14 Best Kitchen Remodel Upgrades: Costs, Pros & Cons

You don’t have to totally remodel the kitchen this year to give it a fresh feel. These top kitchen upgrades stand on their own and deliver excellent ROI whether you stay put forever or decide to sell in the next few years.

This isn’t a “kitchen trends you will see everywhere” article. Who wants a kitchen that looks like everyone else’s?

Instead, these hot kitchen trends give you room to personalize the design to fit your vision of what the perfect kitchen should be.

Leading trends in design, color, texture, materials, and kitchen components are explored throughout to give you insight into how to customize your kitchen improvements.

Kitchen Upgrades – Two Guiding Themes

Feel free to jump down to the list and discussion of the top kitchen upgrades if you’re pressed for time.

But if you are interested in the theme and counter-theme that designers are driven by in creating the hottest kitchens this year, you might enjoy this section. It’s a 60-second read.

Theme One is the Multi-function Kitchen

In the pandemic years, day-to-day life became more focused on the home. Work from home. School from home. Stuck at home.

As a result, the kitchen, more than ever, has become the hub of the house. Austin designer Claire Zinnecker affirms what we all know, “The kitchen is the perfect multi-use room because people naturally gather here.”

Many households embrace this in their kitchen improvement choices. “Kitchen meets living room.” There are appealing ways to make this work.

Multi-purpose kitchen meets living room – open kitchen layout
Source: These Three Rooms (Design: The Shaker Kitchen Company Photography: Malcolm Menzies)

Think versatility Is this your view of the kitchen? The multi-function kitchen is a combination of components related to food plus the addition of living space. As a result, it needs a little bit of everything – decent appliances, adequate storage, a tea and coffee station, generous counter space, open shelving, a charging device station, and decor that would fit just as well in a living room. The vibe says, “relax and stay a while.” Desk space or a second island with casual seating are wonderful if the kitchen’s footprint allows.

Terminology tip – This kitchen style is also called the blended kitchen and multipurpose kitchen.

Theme Two is the Food-focused Kitchen

This is the counter-theme. Yes, home life has become busier, the outside world is crazier, and some of us want a place to get away from it all. For many, the kitchen is that place!

Think more specifically of a space designed for food preparation – a daily routine that keeps you centered on what’s most important. In this kitchen, the price of gas and the politics of the day are forgotten.

This kitchen is best outfitted with high-performance appliances, plenty of storage for food and your favorite food-prep tools, spacious countertops, a double-basin sink – and a prep sink if possible.

Average Cost To Remodel a Kitchen Typical Range: $7,190 - $23,240
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Roof Shingle Colors: How to Pick the Best Color for your Roof 

The best shingle color for your roof is one that completes your home’s exterior by giving it what it is lacking. It creates balance and helps to emphasize the best features of your home, maximizing curb appeal.

IKO Armourshake ShadowBlack Designer shingles roof

A house with a bland exterior needs shingles with color to provide visual interest.

A home exterior that already features multiple colors benefits from a solid color to prevent the overall look from being too busy.

If the home’s siding is a “warm” tone, like beige or brown, then the roof should be a neutral or warm color.

“Cool” tones like gray and blue exteriors are best complemented by black or colors on the “cool” side of a color wheel.

Black is a safe choice for any roof.

If what you’ve heard so far makes sense, read on for:

  • Tips on choosing the right shingle color for your home based on your home’s color, style, climate and more.
  • Tools available that can assist you in your search for the “perfect” asphalt shingle color.
  • A summary of Do’s and Don’ts when choosing a roof color.
  • Plenty of sample pictures to illustrate the content.

Roof Visibility, Curb Appeal & Shingle Choice

Choosing the best shingle color for your roof is critical for curb appeal and your personal enjoyment of your home.

25% – The roof accounts for around 25% of what’s visible from the curb on two-story homes or single-story homes with a moderately sloped roof.

40% or more – On single-story homes or any home with a very steep/tall roof, the roof structure is an even larger part of the view from the street.

Those aren’t just random numbers – there are important tips to be shared from the information.

The larger the roof, especially with a steep pitch, the more it makes sense to choose a medium-colored or lighter-colored roof. Large, dark roofs overwhelm a small or medium-size house, making it look top-heavy.

On the other hand, a light-colored roof that isn’t steep looks underwhelming on a two-story home. Small roofs need robust, darker color to achieve visual balance.

Start with What you Have – Siding, Trim, Shutters, Front Door

Finding the right shingle color isn’t an isolated choice. Simply picking a shade you like may or may not produce a good-looking home.

The process should start with evaluating what’s already on your house unless you are doing a complete exterior renovation. Even then, since the siding is the largest part of the picture, consider starting there. A few of the visualizers listed below allow you to choose a siding color and a roofing color.

There are two key considerations here – the “temperature” of your current exterior and how many different hues are used.

So, what are the colors of the siding, trim, shutters, gutters, and the front door – a visual focal point on any home?

Are they warm colors? Then your roof shingles should ideally be warm. And cool-colored roofing shingles best complement cool tones of siding, doors, trim, shutters, etc.

Note that complimenting your home’s siding and trim, necessarily, does requires some degree of contrast between siding and trim/shutters, and the roof.

Below is a quick explanation on what the warm and cool colors are and how to make sense of it all.

About Colors – Warm and Cool Colors

This wheel is typical of those referred to by designers and artists – anyone working with color.

*Brightness: Roof shingles are rarely as bright as the colors in the wheel, but their highlights can be.

Here are the most common color hues. As you can see, most are medium dark, other than white, rather than light. As a rule, light roofing isn’t as attractive as darker, richer tones.

Instead of being extra-bright, most have granules of more than one color with highlights that can be bright.

Average Cost To Install a new Roof Typical Range: $5,960 - $12,740
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Metal Siding Options, Costs and Pros & Cons in 2023

Residential metal siding offers five primary choices of materials: G-90 Galvanized steel, Galvalume coated steel, aluminum, zinc, and copper. Steel and Aluminum are the predominant choices when it comes to metal wall cladding systems available for residential and commercial projects.

via Bridger Steel

Zinc wall panels are considerably more expensive, but they are also more durable and longer lasting compared to steel and aluminum. Zinc panels are typically used in high-end commercial metal wall projects and roofing applications.

Copper is the more exotic and most expensive metal that can also be used in roofing and metal wall cladding applications. However, copper is rarely used as a siding material due to its high cost and highly reflective surface, which makes it far more suitable for roofing

Thanks to the remarkable durability and versatility of metal, the panels can be shaped as corrugated or ribbed, or made to mimic lap siding or vertical boards. However, metal siding doesn’t attempt to mimic stucco, stone or brick siding, as these generally constitute unique shapes.

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