4 Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills Thanks to a Home Remodel
Looking to save money on energy bills? A
kitchen remodel could help you do it. With smart choices and changing your day-to-day practices, you could be enjoying a brand-new kitchen without sending more of your hard-earned cash to the utility company.
As Kansas City
bathroom and kitchen remodeling contractors, NextGen Remodeling can help you plan the layout of your new kitchen to maximize your square footage and give all your kitchen accessories their own places. And when you tell us energy efficiency is on your list of improvements to make, we’ll do everything we can to get you to your kitchen goals.
Swap Out Your Old Light Fixtures for LEDs
If you’re remodeling your older kitchen, it’s likely that it’s lit with traditional light bulbs and fixtures, including in your under-cabinet lighting. One of the fastest ways you can make a dent in your energy consumption is to swap out these dated light fixtures for some that use LED or other energy-efficient lighting.
Today’s LED bulbs will fit in your cabinet-mounted lights, ceiling-mounted lights, and even your can lights, and they use up to 75 percent less energy than their counterparts. Plus, you’ll change them less frequently, as LED bulbs are known to last about ten times longer.
And if you find your current kitchen too dark, ask NextGen Remodeling to add more lighting during your kitchen remodel. If you use energy-efficient bulbs, you’ll still use less electricity in your brightened room than you did with traditional bulbs and fewer fixtures.
Appliance Tips for Your Small Kitchen Remodel
Our clients choose and order their own appliances for their kitchen remodels. This ensures they get exactly what they want – and we make sure that their new kitchens fit them perfectly.
When choosing new appliances for your kitchen, look for those that are Energy Star certified. The showroom you choose them from will label them as such, and that label will provide information on just how much energy the appliance uses. Energy Star is a federal program that rewards appliance manufacturers for products that meet strict energy-efficiency standards set forth by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
When your gorgeous kitchen remodel is complete, and you’re cooking a family meal, be mindful about which burner you use on the stove. You can do so by matching the pan size to the burner size. This produces the right amount of heat and doesn’t waste energy.
Unplug Small Appliances You Aren’t Using – And Give Them a Home Inside a Custom Cabinet
Your new gourmet kitchen is probably full of the small appliances that make your daily life easier: your coffeemaker, your blender, your toaster oven, or even a countertop mixer. But if you’re keeping all of these plugged in 24/7, then you’re actually wasting energy – even if they’re shut off.
Your best bet for energy efficiency in your kitchen remodel is to unplug any small appliance when they aren’t in use. We also recommend having your
kitchen remodeling contractor – like NextGen Remodeling – install custom cabinets that house each of your small appliances to make them easy to reach when you need them.
A number of specialty hardware pieces are available to lift heavy countertop appliances out of the cabinet – or you could even have a sliding door that keeps them out of sight, but still on your countertop. Our designer can get creative in helping you find solutions and pick out finishes that you adore.
Add Radiant Heating to Your Kitchen Floors During Your Home Remodel
You can lower your heating bills by switching to radiant heating in rooms like your kitchen or bathroom. In fact, many homeowners with radiant heat report saving 15 percent on their energy bills.
When it comes to residential radiant floor heating, you have two great options:
- Electric Radiant Floors. With electric heating cables built into the floor and covered by the flooring of your choice, you’ll get cost-effective heat. And if your radiant floors are installed on a significant thermal mass, like a concrete slab, you’ll enjoy residual radiant heating all day, even with the floor system turned off.
- Hydronic Radiant Flooring Systems. These cost-effective systems pump heated water through tubing laid in a pattern under your flooring of choice. This radiant heating system can even be split into zones, so you can choose which areas of your floor to heat, and which areas to skip at any given time.
- If you have a kitchen and bathroom remodeling project coming up, ask NextGen Remodeling about adding radiant floor heating, and never have cold toes on tile floors in the winter ever again.
It’s Time to Embrace the NextGen of Your Home with a Kitchen Remodel
If it’s been a few years since your kitchen has been updated, then it’s time for a full kitchen remodel! If you’re looking for expert craftsmanship, gorgeous results, and upscale finishes, then
NextGen Remodeling, based in Roeland Park, can help you.
If you live within 30 minutes of our office, we’ll give you a free estimate for your new kitchen and walk you through our processes. If you love what you see, we’ll schedule your project and meetings with our designer and project managers to get everything squared away. You’ll soon be on your way to owning a home with the best-looking and best-functioning kitchen on the block – and maybe even in the whole neighborhood.
Request a consultation with NextGen Remodeling today, either on our website, or over the phone at
(913) 777-4701.
