How To Reduce Your Kitchen Renovation Cost



Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009

by Duncan Wilson
http://www.youmakeahome.com

Kitchen renovation can be costly. Not only do you have all those costly appliances to buy, you have to pay for somebody to work out where they are all going to go. And then work out where all the cupboards are going to go around the appliances!

The best piece of money saving advice I can give you when it comes to kitchen renovations is 'refurbish, don't replace'. Take a good long look at your kitchen. Try the cupboard doors. Open a drawer. Is it just that you are tired of the tired looking worktop, a drawer doesn't open and you have a hole in the cupboard door? Those are no reasons for a new kitchen!

Most DIY books will give good instructions on fitting a new worktop (Tip: When cutting, remember to place masking tape firmly along the line you are cutting to help prevent chipping!). The cupboard doors can be replaced, or better still, sanded down and re-varnished in a colour of your choosing. The hole can be filled with a small chip of the same type of wood. Oh, and the drawer probably just needs a new runner. It also goes without saying that a lick of paint can go a long way to improving a room.

Grab a pen and paper and write down all the things you dislike about your kitchen. Include everything. Obviously items like cookers and dishwashers may need replacing, but these are rarely the heart and soul of the kitchen. If the final list, to you, represents a somewhat doable list of DIY tasks, then congratulations, you have just saved yourself a lot of money! All you need to do now is have a glance at some kitchen websites or perhaps some design magazines and choose some styles that you would like to recreate.

Remember the less money you spend on perfecting your home, the greater your overall gain at time of sale!

Want even more money saving and low cost ideas? Read about lowering home renovation costs. Follow the progress of my own home renovation at youmakeahome.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Lorrie Davids
 3 years 4 days ago.
96 fans.
Good advice, Duncan. Thanks for sharing it. We have a relatively new home, so there isn't much we would change at this point. The tip to write down everything you don't like is a good one. We sort of did that when we shopped for a new home. We knew what we didn't want in it.
» left by Duncan Wilson 3 years 1 day ago.
Thanks for your response, Lorrie. As you will see if you visit You Make A Home, our home is about 20 unloved years from new, so we've got it all to do! I am confident it will get there, though! May you enjoy your home in the meantime :)
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