A kitchen or bath remodel is a home project that usually provides a strong return on investment.
While ROI is a nice benefit of home remodeling, it’s not necessarily unexpected. Decreased maintenance costs and creating a more appealing space for buyers down the line are benefits most homeowners assume their remodeling projects will bring. However, studies show that there are also many unexpected benefits of a home remodeling project.
One-third of homeowners who completed a kitchen remodel reported leading a healthier lifestyle, from preparing more meals at home to eating out less to eating more fruits and vegetables. It makes sense because when you enjoy a space, you want to spend time in it. Why run out for fast food when you have the oven of your dreams waiting for you to whip up a masterpiece?
With a kitchen remodel, since you’re preparing more meals at home, you’re also sitting down as a family more often to enjoy them. Numerous studies show that family meals are one of the most important things you can do for your health and well-being. It goes far beyond just making healthier eating choices. Children who eat regular family dinners tend to do better in school, have higher self-esteem, and have a decreased risk of depression, substance abuse, and teen pregnancy.
Rest time is also crucial for a healthy lifestyle but finding the availability or budget for a well-deserved trip to the spa isn’t in the cards for many busy homeowners. A bathroom remodel can give you the opportunity to create the spa-like retreat you crave in the comfort of your own home. From jetted tubs and rainfall showerheads to built-in music systems, you can use a home remodel project to transform your bathroom into the perfect spot for a much-needed respite.
40 percent of homeowners who completed a kitchen remodel reported spending more time entertaining. Research from across the globe finds that there is a powerful link between friends and health. strong social ties can also promote brain health as we age. So, gather your besties around that new kitchen island for a game night and apps!
Kitchen remodeling happens for many reasons, such as fitting necessary lifestyle and safety accommodations or increasing the resale value of your home. However, a key takeaway from this is that while a healthy bottom line is an essential consideration for any home remodeling project, a thriving and happier lifestyle might be a priceless upgrade!
Need someone to help guide you along the way? Call Jackson Stoneworks now at (352)372-6600
Selecting the right type of kitchen countertops is one of the most significant aspects of bathroom and kitchen designs. It is a major investment that should last for a lifetime. Not only that but also both your lifestyle and sense of style will determine the right one for your house.
You should ask yourself a few questions before purchasing the countertops. Do you cook a lot of meals in the kitchen? Do you bake often or is it just occasional? Is your existing countertop slightly damaged?
These questions will help you to decide which one to buy for your kitchen. However, we have compiled a list of popular kitchen countertops which you may consider for your family.
Granite are slabs of stone that the experts cut from the Earth. It is one of the most popular countertops among house owners. Granite kitchen countertops can be found in the market in various shades including shiny finish, polished, matte finish, honed and a specialty finish.
Whether you have a large family to feed or want a durable material that lasts for decades- quartz is the best option so far. You may not know but quartz is not made of 100 percent quartz.
The experts make the stone from natural quartz with a combination of a resin binder. There is no need to re-seal the stone again and it is non-porous and incredibly hard.
Marble has been popular for decades for its natural beauty, shininess and durability. The marble kitchen countertops can provide a clean and contemporary feel in the kitchen. You cannot compare anything with a white marble finish. Remember marble countertops can be found in other colors such as brown, taupe, gray etc.
Choosing the marble is the most practical decision because it is softer than other natural stones. Keep in mind that you should not cut the marble directly. Otherwise, it will scratch. If your budget is tight but you want to enhance the aesthetic beauty, then go for marble kitchen countertops.
Kitchen cabinets in the very darkest of blues can look highly contemporary or beautifully traditional. But the drama of these dark tones can make the choice of countertop tricky — and the material you choose will dictate the look of your kitchen. Here’s our guide to what works best.
Black countertops will ramp up an inky color scheme. Matched with dark blue cabinetry (here, painted in Hale Navy from Benjamin Moore), countertops in black granite, quartz and other materials can work well. If you want your room to feel lighter, mix it up with a surface in another material. Wood will add warmth and texture.
If you like a kitchen packed with personality, you’re going to need to bring in some texture and pattern. One way to do this is with wooden floors. Another is by using decorative backsplash tiles like these ones. For the countertops? Choose a marble-look design that can fit right in with other decorative elements.
The downside of dark kitchens, particularly those with a wall of cabinets, is that they can look a little forbidding. So why not increase the warm appeal of your space by contrasting the cool tones of the cabinetry with the warm, grainy textures of wood? The more honey-toned the wood, the better. If it’s too light or too dark, the inviting effect will be lost.
Want your kitchen to feel smart, clean and streamlined? You can’t beat a white countertop. It’s a perfect choice for reflecting lots of light in a small or dark room. It’s also a good pick for enhancing the feeling of space in rooms with low ceilings.
The gray quartz countertop in this kitchen connects the blue cabinetry (painted in Himalayan Eyes, standard sheen, by Valspar) with the light-colored backsplash and helps create an elegant, subdued feel. It also blends in well with the kitchen’s stainless steel appliances.
The kitchen island or peninsula is often the home’s hub, where family and friends gather to help with the cooking (or just the eating). This central position makes it an important design feature and a great place to add personality to your kitchen. Re-dressing the island can provide a dramatic face-lift on any budget. Here is a few of my favorite ideas you can use to give the heart of the house a little love.
Color
Looking to expand your palette but hesitant to make a big splash? Repainting just the island (or even only one side) adds a dash of drama without the effect of visually shrinking the space that can come from dark or vivid cabinetry. Pair the island with contrasting bar stools for even more life.
Wood
Another way to lighten an island visually is to simply match its faces to the flooring material so the two blend together. Letting wood or laminate wrap around the island is unexpected but warm and inviting without being heavy.
If you have leftover flooring after a renovation (most often there would be enough for at least one face of the island), consider using it to wrap an island.
Wainscoting
To soften a chunky island, consider classic wainscoting. It suits cottage-inspired traditional kitchens well, but as you can see here, it also works beautifully in transitional or contemporary kitchens by adding texture with a simple geometric sensibility.
Furniture Styling
Giving an island furniture-like details makes it feel even more like its own little hub of activity separate from the functional cabinets around it. Even an existing island can get an upgrade by putting legs or feet on the exterior.
Where kitchen space is at a premium, could a single-wall layout be your solution? Single-wall kitchens have the smallest possible footprint and, as the name suggests, incorporate all furniture and appliances in a single line. Fewer cabinets mean this kitchen layout should cost you less than others. And with a well-planned design — and in small rather than large kitchens, where work zones could become too spread out — fewer cabinets also make for an efficient workflow, with everything within easy reach. Here’s how to make a single-wall kitchen work for you.
While its small footprint may at first seem to be a drawback, the single-wall kitchen encroaches less on an adjoining living area compared with other layouts, freeing up more space for you outside the kitchen. The layout in the picture, typical for a single-wall kitchen, complements contemporary open-plan living.
The single-wall kitchen is generally designed so only one person can cook at a time — a limitation that makes the kitchen safe yet still convenient for others to access. It’s important to keep this aspect in mind to ensure a design that accommodates the users’ needs and lifestyle.
With any kitchen, careful planning is important, but it’s even more so when space is limited, as it is in this layout. Typically (but not always), a single-wall kitchen includes a fridge on the far end of the kitchen run. This would have the sink next to it, with counter space on either side, and your dishwasher and storage beneath. The oven and cooktop are usually located on the far side of this. Again, there should be counter space on either side of the range to allow you to safely place food after cooking. More storage space would be provided beneath.
Alternatively, as long as they don’t block the light source, you could have tall cabinets bookending the kitchen. This would usually include an oven in tall housing on one side and a fridge-freezer on the other.
Above the lower cabinets, there’s usually a run of upper cabinets, sometimes with a tall cabinet at one or both ends. Your exhaust fan and housing (if applicable) are also located in this run. The cabinetry may stretch the full length of the wall.
Depending on the available space, another option is to introduce a run of bridging cabinets along the top of your upper cabinets. These usually have tall cabinets on either side. Apart from extra storage, this creates a sunken effect for the upper cabinets through subtle changes in depth. The upper cabinets are about 14 inches deep, and the top cabinets are about 26 inches deep. The overall feel of this is a framed kitchen look, or a feature wall effect.
With this arrangement, it’s best to store items used less often in the top cabinets and to invest in a foldaway footstool for access. You can also match your kitchen cupboard and wall colors for a seamless look to your kitchen and dining or living space.
sponsor by Houzz Contributor
When remodeling a kitchen, it’s helpful to know which choices are popular among other homeowners, even if you end up diverging from the crowd. A look at the just-released 2023 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study offers a good jumping-off point for making those decisions. Here you’ll find useful details on homeowner preferences for the scope and size of a kitchen, its look and feel, and common products and features.
When it comes to major kitchen remodeling changes, transforming the layout tops the list for homeowners (45%), followed by upgrading systems (41%) and modifying walls (36%).
Meanwhile, many kitchens are getting larger. More than a quarter of homeowners (27%) make their kitchen somewhat larger as part of a remodel. And 6% of homeowners end up with a significantly larger kitchen, increasing the size by more than 50%.
A slight majority of kitchens (51%) are 200 square feet or more. More than a third (35%) are between 100 and 199 square feet, and about 1 in 7 (14%) are less than 100 square feet.
Speaking of open spaces, many homeowners once again are seeking kitchens that are open to interior spaces (40%, up from 38% in 2022) and open to outdoor spaces (20%, up from 18% in 2022).
Designing a kitchen without a wall separating it from other interior spaces remains the most popular choice (61%), though the option decreased in popularity by 4 percentage points year over year.
When opening a kitchen to outdoor spaces, homeowners most often go with double doors or a row of doors (46%).
Changes to kitchen layouts are common too. Nearly half of homeowners (45%) redo their kitchen layout. L-shaped (40%) and U-shaped (31%) kitchens are the most popular styles. Fewer homeowners select a galley layout (11%) or single-wall setup (8%).
The majority of remodeling homeowners (55%) either add an island or upgrade an existing one. More than a third (37%) have no island and a relatively small portion of homeowners (8%) keep their island as is.
When it comes to upgraded islands, the most popular storage options are drawers (79%) and cabinets with doors (79%). Less popular are open shelves (14%), though that share rose 3 percentage points year over year. Only 1% of homeowners choose no storage for their upgraded island.
As for size and shape, the vast majority of homeowners create an island that’s 6 feet or longer (74%) and in a rectangular or square shape (82%).
Technically, any island can be used for dining as long as it has seats and an overhang that allows those seats to tuck in for comfort. A 6-inch minimum overhang is sufficient for dining, although 9 to 12 inches will be more generous, especially for legroom.
Using seats that look and feel more like chairs will give the island more of a “dining room” vibe, and seating with backs will be more comfortable for longer meals.
Keep in mind that comfortable dining also requires a little elbow room. The fact that your island technically can fit a certain number of seats doesn’t mean that that many people can sit comfortably without knocking into each other. The typical shoulder width of a person is 24 inches, but try to give each seat closer to 30 inches if you can.
For example, a 60-inch (or 5-foot) island could fit three 18-inch-wide stools if they’re pushed together, but it would be better to use just two seats so that each person has 30 inches.
The island style shown here features a typical built-in island with storage in the base but with a deeply extended top to create a large surface with lots of room for seats.
Notice how the end of the island in the foreground has room for seats on three sides. (Only two sides are in use for this photo, but a chair could easily be pulled around to the other side, near the fridge.) This can allow a small group of people to sit facing each other and chat easily, rather than sitting all in a row, which is a nice option to have.
Extra-Extended Islands
In a long, narrow kitchen, sometimes the island can only extend in one direction, parallel to the cabinets. In this case, rather than widening the island to allow for stools around the edges, the island can be extended a long way in one direction (50 to 80 inches), creating a dining-table-length extension adjacent to the main work surface. In other words, the island top is very long, but the base with storage only extends halfway and the other half is left open for seats.
This solution gives lots of extra prep space for convenient day-to-day cooking, and when needed, the dining half can be cleared for a proper sit-down meal.
You can create a similar effect by pushing a table up against an existing island. The pairing will look best if the table and island are the same width so they meet neatly. Again, the advantage here is that now the table can easily be used for both dining and food prep, so it does double duty.
Consider using a different material for the tabletop so the contrast looks intentional. Warm wood will add a welcoming air and coordinate easily with a stone countertop.
Also, notice here how the chair fabric ties back to the cabinet color, which gives the eclectic mix of materials a bit of continuity.
This kitchen takes a more unusual approach, but the result is very cool. A custom dining-height table wraps around an L-shaped island, making the two pieces look architecturally integrated. Having a custom piece made will ensure it’s the exact length, width and shape that suits your kitchen, so it’s a great option if your budget allows
Note: Adding an island extension at a lower level makes the surface a little less convenient as extra counter space but more comfortable as a dining table, a trade-off that ultimately comes down to personal preference.
The previous concept works well for a long, narrow kitchen, but what about a more square or open concept? An island with a “bubble” or “node” on it, such as this one, creates a dining space that allows guests to face each other, and also face the chef, so everyone feels included in the conversation.
This setup takes less floor area than having a separate circular table off to the side, so it’s a great compromise between counter space and open circulation space.
Use a 36- to 48-inch diameter for the semicircle to seat two to four people.
Perpendicular Extensions
This kitchen places a picnic-style dining area right against the back of an island, creating a layout similar to the previous “bubble island.” This works if you have a lot more space next to the kitchen than in the kitchen itself and almost cheats the kitchen out into the rest of the room to make it look and feel a bit bigger.
Furniture Islands
If you have a smaller space, are on a lower budget or prefer a breezier look, you can skip the traditional island altogether and use a dining table in its place as a multifunctional piece.
Obviously, a slim table is not as usable for a prep counter as a wide, deep island, but it can be serviceable as an extra space to do a little chopping, mix up a drink or set out some baked goods to cool, which sometimes is all you really need.
In every kitchen, there is the potential for great storage, display, and functionality. The sad fact is all kitchens don’t have enough of any of these. A kitchen island solves these problems and looks beautiful doing it. From mobile islands to seating area kitchen islands, the amenity of having one or two in your kitchen is an added bonus. If you are fortunate to design or choose a home with a kitchen island you’re in for a treat. For those that are on the fence as to whether to have one, continue reading our featured kitchen article of the week.
If your kitchen is lacking storage areas, a kitchen island may solve your problem. With the option of additional drawers, pull-out shelves, and cabinets, the island is an extension of your existing casework. Ever thought you didn’t have enough room for recycling bins? A kitchen island makes a great accessible space because it doesn’t interfere with the main preparation area of the rest of the kitchen.
Whether it is homework time or they pitch in to help make dinner, a kitchen island is a great place for kids to feel part of the action and be in close-eye view. Another option for kitchen islands is to place kid’s height amenities like a microwave and refrigerated drawer in reach. For after-school snacks and Saturday morning early breakfasts, amenities that the kids can feel independent using are a good idea for some households.
A kitchen island can act as informal dining area for the kids or it can act as additional seating when entertaining. Having access to your family or guests is always an advantage while cooking and preparing meals. Even if your kitchen is small, a counter extension into the adjacent room can act as an island. Whether your space can seat 2 or 6, it’s always a plus to be able to seat more people.
Need extra counter space and at other times need more floor space? A movable kitchen island offers more room when you and your friends want to cook a huge meal and each person takes a section of the kitchen to prepare. Once your meal is complete, roll your kitchen island out of the way for added space. Movable kitchens are ideal for smaller kitchens that need the best of both worlds.
For larger kitchens, the ability to add preparation sinks, refrigerator drawers, and additional cooking area is a way to make your kitchen more functional and useful. Since larger kitchens have the ability to have plumbing and electrical services run to them the options are limitless. Add a range hood over your stove/grill and now your island becomes the main hub of cooking and entertaining.
Whether you are using your island for utilitarian purposes or you want the island to be the show stopper of the kitchen, there is a countertop surface for you. If cost is a concern, consider plastic laminate or solid surface man-made finishes. For mid-level spending consider higher grades of solid surfaces or stained concrete. At the high end of the cost spectrum are butcher block, granite, and custom exotic wood varieties. Visit our showroom for inspiration or use our online kitchen visualizer tools to get dream kitchen island ideas.
Don’t forget to stop by our Jackson Stoneworks staff today or this coming Saturday to discuss plans on upgrading your kitchen island.
2 Top Countertop Options for Families
Families need countertops that are practical, durable, and low maintenance. The best kitchen countertops for families meet those needs and are still beautiful. They don’t sacrifice looks for durability. Today’s 2 optional countertop materials are among great choices for the family kitchen.
Quartz Countertops
Quartz, also called engineered stone, is perfect for families. It is heat, scratch, and stain resistant, and does not etch. (Some of the lighter-colored quartz countertops may stain, so be sure to research your choices.) It’s easy to maintain and does not require sealing. With care, such as using trivets and cutting boards, it is practically indestructible. Finally, it does not require any special cleaners, just warm soapy water.
Quartz comes in a wide range of costs and usually falls on the higher end of the countertop price spectrum. For many, the combination of low maintenance and durability justifies the price.
Granite Countertops
For those looking for something more natural, a granite kitchen countertop is an answer. Like quartz, granite is very durable and resistant to heat and scratches. For the most part, it is also stain-resistant.
Because granite usually has a speckled appearance, it can be a great choice for families. Sometimes, living with children can feel like living with Charlie Brown’s friend Pigpen. They just seem to generate dirt and crumbs without doing anything. Those speckles in the granite do a great job of hiding all the little crumbs that seem to always be on a counter.
Granite also comes in a pretty wide range of prices. Depending on the grade, granite can be a great economical countertop choice for the kitchen. Check out our stone-yard inventory for more options and information.