Renovate the Right Way

When Erin Day first inspected the 35-year-old condo she now lives in, she found a small, dark galley kitchen with original appliances, and her eyes lit up. Her pleasure wasn’t in what she saw, but what she envisioned.

“It had good structure – good bones – and I was really excited about its potential. I knew before I moved in the colours I was going to use,” says Day, a provincial employee, fitness instructor and avid fan of home renovation TV shows.

From the moment Day bought her 720-square-foot, highrise condo in downtown Edmonton last year, upgrading the kitchen has been her pet project. Now, just one special-ordered backsplash away from completion, she considers it her baby – and she has suffered her share of labour pains to get it.

“But I’d go through it all again if I had to,” she says. “The kitchen is the most important room in the house to me. I love baking and hosting parties, so I wanted a place where I could have people sit at an island and drink, and we could talk and see each other while I prepared something for them. And that’s what I have now.”

Working with space limitations, Day’s first move was to knock down the galley wall, creating an extended kitchen island and, with the addition of barstools, a casual dining space. The realignment opened the room to the rest of the condo, eventually allowing her to showcase her stainless steel EnergySave appliances, tiled floor, maple cabinets that she designed herself, Corian countertops and new lighting, including the coveted under-cabinet variety.

Unusual in kitchen renos, Day chose white countertops made of Corian – a durable acrylic solid surface material – to contrast with her dark brown cabinets. Most of her other choices were in keeping with current design trends, says Peter Kalan, owner of Kitchen Plan-It in Calgary.

“Granite has really come down in price in recent years, so it’s the most popular countertop material,” Kalan says. But the other items Day selected, such as energy-efficient appliances, dark wood, under-cabinet lighting and an open concept kitchen with an island, are popular choices.

The look of a room is obviously important to the people who live in it, but so is its utility. This holds true more for a kitchen than for any other room in a residence.

“Kitchens are very personal things, so when we’re planning a kitchen with a client, we’ll not only customize it for the space, but also for the people who will be using it,” says Kalan. “In some houses, only one person cooks at a time, in others maybe it’s three people, so in that case we’ll create three workstations.”

Another important consideration for kitchen renovators is traffic flow.  

“Can the kids grab a glass of milk without getting in the way while you’re cooking a big meal? Can people find space during a party without parking their butt in front of the stove or dishwasher?” Kalan asks. It’s important to think ahead about how you want to use your kitchen, rather than being forced to cope afterwards.

There are subtle things you can do to influence flow. Consider trying narrow walkways or visual blocks, such as a fridge or a bookshelf, which will direct people to seating areas.

Another concept to improve working conditions in a kitchen is the “triangle” set up, which describes the proximal location of the three main kitchen appliances: refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. But such arrangements may not always be optimal.

“The best layout depends on the space you have and your personal needs,” Kalan says.

Barry Jaenen, owner and president of Full House Renovations Inc. in Edmonton, says that regardless of your space there are a few time-tested design principles that help both chefs and take-out kings alike.

“It’s a good idea to put your dishwasher next to your sink and your microwave close to your fridge, because you often use these things in tandem,” he says.  

For people with space issues, Jaenen says building cabinets to the ceiling and using the whole area above a fridge can help. Also, dead spaces, such as corners or places occupied by plants, may be transformed into storage cabinets. Day, for example, created a pantry out of a side wall.

And, whatever you do, don’t underestimate the value of drawers.

“Lots of drawers are important. People like them a lot more than shelves,” Kalan says. “I’ve never had anyone come back to me and say, ‘You’ve given me too many drawers!’”

Kalan adds that there is no shortage of new kitchen appliances and gadgets for people with money to splurge. These include convection microwave ovens, warming drawers, freezer drawers, wine cabinets,

beverage fridges and built-in computers and TVs.

“Technology is moving so fast, and there are always new innovations that come along. You look at LCD screens, for example, and they are so thin now that you can build them in anywhere and they look great,” Kalan says.

But for many people, the high-end options – such as the digital ovens that practically cook dinner by themselves – remain like the dust balls behind the fridge: out of reach.

Trying to stretch her kitchen reno budget as well as her available space, Day did some of the work herself, including wielding a sledgehammer to topple a wall, but she left the complicated stuff to the professionals. Even so, she had trouble with her electrician, who, she says, didn’t take directions well and roughed in wiring where she didn’t want it.

“The main thing I learned when dealing with contractors is to communicate with them a lot, and be around and watch them work as much as you can to make sure everything is the way you want it, because when things get screwed up, it’s too late,” she says.

Not surprisingly, the renovation pros Kalan and Jaenen think it’s wise for people with a hankering to transform their own homes to leave the work to the experts.

“Some people can do good paint jobs or install flooring or do their own plumbing, but we’re professionals, this is what we do everyday, and our job is to make everything look good together, and we can often do it faster,” Kalan says. “And if we don’t do it right, we’re accountable to make it right.”

“When it comes down to it, most people think about doing major renovations for years but only actually end up doing them maybe once or twice in their lives,” Jaenen says. Clearly, it’s something that you want to do right.

While the new home market in Alberta is softening, the demand for renovation work is holding steady. Kalan and Jaenen speculate the main reason for this is that more people are choosing to fix up older, centrally located abodes rather than move to newer places in the ever-expanding, gas-sucking suburbs.

Erin Day admits the downtown location of her new pad was a big selling point – but not as much as the potential she saw in the kitchen.

“I love my new kitchen,” she says, beaming, a table-saw still sitting in her living room. “I can’t wait to clean this up and have a party.”