Kitchen Remodel Archives - Page 6 of 33

flooring contractor installed herringbone pattern wood planks in home entryway

Orange County Flooring Contractor Gives 3 Reasons to Love Hard Floors

This article was originally published on April 8, 2016. It has been updated to reflect the most current trends in Orange County flooring.

Wood, wood-look tiles, and bamboo flooring continue to be trendy. Designers and homeowners love the way wood and bamboo flooring bring warmth to any room. If you ask a flooring contractor, they will tell you the benefits of hard surface floors for almost any home. Inspired Remodels, the expert flooring contractor in Orange County, shares 3 reasons to love hard surface flooring.

Hard Flooring For Better Health

Hard surface flooring offers health benefits you just can’t ignore. Every flooring contractor knows carpeting harbors dust, dust mites, pet allergens, mold spores, and pollen. These substances comprise the most common household allergens. So, why would you ever put them in a house where people with allergies live? Many companies offer products and surfaces to clean carpets. But no method or product can properly clean the carpet to the backing and remove allergens. Most carpet cleaning methods end up making allergies worse as they leave carpets and rugs damp and promote the growth of mold.

When you clean a hard surface floor, it is clean. While you might get mold growth in the grout between tiles (especially in a badly designed bathroom with poor circulation) mold will not grow on the tile itself. Vacuuming, damp mopping, and dry mopping remove dirt, debris, and allergens from a hard surface floor. Cleaner floors result in better indoor air quality, fewer allergies, and better health.

Ceramic and porcelain tile made to emulate wood creates a spa-like feeling to Orange County bathrooms. It looks like wood, some tiles even emulate the texture of wood grain, and only you will know its tile.

Hard Flooring is Easy to Maintain

Hard surface flooring such as wood, tile, polished cement, or stone is relatively easy to maintain. It resists stains. You can track in dirt and debris and it can be easily removed by cleaning.

Spill wine on your tile floor and it wipes up. No one cries over milk spilled on a wood, tile, or stone floor. Kitchens across Orange County cry out for hard surface floors!

With carpeting and rugs, you cry over every spill, every stain, and every footstep that dirties the surface. Not so with hard surface flooring.

Flooring Contractors Know Tile & Wood Flooring Lasts

When you hire a reputable Orange County flooring contractor like Inspired Remodels to install your floors, you know your flooring will last. Wood and bamboo flooring require acclimation before installation. If your flooring contractor skips this step, prepare for problems. That’s never a worry with Inspired Remodels.

With proper care and cleaning, your tile and stone floors last for 20 years or more. When wood floors become scuffed, scarred, and worn-looking, simply refinish them.

Can any carpet stand up to 20 years of daily use? When it looks bad, can you refinish your carpet?

No, of course not! When you consider higher initial cost over a much longer life, you’ll agree with flooring contractors that hard surface flooring provides a cost-effective option.

Best Flooring from the Best Flooring Contractor

If you are thinking about new flooring for your Orange County home, talk to the best Orange County flooring contractors. Make an appointment with Inspired Remodels. Inspired Remodels is the Orange County flooring expert.

Inspired Remodels recommends a hard flooring surface that fits your style and budget. Whether you need to replace the flooring in one room or the whole house, Inspired Remodels has you covered.

Need inspiration? Let an Inspired Remodels designer help you pick the hard surface flooring right for you.

Contact us today.

4 Custom Kitchen Remodeling Ideas for 2024

By Inspired Remodels / custom cabinets, Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

Trends come and go. Inspired Remodels keeps an eagle eye on kitchen remodeling trends so every kitchen they design and build is perfect for its time. Here are four custom kitchen remodeling ideas you need to incorporate for an updated 2024 kitchen.

Statement Range Hoods

The rarely noticed range hood works hard to vent odors and grease from the cooking area. It’s a dirty job, but as Mike Rowe says, “somebody’s got to do it.” In the past, range hoods suffered neglect from designers. Those days are gone!

In 2024, these hoods will leave their shrinking violet heritage behind and make a bold statement.

Incorporate a statement range hood in your custom kitchen remodel and you’ll find it is a game changer.

Warmer Tones

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2024, Peach Fuzz, sets the stage for warmer tones throughout the house. So, it’s no wonder that custom kitchen remodels incorporate warmer and moodier colors.

custom kitchen kitchen remodeling after photo stainless steel stove and hood with green, black & white backsplash

Warm green hues add a cozy vibe to a white & gray kitchen

Stark white-on-white kitchens aren’t the cream of the crop in 2024. While many stunning white kitchens come into being in 2024, the real winners will be those that opt for warm tones.

Think terracotta accents if you can’t wrap your head around peach.

Kitchen remodeling after creating open concept kitchen and built in eating area

Earthy tones bring coziness to large spaces

Opt for comforting tones for a cost and trendy kitchen. Luckily, these warm tones play well with mosaic tiles and a variety of cabinet and countertop colors.

Statement Backsplashes

Backsplashes traditionally put function over form. They prevent water, food, and grease from staining and sticking to kitchen walls.

Yeah, but one super-hot custom kitchen remodeling trend for 2024 lets the backsplash become fashion-forward.

Inspired Remodels led the way in 2023, incorporating statement backsplashes into their kitchen remodeling projects.

Now the backsplash provides an important design element in the kitchen remodel. Watch out bathrooms – you may be next.

Colors, textures, and designs all play a part in creating a beautiful statement backsplash. This trend also supports the final trend for 2024 – death of perfectly matched design elements.

Eclectic Elements

If you feel a need for every element of your kitchen to be a perfect match, 2024 might be a bad year for you.

One of the hottest upcoming kitchen remodeling ideas for Orange County kitchens is a mix-and-match approach to everything from lighting to hardware.

Mixed metals add an eclectic touch

Even upper and lower cabinets stray from an everything must match aesthetic.

Mix up cabinet hardware. Install pulls here and knobs there. Heck, toss a few handles in for good measure.

Why must all walls be the same color?

Nothing customizes a kitchen like adding your own eclectic elements and when you do so in 2024, you’ll be riding a rising wave.

Comparing Custom Cabinets – Shaker versus Raised Panel

By Inspired Remodels / custom cabinets, Kitchen Remodel / Comments Off

When it comes to renovating Orange County kitchens, most homeowners split their preference for custom cabinets. Shaker door fronts remain popular, but raised panel custom cabinets are popular as well.

Let’s compare the two custom cabinet styles.

Shaker Custom Cabinets

Shaker cabinets date back to the early 1800’s. The cabinet aesthetic grew from the Shaker’s commitment to designs that exhibited their belief in simplicity. The clean lines represent the purity that the Shakers sought in all corners of their lives – including their cabinets and furniture.

A simple center recessed panel sets Shaker cabinets apart from all others. At a glance, you recognize the Shaker style.

On the plus side

Shaker custom cabinets offer the opportunity to customize by adding ornamental hardware. You can swap the look of the door by simply swapping out the hardware.

In addition, Shaker-style cabinets have a timeless appeal that won’t go out of style and will be a draw when selling the house.

On the negative side

Let’s face it, Shaker-style cabinets are popular. Really popular. Really, really popular. That means if you want your kitchen to stand out or you are a fan of Avant Garde design, stay away from these cabinets. While Shaker custom cabinets can be finished in amazing colors, that recessed panel will still be an obvious design element.

Raised Panel Cabinets

Where Shaker cabinets feature a center recessed panel, raised panel cabinets veer into the more ornate. Think shaped, raised center panels accentuated by grooves and additional molding. They instantly add a more formal feel to any kitchen.

Raised panel-style cabinetry is newer than Shaker-style cabinetry. It only gained popularity at the beginning of the 21^st century, when the modern kitchen was born. Artisans carefully routed and carved doors to create the iconic raised panels we treasure today.

On the plus side

Raised panel custom cabinets certainly elevate the look and feel of any kitchen. They provide an avenue for creating a posh, upscale feel to the room. In addition, you get the ultimate in customization. Bespoke panels and molding make your cabinets like no other.

On the negative side

All that ornamentation adds to the cost of materials and labor that go into the custom cabinets. That makes the price for raised panel cabinets generally higher than their Shaker counterparts. In addition, the nooks and crannies created by the ornamentation capture grease, dust, and food particles. This means they are slightly more difficult to clean.

Custom Cabinet Pop Quiz

Inspired Remodels works with all types of custom cabinets. Take a look at these kitchens and see if you can identify the Shaker cabinets from the raised panel cabinets.