Inspired Remodels, Author at Inspired Remodels

Hiring a Kitchen Remodel Company Shouldn’t Be Scary

By Inspired Remodels / Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

Thinking of a kitchen remodel or renovation but the thought of hiring a kitchen remodel company is frightening? Everyone has heard horror stories about remodel companies from hell. You don’t want a new kitchen but you don’t want to make the mistake of hiring the wrong kitchen remodel company. Follow these tips for hiring the right kitchen remodel company and safe your fears for zombie movies.

Use a Kitchen Remodel Company with Design and Construction Crews

There are architects, designers, and contractors. Make sure you hire a kitchen remodel company with the right people. You need a designer to transform your dream into a floor plan with finishes that stay in your budget. A company that offers design services is the best arrangement possible.

Experienced kitchen remodelers can tell you whether your desired layout requires extensive changes to plumbing, electrical, or structural components. Changing these items is costly. An experienced and talented designer translates your wants and needs into a design that honors your budget.

Remember to look at designs and pictures together. Ensure that you and your designer mean the same thing when you say “contemporary” or “traditional”. The design team member must understand your needs and wants for lighting, storage, fixtures, and appliances. If you have poor communication in this stage, the project will probably be a failure with both of you frustrated and unhappy. Remember, if you can’t discuss the kitchen remodel cost and time frame comfortably, you need to pick another kitchen remodel company.

Take a look at their recent work. See if their style meshes with yours or if they successfully adapt their style to their client. Run from a firm that repeats the same design time and again and just changes the finishes. They lack imagination.

Discuss Time and Cost Frankly

Any kitchen remodel company will give an estimate before work starts. Ask about what the estimate covers. Do you know if the finishes are contractor grade? Are appliances and fixtures included? How do they handle problems? Who is responsible for going over budget?

Speaking of budget, go ahead and have that discussion up-front. You may want a farmhouse sink and a prep station with an additional sink, but lack the budget for both. Discuss the budget in the beginning. It helps you prioritize wants and needs. Nothing is worse than being presented with a layout, finishes, and appliances you can’t afford. A waste of your time and the designer’s time too.

Understanding the time frame for the actual work is crucial as well. You need to know more than how long it will take. You need to know when the job starts. If the project requires permits and inspections, this adds to the time to complete.

Recognizing a Reputable Kitchen Remodel Contractor

Don’t fall for a company that presents a design and fails on execution. These days it’s easy to vet any contractor by checking their reputation on-line.

Google the company name. Look for reviews from Yelp, Angie’s List and Houzz.

Don’t forget to check the status of the company’s license. California has a website for checking the status of a contractor’s license. If you check the license for Inspired Remodels at CA.gov, you will find the company has an active license, is bonded, and carries worker’s compensation insurance. Since a kitchen remodel company must do their work in your house, it’s crucial that they carry worker’s compensation insurance for your own protection.

It doesn’t hurt to check with the local Better Business Bureau. In the best case scenario, you won’t discover any complaints. But if you there are complaints, see how the company handles them. Exceptional customer service is defined by problems are resolved. You want to do business with a kitchen remodel company that handles problems or complaints if they get them.

Inspired Kitchen Remodels

Inspired Remodels is the Orange County kitchen remodel company that provides design and remodel services. Hire a kitchen remodel contractor that’s with you from the initial design until the last trace of construction dust is removed from the kitchen. You get the kitchen remodel of your dreams within your budget.

Call (949) 716-1938 or Contact Us online to schedule your consultation today.

custom kitchen remodeling job added blue lights for accent color to an otherwise neutral kitchen

Kitchen Remodel Company Brings Function to Beauty

By Inspired Remodels / Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

When you remodel any room in the house, you want it to look awesome. But when you remodel a room as important as the kitchen, it needs to look good and work well. After all, a kitchen is as much a workroom as a hobby garage. You need room to store the tools of the trade, do your work, and share your masterpieces. Any kitchen remodel company worth their salt (pun intended) can install attractive cabinets and counters. But it takes a special kitchen remodel company to create a space that’s a treat for the eye and the cook. Inspired Remodels does it on a regular basis. Here’s how.

The Kitchen Triangle

No, the kitchen triangle isn’t a sordid affair between the lime, salt, and chili powder. The kitchen work triangle refers to the arrangement of the major work stations in the kitchen. That’s the sink, the refrigerator, and the stove/oven. Each makes up one point of the triangle. No leg of the triangle should be more than 9 feet long. The sum of all three sides should be somewhere between 13 and 26 feet to be ideal. There are just too many steps if it’s larger.

This is some serious stuff. It’s based on time-motion studies on the most effective way for a one-cook kitchen to achieve true efficiency. While today’s kitchens often have more than one cook, the kitchen triangle or it’s cousin, the kitchen zone still creates a game plan for efficiency. The kitchen zone concept creates zones for food preparation, cleaning, baking, and cooking. These zones usually end up in a variation of the kitchen triangle.

Kitchen Remodel Company Deploys Kitchen Triangle

Putting the Triangle into Action

Take a look at the lovely kitchen above. Pay particular attention to the stove in relation to the refrigerator. Next, see how the fridge is across from the sink? Can you see the triangle in this kitchen?

Now can you see it? It might have been tempting to use the space next to the cooktop for the refrigerator and use the refrigerator wall to create a large work space. But the savvy kitchen remodel company understands that fridge door needs to be opened and closed several times during meal prep.

Had it been located next to the stove it would have saved steps, but it would have been awkward.

A functional kitchen flows. You move smoothly and without friction from one area to the next.

Can you see yourself working in this kitchen?

And speaking of working, notice the work area station to the right of the stove. When you take a hot pan out of the oven, there’s a place for it.

There’s ample room for the traditional 3 step breading station. And it looks great!

Inspired Remodels is the Kitchen Remodel Company to Call

When you are ready to put kitchen remodel dreams into action, call the kitchen remodel company that will ensure you get a kitchen that works hard and looks good doing it. Call Inspired Remodels.

Inspired Remodels is a full-service design and build remodel company. From the initial design stage to polishing the chrome on the new kitchen faucet, they’ll be with you every step of the way. Call (949) 716-1938 or Contact Us online today.

Kitchen and Bath Remodeling with Shaker Cabinets

By Inspired Remodels / custom cabinets / Comments Off

There once was a tune that had a refrain, “Everything old is new again”. That ditty from the past might have been referring to the resurgence in popularity of Shaker cabinets for kitchen and bath remodeling. Match this clean, classic look with almost any decor.

Understand Shakers to Understand the Furniture

The cabinets that are so popular with kitchen and bath remodeling projects are just a take on classic Shaker furniture. To understand Shaker furniture, you’ve got to understand the Shakers.

The Shakers were members of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. The religion was first organized in England in 1847 and members crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the 1780’s to set up communities in the new colonies.

Shaker is a shortened version of Shaking Quaker. The name refers to their movements during worship. As spiritualists, Shakers believed that they received messages from God as they moved during worship. Shaker furniture doesn’t shake however, it is rock solid and simple.

That’s because simplicity, utility and honesty guided their core beliefs. Instead of being adorned with ornate decoration, Shaker furniture was simple and functional. Those core beliefs are embodied in today’s Shaker cabinets, that aren’t made by Shakers.

While the Shakers had a very successful furniture empire by the 1860’s there is only one Shaker community left today. However, their timeless designs live on today.

Shaker Cabinets in the Bathroom

Recessed panels give Shaker cabinets their distinctive look. Clean and simple. Function fused with beauty that’s perfect for a variety of decor.

Use Shaker cabinets in a spa bathroom and they’ll contribute to the serene look.

Use a dark stain, match with brushed nickel and you’ve got a modern vibe from a very old design. It’s the simplicity of Shaker cabinets that make them so appealing.

Think of Shaker cabinets in the bathroom as a blank canvass. Different stains and different hardware make the same cabinet look completely different.

Ready for a new look? Switch out the hardware and the cabinets look different. Now that’s the easiest kitchen and bathroom remodeling project you will ever do!

Shaker Cabinets in the Kitchen

Shaker cabinets in the kitchen? Yes, please! Those clean lines that shine in the bathroom do their magic in kitchens too.

Shaker cabinets are showing up in kitchen all over Orange County. They are one of the most requested design elements when it comes to kitchen remodeling.

Once again, it’s because of their clean lines. You can take a Shaker cabinet and change the countertop and the entire room looks different.

Shakers never gazed on the Mediterranean Sea, but Shaker cabinets go perfectly with this kitchen remodel. The whimsical tile backsplash isn’t overwhelming because the cabinets are subtle. The subway tile replicates the lines of the recessed panels.

Shaker cabinets are at home in a traditional, modern, Mediterranean, ranch or farmhouse style kitchen. Where French Provincial is limiting, Shaker design is only limited by your imagination.

Inspired Kitchen and Bath Remodeling

Does the thought of new Shaker cabinets in the kitchen or bathroom inspire you? Then talk to Inspired Remodels and turn those kitchen and bathroom remodeling dreams into reality.

Complete design and remodeling services at your fingertips. With the honesty and integrity of Shaker cabinets, Joe and Jason Mueller transform your living spaces. Call (949) 716-1938 or Contact Us online today.

Author: Inspired Remodels