Kitchens are often referred to as the heart of the home. Central gathering points for families and friends. A beautiful roast on a Sunday, Taco Tuesday during the week or a coffee catchup with close friends, the kitchen does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to bringing together people. And what a joy that can be!
So having a kitchen which reflects your own personal design ethos can be high on the list of priorities for many home owners.
But what if your current kitchen doesn’t quite match your aspirations? How can you create a heart of your home with an update without breaking the bank?
You may have watched a million episodes of Selling Houses Australia, Grand Designs, Dream Home Makeover or perhaps one of the many renovation shows on 9 Life which make transformations look rather simple and quick! But sometimes the reality is somewhat different.
So here are some tips which may help in your renovation journey.
1) Where possible, keep the basic plumbing and electrical layout
If the basic layout of your kitchen remains functional, perhaps consider limiting the updates of your kitchen to the surfaces. The kitchen cupboard doors, countertops, stovetops and beautiful extraction hoods can bring your kitchen up to date without the costly expense of moving plumbing (water and gas) and electrical points.
So if you can avoid moving the main plumbing or electrical positions, you will save both time and money.
2) Consider updating the doors to the cupboards whilst keeping the carcasses
If you are blessed to own a kitchen which has excellent cupboard carcasses (the structures behind the doors), you may wish to consider only updating the kitchen doors.
Likewise, if the doors are still in excellent condition, but the colour is no longer suitable, you may wish to consider resurfacing the door fronts. In this process, it is often helpful to select your cabinetry hardware before resurfacing the doors so that you can assess if you need to change the drill hole width for the handles (and fill the existing holes as part of the resurfacing process).
3) Update the benchtops
There are many options which are now available which can enable you to update your benchtop without re-mortgaging your home.
Laminate has come a long way since its hey day in the 60s when burnt orange and green was all the rage. Whilst we do love the retro vibe of those original laminate kitchens, the new laminates on offer now provide consumers with so many more options. From muted tones to stone like prints, laminate remains very popular and is undeniably very hard wearing - perfect for hectic family life!
Alternatively, if you prefer a stone finish, there are a range of different options. Granite, marble, quartz, caesarstone, essastone, reconstituted stone, q-stone are just some of the options now available. You may wish to replace the whole benchtop, or alternatively consider an overlay to contain costs.
4) Change your kitchen handles and knobs
If you want to give your kitchen an instant lift, one of the easiest updates you can make is to change out the hardware. New knobs and handles can provide an instant touch of luxe to your kitchen.
Often our clients are looking for something that captures your attention and takes your breath away. A talking point, the look of luxury and sophistication.
So what does luxe look like when it comes to handles and knobs?
One of our most popular styles in our Bayside Luxe Cabinetry Handle and Knob ranges is the solid brass handle with a diamond cut knurling feature.
The knurling design may be linear, as seen in our Toorak Range or cross knurled as seen in our Hampton's, Scarborough, Sorrento and Brighton Ranges.
These knurled handles also have the beautiful heavy weight of a solid brass handle - so decadent and magical, and come in an array of colourways including traditional brushed satin brass, antique brass, white, black, nickel, gunmetal and so many more.
When choosing your handle, you may wish to consider the finishes of your other appliances in the kitchen. Knobs on the stove, light fixtures, taps and other hardware may lead you to choose a particular finish for your new handles.
Recently, we have seen a rise in the trend of 'mixed metals' in kitchens and bathrooms. Carefully and consciously chosen mixed metals can be a beautiful feature - particularly if the same metal choices are grouped together - e.g. Black brass handles on the lower black cabinetry and a satin brass on the upper cabinets to match the light fixtures.
Alternatively, if you are seeking to add some more warmth into your kitchen, you may choose a handle made with natural materials such as leather, wood or marble.
You may also wish to carefully select the size of your handles. In modern luxe kitchens, we are seeing a strong movement towards larger horizontal cabinetry handles for lower kitchen drawers and cupboards, and a growing trend towards the allocation of t bar handles for the upper cabinetry. In the more traditional kitchens, the cup pull (such as our Ascot Solid Brass Pull) and the semi circular pull (such as our Point Piper pull) is trending. Our Albert Park Brass Handle is also very popular for the modern take on the traditional shaker style cabinetry.
There are some standards when it comes to hole spacing for handles, which can be very helpful if you are seeking to retrofit new handles into an existing space. The hole spacing standard spacing ranges from 96mm, 128mm, 160mm, 192mm, 224mm, 256mm, 320mm to 416mm and beyond. This means that if you have existing cupboards, or cabinetry manufactured from a large supplier such as Ikea or Bunnings, you will likely find a Bayside Luxe handle to fit the existing hole spaces without need to make alterations! Now that makes upgrading your kitchen super easy!
So, no matter what your budget or your experience in home renovations, there is a option for you to bring a touch of 'Bayside' luxe to your kitchen.
For further inspiration, browse our handles range here: https://baysideluxe.com/collections/cabinetry-handles-pulls
We look forward to hearing about how you were able to create a touch of luxe in your home!
Take care, and happy renovating, from the Bayside Luxe team.