6 Steps to Save Money Kitchen Remodeling
Homeownership can be a rewarding experience on many levels. When you settle into your home and begin add your own personal style and flair to the surroundings, you’re on the way to transforming your house into exactly what you dreamed it would be. Sometimes the transformation calls for a significant remodeling project. According to a Harvard study from 2018, those remodeling projects fueled the home improvement and repair industry to the tune of $400 billion. The question on the mind of every homeowner who is contemplating a remodel is how to make the changes you want – as cost-effectively as possible?
Here are six steps to help you save money on your kitchen remodeling project.
1. Establish a budget
You don’t want to find yourself yearning for custom cherry wood cabinets, with a price tag of $25,000, if you have determined that $15,000 is what you can spend to re-do entire kitchen. According to the professional contractors who work with homeadvisor.com, “the average kitchen remodeling project costs between $13,258 and $37,454 or $75 to $250 per square foot. As you might expect, the total expense varies depending on the size of the space, the quality of materials, and whether you change the room’s original layout.”
Keeping those numbers in mind, remind yourself that it’s risky to commit the entire budget up front to materials and labor. The wiser approach is to set aside part of the budget for buffer – 20% is a good guideline – so you have funds available to in case of errors that end up costing you extra for materials and time.
2. Work within your existing layout
Kitchen remodeling projects become really expensive, very quickly, when you start moving around electrical, plumbing, and walls. When you commit to working within your established footprint, you are already ahead of the game and will save yourself time and money. To do this most effectively, you should partner with a certified kitchen designer like the ones at Cabinet Express. A certified kitchen designer will walk through the layout, help you think through style you want, and guide you to the correctly sized cabinets and storage accessories to make the most out of your new kitchen.
3. Choose the best quality cabinets for the money
Custom cabinets are usually priced out of reach for an average homeowner, but that doesn’t mean you need to settle for lower quality stock cabinets pulled from inventory at your local home improvement store. Nope. You have much better options available to you when you purchase semi-custom all-wood cabinets from an online cabinet company like Simply Kitchens.
With semi-custom cabinets, you get the best of both the custom and stock worlds. You can choose the style, look and finish of your cabinets and be assured of their exceptional high quality, durable enough to last 20-30 years in your kitchen. But when you work with an online cabinet company, your pricing will come in at almost 40% less than than what you would pay for stock cabinets from the big-box stores. These savings are hard to pass up, especially when you add premium features like all-plywood construction and high-end touches like soft-close hinges and drawer glides.
Simply Kitchens offers two options for final assembly and installation. With either one, you could save money by installing them yourself if that’s an option. You can choose pre-assembled cabinets or ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets. The construction materials for both versions are the same, but the RTA cabinets ship faster, arriving in flat packaging that assures zero movement in transit. RTA cabinets are less expensive than the pre-assembled cabinets.
4. Decide whether to DIY
Are you a DIY cabinet installation type of person? Or does it make more sense for you to enlist the experience and speed of a professional kitchen contractor? While many people see themselves as capable enough to follow the DIY route, there are a handful of reasons why we recommend spending a little extra to hire a professional.
If you have successfully installed kitchen cabinets before, and the cabinets are holding up well, then by all means you are a good candidate to DIY.. But for the rest of us who want better-functioning, high-quality, and just plain beautiful cabinets in our kitchens, engaging a professional will ensure the cabinets get installed correctly using with the right materials – to ensure the remodel holds up for 20-30 years.
5. Save money on your countertop
An expensive countertop can make a big dent in your kitchen remodeling budget. You have a wide range of choices among beautiful, stylish and original countertop materials, any of which can become focal points – or accents – in your kitchen, and fit into any budget. Marble or stone will be the most expensive. Many people choose high-quality granite to achieve a similar look and style. But even granite countertops can come with a price tag that might not fit into everyone’s budget.
An alternative material that looks similar to granite and has some desirable heat resistant properties is quartz. Quartz countertop materials are mix of 5 % man-made product and 95% natural stone. Quartz is harder than granite, making it more durable and nearly indestructible. Because quartz is not porous like granite, it’s easy to keep bacteria-free. But beware, quartz can be damaged by high heat, so it’s important to use hot pads or trivets at all times. If quartz is not in the budget, another option is one of today’s attractive laminates, which will fit into your kitchen style just fine.
6. Choose the right flooring
Much like with countertops, for flooring you can choose from a selection of more expensive tile or hardwoods to less expensive sheet vinyl, vinyl plank, or vinyl/resilient tile that looks remarkably like stone tile. With so many options options, you need to decide which you prefer for ease of cleaning, durability, wear and tear, and the overall look and style you’re developing in your kitchen. Many homeowners choose flooring that looks nice and is easy to clean – and in some cases, these are materials the homeowner can easily install as a DIY project, such as vinyl tiles and planks.
If you’re considering making changes in your kitchen but have concerns about the price tag for a large kitchen remodeling project, review the steps above to find areas where economizing a little makes sense. If you are handy with a few tools, and you don’t want to sit on the sidelines waiting for your kitchen to be completed so you can get on with the painting, by all means roll up your sleeves and get busy anywhere you feel comfortable.
Having said that, it’s always worth keeping in mind that there are professionals available who do this work for a living, all day, every day. Planning to DIY your kitchen remodeling project takes plenty of time, and don’t forget about hiring subcontractors and handling supply management. In many cases, you are more likely to save time and money when you hire a professional to help. To find a reputable local kitchen contractor, visit with our certified kitchen designers today. They can help you plan your project, find a contractor, and save money on your kitchen remodel.