Category Archives: Blog

Gone are the days where a fluorescent light in the kitchen was considered enough light.  A single centralized light source causes shadows to get cast while using countertops and makes cooking harder.

Today kitchen lighting design is as important as rollout shelves and plenty of counter space.  LED kitchen lighting is taking a front seat in kitchen lighting design as it lasts longer and looks better than fluorescent lighting.

While adding LED lights to your kitchen is one of the leading kitchen lighting design trends you should work toward a layered appearance.  This is done by using various types of lights and fixtures.

Types Of Lighting To Layer

Create varied layers of lighting for your kitchen using a combination of types of bulbs and fixtures.  The types of fixtures start at the roof and ceiling all the way to the floor under your cabinets.  This layered effect helps avoid having dark unlit spots in your kitchen.

Skylights

In addition to natural light coming in windows solar tubes and skylights are a great way to bring in sunlight.  Sunlight brings out the colors from your kitchen’s countertops, cabinets, backsplashes and flooring.

Pendant Lighting

For kitchens with vaulted ceilings pendant lights provide valuable ambient lighting.  They also add visual interest in the wide open space that vaulted ceilings provide.  You can choose to have one large pendant light to make a statement or have a bunch of smaller pendants.  A fun way to stage your pendant lights can be hanging them at different levels.

Ceiling Fixtures

Ceiling fixtures are still useful in kitchen lighting design as your general primary light source.  They are typically either suspended on a small stem which is called semi flush mount, or they are installed flush mount against the ceiling.

The long shop style fluorescent bulbs are gone and have been replaced with longer lasting warmer LED lights.  They can run for up to 50,000 hours and provide a more natural warmer quality of light in your kitchen.

Recessed Lighting

Recessed lights provide light for kitchen islands, sinks, countertops, and pantries. When placed around the room you will remove shadows when you’re trying to work at your island or on countertops.  Recessed lighting also removes shadows from corners and casts light to highlight your kitchen’s beautiful cabinetry and countertops.

Recessed lighting should be placed about every 5 feet of space in the ceiling.  Task lighting recessed lights are goof for work areas while wider angle lights are good for your kitchen’s ambient lighting.

Over Cabinet Lighting

Over cabinet lighting is more about providing styled light than functional light in your kitchen.  The indirect lighting that will be reflected down from your ceiling provides a soft light that’s great to leave on all night long.  In fact you can leave LED over cabinet lights on all night for about $3 dollars a year.

Under Cabinet Lighting

More and more homes are being outfitted with fine stone and marble countertops.  Under cabinet lighting provides light to illuminate these areas and provide more task lighting for dicing, cutting, mixing and rolling.  They light up your backsplash and call attention to some of the finer details in your kitchen.

Under cabinet lighting comes in 3 main types: LED strips, halogen lights, and fluorescent bulbs.  LED strips are popular as they are easy to install and are very energy efficient.

Toe-Kick Lighting

Toe-kick lighting provides the final floor level layer of lighting that can act as a night light.  Many homes choose to wire these to motion sensors, so they automatically provide soft comfort lighting for those midnight trips to get a glass of water or raid the fridge.

If you’re remodeling your kitchen a big part of it is the kitchen cabinets. This kitchen cabinet buying guide will help you answer the question “What type of cabinet should I buy?“. This guide helps you explore the world of new kitchen cabinets. It will help you choose the right design, layout, and style for your home.

Remodeling your home can be intimidating as you want to make the best decisions. It’s possible with some foresight to make great choices for kitchen cabinets. This post will help you explore what to consider before buying your new kitchen cabinetry.

Buying New Kitchen Cabinets

Before you being shopping for your new kitchen cabinets, ensure that you have a plan for the renovation of your kitchen. You need to identify the priorities and goals. You also need to have a clear vision of what the kitchen will look like, after exploring different kitchen layouts and designs as well as planning storage and space. Lastly, you need a budget that you can work with.

Factors To Consider When Selecting New Cabinets:

• Exact measurements of appliances involved with the new design
• The budget
• What type of layout will be used
• Which improvements are standard for other homes in the area
• How long will you be staying in the home?

Planning and Designing the Space

Kitchen cabinetry is a big part of designing a home and it remains an important part of measuring the value of the home. But, there is a lot to consider than the material, price and style selection. The most basic remodel can be quite costly and time consuming, so take the steps below before you begin considering products and materials.

Step 1 – Addressing resale issues

Keep your improvements consistent with the market data of other homes in the area. Think about if the space will be a resale, rental or a place that you will stay in and love for the rest of your life. It is vital that you decide the amount of time that you plan to stay in the home.

Step 2 – Determining the Scope

This really depends on your budget and the current condition of the kitchen. If your space just needs a bit of sprucing up without changing the major appliances or layout, replacing cabinet doors or painting the kitchen a new color can go a long way. When faced with cabinetry that isn’t sturdy, new construction or layout issues, you want to have new cabinetry.

Step 3 – Deciding on a layout for the kitchen

Cabinetry for the kitchen is a convenient and practical work space in any home. Before selecting a look, begin with an accurate floor plan that has been scaled with the existing space with the windows, door and other types of architectural dimensions. The location of the utilities like water and sewer connections and electricity are important to note especially if the remodel will involve any spatial reconfiguration.

Plans need to establish the location of cook-top ventilation, gas piping, air and heating registers, and electrical outlets. You will need to confirm the exact measurements of any existing or new appliances that will in the new design, which include the range, hood, refrigerator, microwave, under-cabinet wine cooler, sinks, ice makers, and dishwasher before picking cabinetry.

Step 4 – Sketching the plan

Devise a rough sketch which arranges the appliances with the most efficient use of space. Be sure to keep it simple yet accessible.  There needs to be a good path between the work triangle – refrigerator, sink, and range. Placement of task centers, appliances, accessories, and storage as well as how often they are used need to be considered. Common kitchen layouts are straight, U-shape, L-shape, island, and galley.

Step 5 – Submitting Your Design

Unless you’re a remodeling contractor by trade most homeowners choose to submit their designs to home remodeling companies.  With a rough idea of what a homeowner wants a professional kitchen remodeling consultant can help you make your dream a reality and avoid issues with building codes.  They can also help you avoid high cost remodeling decisions such as moving plumbing, electrical, and tearing down load bearing walls.  When it comes to replacing cabinetry these can be concerns, especially when you’re changing the space considerably.

Submit your kitchen cabinet design or kitchen remodel design to get started – mkremodelingdesign@gmail.com

Conclusion

Modern designs have really changed the look of traditional arrangements which have created more open, larger spaces. But, these basic layouts are still quite beneficial when it comes to determining the relationship of appliances and how close they are to each other. Unless, you are an expert DIY’er, then it is best to get the help of a architect, kitchen designer, cabinet designer, interior designer or home center specialist to find the best effective plan for the space and find the size and specifications of the cabinets. Also, check out our other post called, “Bathroom Vanity Buying Guide“.

Sliding barn doors for bathrooms are increasing in popularity every year. Not just because they are a unique and rustic way to decorate your home, but they are a space saving and durable door option. Clients all over the Phoenix Valley are search for barn doors and MK Remodeling is happy to offer custom barn doors that we design, fabricate, and install in your home. Add some style and unique appeal to your property by choosing to install a barn door from MK Remodeling!

What Is A Barn Door?

A barn door is defined as a door or set of doors which slide along a track from side to side to open and close.  Interior barn doors are those that people install to save space and offer privacy to rooms with unique style.  Barn door hardware is incredibly durable and the doors themselves are built from robust materials that stand the test of time.

Benefits Of Sliding Barn Doors for Bathrooms

Barn doors have a number of attractive benefits for home and even business owners.  Chief among the benefits is space, durability, ease of operation, and maintenance.  Barn doors might have started their life on the ranch but have made their way into the finest homes and businesses.  Take a look at some of the best benefits of barn doors.

Unique Style

Doors are just as useful as sliced bread, but traditional doors are so common as they’re not noticed.  For discerning property owners who want their offices, homes, restaurants, or stores to stand out from the crowd take advantage of unique visual cues such as barn doors and custom entryways.  The doors that stand at the space between rooms introduces the space visitors are entering and helps set a stage for exciting and unique experiences.

Space Saver

Sliding barn doors for bathrooms make it easy to get in and out of the bathroom without having to hit someone with the door as you enter or exit.  They simply slide out of way and down the track.  This means you can place furniture where a traditional door would have to have room to swing open.

Durability

The hardware and durable installation of barn doors offers incredible durability.  The doors are typically made from highly durable long-lasting woods and the hardware is some of the longest lasting imaginable.

Ease Of Operation

A Sliding barn door may have a little weight, but it is easily slide open and closed with the track systems they’re hung from.  The tracks make it easy for children and adults alike to open and close the door.

Ease of Maintenance

The hardware is also exposed as the track is install on the side of the wall and you can see the barn door hardware simply doing its job.  If a wall pocket door the slides comes off the track it can be frustrating to fix.

Bathroom Barn Door Considerations

Barn doors for bathrooms are growing in popularity as they open up floor space where a traditional door would have to swing open.  They offer the convenience of a wall pocket door without having to completely tear the wall apart to install one.  There are a number of considerations before you install a barn door for your bathroom, read through them below.

Barn Doors Bathroom Privacy

One of the considerations for barn doors for bathrooms is privacy.  Barn door hardware is made in different styles and some will hang the doors closer to the wall than others.  For bathrooms barn doors should be hung as close as possible to the wall to provide privacy for the bathroom.  It’s also a good measure to choose a door that’s sufficiently wider than the opening to help remove any conceivable privacy issues.

Bathroom doors are ones we also like to lock, and barn doors for bathrooms can be equipped with a barn door hook.  This is the best combination of elements that guarantee style and privacy.

Installation Structural Integrity

Much like any remodeling or home improvement project you need to know if your home’s structure is built robust enough for any addition or subtraction.  There’s no way to just take a peek at your wall and know if it was framed adequately to support a barn door.

Newer Homes – All modern construction is built with framing that should be able to support barn doors.  So if your home if fairly new you are probably already ready for barn doors and just need to select the door style and hardware that fits best with your style and home.

Older Homes – Older homes may need some minor reinforcing before installing barn doors. This is one of the key points that MK Remodeling can help you with.  We will examine the wall and reinforce it when needed to ensure that the doors are installed correctly and don’t compromise the wall’s structural integrity.

Barn Door Hardware

The barn door hardware does distribute the weight of the system across the header to support the door from the wall.  In addition to making sure the wall is robust enough to support the door it’s also critical to ensure the track system hardware you’ve chosen is strong enough to support the door or doors you want to install.  This can be one of the trickiest parts if a person tries to install interior barn doors themselves.

How Much Are Barn Doors?

Much like any home improvement project homeowners and property owners cost is an important question.  Property owners can choose to go with aluminum tracks and cheap doors average costs might be between $400-$650 dollars.  Custom doors with robust tracks that will last will cost between $700-$2,500+.  Exact costs will depend on the condition of your home, if any structural reinforcement needs to be done, the style of door you choose, and the barn door hardware needed to support your door style.  For more information about how much your barn door installation will cost, please give us a call.

If you’re thinking about selling your home in the near future you might be searching for “Best Bathroom Colors For Resale Of Your Home“.  Should you decide that it’s time for you to sell your home, you need to take into consideration that a few things may need to be changed so that buyers will find it to be appealing. If you are wanting to get more money for your home, it will help if you use the following colors for painting the walls. According to a recent analysis done by  Zillow, ” it is important to consider changing the color of a home’s paint if intending to sell.” After Zillow analyzed over 32,000 photos of homes that had been listed which sold all across the United States, it gave a list of the colors used for the painting in these homes that received the best results For instance, those homes that had been painted ‘griege’, which happens to be a color combination between light gray and beige, and they sold for as much as $3,496 dollars over those that had been painted with brown or tan.

Best Color Choices For Resale Of Your Home

Svenja Gudell, the chief economist of Zillow, had stated in a press release that, “Color can be used to attract buyers, more so in those that have been listed having images and videos.” By “painting the walls in a home with natural colors it gives it a fresh new look and appeal, especially if it is with shades of blue and/or pale gray. These are neutral colors that make space appear larger, and they have just enough neutral color in them to let potential buyers envision themselves living there. It could pay off really well if the kitchens and bathrooms have light blue incorporated into them, this is because this color will complement the white counter tops, and the cabinets and has become a growing trend for these two areas of the home.”

Kitchens:

A home was sold for a steeping $1,809 dollars over the average that was pointed with a light blue in combination of a soft grayish blue. Another home sold for $820 dollars less than average that was painted with a straw colored yellow to a marigold color.

Bathrooms:

There was one home that sold for $1,856 dollars over the average that had been painted a light cerulean to a cadet blue. A home that was painted in an off-white/eggshell color sold for $4,035 dollars less than the average.

Bedrooms:

Another home which sold for $1,856 dollars over the average had been painted pink, ranging from a light pink to an antique rose color. This color can be found in the rooms of children pretty often, and it sold at $208 dollars less than the average.

Dining Room Area:

A home that went for more than $1,926 dollars over the average had been painted using blue colors of slate blue to a pale grayish blue. There was a home which had sold for $2,031 dollars less than that of the average that was painted with colors of red, such as terracotta, brick red, or copper red.

The Living Area:

A home went for $1,809 dollars more than the average that was painted using colors of brown, which were light beige, oatmeal, and pale taupe. Another sold for $820 dollars less than the average which had been painted with colors of blue, such as pale silver to light blue, pastel gray, and periwinkle.

Home Exterior:

A home that had been painted on the exterior using colors of gray/brown (greige), that was mixed with gray and beige sold for $1,526 dollars more than the average. Another sold for $1,970 dollars less than average which was painted with browns, a medium brown mixed with taupe, and/or stucco.

The Front Door:

Selling for $1,514 dollars over the average was a home that had been painted with grays and blues, using a navy blue with a dark gray and/or a charcoal.

If you’re searching for a bathroom remodeling guide this post is for you.  MK Remodeling has been remodeling bathrooms for decades and has all of the vanities, tile, and flooring you will need to renew and refresh your bathroom.  Bathroom remodeling is an investment in your home that you can enjoy day in and day out.

Bathroom Remodeling Tips

When you have your bathroom remodeled by experienced professionals it will bring you years of comfort and pleasure.  However if the job is done by armatures they will miss details and not have the foresight to choose the best materials, layout, and products.

Create A Budget

To create a good budget for your bathroom remodeling project you should consider which elements need to be refreshed.  Popular bathroom remodeling items include new showers, tubs, flooring, vanities, sinks, and countertops.  Consult with one of our expert bathroom remodeling designers to help layout a budget that you can afford and get excited about bathroom remodeling.

Planning For The Unexpected

It is also a good plan to add a little for unexpected costs which are discovered during demolition.  Some bathrooms will have hidden water damage from running toilets or leaking showers and baths.  Other issues can be hidden vent stacks or items inside walls that you want to remove completely.   It may cost a little extra to reroute these items to give you the bathroom remodeling layout you want. A good rule is to plan for about 15% more than the quoted cost just as a buffer for the unexpected.

Choose Durable & Attractive Surfaces

In your home the master bathroom’s countertops, sinks, and surfaces contribute to the look of your remodeled bathroom, and they get a lot of use.  While porcelain tile is a popular product for tiles and sinks it can be prone to chipping. Sinks made from enamel-on-steel are stain-resistant and durable. Steel sinks are also incredibly durable and visually stunning. Another popular option is solid-surface sinks which mean the sink is part of the countertop and optional backsplash.  Stone countertops are also popular in the bathroom with options such as quartz and granite.

Invest In The Shower

While some people seem to take weekly or daily baths many people can count on their fingers how many times they’ve used their bath tubs.  For a lot of people daily showering is more time efficient and therefore investing in the shower gives them more value.  Homeowners are increasing the size of the shower, installing steam, better showerheads, and body sprayers.  Showers are also more pleasant with adequate lighting. LED bulbs and canister lighting are popular options for the shower.

Bigger Showers

Standard showers used to be about 3 foot by 3 foot, today’s showers are many times L shaped and about 5 foot by 7 foot.  In many cases the shower is big enough that there need not even be a door to the shower as the spray doesn’t reach outside the shower. If the master bathroom is the only area where there is a tub you should consider keeping it.

Increase Counter Space

Grooming ourselves is what we do in the bathroom and we need room to put things down such as toothbrushes, brushes, combs, blow dryers, and more.  Double sinks were popular in decades past but many modern households are choosing more counter space over his and hers sinks.  In addition to offering more space for grooming not having a second set of pipes, faucets, and hardware saves on budget and potential repairs.

Upgrade Bathroom Lighting

Older bathrooms were many times afterthoughts in terms of where they were located and if they had good lighting or natural light.  Lighting should be thought of in layers of how the light is cast.  An overhead light is great for lighting the room but will cast shadows on your face in the mirror.  Installing  sconces on the sides of your vanity or other fixtures that shine directly at you will give you the light you need to see best.

Water Efficient & Enjoyable

When low flow faucets, toilets, and showerheads first came out there was little attention given to the enjoyment of using them.  Since then premium brands of low flow showerheads have invested in developing compliant low flow products which are also luxurious and pleasurable to use.  That includes the increasingly popular rain showerheads that mimic a warm rain right in the comfort of your bathroom.

Conceal The Toilet

While all bathrooms include a toilet it can be made more discreet in your master bathroom.  It can be made to be out of sight and have more privacy if a half wall is installed or a dresser is set as a divider.  Today’s most enjoyable and luxurious bathrooms are laid out so that the toilet is situated in a more private location in the bathroom while preserving the space around it.

Upgrade Bathroom Ventilation

Ventilation for your bathroom does more than provide cleaner air for you to breathe, it preserves the condition of your bathroom.  Excessive moisture will breed mildew and mold.  Moisture can also degrade the surfaces on hardware and painted surfaces.  Installing or upgrading your bathroom fan to provide adequate ventilation will keep you healthier and preserve your bathroom’s condition. Most bathrooms will be able to use a 50 cubic foot per minute bathroom fan.  Larger bathrooms may need twice that rating, especially if a steam shower feature will be installed.