Kitchen Renovations On A Budget

Calling renovators or home builders about your kitchen renovation is sure to result in some sticker shock unless you’ve been involved with the industry recently.  How hard can it be, really?  The reality is that any “back to the studs” renovation of a kitchen is very likely to exceed $100,000 and could easily eclipse double that with the addition of modern features, high-end appliances and structural changes that are sometimes necessary.  Your kitchen renovation budget can be quickly exhausted.   Here are three questions that you should ask yourself before doing a major renovation:

1) Am I doing the renovation for my own use and enjoyment?

2) Are there structural alterations required to remove or reposition existing walls?

3) Has the rest of the property already undergone similar renovation?

If your answer to all three questions is “yes”, then a large scale kitchen renovation is probably a good choice for you, depending on your budget.  However, if you’re seeking to increase the property value by doing a renovation, if the existing walls are fine and you just need to update what’s between them, or if the rest of the property also needs work eventually, you may want to consider pumping the brakes on a large expenditure.

Unexpected Costs

When you remove the drywall for the first time, you may uncover various issues such as inadequate (or aluminum) electrical wiring, old copper (or poly-b) piping, and a range of other potential problems. These could include past or present insect or rodent infestations, structural faults, or even more severe issues.  This is where the potential for huge cost overruns is greatest.

You can be confronted with conundrums like either dispensing with the entire vision you have for the kitchen or upgrading the electrical for the property.  We’ve encountered numerous versions of the same story, where the kitchen renovation became so extensive that it began to make more sense to gut the entire home.  That’s quite the escalation from “my faucet leaks, my cabinets don’t close and I wish my diswasher was ‘over there’.”

Budget Conscious Kitchen Renovations

As long as the fundamentals are in place, doing a smaller scale renovation at a far lower cost is most likely the right approach.  Yes, kitchen renovations on a tight budget are possible!  Replacing lighting and plumbing fixtures, flooring, countertops and refinishing the cabinetry can make it look like a brand new kitchen.  In some cases, the existing appliances can even be kept.

For the purposes of a prospective purchaser, the question they are most likely to be asking is “can I live with this for now?” Worn out fixtures and appliances, stained countertops, and cabinetry that looks and operates like something from a bygone era do not help with buyers’ needs for “move-in ready” properties.  As a result, these properties are categorized in a lower price range where buyers are expecting large initial expenses to renovate prior to occupying.

These smaller expenditures, done strategically and intentionally, can elevate your property to that of generally more expensive homes and thus return you a positive return on the investment.

Cabinetry Refinishing

While they might look old and dated, older cabinets might actually be made of superior materials than is generally found today.  The boxes, specifically, should not need to be replaced unless you are planning to reposition the cabinets themselves or are badly damaged.  They can be sanded, stained or painted with any imperfections corrected along the way.

The cabinet doors might be similarly reused after some TLC, or you could opt for new doors at a fairly reasonable price.  The hardware can also be updated to quiet-close varieties with whatever finish that will be consistent with the rest of the kitchen.

Approximate cost: $4000-7500 for a medium sized kitchen (assuming about 30 cabinet doors and drawer fronts). 

Updated Plumbing Fixtures

People spend a lot of time at their kitchen sink.  Having one that is functional for the purposes you need it for is quite important to a lot of people.  Older ones can be an eyesore, even if they work.  If you’re going to be replacing your countertops (see next), then replacing the sink and faucet with something more modern is a no-brainer.

Approximate cost: $2500-4000 for labour and materials

New Countertops

Countertops can get easily worn out or stained in some cases.  They can also become dated.  Replacing them is a straightforward and cost-effective way of modernizing your kitchen.  While doing your countertops, you may also consider doing the backsplash.  That choice can impact the cost of this project significantly.

Approximate cost: $2000-6000 for labour and materials

New Light Fixtures

Your lighting can change the feel of a space enormously.  Perhaps your kitchen has an older fluorescent light or has been swapped out for a cheap Ikea track light.  Consider adding pot lights and under-cabinet lighting with dimmer switches.

Approximate cost: $2000-4000 for labour and materials (labour mostly)

New Flooring

It may or may not be possible to update the flooring in just your kitchen, without also doing the rest of that level of the home.  This obviously impacts the cost.  But finding a modern flooring option that matches well with both your countertop and cabinet finishing will tie everything together nicely.  Refinishing an existing hardwood floor may also be an option.

Approximate cost: $3000-10,000

Finishing Carpentry and Painting

When you replace flooring, it may or may not be possible to reuse the baseboards.  Depending on their age and style, you may want to replace them anyway.  Mouldings around doorways could similarly be outdated and in need of an update.  Since you will have painters there already at the final stage, you may as well have them paint trim.  Again, whether this can be done on just the kitchen area or needs to be done on the entire floor depends on the home’s layout.

Approximate cost: $3500-7500

With all of these categories, there’s a very wide range of potential prices.  At the absolute lowest estimate, a kitchen makeover could run just under $20,000.  At the higher end, you’re going to be closer to $40,000.  Both of those figures do not include appliances, which, if in need of replacement are something that could also cost anywhere from $5000-$25,000.

Regardless of which of these avenues you go down, the total cost is still likely less than 25% of what a “back to the studs” renovation would cost.  You are saving on major plumbing, electrical, drywall, engineering, management and permitting costs.  To be clear, this is not a magically cheaper way of getting the same thing.  But for the purposes of selling your home at the highest possible value, this expenditure will give you the best chance of earning a positive return on investment.

If you are considering this kind of strategy prior to listing your home, contact Curb Appeal Property Experts today.  Our intention is not necessarily to talk you into the largest scale renovation possible, but to give you the best advice for your situation.