For years I had been promised a new kitchen and had all but given up hope of getting it. The old kitchen was old with brown coloured cupboards that I had painted white. Mice were frequent visitors, although there seemed to be no way they could get in. Spiders were often hunted down and cockroaches had started appearing out of nowhere. The cupboard tops were always in need of cleaning and everything was just inconvenient for my age.

One day a man came to measure up for the new kitchen. Hooray, I thought, as he wrote down his figures and discussed colour schemes, and so on. he gave me a time of about six weeks for the job to start. As that time came and went I had actually forgotten about it.

Some months later a doctor treated my extremely painful foot with an injection of the cells he had taken from my own blood (stem-cells). He was attempting to stop the pain and sent me home with strict instructions to rest the foot for a good 24 hours or so for the treatment to work properly.

Barely had I stumbled into the house and sat down when the phone rang. It was the guy to do the kitchen. It was Wednesday and he informed me they were coming on the following Friday to start work. What! I begged for more time, knowing that the entire kitchen had to be packed up.

He said they could not wait because they already had the kitchen on the truck and on its way down from Sydney and they would have no-where to store it. It had to be started on Friday.

From that moment on and for the next day and a half I rushed around on my foot packing things into boxes, loading furniture and other things into the spare bedroom, and finally emptying the fridge and loading its contents into an esky. By Friday I was almost a cot case when they arrived right on time at 7.30 a.m.

They started by hauling out the cupboards and sink. It was then that the big shock came. Behind the cupboards there was no wall. A large gaping hole went straight into what would have been the wall cavity and of course here is where the vermin were entering the house.

The large pantry that had been installed a few earlier was to be kept and moved to the other side of the dining room where it could be utilised as a sewing cupboard. The men hauled it into position but it wasn’t fixed. Later that night as I walked past it down it came right on top of me. Pinned between the cupboard and boxes of stuff from the kitchen I was trapped.

Slowly I managed to grab a chair and pull myself out but then another dilemma. Everything was locked up including the side gates and front gate. The keys were on the other side and so was the phone. Still trapped by my circumstances I gingerly had to crawl over the heavy pantry cupboard to get to the other side.

Finally, all was done and I look at the new kitchen. No more vermin come in, all the holes in the wall were covered or repaired, and the new cupboards reach to the ceiling so their tops never need cleaning. The beautiful new kitchen is a pleasure to work in and the extra room it has given me is marvellous.

Despite the pain and the cupboard falling on me the effort was well worth it. A new dishwasher and micro-wave were also installed and it is so good now it made a new woman of me.

Your kitchen must be a place where all your cooking is done. Apart from cooking, important activities like storage, washing, etc. are also done in the kitchen. All these activities simply increase the importance of a kitchen. Here we will give you some ideas on how to improve your kitchen and make it a very beautiful place. It must be a place where you feel welcomed and also get a homely feeling. This can be done by adopting all these ideas in an organized manner. There are many ideas that can come in your mind once you think about renovating your kitchen.

Kitchen ideas and tips

Below are a few tips that must essentially be adopted.

Lighting

The lighting in your kitchen must be as appropriate as possible. It must match with your walls and must make your kitchen look welcoming. Lighting can influence the appearance of any room to a very great extent. This is because without proper lighting, you will not be able to cook also. Thus always make sure that you take this matter into consideration. It will help you a lot in the long run.

Cabinets

In your kitchen, the cabinets are also extremely important. Here you will be storing all your important items that are related to your kitchen activities. The important factors that are concerned with cabinets are the storage space and the opening and closing of the cabinet doors. The storage space must be adequate in order to store everything in a safe as well as comfortable manner.

Space for utensils

There must also be an area in your kitchen where you store all utensils that are utilized on a daily basis. This will make it extremely easy for you to locate them from time to time. There is no need to store these utensils in a cabinet as it will make things difficult for you.

Take advice

Visit close friends and relatives houses in order to gather more information on how to design your kitchen. This will give you a first- hand information and knowledge before you actually renovate your kitchen. As it is a very important process, you must make sure that everything is done in a very organized manner. Advice cannot help you much if you do not practice them in reality. Always make sure that you adopt these advices in the most suitable manner. It is one of the important things to remember.

Interior design of kitchens is a widely discussed area. Here are the general aspects that must be incorporated:

Make It Blend Into The Home

Sometimes, you may want to change only the kitchen in the entire home. For an open plan kitchen, you may have to touch up some sections of the adjacent rooms to match the new look. You might get away with the ‘face-lift’ if you have a traditional contained kitchen.

Get Extra Space

Space is one of the most valuable factors in design. While extra storage units may work, they may end up looking bulky or obstructing pathways. Think of new places to add pull out soft drawers and paneled cabinets. Discuss these with your kitchen installer so they incorporate it into their plan early enough if possible. You can get ideas from visiting showrooms and studying kitchen galleries.

During the ‘scouting’ period, it may help to get the installer whose ideas you love to do the job for you. They are the ones who know how they do it. It may prove disastrous sometimes to ‘hop’ and collect ideas. It does help to look around and settle for the most impressive however.

Lighting

Never compromise on lighting. In fact, the more the better. If you have a large kitchen, one central fixture may not illuminate all corners. Discuss the viability and impact of having more lighting in as many areas as you can. This not only makes the room look bigger, but it also improves the safety and comfort of those in the kitchen.

Where the kitchen is to also serve as a dining area, you can have adjustable lighting to make mealtimes warm, pleasant and cozy.

Environmental Compatibility

Make your designs, materials and appliances eco-friendly. Have energy efficient refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens and freezing units. The Australian Government recommends that all households use environmental friendly products, with appliances having Energy Rating Labels. This is to make it easy for consumers to know which appliance is best for their homes and the environment as a whole. The tagline says ‘the more the stars, the more the savings’.

The best part of getting a new kitchen, apart from finally walking into your dream room, is having the minute details handled by a professional. Good installation firms will oversee the little things and diligently execute the bulk tasks for you. There are shady firms which do shoddy jobs but cover up on the surface. Get an installer with a proven excellent track record and glowing reputation. For one, you may need to actually see a sample of their work that has been in place for a considerable length of time.

Once your new kitchen is done, the idea is that it is built to last at least a generation before you feel the itch to get a new one to renovate. That need for a change is quite expected. Why else would you be getting new kitchens if you’re not moving into a new home?

As for the style, anything goes. Only make sure it suits your needs. Take into account your family size if you have one and of course, your tastes.

Everybody is going to purchase their products from a different source. Some of the cabinets that are purchased for a home can be ordered. An RTA cabinet store is going to be able to give them better prices because the cabinets will be in a ready to assemble form instead of already assembled.

Many of these companies will be able to give their customers a better price when they are purchasing ones that are not fully assembled. This makes the shipping much easier as well as storage. There are a lot of options that people will consider when they are choosing RTA cabinets.

There are instructions included with each cabinet also. Everything will be measured and cut to the proper size. Most of the pieces will also be labeled to make the process much easier for everyone.

Everything will be included that is necessary to put the cabinets together. This is something that is very important. Cabinets should be affordable, yet durable.

Just choosing something that is within a budget is not always going to be a good idea. It is very important to make sure that people are getting something that is also going to be durable. Every company is going to offer something different so it will be extremely necessary to check out what a person is purchasing before they pay for a cabinet that they will not be able to use.

RTA cabinets may also be customizable from some companies. A cabinet store may be able to let their customers choose a certain type of wood or certain size. The type of doors on them will also be important to consider.

Every feature of each cabinet will be something that somebody will want. Not everyone likes every single cabinet. That is why there is a variety of different ones to choose from.

Many homeowners want to increase the value of their home by choosing certain types of cabinets. Bamboo cabinets are growing in popularity also. This is because they are very durable and moisture does not bother them, like it does other types of wood.

Every home will also need to have a different sized cabinet. The size can also affect the cost. There are some rooms of the home that will need several different cabinets, but others will only need one or two.

The kitchen is usually where most of the cabinets are going to be found. It is important that the ones that are chosen are going to be functional. If they are not, then it could be a waste of money.

Some of them will be mounted on the floor while others are mounted to the wall up above. Every home will have different places that these could fit. There are a lot of people that dream of having a lot of kitchen cabinets to store away all of their dishes, pans and small appliances.

The size of the kitchen often affects this though. It is not necessarily something that is easy to change either. Every homeowner will come up with a solution to try to get their kitchen easily accessible and with lots of storage spaces.

When somebody is remodeling or building, they will have a lot of things to think about. They will need to make sure that they are carefully planning everything. Every kitchen and bathroom will need to have certain things in them so that everyone is able to do what they need to.

Every RTA cabinet store is going to have a different selection of cabinets to choose from. Finding the styles and colors that a person wants is going to be very important. Every style is going to be available in different sizes as well. Some of them will allow them to order custom sizes that they need, but not all stores will allow this.

The kitchen remains the most visited place of every house. Especially for your mother, this place is very important as she spends the most part of her day cooking and preparing food for you. It is also the first place which a buyer will want to see if you are going to sell the house. That is why it is sensible to choose the proper design for your kitchen.

Finding the right design for your kitchen area is quite difficult. There are a lot of designs from which one can make a choice. The numerous colours, textures, materials can almost make you lost and unable choose one out of the many.

Things that you should be keeping mind while you are designing your kitchen area is that what are the things you are going to have in the kitchens? Consider the taps, sinks, cooking appliances, the electronic appliances. Accordingly, make space for your kitchen. Ask your electrician to make extra plug points so that you do not face any difficulty in using more than a device at a time.

Make enough storage places to store the containers. Make separate place to keep dishes and other utensils. Ensure all these places are within the reach of the user. This will make pit easy to work in the kitchens and also make the working smooth.

There are particularly three types of kitchens, namely the ex-stock kitchens, made-to-fit kitchens and bespoke kitchens.

The ex-stock types are ready design that can be delivered to you within a short time. These fit according well to the composition and the dimensions of the kitchen. You can pick the colour you want but there is almost little scope for changing as the things are already available for installation.

Made-to-fit kitchens are those that can be customized according to your wishes. These are less restricting than the ex-stock kitchen though have to admit that certain limitations are there. You can choose the base patterns but not the individual design of your kitchen.

The best option to choose is the bespoke kitchen. This is because it allows maximum choice of the users. Though a bespoke kitchen takes a long time to get prepared but you will get all the things the way you want it to be.

For better analysis and use of your kitchen space you should hire a professional designer. They will take measurements of all the depths, heights, and angles and deliver you the kitchen that you have always dreamt of having.

When it comes to redecorating any room in the home, there are many choices to make in regards to selecting the right furniture. This is especially true when it comes to installing cabinets in the kitchen or the bathroom, as these are not only big investments, but are also somewhat more permanent fixtures that it is important to get right the first time around.

One of the options that is now widely available on the market is that of ready to assemble cabinets – or RTA cabinets as they are widely known. These items, rather than being delivered whole and already constructed, are able to be assembled on site before being installed right way. There are advantageous this particular type of furniture.

The first is that they are generally far less expensive options than cabinets that have already been constructed by the manufacturer. The reason for this is simple – the person who is buying the RTA cabinets is actually doing a great part of the work themselves, and therefore does not need to pay the manufacturer to do this.

This, of course, can also be an inconvenience for those who do not have a lot of free time or who lack the physical ability to put together their own cabinets for their kitchen or bathroom. Regardless, this represents a very cost effective option for those who feel up for the challenge, are relatively physical able and want to make some significant savings.

It should be noted that those who are interested in the savings that RTA cabinets represent but are not up to taking on the task themselves still have a third option – paying for a professional to assemble the cabinets at their home for them. This is actually a very popular option, and many retailers of these types of ready to assemble cabinets will offer this service for a supplement.

Another major advantage of RTA cabinets – which ties in very closely to the cost savings that can be made – is the fact that they are very easy to transport compared to ready built cabinets. They can be packed flat, and can therefore be delivered for much lower delivery charges than items that have already been constructed.

This results in not only significant cost savings on shipping these items, but is also a more environmentally friendly option, with many items able to be shipped at the same time, thus reducing the amount of fuel burned per cabinet transported.

Another major advantage of RTA cabinets is that, as they are built for assembly by the purchaser themselves, they are generally very easy to not only assemble, but also install. Manufacturers and retailers will generally supply excellent instructions for installation, and all the person assembling them will need is a screwdriver, hammer, and perhaps a few other simple tools.

This can also lead to a great deal of satisfaction for the person who is installing their own kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Rather than having to rely on a professional to do the job, the person doing the work themselves can tackle the project at their own pace and then take pride in their own work once they have completed the job to their own high standards.

Lastly, another major benefit of these types of cabinets is that, as ready to assemble furniture is so popular today, the variety of different products on the market is exceptional. This means that everyone can find something that suits their tastes and decor ideas.

Anyone interested in purchasing RTA models can find a large number of excellent manufacturers from all corners of the globe making products in a vast range of colours and styles. With this much ease, this much choice and impressive cost savings to be made, there are some very compelling reasons to choose ready to assemble cabinets to decorate your home.