storage for the iron and laundry supplies.

The dining area could double as a planning and sewing center. Your planning desk could contain a radio, telephone, address book, stationery drawer, and a shelf for cook books.

A special file drawer could keep sewing patterns, and a swing-out lamp can be used with both the desk and sewing machine.

Handy Space Makers Help Give Extra Convenience To Kitchen

Extra space in the kitchen is always welcomed by the housewife with the usual small kitchen. Here are a few decorating hints that will add inches to your room and increase its efficiency. First of. all, a U-shaped work center is ideal for a room {hat has limited wall space. You'll still have plenty of cabinet .and working surface, but by shaping the work center into a "U" there will be added wall space that can be utilized for closets or extra 'shelves. Besides, the U-shaped work center, gives the kitchen a modern, "good-idea" look.

Another space - saver is a table that swings in and out from a cabinet. Just pull it out when you need it, or slide it back when that extra work area is desired. A cupboard that revolves can be another handy improvement for that kitchen with limited space. Just spin the shelves around and everything is at your, finger tips.

A handy work-saver is to use linoleum for the tops of the cabinets and sink unit. It's smooth and easy to clean. A damp cloth is all that's need to wipe off dust or spilled liquids. Linoleum also can be used effectively on closet shelves. It's long wearing, always bright, and so smooth that dust can be wiped off in a jiffy.

Ideas like these are easy to carry put. The kitchen, that seemed to lace space and efficiency can be transformed overnight to a unit where working is a pleasure.

A Copper Range Hood to Complement and Complete the Kitchen

A copper range hood is a useful addition to any kitchen. Range hoods are designed to trap airborne grease, heat, smoke, and other byproducts of cooking. In a ductless "re-circulating" application, the trapped air passes through a charcoal-activated filter to remove smoke particles. Once clean, it is released into the air by the range hood's fan.

In another type of application - the ducted "vented" application - the air is fanned through a duct system that ends outside the home. Most homeowners prefer the ducted application, because the ductless application merely re-circulates heat and moisture in the kitchen.

Why copper, though? Copper seems so antiquated in an era that prefers stainless steel kitchen furnishings. The truth is that copper, as an accent, goes quite well with a stainless steel kitchen. It gives off a similar look to oil-rubbed bronze. The trick is to avoid overusing the copper appliances. Mixing copper with other materials such as slate, granite, or brushed nickel gives the kitchen a look that's modern yet classic at the same time.

The great thing about copper is it can take on a different look. Copper can be dark, light, shiny, matte, or somewhere in between all of that. When purchasing a copper range hood, it is always important to consult with the interior decorator and/or architect of the house in order to find the right shade of copper to match what is already in the kitchen. If the house is currently being constructed, it's even more important to coordinate with them in order to ensure that the range hood fits perfectly with the plans.

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