Where to Spend and Save in Your Kitchen Remodel
Let's talk about how to spend and save in your kitchen remodel. Remodeling your kitchen can be one of the more exciting projects you tackle at home this summer, but it can quickly become one of the most expensive. The balance lies in knowing where to spend and where to save in order to get the most out of your money for a higher increase in value and comfort.
There are plenty of ways to save money on a kitchen remodel that you may have overlooked, and these can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars. The key is knowing exactly where you can get the same level of quality and look without having to spend on the top-tier appliances and materials.
We’ll discuss a few places where it’s worth spending the extra money to get the most out of your kitchen remodel, as well as a few spots where you can easily save without sacrificing quality.
Spend: Countertops
In the kitchen, your countertops take quite the beating and need to be capable of withstanding daily use and abuse. From hot pots and pans to the mess of a family filled with messy children, a countertop has to get wiped clean and move on to the next part of the day with ease.
Durable surfaces like quartz, granite, or high-quality composites can easily make you rethink your choice with the price tag, but the value quickly shines through at the first knife nick or spilt red wine.
Paying for these, you’re paying for longevity, durability, easy maintenance, and a polished appearance. Cheap countertops will quickly show signs of wear and tear and will need to be replaced far sooner than you want them to be.
An investment in a countertop that lasts through all of the kitchen’s harshness can actually end up saving you money in the long run.
Save: Trim Kits for Appliances
One of the most sleek and smooth looks for a kitchen is that of built-in appliances. You can easily spend upwards of twenty to thirty thousand dollars by equipping your kitchen with appliances that need to be installed and maintained by professionals.
If you want to take a zero off that price tag without sacrificing anything in terms of quality, you can opt for regular appliances paired with custom-made trim kits. For a fraction of the cost, you end up with appliances that look the exact same as their expensive counterparts. On top of being cheaper, these regular appliances are easier to maintain, repair, and even replace if needed.
Built-in refrigerators, microwaves, and ovens all look incredible in a new kitchen. Getting that look doesn’t mean having to sacrifice in other areas of your kitchen remodel.
Spend: Cabinets
Your kitchen cabinets are one of the most high-traffic areas in all of the kitchen. You’re constantly going in and out, putting dishes in or bringing them down to set up for a feast. No matter what, you want to make sure that high-quality cabinets can withstand all of the use that you’re sure to give them. Check out a few of our refrigerator cabinet surround tips.
Cheap laminate cabinets tend to warp and peel over time, especially when your kitchen is warm and receives a lot of natural light. Solid wood cabinets or high-quality plywood cabinets matched with a durable set of hardware will boost your kitchen’s aesthetic for years to come.
Save: Reface, Don’t Replace
At any point in a kitchen remodel, you might have the option to refurbish rather than trash and replace. This is a great spot in your remodel to save a huge amount of money without needing to sacrifice on looks or quality.
For example, your cabinets may be heartily built and still in great shape, but you’re hoping to change the look. Here, you can simply add new doors or drawer fronts to the current setup to completely change the visuals, without having to replace the entire structure and pay a fortune to do so.
The same goes for some of your appliances. As mentioned earlier, adding a custom trim kit to your appliances rather than replacing them with a new, more expensive counterpart will give you the same look without needing to go deep into your wallet. As you can see below, a microwave trim kit was a great solution to finish off the look.
Be hypercritical about where you truly need to replace certain aspects of the kitchen and where you can simply give older sections a second life.
Spend: Lighting
The lighting in your kitchen can change the entire atmosphere with the ease of simply swapping fluorescent bulbs for LED bulbs. But anyone doing a serious kitchen remodel knows that it’s more than just changing the lightbulbs.
When you design your kitchen, you want high-quality, inviting light in every corner. This means designing layered lighting in the ceiling, adding under-cabinet lighting, pendant lights over a kitchen island, and simply ensuring that wherever you go, you can see what you’re doing.
This isn’t just about the atmosphere either. Poor lighting in a kitchen can be a safety issue when you go to start chopping vegetables, but you can’t see what you’re doing. This alone is worth spending the money to make your kitchen a safer place, but also one that feels great to be in.
Save: Open Shelving
One of the more modern looks that is being put into new kitchens these days is open shelving. While it requires you to keep all of your dishes and jars in neat order, it can actually save you plenty of money.
By replacing cabinets with open shelving, you’re reducing the amount of materials that you need to buy as well as the amount of professional work that you need done. Building cabinetry is a difficult skill, while putting up open shelving is a simple task.
Open shelving also makes the space feel bigger than it is. This is a great trick to make a smaller kitchen feel huge without needing to encroach on the adjacent room just to expand out your kitchen.
Spend: Hardware
Like cabinetry, your hardware is constantly being used, and going with the cheap option can make your future a nightmare.
Sturdy and stylish knobs and pulls will boost the visual appeal of the entire kitchen while also making sure it’s one that will last. The same goes for choosing a well-built faucet in the kitchen sink, so you aren’t dealing with a loose and wobbly faucet in a year’s time.
This is one that you really don’t need to spend too much more on. The difference between cheap hardware and the good stuff isn’t always a big jump. But the difference in what you get is massive, as the cheap hardware will simply deteriorate and break far sooner than you want it to.
Save: Keeping the Current Layout
Sometimes your kitchen remodel doesn’t need to be a total overhaul. When you’re designing a new layout, it’s hard to remember that all of the electrical and plumbing work that will need to be done will add up quickly.
Being more creative with the current layout and not worrying about moving the location of the sink or dishwasher will be able to save you plenty of money that you can later use on quality hardware and countertops, rather than funneling it all into the specialist work that needs to be done for a total overhaul.
Spending and Saving on Your Kitchen Remodel
A kitchen remodel doesn’t need to be the biggest part of your yearly budget if you think it through and know exactly where to spend and where to save.
Little tricks like staying with your current kitchen layout and opting for custom trim kits for your appliances can help you save a fortune while still changing the entire look of the space.
Make sure that your kitchen remodel is fun and remove some stress that often comes along with that huge bill at the end of the creative, fun redesign!