6 Tips to Make your Renovation Easier to Live With -

This is the time of year when we are preparing…preparing for the Christmas feast, preparing for Hanukah, preparing for visiting with lots of family and friends and preparing great meals in our kitchen! I have to tell you that I just love this time of year.

Lately, I have been thinking about another kind of preparation too, the kind of preparation that is needed when you are renovating your kitchen. It is a very large job and I wanted to help you to make it easier. We have helped hundreds of people renovate their kitchens over the last 25 years and found a number of helpful strategies to make the renovation go smoothly. So, here are my best tips for preparing for a renovation, specifically a kitchen renovation, to make your life a LOT easier!

1 – Find the Right Contractor

First, obviously, find yourself a good kitchen renovation specialist-you guessed it, I would recommend us, Elite Kitchens and Bathrooms!!! I guess that’s not a big surprise, but we do pride ourselves on being very detail oriented, reliable, timely and qualified. Our kitchen designers are among the best in the industry and all our products are constructed right on the premises. This makes a difference for if you need a cabinet redesigned quickly-no waiting to have the product shipped from overseas. Also, we employ people right here in your neighbourhood-it’s nice to have a “Made in Canada” kitchen!

Aside from promoting ourselves, I did want to give you some tips that we have learned will make your renovation go A LOT smoother.

2 – Plan for How Long the Kitchen Renovation will Take.

Second – remember that this is going to take some time. Typically, a kitchen renovation takes between four and six weeks. During that time, you will have to live in the construction zone. We have heard far too many stories of people who have been promised a quick turnaround for their kitchen renovation, but it takes so much longer in the end. We stick to our time lines. We are able to handle all the subcontractors ourselves so that you won’t be waiting for the plumber to finish and find out he went on a holiday to Hawaii for two weeks! We are a one-stop kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, den, and so on, renovation specialist. We can help take the pressure and worries off of you, so you can make it through this renovation quickly, easily and enjoy your new kitchen.

3 – Tips for Living in a Renovation Zone.

Pack stuff away before renovating your kitchen

Third – since this is going to take a while, we suggest you pack your kitchen supplies as if you are moving. Go get some boxes and put away the dishes, pots, etc. that you can live without for a few weeks and stack them in the garage. Keep out only those items you will need, such as a few plates, cups, glasses, cutlery. If you leave your kitchen supplies unpacked in your dining room, they will all need to be rewashed as they likely will be covered in construction dust, not just before you reload your kitchen, but every time you want to use them!

This would be a great time to declutter too! Before packing your stuff into boxes, really consider if you need three whisks, or if that platter that has been hiding in the top cupboard is really being used enough to warrant keeping it. We suggest you keep the boxes of your kitchen supplies in the garage, but any out-of-the-way location is great. There will be a number of construction workers and installers coming into your house and this keeps the clutter to a minimum so there will be less possibility of anything getting in the way and broken.

4- Know when to get your new appliances delivered when doing a kitchen renovation.

Fourth – order your appliances to be delivered after the kitchen is completed. If your kitchen is not fully installed when the appliances arrive, you will have to store the appliances somewhere else, like the garage. If they arrive a month before the kitchen is completed, the first month of warranty for your new appliances is wasted as they are not being used. Plus, the appliances will have to be moved again with the possibility of damaging the floors and you would need to find some big strong willing people to move them a second time. It just makes it easier if the appliances are delivered into place and plugged in by the delivery person to detect any issues right at the start.

5 – Know what to do with your existing appliances during your kitchen renovation.

Fourth-move your existing appliances out of the kitchen during the renovation. You might consider setting up your dining room as a makeshift kitchen for the month or so that you will be living without a kitchen. Oftentimes, you can make ahead meals and heat them using only a cooktop or microwave or convection oven, removing the need for your oven. This saves money, by not eating out or ordering in, and makes meals easier during the renovation. Of course, my favourite tip is to invite yourself to a friends’ house for dinner during renovation because that also saves money and time!!!

6- Deep clean before moving back into your kitchen.

Finally, consider adding into your renovation budget a housecleaning before you move in to your new kitchen. During construction, there will be dust and that dust can get everywhere. We pride ourselves on taking the time and effort to clean out your cabinets during installation, but the dust drifts beyond the cabinets. A deep clean of window sills, tracks, floors, and all areas near the renovation, is something worth doing. If you are looking for a recommendation, let us know-we have a great connection!!!

We are so grateful to all our valued and loyal customers for choosing us for the past 25 years and we look forward to continuing to serve you with the same dedication and attention to detail in the future!

Make it Easy – Elite Offers Financing!

We also wanted to remind everyone that we have easy financing available now-please check out our website for details. Or, if you are in the neighbourhood, please drop by for a coffee and we can tell you all about it in person!

Check out Our Upcoming Events!

We would like to invite you to come and see us at our booth at the Fraser Valley Home and Garden Expo at the Tradex in Abbotsford on February 12, 13 and 14, 2016. Please drop by and say hello-we would love to see you!