Checklist: Is It Time For Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling?

An Easy Way To Tell & Reinforce Your Gut Feelings About The Issue Impacting Your Home

Are you wondering if your kitchen and/or bathroom are in dire need of some serious TLC by a certified, well-vetted, and well-known interior remodeler?

The following signs should help you answer the question and in the process also answer some of the common questions folks in your position tend to have.

Enjoy!

Most Common Signs Your Kitchen is Due for Remodeling

The following list isn’t all-inclusive by any means. A brief search online will bring up results with near endless signs it’s time to talk with a professional. Our goal is to summarize them in a helpful way.

✓ There’s Just Not Enough Kitchen Anymore

• Lack of Storage Space
• Lack of Kitchen Space

You and your lifestyle have outgrown the kitchen. And you can tell pretty easily because you’re always struggling to find any open storage space.

When you get home from the supermarket you’re constantly stuffing cans and new groceries into whatever cabinet they’ll fit in. Oh, and the Everything Drawer has been overflowing for a while. In fact, it’s got to the point where ‘kitchen’ stuff is being stored outside the kitchen in closets, in the attic, garage, outdoor shed, the dog house, etc.

This typically involves a general lack of space.

Your counters just aren’t big enough anymore –  because they’re being used partly as storage space, and when you’re cooking or entertaining it feels crowded and cramped.

✓ The Outdated Cookie-Cutter Layout Doesn’t Work

• Outdated Cabinetry
• Island Issues – Improper Flow
• Poor Spacing & Lighting

When you first got into the home, you felt the kitchen seemed fine and it served its purpose with distinction. However, in line with the first check in our checklist, you’ve outgrown the layout and it’s now a huge stumbling block.

The layout wasn’t designed for you, but as part of basic layouts for many homes in your area. Or, perhaps it’s custom, but designed by the previous owners who lived a completely different kind of life in the space.

Either way, you feel in your gut it’s time for a new layout that’s more functional and better utilizes busy area potential.

✓ The Kitchen’s Design Doesn’t Match You At All

• Washed Out, Too Neutral or Outdated Design
• Dragging Home Value Down

Even if the kitchen has a perfect layout and is quite spacious, the design doesn’t match you and your family and the people you entertain…at all. Deep down in your gut, you feel it every time you’re in there.

For some, it can get to the point where the kitchen area becomes an embarrassment. Company is kept out, the eating area is moved further away (or just taken to the living room altogether), and it’s definitely not the heart of the house.

Should selling the home in the near future be a part of the reason you’re considering the remodel, this will need to be remedied. Most prospective homebuyers will notice an unmistakable out-of-the-way nature to a kitchen. .

✓ The Area is Increasingly Difficult To Keep Clean

• Even After Cleaning, It’s Not Clean
• Deterioration – Muck, Dirt, Grime Buildup Too Quickly

Have you reached this point where the kitchen just never really feels clean?

How many spots are there that you simply can’t clean properly because you can’t get to them thanks to all the clutter?

Some of it could be due to it being old and outdated (like stained and old flooring), sure, but you might just be dealing with a high-maintenance kitchen thanks to Father Time. It happens to every kitchen that’s gone without a real facelift in a decade or more, or been through multiple less-than-clean owners previous to you taking over the space.

Most Common Signs Your Bathroom Is Overdue

With all that said, let’s move to the second part of this kitchen and bathroom remodeling article. When it comes to the bathroom, many of the signs are similar on the surface but for a completely different context.

✓ Your Needs in the Bathroom Are Evolving

• Aging Homes & Maturing Homeowners Have Different Needs
• Luxuries Are Quickly Transforming Into Necessities

The space might be big enough, sure, and there may be plenty of storage space…but the bathroom simply doesn’t fit the bill anymore. We often come across this when we remodel outdated bathrooms into Easy Access Bathrooms.

Many homeowners used to perceive these following bathroom features as luxuries, but now they’re increasingly needed. And it’s not just elderly-owned homes, but increasingly your average family home as multi-generational living situations become more and more the norm (again).

• Accessible ADA bathtubs
• Accessible (handicap/wheelchair-accessible) walk-in showers. These are very popular among all age groups and not as expensive as they once were.
• Grab Bars in certain areas like by the toilet, in the shower, etc.
• Non-Slip Surfaces (as much for children as the elderly)
• Higher toilet heights -ADA 17”
• Wider Doorways
• Raised or Lowered Vanities

Don’t worry, we aren’t going to leave the wetworks out. The only reason we didn’t harp on them in the kitchen section where they’re critical as well, is because we didn’t want this to get repetitive.

✓ The Plumbing Issues Have Grown Out of Control

• Faucets, Bathtub/Shower, and Toilet Issues
• Impacting Flooring & Structural Components

Should it be happening in your bathroom today, there’s little that needs to be said in this section. Leaky plumbing can be a nightmare and over time cause substantial damage to any bathroom, taking a big chunk of the home’s value with it until rectified.

A sizable portion of folks at this juncture choose to proverbially kill two birds with one stone – have the plumbing issues addressed within the framework of a bathroom remodel.

What that framework looks like for you depends on who you’re working with. We’re Jericho Home Improvement, and we serve homeowners in the Kansas City area.

To act as an example, five of the core pillars of the full-service bathroom remodels we install are as follows:

• Bathroom Plumbing in Any Style & Finish
• New Flooring – Ceramic, Porcelain, & Natural Stone Tile Options
• Custom Bathtubs & Showers
• Custom Tub-to-Shower Conversions
• Custom Vanities & Cabinetry

The other elements of a bathroom makeover we’ll leave for the next section which delves into the more subtle aspects of design.

✓ The Bathroom’s Design Is Vapid Or Outdated

• Completely White & Lifeless – Industrial
• Not Aligned With the Rest of the Home

Whereas kitchens will most often be a focal design point of a home, bathrooms can be left to the wind – either cheap & drab, completely white and lifeless, or outdated beyond reason.

They can also become small little bubbles unto themselves with completely different-colored cabinetry and aesthetic details (color), different flooring, different styles of fixtures and lighting, etc.

How many times have you visited someone and upon entering their bathroom felt like you were in a different home?

This is why our expertise is so locally sought after, because we’re experienced in both these areas – kitchen and bathroom remodeling. We know how to tie them together, and along with all the custom work we mention above, there’s really nothing we can’t do.

These are popular ‘update my bathroom please!’ features we install quite often.

• Granite, Solid Surface, and Marble Vanity Tops
• Heated Floors
• Steam Rooms
• Imperial Stone Shower Systems
• Massaging Jetted Tubs

What about lighting? Oh yes, that too, but we wanted to save the illuminating language for the next and last section of this article.

✓ The Bathroom Lighting Design is Non-Existent

• Dark & Dingy – Lacking Natural Light
• Really No ‘Lighting Personality’ or Expression

Are you a homeowner who feels lighting is a low priority, or high? From delightful and conservative, to bright and elaborate, lighting in our opinion is paramount in all aspects of kitchen and bathroom remodeling.

We’ll start from the ceiling and the core lighting, then work our way down – vanity lighting, lighted mirrors, even under-cabinet strip lighting. There’s really no end to what can be done once you know what you need to do, and what kind of lighting your family needs.

In Closing: Don’t Fear The Next Step

We hope these signs have helped you decide whether it’s time to invest in professional kitchen and bathroom remodeling, or not. If the answer is yes and you happen to live in the Kansas City area – call Jericho Home Improvement. You can also use our Contact Us form to schedule a free consultation with one of our specialists who can provide a line-by-line transparent quote at no extra charge.