No home remodeler wants to encounter kitchen remodeling flaws, but mistakes can happen, even with the most professional jobs. Human error can spark in the blink of an eye.
Even in kitchen remodeling, the smallest mistakes slip by and can cause unexpected headaches and problems in the later stages. The last thing one wants to encounter is everything fully installed, only to encounter kitchen remodeling flaws at the very last minute.
Kitchen Remodeling Flaws Contractors Should Avoid Beforehand
Here are the kitchen remodeling flaws usually encountered by contractors. Let us tackle them one by one.
Inadequate Planning and Time Management Crisis
Running out of time is the biggest problem during a kitchen remodel. Planning the schedule and time slots may be many people’s worst kitchen remodeling flaw.
Time crunches may happen because customers may want and expect a kitchen remodel done by a specific date or event. Kitchen damages and time delays can potentially delay a project or cause an unintentional mishap.
When planning the time and schedule for a kitchen remodel, give some extra time for expected errors. That way, one will have room to adjust the time schedule in case immediate changes or unexpected events occur.
Damaged Product
Depending on which part of the cabinet is damaged, the remodeling project’s schedule may not be affected. If the cabinet door is scratched, chipped, or warped, the supplier can send a replacement without any delays to the kitchen.
Cabinet doors can be attached and adjusted later after the rest of the kitchen is put in place. If the cabinet’s interior support is damaged, it must be replaced immediately.
Shipping issues may also arise. As typical Amazon packages may be delayed, palettes of kitchen cabinets may also be delayed. The difference is the time crunch some people need the cabinets by.
Hitting Door Handles
The most common mistake in the installation phase of the kitchen remodel is that you might finish installing all the cabinets only to see that a cabinet door hits the dishwasher handle, preventing it from opening properly. How does this happen?
Colliding door handles happen during the design process. Not all kitchen appliances are built or designed the same, so certain refrigerators, ovens, and dishwasher handles protrude. Not taking the handle into account affects the location and functionality of the appliances.
How can we remedy this? This needs to be solved in the design process. Catching this mistake early will save everyone time and money.
Letting the kitchen designer or contractor know your desired appliances so they can make note of any potential handle problems will be your best friend. Not placing appliances at or near corners is also important in designing.
Picking The Wrong Kitchen Handles
Not all kitchen door handles are universal. Certain handles are meant for certain door styles, and certain door handles can actually conflict with the cabinet design.
Take the modern bar handles commonly found on modern European cabinets. These handles are designed for full overlay doors that do not have a face frame. Putting these on a cabinet door that does not have full overlay results in either the door being stuck in the frame or not closing.
What’s worse is that handles need to be drilled into the door. Once a handle is drilled in, the damage is irreversible. You would have to get a new door, let alone exchange all the handles for the correct-fitting ones.
When picking your cabinet style, it is best to either bring a sample of the handle you intend to use or ask the designer for their opinions and recommendations.
By trying the handle at the display showroom or having a sample door, you can see if it suits the door aesthetic and functions properly with the cabinet.
Changing Appliance Problems
Changing appliances is not surprising. Either something becomes unavailable, or your current planned appliances must be replaced or upgraded. Problems start to arise when the designer is not notified of the changed appliances.
When designing a kitchen, appliance specifications will be needed. This could be as small as changing to a different model or even a completely different-sized appliance to begin with. Changing a slide-in range to a cooktop requires considering a whole cabinet and a countertop.
At the hardware store, one can find the specifications sheet for the appliance they intend to buy.
Wrong Steps
Everything is going right in the installations, but you find your new hardwood floors are all scratched up after the kitchen cabinets are all finished. This may be one of the costly kitchen remodeling flaws to be careful of.
You may wonder what happened and who will fix it. The problem was the order of installation. Certain steps can be interchanged, but certain steps cannot be jumped.
In this example, flooring might not be the first thing you want to install because many large and heavy appliances or cabinets will be moving in and out of the house. Depending on the type of flooring, this may cost a lot of money to fix.
Always ask a professional for help or a step-by-step process. Different companies may need to complete a certain part of the job before they can proceed with their part.
Before making the corresponding purchase from each company, ask them what timeline and requirements are needed beforehand. Having a calendar put together will manage all the stress.
Measurement Mishaps
An extra inch or two makes a big difference in kitchen cabinets. It can mean increasing a cabinet size or making less filler visible. The opposite also happens when there is insufficient space from the initial measurement.
A cabinet may need to be removed or changed in size just by an inch of lost space. Misaligned walls, floors, and ceilings are common cases where a measurement may be inaccurate.
A filler and scribe molding can be cut and installed to hide any wall misalignments, but in every stage of the remodel, remeasuring can guarantee no change to the numbers being designed around.
Water Lines, Gas Lines, And Ventilation
When some people remodel their kitchens, they want a complete change of everything. This includes the placement of appliances. The water line, gas line, and ventilation need to be correctly measured up to the pipe’s center. The sink and stove have a little wiggle room to be positioned off-center from the line, but not by much.
A complete change of locations requires a contractor to extend and adjust the location of these appliances. This may require digging up the ground or opening up the wall, which is difficult for the average Joe.
People comfortable with weekend projects may assemble cabinets easily, but changing a water or gas line requires knowing how to do it.
Not Enough Fillers or Accessories
Ordering the minimum needed for the kitchen is always a gamble. You may be lucky not to need any extra pieces of extra accessories like filler, toe kick, or crown molding.
Sometimes, a mistake happens, and you end up needing more. Ordering one extra piece may always seem safer than worrying about it during the installation phase.
Toe kick and crown molding have the potential of being cut incorrectly. When calculating the amount of molding needed here, it is better to have an extra.
Is it a waste to buy another full piece of molding, even if you might not need it? Possibly, but it is safer than not having enough. A filler is a piece of wood typically used to fill in missing gaps, but it serves much more purpose.
The piece of wood is used to space a cabinet door from a perpendicular wall to avoid the handle hitting the wall. The filler may not seem important, but when numbers don’t match up correctly to the measurements, having a filler last minute is a lifesaver.
Countertop Edge Not Accounted For (1.5”)
Countertop edging is one of the harder kitchen remodeling flaws to catch at times. When calculating the countertop pieces you need, the professionals know and understand that these pieces are not cheap.
The countertop is sold in large pieces, not in small sections. Buying an extra piece for a small section typically causes customers to deviate.
Professionals consider two things when pricing the number of pieces needed: the edging and seam locations.
The countertop will always have a lip that extends past the cabinets by 1.5”. Most customers will not want to hear having to put an extra $250 for a slab of countertop just for a small amount of countertop edge.
The last thing you want to do is use leftover scrap pieces to attempt to finish a missing section. This looks unprofessional and may cause problems later on.
Seam locations are where two pieces of countertop meet. There are some places where the seam lines should be to hide the visibility of the seam, in corners or the sink. Corners are inevitable when the countertop changes direction, while the sink will cut the basin from the countertop.
After cutting the sink, the seam line is not noticeable despite the sink being the most visited in the kitchen. Never have the seam anywhere else, if possible, as it is hugely noticeable. Countertops with detailed patterns or veining will show where obvious seam lines could end up.
Countertop Failure
Never underestimate the weight of the countertop. Just the amount of weight the stone weighs needs to be supported. The two notable examples of countertop failure are the dishwasher and bar area.
To most people’s surprise, the dishwasher appliance does not hold up the countertop. Dishwashers will simply slide into the 24” space left after the cabinets and countertops are set.
If the dishwasher is positioned at the end of the countertop with no cabinets on the other side, a dishwasher panel will be needed to help support the weight of the countertop.
For an overhang seating area, a 12” overhang is the most unsupported countertop that can hang free floating. Most overhang areas are 36-42” long, resulting in a 2-person seating area.
For a longer countertop or one with a larger overhang area, corbels are needed at the corners to support the weight of the stone. Just like columns or pillars, corbels can act independently without being next to a cabinet to support the countertop. The countertop can collapse on the seating side without these supports if the weight gets too heavy.
Not Having Enough Drawers for Storage
Every kitchen needs at least one bank of drawers. Whether one chooses an 18” drawer or the widest 30” cabinet, a bank of drawers is necessary in every home. Storage and ease of accessibility are important to increasing the room’s functionality.
Most homes have a drawer bank by the oven or stove for immediate access to pots, pans, and cooking utensils. Without a bank of drawers, one would only have drawers on top of the single doors. Having roll-out trays installed in open-door cabinets may remedy this, but it is more expensive than a drawer cabinet.
Is only one drawer enough? One bank of drawers is the bare minimum one should have in a kitchen. Depending on the size and the expected usage of the kitchen, more drawers may be important to have.
Having too many drawers may be too much and will drastically drive up the project’s overall cost. Although it is not as important as other kitchen remodeling flaws, it may be important after installation.
