The Hub of your Home: The Kitchen Hi All! The start of a New Year always gets people thinking about change and more than likely, at one point or another, people are bound to focus their need for change on their home. Remodeling can be a tricky business if you're not careful about it, but it can also be one of the best ways to increase the value of your home as well as show off your personality. Stephen Jones, with the National Association of Realtors, wrote an article on December 24, 2012, about the Do's and Don'ts of remodeling your kitchen and we thought it was so awesome we just had to share it with you. Keep reading for some tips from his insightful article. renewvations.biz Kitchen Remodeling: The Do's and Don'ts of Improving Resale Value

The Hub of your Home: The Kitchen

Hi All! The start of a New Year always gets people thinking about change and more than likely, at one point or another, people are bound to focus their need for change on their  home. Remodeling can be a tricky business if you're not careful about it, but it can also be one of the best ways to increase the value of your home as well as show off your personality. Stephen Jones, with the National Association of Realtors, wrote an article on December 24, 2012, about the Do's and Don'ts of remodeling your kitchen and we thought it was so awesome we just had to share it with you. Keep reading for some tips from his insightful article.

renewvations.biz

Kitchen Remodeling: The Do's and Don'ts of Improving Resale Value

People generally love a beautiful new kitchen. With state of the art appliances, they feel as though they are master chefs in the comfort of their own homes. However, many people also remodel their kitchens to improve the resale value of their homes. Perhaps they plan to sell in the near future, or they just want to be prepared for down the road. In any case, be sure to follow these do’s and don’ts of kitchen remodeling.

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Don’t Go Crazy with the Refinance!
One idea home owners might have is to refinance their home with a cash-out option and then use that money to rebuild the kitchen. However, this might wind up just letting them break even.Let’s say a home owner purchased his home for $300,000. The cash out of his refinance is $20,000, and he uses that to create an entirely new kitchen. A couple years later, he goes to sell the house. It appraises for $330,000, but people are only making lower offers. He is basically forced to not move or accept a lower offer of say $310,000. This will then leave the home owner short on the house, which is not good at all!

Do Observe Trends
Try to find out what types of kitchens are selling in the area. Do people prefer stainless steel or black for the appliances? Are people looking for eat-in kitchens, or do they prefer ones that have just an island in them? Look at pictures of recently sold homes in your area, or take note of kitchens at open houses to help gauge trends.

Consider Available Space

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Turning a small kitchen into a larger one is sometimes a “do” and sometimes a “don’t.” It’s a “do” if the extra space is within the budget and if it will not take over another part of the house. However, let’s imagine that in order to make your kitchen larger, you need to take out part of the living room or dining room. Home owners need to carefully consider what this could do to the resale value of their home. Will people prefer a huge kitchen with either a tiny or nonexistent dining room, or would they rather have moderately sized spaces for all of these rooms that are generally considered “must haves”?

Clearly, remodeling a kitchen is a huge undertaking that will likely leave home owners without cooking space for awhile. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of all the components that go into such a remodeling, particularly how it may affect resale if they plan to sell their home in the near future.
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Now that you have some ideas about how to plan your next home-improvement job, we wanted to offer you some tips on the fun part of remodeling; the design process!

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Just yesterday, January 7, Melissa Tracey wrote an article in Realtor Magazine that was posted on the National Association of Realtors website. This article by Tracey went so well together with Jones's article that we couldn't mention one without the other. Read on to find out about the top kitchen trends in the coming year!

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8 Kitchen Trends to Watch in 2013

Kitchens are a popular spot that home shoppers judge in a home. So what are the trends in the kitchen for 2013? HomeThangs.com, a home improvement superstore, offers up some of the following kitchen design predictions for the New Year:

1. Modern style: Kitchens are getting more modern in style, boasting simplified lines and offering up big, open spaces perfect for entertaining.

2. Tucked-away appliances: Appliances designed to blend in with the rest of the kitchen, like with the same wood of the cabinets, are becoming more popular. Also, some appliances, like undercounter or mini refrigerators or trash compactors, are being tucked away into a kitchen island.

3. Lots of lights: Great lighting in the kitchen is becoming more important, with lighting being layered with a mixture of task lighting and ambient lighting. Under-cabinet LED lights are becoming more commonplace.

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4. Supersized kitchen islands: “2013 kitchen design trends are moving away from dining rooms and toward eating, drinking, and interacting in the kitchen itself, and a large kitchen island complete with bar stools is the perfect way to make this happen,” according to HomeThangs.com. this helps to create “a nice open-air feeling – especially if one can be used to bridge kitchen and living areas, another major 2013 kitchen design trend.”

5. Neutral color schemes: The use of neutral colors in the kitchen is on the rise, particularly in shades of
grays and greens and a variety of wood tones. Bright colors are being reserved for only small accents in the kitchen.

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6. Fancy appliances: Professional gas ranges and induction cooktops are popular kitchen appliances for making a more gourmet kitchen.

7. Decorative range hoods: Trends are moving away from a conventional stainless steel trapezoid-shaped hood to more decorative range hoods. These hoods may have built-in LED lights and are even serving almost like a decorative chandelier for a kitchen island.

8. Glass backsplashes: High gloss is “in” for cabinets, appliances, and backsplashes. A single-sheet, back-painted glass blacksplash is growing in popularity, which are also known for being easy to clean. These glass backsplashes are also reflective, adding a polished decorative touch to kitchens. Glass mosaic tile sheets are also increasing in popularity.
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So there you have it folks! Some tips and advice for improving the hub of your home in 2013! After all, you spend most of your time in your kitchen and so does your family so shouldn't it be a space that you love? We think so. Best of luck and remember, The Roxburgh Group is here to help with all of your real estate needs!