| cabinets

If a kitchen or bathroom renovation is on your horizon you’ve probably spent some time thinking about what type of cabinets you want to choose. Cabinetry accounts for a large portion of your remodeling budget, so it’s important to consider your finish options carefully. Do you go with painted or stained? Each has its benefits depending on your preferred design aesthetic and your budget parameters.

This week we are dedicating our blog to a common remodeling question: Should my kitchen and bathroom cabinets match? Our recommendation is to have them either match or compliment one another in style or finish. Read on for our explanation.

Sources for home design inspiration is plentiful these days. From the variety of home renovation shows to the millions of photos on sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Houzz, you could easily spend hours (or days) getting ideas for an upcoming remodeling project. There are also gorgeous model homes and glossy magazines, not to mention places you may visit on vacation or even in your everyday life. We love to see what will trickle down from all of these sources and make its way into the remodeling designs we create for our clients.

In today’s homes, the kitchen does more than just serve as a cooking area. It’s often the main family gathering space, entertainment hub, part-time home office, and even a homework spot. These multifunctional requirements and the prevalence of open floor plans with the kitchen at the center have made design aesthetics for this space even more important. Your kitchen needs to reflect your style preferences and feel connected with the other rooms in your home.

One major component of every remodeling project is figuring out how to incorporate storage options, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. Every household accumulates “stuff” and the bigger your family is the more you will have. Thompson Remodeling has experience working with Grand Rapids families of two people to up to eight and more! We will work with you to find creative ways to accommodate all that important stuff you need to keep in each room to make it function at its best. One solution we have found to work really well is floor to ceiling cabinets. They can be integrated to match other cabinetry within a room and offer unlimited options for drawers, pullouts, cubbies and other internal organizing systems.

The holiday season is fast approaching and that means your kitchen is about to start working overtime! As you prepare for the meals, parties, and baking that the holidays bring, you may feel like your kitchen isn’t meeting your needs. And if you do, you’re not alone. This is the time of year when most people recognize the flaws in their kitchen and we get a lot of calls from folks just after the holidays that have decided it’s time for a kitchen remodel.

Our clients purchased an old house in East Grand Rapids that needed several updates to make it family friendly. The existing floor plan had an expansive formal dining room that the owners had no plans to use. It also had a small and dark kitchen with a drafty breakfast nook area. Another problem with the layout was the closed staircase, which blocked both sight and sound of the children coming and going.

How often do you have to rummage around in your kitchen cabinets trying to find that pot or gadget you are trying to find? Most of us find ourselves doing it almost daily. Fortunately, cabinets have come a long way! Now, there are all sorts of cool inserts and built-ins that you can incorporate into your cabinet layout.

One of the biggest choices you will make when planning your kitchen remodel is what type of cabinet to use – stock, semi-custom or custom. These terms refer to the production method used to make the cabinets. The key difference between each is the level of customization options available, production lead-time, and material quality. In this blog we will provide you with a description and the pros and cons of each type of kitchen cabinet.

Trends are changing, basements are now an extension of a home's look and style. A basement remodel has the potential to add function to your home. Since we are spending so much time indoors during the winter months, remodeling your basement may become a necessity.

For most homeowners, kitchen remodeling is the largest investment they will make aside from the home itself. With so many sellers vying for your business, how do you make sure you get what you want at a price that will let you cook in that new kitchen?