How much should you spend on your kitchen?
There are a lot of different ideas about how you should budget for your kitchen. A common rule of thumb is to invest 15% of your home’s value in your kitchen remodel, but within that percentage you have to factor in cabinets, countertops, appliances, accessories and more.
Who says so? Here are a couple of popular sources:
Real Simple Magazine: “According to HomeAdvisor.com, you should follow the 5 to 15 percent rule, which means your kitchen remodel should cost no less than 5 percent of your home’s value and no more than 15 percent.” Read the full article here.
The Balance: “Experts suggest spending between 5 and 15% of the home’s value on a kitchen renovation to ensure you don’t negatively impact resale of your home. This will give you the greatest potential for ROI on your investment. It also may be helpful to speak with a real estate agent in your area, who will be able to give you a fuller picture of the real estate market in your area, as well as what type of renovations will procure the best ROI.” Read the full article here.
KraftMaid Cabinetry, one of our manufacturers, also recommends a 15% budget. You can utilize their budget calculator to get a breakdown for what your budget should include here.
Whether your budget should be closer to 5% or closer to 15%. depends on how much you are planning to renovate, how long you are planning to stay in your home, and how much you use your kitchen.
How much are you planning to renovate?
There are different levels of kitchen and bathroom renovation that can affect your budget.
The first level is where you aren’t looking to replace everything in your kitchen. To save money, some people choose to only replace cabinet doors or they choose to refinish their existing cabinets if their cabinet boxes are strong enough. These are both valid options, but they take a lot more DIY work and a lot more management. These options will still run you a couple grand each and don’t extend the life of your kitchen much, if at all. We used to do some refinishing and cabinet door orders, but we feel that to get the biggest bang for your buck save the money you were going to spend on refinishing, save up 6mos or 1 yr if necessary, and get new cabinets from a solid, economical cabinet brand. If you aren’t sure, you could always get a price on what it would be to replace your exact layout. We offer a free consultation. Make an appointment with us, bring your kitchen measurements and a drawing and we can give you a rough estimate so that you have enough information to truly compare. If you are considering refinishing your cabinets or ordering replacement doors, see our post about what you need to think about before you do.
The next level is to replace your cabinets, but to keep the existing cabinet layout. This helps your budget because there will be less labor cost if there are no walls coming down and/or if the appliances, plumbing, and electrical is all staying in the same places. We can still update necessary plumbing and electrical, but we don’t have reinvent the wheel by moving it all someplace completely different.
The third level is a complete kitchen remodel. This will get you the best use of your space. We sit and design your kitchen with you. We take your space and come up with a new layout, a new configuration, and the best way to utilize your space and fit your lifestyle. In addition to cabinets and countertops, we can help you purchase your materials, guide you where best to invest your money, help you stay on budget, and make it a reality. Every dollar that you spend in this level is an investment in your life. You will enjoy your kitchen more and you will get more out of it.
“Having a kitchen that you love can impact your day-to-day life in positive ways. Of those who remodeled in 2017, 33% said they have a healthier lifestyle after renovating their kitchen. Nearly 50% said they have more family time, and 41% said they cook more at home. It’s hard to deny those benefits!”
It can be hard to know exactly what you need, we can help you figure it out at your consultation appointment. We are here to help.
How long are you planning on living in your home?
If you are planning on selling your home in a couple of months, it might not be prudent to spend a lot of money on a high end renovation. If you are planning to sell and move, you have to think about resale value and how much
According to a recent study, a major upscale kitchen renovation has a resale value of about 52.3% here in the Middle Atlantic states which includes New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. A major midrange kitchen renovation has a resale value of about 56.3%. While a minor midrange kitchen renovation has a resale value of about 79.7%. Those numbers are similar to national averages. See the full data here.
If you are planning to sell, you should plan on a midrange kitchen renovation to get as much as you can out of your investment, but if you are planning on living in your home and enjoying your kitchen how much you are going to spend will depend on what kind of personalizations you’ll want your kitchen to have to fit your life.
How much do you use your kitchen?
How much your going to spend on your kitchen also depends on how much you use your kitchen. If you cook a lot, we can help you review the different cabinet brands and the differences in quality. If you cook a lot and you have a lot of appliances, that will affect your kitchen storage. We can help you make a plan for your storage, but it’s good to have a mental list of everything that you have and what you want to make room for in the new kitchen.
Many people spend a lot of time in their kitchens. Kitchens are used for entertaining, family dinners, homework, paying the bills, and tons of other activities every day. To get the most of your kitchen, you’ll want to see how can your kitchen help you with those everyday activities.
When you are ready to start your project, we can help you figure all of this out and set a budget, but it always helps to have an idea of how much your home is worth so you have a ballpark budget to start with. Our cabinet lines run from stock cabinetry and builders grade to full custom, furniture grade cabinetry so when we know your ballpark budget we can start designing in a brand that will fit your budget. We hope this information helps you if you are planning a new project and if you set up a consultation appointment we look forward to designing with you.
Hi! We are Kraemer’s Kitchen Factory. We are a kitchen and bath remodeler since 2006 and we installed kitchens for a big box store for a bunch of years before that. We know kitchens and baths. We have a lot of information to share, a lot that we have learned along the way.
We want to share what we have learned in our 20+ years of experience so you don’t have to spend time researching and so that you can apply what we know to better manage your renovation projects.
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How much should you spend on your kitchen? A common rule of thumb is to invest 15% of your home’s value in your kitchen remodel, but within that percentage you have to factor in cabinets, countertops, appliances, accessories and more.