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Your kitchen is a crucial part of your home. It’s where you spend family time, entertain guests, and cook and share meals. You want it to feel like home, which means you want it to look updated and modern, with touches of your personality. If your kitchen doesn’t feel this way, you probably want to renovate it, but are scared of the steep prices. When you’re renovating a kitchen, the cost can feel like an investment in your home that’s out of reach. But the good news is that there are ways to completely change the way expenses look while you renovate your kitchen. There are ways to reduce the cost without sacrificing quality or function. The key is planning ahead and anticipating all costs of the renovation. This can save you big bucks without making you put up with a kitchen that is far from your liking for years to come. Here are some tips for how to save money during a kitchen renovation:
Ask for quotes from multiple contractors
The average cost of a kitchen renovation ranges from $11,000 to $35,000. This doesn’t include the cost of the appliances, which can easily add another $7,000 to $10,000 to the bill. But there are ways to reduce the upfront cost of a renovation and get a better final product for your dollar. The first way to do this is to ask for multiple quotes from different contractors. Don’t just ask one contractor for a quote. Shop around a little bit and check out your options. Although there are no laws requiring contractors to disclose their rates, most will give you a ballpark estimate if asked. What you’re after is an apples-to-apples comparison of contractor rates. Get estimates from two or three contractors, and compare the costs for the types of materials and services you want. Then you can decide who you want to do your renovations through based on quality and cost, instead of just putting blind faith into one company.
Consider renovating in phases
If you’re renovating your kitchen, it’s likely you have a budget. The trick is to stay within that budget while still getting everything you want. One way to do that is to break the renovation into multiple phases. This will immediately stress some readers out. It is, obviously, much more satisfying to complete the renovation as quickly as possible and has a big reveal worthy of Chip and Joanna Gaines, but a lot of the time this just isn’t practical. Consider dicing the renovation up into phases and saving money for the next phase in between. The first phase might include cabinetry. You could do the appliances for the next phase. That way, you have time to recover from the cost of the cabinetry before paying for new appliances and installation. Then, when you feel financially comfortable, you can start the next project like flooring. It might not be as immediately satisfying, but it will help tremendously in the financial long run.
Shop around for your appliances and materials
When it comes time to shop for your appliances and materials, don’t just walk into the first store you see. In fact, you should probably avoid big-box stores as much as possible. Big-box stores often offer low prices on appliances and materials, but they get their savings by cutting corners on quality. You want a high-quality product that will last. If you travel to several stores to compare prices, you are much more likely to get a high-quality appliance that doesn’t break the bank. You can also shop around for better prices online. There are many online retailers that are able to offer lower prices because they don’t have to pay for overhead.
Sell as much of your old kitchen as possible
Finally, when you’re renovating your kitchen, you can save a lot of money if you sell some of your old kitchens. This is the most commonly overlooked way to save money during renovations overall, not just in the kitchen. Contractors are always looking for cheap sources of used materials. Sometimes, they’ll even pay individual homeowners such as yourself for the items that you’re getting rid of. You can sell scrap lumber and metal, as well as your old tiles and ceramics. Your appliances are great items to consider reselling as well. There are online platforms that will tell you who buys old refrigerators near you. You can also consider posting your materials on a buy/sell/trade Facebook group in your town, listing them on Craigslist, or offering them to friends, family, and neighbors.
