In addition to quality and price, another key consideration with hardwood flooring is sustainability. Many of the popular hardwoods used for flooring come from exotic woods that are harvested from our diminishing rain forests around the world.

With the growing interest around sustainable building materials, coconut wood flooring provides a luxurious hardwood flooring solution that is also environmentally friendly.

Coconut wood comes from the palm family. Coconut palms are some of the fastest growing trees in the world. They rejuvenate much faster than most hardwood species, growing to full maturity in 5 to 6 years. This makes the Coconut Palm a sustainable resource.

Coconut wood for flooring is harvested from coconut palm plantations at the end of the tree’s coconut bearing years. Typically, coconut palms produce nuts (coconuts) for up to 80 years. At the end of their coconut bearing life span, the palm trees are then harvested for their wood, and replaced with new palms.

It’s interesting to note that the coconut timber byproduct from felled coconut palms that have reached the end of their effective nut producing years, has had no developed secondary market. This useful and renewable hardwood resource has frequently gone unused prior to more recent trends to leverage the wood for coconut flooring products and other palmwood applications.

Coconut wood can vary widely in density and hardness. The hardest coconut wood is found at the perimeter or outer ring of the palm trunk. The closer you get to the center of the Palm stem, the softer the wood. For durability, it’s important that you find a coconut flooring manufacturer that uses only the hardest wood from the outer perimeter of the palm stem.

Coconut wood flooring products are manufactured in a similar manner to bamboo flooring. Coconut wood is naturally a light tan color, and the darker honey-brown colors are achieved through “carbonized” coloring processes. The flooring is offered in vertical, horizontal or strand configurations, also similar to the bamboo flooring products.

Durapalm®, a palmwood flooring product from Smith & Fong, is manufactured from plantation grown coconut palms, which are abundant throughout the world.

Coconut palm lumber can vary greatly in color and density. Smith & Fong uses only the hard, dark palm for a luxurious look and superior durable surface.

Better quality palmwood can range in price up to $9.00 per square foot or more.

Compared to other traditional hardwood flooring solutions, high quality coconut wood flooring may be better suited for the more expensive home remodeling projects.

For more hardwood flooring ideas, contact Z.Z. Daily Construction about your next home remodeling project.

Hardwood floors provide a luxurious and beautiful improvement for your home. They can also be expensive, and with the growing interest and concern about sustainable and renewable building materials, many have turned to the fake laminate flooring products.

But there may be another choice to consider …

Bamboo flooring may be an ideal alternative hardwood flooring solution for you. Bamboo is an eco-friendly, totally renewable material. A member of the grass family, bamboos are the fastest growing woody plants in the world. While it may take over 100 years to replace a hardwood tree such as a Brazilian teak, bamboo reaches full maturity suitable for hardwood applications in about 4 years, and can actually regenerate without replacing or replanting (remember, bamboo is a grass).

Typically, bamboo flooring products have had durability issues. Generally softer than the hardwood flooring materials, bamboo floors have a reputation of being prone to dents, nicks and scratches. But this “softness” legacy may be more an issue in the past. New manufacturing techniques have improved and some of the better bamboo flooring products available today are actually quite durable and sturdy.

Consumer reports has tested bamboo flooring products in the past and found the same typical issues with durability. However, for the first time in a recent test, consumer reports has found the best bamboo flooring products actually out-performed the top selling oak.  See the following video.

Different Types of Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo flooring is typically made by slicing bamboo poles into strips, destarched through a boiling process, glued into boards, and milled. There are basically four different bamboo flooring types:

• Horizontal Grain:  bamboo strips glued on top of one another to form a surface.
• Vertical Grain: bamboo strips glued side-by-side in longer, narrow bands
• Grainless or Stranded: shredded bamboo is pressed together with a binding agent. This method generally produces the most dense and hardest flooring product.
• Engineered: bamboo veneer is applied over a substrate.

With the various bamboo flooring types, some of the binding and gluing processes often use formaldehyde agents. These resins and binding agents are responsible for releasing certain levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

By comparison, bamboo products use far less of these volatile compounds than other materials such as particle board (which is far more prevalent throughout many homes).  Today, you’ll find many more manufacturers sensitive to modern environmental concerns have come up with a greater range of environmentally friendly bamboo products.

EcoTimber Bamboo Flooring, courtesy of hardwoodinstaller.com

You may be surprised by the range of bamboo flooring choices you have.

At the lower range, the prices can be more attractive than the hardwood floor counterparts, but durability and quality may be an issue.

With the higher end bamboo floor products, the pricing is comparable to hardwood floor materials, and the durability has improved considerably. As suggested by recent Consumer Reports testing, bamboo flooring durability can actually surpass some of the hardwood products including oak.

For the most part, bamboo flooring installation is similar to installing hardwood floors. But it’s best to find a flooring installer with bamboo floor experience.

And Remember, try to have your your hardwood floors installed toward the end of a remodeling project to avoid your new floors becoming damaged while other work is completed.

You have many kitchen cabinet choices, but you can break it down to three basic approaches, with a fourth option you may not have considered.

• At the top end, you can go with completely customized cabinets. You hire a custom cabinet builder to build you tailor made cabinets from scratch. This is the most expensive category, and can easily start at $20,000 and up. With this approach, everything depends on the expertise, fine craftsman skills and experience of your cabinet builder. If you have an unusual floor or space plan, or you’re interested in some unique cabinet designs, this may be the best way to go. By the way, we have many years of experience with custom cabinetry fabrication and installation at Z.Z Daily Construction.
• Premium brand pre-manufactured cabinets from companies like KraftMaid.  Premium brand cabinet manufactures can offer excellent quality, choices of materials, a variety of hardware options, and  with many designs and styles to choose from. Most cabinets come in standard dimensions and sizes, so you have a little less flexibility than with custom cabinets when it comes to odd sizes and dimensions to fit your ideal kitchen plan. Kitchen cabinets in this category typically run between $10,000 and $20,000 for the average kitchen remodel.
• Budget priced kitchen cabinets from the big home improvement centers like Home Depot and Lowes. Many customers start here when shopping for cabinets, most likely because of the familiarity, and a sense that this will be the money saving choice. We generally don’t recommend the home centers for kitchen cabinets. These cabinets tend to be fairly low quality, inferior materials and construction, and poor hardware options.  In the end, many folks don’t actually save that much money with the home center cabinet choices.  Worse yet, you can end up stuck with kitchen cabinets that leave you dissapointed everytime you step into your kitchen, and you may have to live with this choice for years.

A fourth option, which you may not have thought about, is Ikea for kitchen cabinets. Ikea Kitchen Cabinets offer solid quality, good materials, durable construction, nice hardware upgrades and are available in many styles and designs.

And Ikea cabinets are easier on the budget, coming in at substantially lower prices than the premium brands. Sometimes as much as a 1/3 the cost.

In fact, in some cases, people have found Ikea cabinets lower in price than selections at the home improvement centers, and Ikea kitchen cabinets are definitely better quality than what you’ll find at outlets like Home Depot.

There are thousands of satisfied customers that are delighted with their Ikea choice, and we’re happy to recommend Ikea if you’re thinking about going in this direction.

One important consideration when choosing Ikea for your kitchen cabinets. Find a qualified Ikea kitchen cabinet installer. Z.Z. Daily Construction has a lot of experience installing Ikea kitchens.

If you’re looking for a skilled and qualified company out here in the Ventura, Ojai and Santa Barbara area to help you with your Ikea kitchen cabinet installation, be sure to contact us at Z.Z. Daily Construction. We’d like to help make sure your next kitchen remodel comes out a huge success!

Cleanboard, a San Francisco based drywall startup, is a new company with a slightly different twist on a drywall product manufactured using a more environmentally friendly process. Cleanboard promotes their ecology friendly drywall product as “the most environmentally friendly drywall on earth“.

CleanBoard has created a solar powered system that uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays on a heat collector which heats a transfer fluid to store the sun’s radiant energy. The heated transfer fluid heats the drywall baking ovens up to 200 degrees Celsius. And the transfer fluid can store the heat in pressurized chambers up to 24 hours enabling the company to manufacture drywall even on days when the sun isn’t shining.

The traditional gypsum drywall manufacturing process typically relies on fuel expensive gas fired ovens that represent a significant carbon footprint. Moving to a solar based technology to heat the ovens provides a carbon free solution and should reduce the energy costs to manufacture the drywall by more than 50%.

The solar powered drywall facility will be based in the Mojave Desert where an almost year-round supply of radiant sunshine is available. CleanBoard expects to be in full production able to produce 2 million square feet of drywall in 2010, with projections to expand production to 10 million square feet of drywall in 2011, and the ability to produce a peak volume of 100 million square feet of drywall.

Today’s homeowners are not just interested in remodeling their homes for beauty, comfort and convenience. Improving the energy efficiency in their homes and protecting the environment are becoming increasingly important home improvement considerations as well.

Keeping an eye out for environmentally friendly and energy efficient building materials will help you make the best green remodeling decisions for your next home improvement project.

One such company, Serious Materials, has released a new drywall product they call EcoRock. The company claims this is the first significant change in the way that sheetrock is manufactured in over 100 years, and has recently won the Popular Science GreenTech award for best of what’s new in ‘08.

For environmentally conscious home builders and home remodelers that are looking for better sustainable building materials solutions, EcoRock may be an interesting advancement worth looking into.

EcoRock improves on traditional gypsum sheetrock in several ways.

• Uses 80% less energy to manufacture than gypsum drywall.  Traditional gypsum wallboard manufacturing processes uses energy intensive drying ovens to fabricate drywall. EcoRock is naturally dried and cured using an oven-free process that consumes much less energy to manufacturer.
• Made of 80% recycled materials - made using recycled industrial waste products including waste from steel and cement plants. No gypsum is used to manufacture EcoRock.
• Mold and Termite resistant – outperforms all other mold resistant drywall as much as 50%. And no harsh anti-fungal chemicals are used to make EcoRock.
• Can be fully recycled at end of life – can be used as a pH additive for soils and can be returned to the production of EcoRock and other building materials as a useful raw material. And unlike gypsum drywall materials, EcoRock can be safely disposed of in landfills if necessary.

According to the manufacturer, EcoRock should be available from building material suppliers in the Western states later in 2009. The manufacturer indicates there is no difference in hanging, taping and installing EcoRock over standard drywall products.  The cost for the new drywall building material is not currently published, but expect it to be higher priced than gypsum based wallboard.

Creative Green Remodeling Ideas

There are so many creative ways to apply green home improvement ideas. For example, if you enjoy a climate like we do here in Southern California that promotes the integration of an indoor and outdoor lifestyle, consider the following creative application of an outdoor shower.

This concept, courtesy of Jeremy Levine Design, provides an enclosed open-air shower off of the indoor bathroom.  The outdoor shower offers a serene exposure to the open air while protecting your personal privacy.

The green friendly design recycles the shower water into a grey water garden outside. An aesthetic and pleasing lifestyle design that is smart for the environment as well!

photo credit: Jeremy Levine Design

The possibilities for green remodeling concepts are wide-open, but most homeowners choose to start with the basics first. Here are five of the more common green remodeling improvements that you might consider for your next remodeling project.

Five Green Home Improvements That Save You Money

• High Efficiency Heating System – Depending on where you live, heating your home can consume as much as 35% of your overall home energy bill. Today, new high-efficiency heating systems can significantly reduce your heating costs, sometimes by as much as 50%. Look for units with AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency ratings defined by the US Department of Energy) of 90 or better. And don’t forget the insulation in your home. Upgrading your heating system for energy efficiency is a waste if poor insulation simply allows the heat to escape.
• High Efficiency Air Conditioner – If you live in a warm climate, air conditioning is a must have. Surprisingly, air conditioning in the US accounts for approximately 5% of the total energy consumption and costs American homeowners $11 billion annualy. Many of the modern air conditioning systems are designed for much improved energy efficiency and can save significant costs on your monthly energy bill. Energy Star rated units are required to have SEER ratings of 13 or higher. Some of the highest energy efficient air conditioning models on the market today actually have SEER ratings of 20 and higher. Higher SEER ratings means you save more money!
• High Efficiency Replacement Windows – One of the most popular home improvement upgrades, modern energy efficient windows can reduce your home energy usage by as much as 50% year round. And today’s window upgrades will add beauty, comfort, convenience and security to your home. With this kind of energy conservation performance, upgrading the windows in your home can often pay for itself in a few short years. Look for Low-E coatings, multiple-paned windows, insulated frames and remember that proper installation is important to get good results.
• High Efficiency Insulation – One of the often overlooked opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of your home and reduce your monthly bill is home insulation. Don’t make the mistake of putting your investment in high efficiency furnaces, air conditioning systems and windows without attending to the insulation as well. Leaky windows and doors and poorly insulated attics cost you money and are good places to start. A professional can help you determine where your biggest insulation opportunities reside in your home.
• High Efficiency Appliances – your home appliances consume a big chunk of your energy usage each month. Today’s modern appliances, including dish washers, refrigerators, ovens, washing machines and dryers, can reduce energy consumption by as much as 45%. When choosing your appliances, look for the Energy Star rating to determine the level of energy efficiency.

Going green is a smart, win-win move all the way around. You not only save money on your monthly bills, you will benefit the environment and help better preserve our precious resources.

And don’t forget, many of the energy efficient green remodeling upgrades will qualify for tax credits, which make these green improvements even more compelling.

To find out more how you can benefit from green remodeling, contact Z.Z. Daily Construction today!

Originally, these residential home improvement tax credits were set to expire in 2009.

Well, here’s some good news. These energy based tax credits have been extended through the end of 2010.

Energy Based Home Improvement Tax Credits

First established by congress and signed into law by President George Bush in 2005, the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) provides tax credits to individuals for a number of energy conservation home improvements.

The tax incentives offered are credits, not deductions. A tax deduction discounts the tax payer’s gross income which lowers the amount of income on which taxes must be paid.  A tax credit differs from a tax deduction by directly reducing the amount of taxes owed rather than decreasing gross income. Most homeowners regard tax credits as more beneficial.

These energy conservation credits were initially set to expire in different years, with the first expiration dates starting in 2009. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has extended many of the consumer energy tax incentives through the end of 2010.

Remember, always consult your accountant or tax specialist first to fully understand the specific tax benefit you might receive. The current tax laws are subject to change, and these various tax credits are scheduled to expire at different times.

Many improvements that qualify an individual for the tax credit are Energy Star-certified. Energy Star ratings were created by the Environmental Protection Agency to inform consumers of the most efficient products. An Energy Star rating means that the improvement meets specific levels for energy efficiency in categories relevant to that product.

Tax Credits Reward You For Improving Home Energy Efficiency

Consumers who purchase and install specific products, such as energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and heating and cooling equipment in existing homes are eligible to receive a tax credit for 30% of the cost, not to exceed $1,500. The improvements have to be placed into service starting January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010.  For more details, see EnergyStar.gov for a complete summary of energy efficiency tax credits available to consumers.

Keep in mind tax credit for roofs, insulation, doors and windows applies only to the cost of materials and not to installation costs.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits For Residential Applications

Another interesting category of tax credits that benefit consumers focuses around renewable energy.  Homeowners who install solar energy systems (including solar water heating and solar electric systems), small wind systems, geothermal heat pumps, and residential fuel cell and microturbine systems can receive a 30% tax credit for systems placed in service before December 31, 2016.  The previous tax credit cap no longer applies.

Don’t Wait To Take Advantage of These Tax Incentives

While these tax incentive extensions are definitely good news, don’t delay. Tax laws and initiatives are always subject to change, and these energy conservation tax credits won’t remain available indefinitely.

It takes some time to do the proper planning and homework before you undertake these type of home improvement projects. So best to get started now. Many of these energy saving home improvements fall under the “home maintenance” category.

For example, if you’ve been in your home awhile, or you just moved into an older home, you may already be facing a roof replacement or repair in the next five years anyway. Why not take advantage of these tax credits now, and think about doing that roof work a little sooner?

How about those window upgrades you’ve been thinking about, but keep putting off? Today’s modern energy efficient windows not only save on your energy bill and improve the beauty and value of your home, if you get in now, you’ll also qualify for some significant tax saving credits.

Energy conservation home improvements create benefits in many ways

• Save you money on your energy bill
• Many qualify for tax credits and savings
• Improve the value of your home
• Green remodeling helps protect the environment

Not only can you feel good about improving your home, these energy conservation improvements fall under the growing “green home remodeling” trend, and that’s good for the environment.

But you need to act before these energy tax credits expire.

Contact Z.Z. Daily Construction if  you’d like to find out more about energy saving home improvements.

1. Cabinet Organizers and Lazy Susans

How often do you find yourself rummaging through your kitchen cabinets for that skillet or sauce pan that just seems to have disappeared? And where’s that favorite utensil that you haven’t been able to track down for months? Must be hiding in the back of one of your cabinets somewhere. And be honest, would you pull out the Cuisinart more often if you didn’t have to get on the floor on your hands and knees to dig it out of the cabinet?

You can greatly improve convenience in your kitchen with cabinet organizers and lazy susans that make your cabinet interiors visually accessible and easily reachable.

These storage enhancements make it simple to see what you do and don’t have, and you no longer have to pull everything out of a cabinet to get at an item that’s hiding all the way in the back.

2. Upgrade to a Modern Dishwasher

Today’s modern dishwashers have come a long way. With larger capacities, improved cleaning power, separate compartments, and quiet operation, dishwashers today are more advanced and convenient than ever.

Even better, many of the newer dishwashers can provide all of these improvements and extra cleaning capabilities with better energy and water saving features than the model you currently have!

Top end models are in the $1300 to $1500 range, with many outstanding choices under $1000.

3. Convection Ovens

Some of the manufacturers have created some confusion about convection cooking. First, let’s clear up the confusion on convection ovens. Simply enough, a convection oven has a built-in fan inside the oven cavity that circulates the heated air throughout the oven and evenly around the food.  This has three main benefits:

• Heats up the food evenly front to back, top to bottom, side to side.
• Can speed up the cooking time by constantly forcing the heated air around the food.
• Creates a surface “skin” of heat around the food which enhances browning, seals flavor in, and prevents flavor transfer (flavors mixing together between two items cooking at the same time).

With convection cooking, trays of cookies and appetizers will cook evenly and quickly. Better yet,  you can load up the oven on every rack and still get even and consistent results. And preventing flavor transfer means you can cook different items such as fish and bread together at the same time and and avoid an undesirable blend of flavors from between the two.

Convection ovens cost more than regular ovens. But many kitchen chefs swear they will never go back to a conventional oven after using a convection oven.

4. Hanging Pot and Pan Racks

Add convenience and easy access to your pots and pans with a hanging rack. Putting your cookware on display with a hanging rack also adds visual appeal to your kitchen. And getting your cookware out of the cabinets helps you recover more storage space.

If you’re looking to save on the budget, wall mounted racks are less expensive. Typical prices for hanging racks prices are in the $100 to $200 range, with a number of attractive options for under $100.

5. Ventilation Hoods and Exhaust Fans

If your cooktop gets frequent use, don’t overlook a good ventilation system for the kitchen. Cooking can churn out plenty of smoke and airborne contaminants.

There’s no question, food smells great while it’s cooking, but smoke and contaminants can turn into unpleasant odors  that linger throughout the house for several days.  Even more so if you have upgraded the insulation and windows in your home, which can further trap stale air inside. With an effective kitchen ventilation system, you can easily eliminate the lingering odors and help keep your house smelling fresh and clean.

Modern ventilation hoods are equipped with larger capacity blowers that can move higher volumes of air and and provide much better ventilation. Prices range with many options under $1000 on up to $2500 or more for higher-end designer models.

Make sure you do your home remodel planning first

Proper planning helps you avoid the rush. Most homeowners underestimate the number of decisions they need to make before they even get the construction underway. When you don’t give yourself sufficient time to plan up front, you’ll tend to make hasty decisions that you’ll either want to change later. Or worse, in your hurry to get moving, you’ll overlook an important consideration that can cost you much more after you’ve started to build.

A rule of thumb to remember; Anything you have to re-do a second time to get it right will always cost more than doing it right the first time.

Whether working with a designer or consulting with your contractor for ideas and advice, the variety of decisions you’ll need to work through will add up quickly. You’ll do better if you give yourself the proper time to cover the planning phase up front, and go in with a positive attitude. Enjoy the planning steps and make it fun.

Choosing appliances, materials , plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, cabinets, windows, skylights, flooring, paint and colors, etc., is a time consuming process and a lot of ground to cover. Having a professional designer or an experienced contractor to lean on for advice and ideas and help guide you through the maze of choices, options and costs can truly be a life saver.

When you give yourself the proper time up-front, you’ll have several advantages:

• You give yourself a better chance to take advantage of great sales and seasonal specials.
• You can talk to family and friends for more input and advice. Don’t be afraid to leverage the experience of those you trust.
• You’ll have the time to call and visit the references furnished by your contractor or designer. There’s nothing better than to see their work first hand.
• Remember, you’ll be living with your home remodel choices and decisions for many years to come.

Home remodel planning – next steps.

Once you take the first pass at your set of choices, preferences and ideas, your first round of project bids may come in over budget. This can kick off a whole new round of choices and decisions. You may need to alter designs, re-draw some plans, make some alternate materials choices, choose some different appliances, or simply defer some of the work into a later phase.

And don’t forget murphey’s law. If the unexpected ever applied to anything, it definitely applies to complex jobs like a home remodel. It’s almost a guarantee that sooner or later, something will come up that you don’t expect. Always build extra time into your final remodeling plan, and allow for the unexpected including an illness, bad weather, delayed permits, supply and materials backorders, etc.

Setup for an enjoyable home remodel

It’s unrealistic to expect you won’t encounter problems and challenges along the way. But there’s no question, you’ll preserve your sanity if you take the time to put a sufficient plan in place up front.

Stay ahead of things around a home remodel project from the start. With proper planning in advance, you’ll be better able to enjoy the remodeling process along the way, rather than feel like you’re struggling and trudging through to get to the finish line.

While homeowners may be getting more cautious given the current market conditions, kitchen remodels still remain a key area of focus for homeowners looking to improve the beauty, functionality and value of their home.

Your kitchen can be one of the more expensive projects. You’ve seen some of the very extravagant kitchen upgrades in home decor and designer magazines. These high-end kitchen remodels can cost as much as $100,000 or more. While beautiful to admire, that’s probably beyond the budget of most Americans looking to improve their kitchen.

If you’re considering a kitchen upgrade, here are a few ways to get the most for your money.

Always start with a plan. According to a recent Consumer Reports Survey, people who did less homework before they began their home-improvement projects reported more problems. Nearly 25% of the over 2,000 homeowners surveyed said they wished they had done more research or chosen a professional contractor more carefully. One of the more common complaints was that the job wasn’t finished on time.

Keep a planning workbook. As you work through the planning stage, stay organized with a planning workbook. Keep a file of clippings from magazines including styles and products you like. Studies show that homeowners change their mind more frequently with kitchen remodels than other projects. Work with your contractor or designer to thoroughly understand your options, clarify your preferences, and understand your budget.

Set a Spending Limit. Speaking of budget, the kitchen is one of the easiest projects to get away from you when it comes to spending money. If you set an upper spending limit based on what you can afford, this will help manage a little discipline as you plan your kitchen project. According to surveys, homeowners spend an average of $10,000 to $15,000 to remodel an existing kitchen layout, and upwards of $25,000 or more when changing the floor plan. Cabinets, for example, can contribute to more than 50% of the kitchen upgrade cost.

Consider Faux-Pro Appliances. Professional and designer level appliances can really hit your budget. Cooktops and ranges such as Wolf or Viking can run as much as $4,000 or more for these top end kitchen appliances. While the designer label and highest price may stroke your ego, the most expensive price tag does not necessarily mean top quality or reliability.  Surprisingly, in some cases, consumers tend to report higher than expected repair and maintenance on some of the top name designer appliances. Do consider the faux-pro appliances. You have many options today of sleek, top-performing appliances that will give you the pro-style look and functionality at a fraction of the price. For example, you can find excellent gas ranges that offer stainless trim for under $1,000.

Don’t forget cabinet performance. Cabinets are a top priority focus in many kitchen remodels. While the aesthetic look and beauty of the cabinets is obviously very important to homeowners, don’t overlook the performance and functionality. Your cabinets get frequent use. Well-built drawers and guides are critical since they get so much use (and some abuse). You may not need solid hardwood or plywood cabinets, with advances made in sturdy particleboard construction. A luxurious veneer applied to a particleboard cabinet can get the job done without killing your budget. Often, homeowners don’t realize their old cabinets may actually be OK quality. A new veneer upgrade, or an affordable stain and refinish may be all that’s needed to restore the beautiful external appeal, and an a hinge and bracket upgrade along with new, better performing drawer guides and shelf runners may have you falling in love with your cabinets all over again.

Don’t neglect the countertops. Countertops are one area where you can achieve beauty and practicality at the same time. At the higher end of the price range, engineered stone and granite are top performers. To save on the budget, consider laminates which are more economical and still deliver versatility and durability.  Countertops are priced by the square foot, but the price can vary widely across the variety of materials and options. Most important, don’t overlook the installer and fabricator. An experienced and qualified installer and fabricator can make all the difference between a less than satisfying result, and a truly beautiful job that you’ll enjoy for years.

For more ideas and options you can consider for your next kitchen remodel or upgrade, don’t hesitate to contact Z.Z. Daily Construction.