Apart from building an extension to their home, one of the most expensive projects that any family does is a kitchen makeover. Some people actually do both – that is, build an extension to enlarge the kitchen – because many homes have kitchens that are small, and it is becoming more and more common to spend time in the kitchen.

Many families today don’t just cook in the kitchen and wash up. They eat in the kitchen as well, and that means that there needs to be dining space which can be an island or a dining table and chairs, all of which takes up room. But families will have dinner in the kitchen, which now has a TV on the wall, and then sit back and watch Eastenders or Corrie afterwards. People also entertain guests in the kitchen for a meal.

Carrying out a kitchen makeover is a good idea from the point of view of adding value to the home as well. In fact, some people who are planning on moving in the next year or two will undertake a kitchen makeover for that very reason: potential buyers will be impressed, and as long as they like the décor will realise that they won’t need to do it themselves.

So, there can certainly benefits to carrying out a kitchen makeover. But what sort of things will make the biggest difference? And what sort of budget do you have? Your budget is going to dictate how much you can do unless you are in the fortunate position where money is no object.

In many cases, you will be able to keep the appliances unless they are getting really old. Of course, if part of the reason for the makeover is that you want to install a range in place of that old cooker, then the cooker will have to go. But by and large, the fridge and freezer can stay, as can the dishwasher, the washing machine, and tumble dryer.

One of the things that you can do cheaply, and which will make a big difference to the appearance, is to paint the doors of the cabinets. That will achieve an instant and dramatic effect and is a lot cheaper than buying new cabinets. The next thing that you could do is to simply change the doors of the cabinets. It is more expensive than painting them, but you may want to change them over to a wood door instead of the Formica ones that you currently have.

Two other things that will make a big difference to the kitchen are the floor and the worktops. They are both in the horizontal plane and they take up quite a lot of space.

Of course, you may already have a tiled floor and be happy with it, in which case there is no need to change that, but the worktops are another thing entirely. They most definitely catch the eye.

Of course, there are a lot of different materials that you can use for worktops, such as laminates, wood, stainless steel, natural stone, engineered stone, and more, but today the material of choice for many is stone. Natural stone includes marble, granite, quartzite, and limestone, and they all have their pros and cons. However, many people today are opting for quartz worktops in Luton. Quartz is an engineered stone which is made from powdered quartz which is the second most common material on the planet after feldspar.

Quartz is made by mixing approximately 93% of powdered quartz with polymers and pigments and fusing them under extreme heat and pressure. It produces slabs which are inherently durable, and impervious to stains because it is totally non-porous. So, any of the usual kitchen spills which can damage other surfaces are not going to affect quartz. All it needs is a quick wipe over. Because it is non-porous, it is perfect for the preparation of food as it cannot harbour any mould or bacteria. As with most other worktops you must not put hot pans down on quartz but always use a trivet.

Quartz is available in a range of different colours, and at Marble & Granite we can provide you with quartz worktops from the major manufacturers such as Caesarstone, Silestone, Quarella, Cimstone, Compac, and several more.