The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) has numerous kitchen design books and manuals. The primary one is 340 pages long! It must have 200 or more design ideas. Here are 20 ideas when designing a kitchen that I think are important.
Contractor interview questions are important to finding a pro for your job. Here are 20 questions to ask a contractor to help you know what you might expect from the professional you choose.
If you are not currently disabled, but are past the age of 60, it might be a good idea to start thinking of what you would do in your kitchen in the event you start to lose your motor skills. The simplest tasks become tough or impossible! It will be worth your time and effort to explore all of the design options, called universal design, that will allow you to use a current kitchen if you are fully capable, but yet change it slightly to accommodate a person who becomes partially disabled.
The key to building and or remodeling a kitchen that will be barrier free lies in the planning and design phase. You should attempt to talk with physical therapists and occupational therapists who work to rehabilitate people who become disabled. They can be found in almost every major hospital and can point you in the direction of people who work in this field each and every day. Often they will be more than happy to share with you tips and the latest barrier-free suggestions/products in the marketplace.
Construction contracts can be very complex or they can be simple. The best ones I have seen contain easy to understand language and are written as a person talks. The sentences are short, concise and clear. You know exactly what is going to happen. You can get into trouble with contracts if they become long, complicated and wordy. In fact, some contracts are so goofed up that they actually contain conflicting statements!
Deposit clauses, insurance warranties and escrow? You'll have to know the following terms and more in order to write construction contracts. Here is a list of 15 helpful clauses to know before you sign a construction contract.
One of my editors asked me to write this particular column. We were together with several other people in the press lounge at the National Association of Home Builders Show in Dallas, Texas. One of the people in the group needed to hire a contractor and asked me exactly how to spot a pro. Once I finished answering the question, the editor said that she wanted me to write a column about the same subject.
There are many, many different trade magazines. Virtually each aspect of building and remodeling has its own. For example, there are ones that cover just concrete, brick, heating and cooling, roofing, tile, etc. There simply are not enough hours in the day to read all of them!
The following contractor questions may make a few of you uncomfortable. You may gulp at trying to ask them. Well, before you give up, I want you to close your eyes and imagine $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 of your money just vanishing in thin air. If you hire the wrong contractor for your job, this is a distinct possibility. I know, because I get numerous e-mails each week from people who have been cheated by bad contractors.
Homeowners across the nation are victimized each and every day by builders and remodelers who really don't know what they are doing. These builders and remodelers are often referred to as non-professionals. While that is true, very few people that I have come into contact with have ever discussed the root of the problem. Unfortunately, many problems occur long after the contractor is gone.
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