Kitchen Remodel: DIY or Hire a Pro?
Before you decide to remodel your kitchen, it’s essential to consider multiple options and make the right choice while ensuring all your criteria have been met, especially regarding your determined budget. Fortunately, you can tackle a couple of aspects by yourself, while some phases require professional work. Numerous factors can help you decide which option is best for you, which we will describe below. So, if you’re wondering whether to DIY or hire a pro for your kitchen remodel project, read the following article.
1. Painting
Painting the walls in your kitchen is a pretty simple process that requires paint, a paint roller, a ladder, and a moderate amount of workforce. If you have time and energy to paint the walls yourself, keep in mind, it’s an easy DIY. We recommend going DIY here as you’ll save up a decent amount of money since professional painters aren’t cheap. The key steps here are to choose high-quality paint, the right type of brushes and rollers, and get on to it.
However, if you are short of time and aren’t keen on spending, it would be best to hire a professional painter.
When choosing the right painter, make sure to select professionals, as the walls in the kitchen make up a pretty good part of the entire look.
If it’s your first time hiring professional painters, ask family and friends for recommendations, explore local all options, and don’t forget to check out customer reviews.
2. Installation
When it comes to installing hardware, appliances, or even certain accessories, most people describe it as a reasonably simple process as long as you go thru the basics. All you have to do is read the manual that comes with the appliance. In some cases, it’s advised to look up tutorials online for more complicated installations.
Also, we must mention that some hardware, appliances, and accessories might be tricky. Especially if you don’t have any prior experience on the subject. In this case, we recommend hiring professionals. They will take care of the whole installation for you.
3. Updating Lights
If you are only updating already installed lightning, this is an effortless task that requires you to turn the switch off and change an old bulb with a new one.
4. Remodeling Cabinets
Now remodeling cabinets include painting, installing, and updating them.
Painting the cabinets can be done with plain paint or even gel stain if you want to refresh the look of your kitchen while doing minor changes according to the latest kitchen trends.
As for the installation of smaller accessories, the whole process can be done with a simple home toolkit.
However, installing cabinets is a different story as it requires precision and exact calculation. Although many like to do the installation by themselves and follow online guides and their ideas, we recommend hiring an experienced professional here.
Keep in mind that shady installation of the cabinets in your kitchen can lead to a messy and cheap look you definitely want to avoid.
5. Installing Floors
Installing floors might sound very complicated, and for some types, it truly is. Still, laminate flooring installation is a great DIY project since there are numerous guides and tips online. Additionally, installing laminate floors is a two-day job, meaning you can do it for the weekend.
Now, if you opt for installing hardwood floors, make no mistake; this is a job for specialized professionals that will require specific tools.
Before you actually start with the installation process, we recommend choosing the flooring material first. If you are dealing with heavy and solid material like concrete, hire a professional. Before you buy, make sure you are informed of the characteristics of the material. Don’t choose easy flooring just because it’s simple for installation. Instead, put your preferences first and go for quality flooring that will last for a decent period.
6. Plumbing
If you are dealing with more minor problems and fixes, there is no need to hire professionals and simply waste money – do it by yourself. If you have no prior experience, family, friends, and the internet can help as long as the job is easy.
However, hiring a professional will lower the risk of making a mistake. Another perk to hiring professional services is that they can easily see problems you missed as mold, lousy plumbing, etc., and fix more issues in one visit.
So, you have two options for any given issue: do it by yourself or hire a pro. Still, we recommend hiring a pro to see the problem differently than an inexperienced individual and lower the risk of mistakes and even flooding.
7. Installing Electric Wiring
Some tasks are not only complicated but dangerous, and one of them is installing electric wiring. It should be easy to decide whether you should DIY or hire a pro when installing electrics for your kitchen remodel. For some, it’s a very interesting DIY process, and we must admit certain individuals can manage here while avoiding risks. However, we do not recommend tackling this one by yourself as dealing with electrics is dangerous, and there are specialized professionals for a reason. Electricians go thru specific training and possess the right knowledge for the job. Besides, they can do it faster and in some cases even cheaper than you. Also, you’ll have to meet the permits through, so hire a professional electrician when it comes to installing electric wiring.
8. Choosing the Right Backsplash
The backsplash is a section in the kitchen that includes the area between the countertop and the cabinets. This is a perfect area to express your personality, especially if you choose the right type of backsplash. Luckily, numerous types are available, including quartz, mosaic tiles, subway tiles, glass, ceramic, etc. It’s important to respect your style while considering what is the best choice in terms of cleaning, effectiveness, etc., and not only the best look. If you are inexperienced in design, aren’t sure whether or not you can make the right choice, and aren’t keen on spending an extra dollar, consider hiring a professional designer to help you decide.
We hope this article helped you clear your doubts about whether you should DIY or hire a pro for your kitchen remodel project. Contact us, and we’ll gladly help with your kitchen renovation.
