Your Home: Invest in your cabinets
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Kitchens and baths. You always hear of people remodeling their kitchens and baths. Why? Well, first of all, they are the two rooms in the house where we spend most of our time. And what homeowner hasn't dreamed of installing the perfect kitchen cabinets?
Evan Levey of Columbia Cabinet Works said, "The fact of the matter is, the kitchen is the heart of your home. It's function above form. Once we get a kitchen that works well, we'll make it look great. Always."
Plus, they sell houses. Come resale time, nothing is going to give you a better return on your money. Custom cabinetry isn't cheap. But a little investment goes a long way. Levey even has a little formula for you to calculate how much you should spend.
He said, "The general rule is, between your cabinets, countertop and appliances, it should be 10 percent of the value of your home or the value you want of your home."
For you eco-conscious folks out there, what's greener than pure hardwood? Not much, except how it's harvested.
Levey said, "What you want to look for is a kitchen cabinet company like Wood Mode that's not clear cutting forests and doing their job, environmentally, while manufacturing. The paint process and finish process can be pretty detrimental.
One of the coolest things about designing a custom kitchen is that any refrigerator you buy, most often, will have a model that's able to be paneled. You can cover it up with the same cabinetry that your kitchen is made of and blend it right in with the rest of the kitchen.
Levey said, "In the very modern kitchen people want all stainless. They want all these beasts throughout the place. One great thing we can do is panel our appliances and hide them. Some kitchens you can't see them anywhere. Other people want that look."
Levey recommends showing up at your local show room or design center with at least a color idea in mind. Options are endless so you'll need some sort of jumping off point. Better yet, he suggests clipping pictures out of magazines to bring with you as examples of what your looking for.
Watch some Behind the Scenes footage from Your Home:
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