Preparing to remodel your kitchen? Don’t go any further until you have read our guide on the common mistakes people make in this area.

1. When choosing a kitchen design make sure it fits in with the style of the rest of the house. A country cottage style kitchen in a modern loft apartment would not fit for example. You want the house to have a generic theme so all the rooms flow effortlessly into one another.

2. Selecting beautiful cabinets is of course very important but only half the battle. Make sure when choosing a kitchen you are considering your storage requirements. It’s no use having a stunning kitchen if you can’t store any food there! Consider our stylish range or storage accessories, which will maximise the space you have.

3. Purple cabinets could look great for a little while but it probably won’t be too long before they are not what you want to see in your kitchen. Inject your personality into the kitchen with fun accessories, colourful worktops and interesting flooring but make sure you choose cabinets that you and the family can live with for the next 15 years or so. Whatsmore, if you have neutral cabinets, you can revamp your worktops and accessories on a more regular and cheaper basis.

4. It is understandable that you want to get as involved as possible in the remodelling and fitting of your new kitchen. However, it is a massive task for one person and if you have a full time job this could be a strain. Assistance from kitchen designers, contractors and architects is crucial, but be sure to partner with licensed and insured professionals you get along well with.

5. Tomorrow never comes…….? It is useful to design your kitchen around your current needs, for example lowered worktops for the junior members of the family. However in ten years, what was once a great help is now redundant. Keep the future in mind as well as the present. Ergonomic choices like raised dishwashers will keep your kitchen easy to use as you grow older.

6. You might not have considered lighting at all yet. Maybe it will be a last minute job when the kitchen is complete, but it is a crucial aspect of the room. It is recommended that you come up with a workable lighting plan and save around 10% of your budget for it. It would be a shame to have a wonderful new kitchen ruined by inferior lighting. Lighting adds to the safety of your kitchen, highlights features and your cabinets will look the colour they are meant to as there will be no murky shadows cast over them, due to insufficient lighting. There are exciting lighting ranges on the market so this needn’t be a dull part of the project.

7. "It's my kitchen and I’ll change it if I want to!" That is the buyers prerogative, however be prepared for the additional costs and time this will add to the project. It is important that you are happy with the final result therefore making changes is good. This may not seem quite as good though when your change has a major knock on effect. For example, worktops need to be re-cut, the plumber has to come back again and again………..the cost will be soaring. Make sure you are clear in your head about the plans before commencing.

8. You may have thought that remodelling your kitchen only involved changing those worktops and cabinets. But if you are changing one thing, why not take the opportunity to play with the whole room. Did you always grumble about how far the fridge was from the cooker? Why don’t you reposition it, taking the “Magic Triangle” in account? With a little more work the options are endless. The room could be completely changed with everything in a new position.

9. It may be an exciting prospect but going at your old kitchen with a bulldozer may not be necessary. Write a list of appliances and storage solutions etc that you can salvage which will save you money in the long run.

10. Be realistic with your needs. If you are more of a microwave chef then a top-of-the-range turbo range cooker and a kitchen full of equipment is possibly overkill, and very expensive. It may look stunning in the new kitchen but if its not going to be used to capacity, stick to the essentials.