Remodeling Your Kitchen is an Investment Which Pays For Itself

The price of kitchen and bathroom remodels range widely depending upon several factors.  One of the biggest factors that will determine how expensive a remodel will be is the quality of materials.  Higher quality grades of cabinets, countertops, and flooring all require more highly skilled laborers to produce.  Most of the highest quality materials are not produced in a cookie cutter fashion, such as the average run of the mill cabinets or laminate countertops which can easily be found in any large brick and mortar hardware store.

 A jump in price is extremely common from basic laminated chipboard cabinets, which are found in every basic new home,  to real solid wood cabinets, whether it be oak, maple, or especially exotic woods like African Sapele.  The same is true of countertops. 

Laminate countertops are the easiest and cheapest manufactured countertops available.  Much like laminate cabinetry, laminate countertops are simply a manufactured pattern that is glued onto a section of chipboard.  While the selection of colors and patterns of laminate countertops has increased, granite and engineered stone countertops have almost infinite color variations not to mention that granite countertops are the most durable and versatile of all countertop material.

Invariably, when a homeowner remodels a kitchen or bathroom, cabinets and countertop material make up a very large part of the budget.  The reason for this is due to the fact that both components receive the highest amount of wear and tear.  The cliche “you get what you pay for” is very true in regards to kitchen upgrades.  The actual kitchen hardware, such as, drawer pulls, drawer slides, fold out racks, etc. can either last 3 months or 20 years. Many home owners are surprised and shocked to find out the cost of the hardware alone when remodeling a kitchen can easily reach into the thousands depending upon the size, layout, and features a kitchen offers.

As of 2007, the average price of a kitchen upgrade was in the neighborhood of $40,000.  This figure is largely skewed due to the housing and overall real estate market enjoying a huge boom in the past decade.  A realistic everyday expectation for kitchen remodels can be achieved for well under $20,000.  While that is still a substantial figure, it should not be viewed as an expense, but an investment.  Homeowners can realistically expect to recover at least 97% of the cost of upgrading a kitchen with the sale of the home.

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Kitchen Remodeling and Why It’s Very Important

There are five ways to improve the quality of your home if you are going to put the property up for sale. They are remodeling your kitchen, redoing your bathroom(s), increasing your storage and closet space, adding a fireplace, and adding a deck or patio. Of them all, kitchen remodeling is the first, the most important, and by far the most challenging project you could do in the home.

It does not even have to be just when you are planning to put your home up for sale before you remodel your kitchen. Merely living there, you will suddenly realize that the kitchen is the one space where the most things are going on in the home. In the kitchen you cook and eat, in the kitchen you keep your food items in storage, as well as your cooking utensils and equipments, and the kitchen is where you do some basic waste disposal. No, I don’t mean toileting; I mean the trash.

Your kitchen is certainly decked out with a few specialized food preparation areas; and if it isn’t, you know you are in need of at least one. Some people do their laundry in the kitchen, and others use the space as a traffic hub, mudroom, message station, mini-office, secondary media center, and for entertaining.

So, yes, I agree that because of the importance of the kitchen you should spend good money to fix it up to your tastes. But a word of caution – don’t spend too much money on remodeling your kitchen, especially if and when you just can’t afford to. Of course you can borrow money for remodeling, but don’t take more than you can afford to repay!

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Kitchen Cabinetry – Kitchen Remodeling on a Shoestring Budget

Kitchen remodeling can really add a modern feel to your kitchen. Remodeling your kitchen cabinets is a great start. Installing new cabinets can make you feel like you’ve bought a brand new kitchen. The great news is that kitchen remodeling doesn’t have to be expensive. There are lots of great ways to remodel on a budget.

Don’t Replace-Refinish

Over time, the finish starts to wear off on your cabinet doors. Naturally, you want it to look new and vibrant. The most common solution is to replace the cabinet doors, but there is a cheaper and easier way. You can refinish your cabinet doors and save loads of cash.

Refinishing is simply touching up the cabinet door and maybe applying a new coat of paint. You can hire a professional to refinish your cabinet doors, or you can take a crack at doing it yourself. It involves removing the doors, sanding the edges to make them smooth, cleaning and applying a finish that you can buy at your local hardware store. If you’re not up to the job yourself, you can always hire someone to do it. It’s a small job, so it shouldn’t cost too much.

Give Your Cabinets A New Face

Another cheap way to remodel your old cupboards is to reface them. This is a little costlier than refinishing, but it still isn’t nearly as much as getting new cabinet doors.

Refacing means replacing all the cabinet hardware, such as hinges and bolts, and applying a wood veneer to the face of the cupboards. It’s amazing how changing the hardware can give the cupboards a new look. The metal parts get rusted and creaky over the years, and buying new stuff from the hardware store costs just pennies.

The wood veneer gives the cabinet a new shine without replacing anything. You can buy wood veneer at your local hardware store. Ask the staff for a recommendation on what they think is best.

Ready-To-Assemble Cabinets

If you’d like to replace the cabinet doors but want to save money on having them installed, you can get ready-to-assemble (RTA) cupboards. These are designed to be a piece of cake for anybody to install themselves. Just follow the directions and you will have new cabinets in no time.

You can also buy stock cupboards. These are cheaper than custom made ones. Instead of being made exactly to your kitchen’s specifications, they come with filler gaps. You can set the cabinets where you want them, and use the gaps to fill in the extra space.

When replacing cupboards, it is a general rule that you get what you pay for. Of course, you want to remodel cheaply, but if it doesn’t look good, there’s no point at all. Before you start shopping for replacement cabinets, decide exactly how much you want to spend, and don’t compromise on style or quality.

Most people don’t realize how much the cabinets say about a kitchen. It really is the cabinetry that gives each kitchen its own special feel, and sets the mood for the whole room. Don’t economize too much on cabinets, and don’t take on a job that’s too big for you to handle. If you’re not sure about doing it yourself, call the professionals and have them do it for you.

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