Making the Most of a Tight Kitchen Remodeling Budget

Balancing Cost and Quality in Your Kitchen Update

Making the most of your updating dollars is important no matter your budget, and finding the intersection of price, quality, style, and longevity is worth your time and effort. There are many potential paths to the finish line, but let’s explore a few ways to think about creating your most cost-conscious kitchen update.

Assess Your Kitchen’s Wear and Tear

There’s nothing worse than materials showing wear sooner than anticipated, so before making any spending decisions, the first thing we recommend is to assess how hard you are on your kitchen. Look closely at your kitchen cabinets, counters, and walls for signs of dirt, wear, and damage. Consider how many people are using the kitchen daily, how they are using it, and how often it gets thoroughly cleaned. Use this information to focus on the features and qualities of anything new you introduce. If your family is hard on things, you’ll want to look for materials and products that are designed specifically for durability and cleanability. For example, many people cook daily with hot oil on the stovetop, and it goes up into the air and leaves a fine greasy coating on everything in the kitchen. If that’s your kitchen, then you want to carefully consider how the materials, colors, and options you choose will clean up over time and how they will (or won’t) help you disguise wear.

Phase Your Project for Budget Flexibility

Another way forward is to divide your project into phases. If your kitchen has a good layout, and it’s more the look and style that needs updating, you can spread out your spending over time with improvements that will eventually come together. First refacing or repainting the cabinets or replacing the counters and then doing the cabinets or counters later is a great way to spread out your expenditures. We suggest looking at a lot of inspiration pictures online and visiting a local counter fabricator and seeing what colors and looks repeatedly speak to you. If you can identify the common thread to the looks you like, you can likely choose a cabinet color or counter that you will still love when it comes time to finish the project.

Affordable Countertop Alternatives

Natural stone or quartz counters can be pricey! It might be worth looking at less expensive materials like butcher block, composites, or laminates/solid surfaces. Composite materials, like Wilsonart’s Thinscape, are very cost-effective. They have veining like stone and are heat and scratch resistant. Laminates have come a long way and are available in large sheets with a stone look, are non-porous, and can be repaired. And all white quartz without any veining can also look great and is a less expensive option for getting the durability and functionality of quartz without the high price tag.

Upgrade Lighting for Big Impact

Improving the lighting is another great way to invest in your space and make strides towards the kitchen you want to have (and no kitchen update will be complete without updated lighting). If your layout isn’t likely to change, you can do the lighting before you make other changes. The right mix of lighting can make a huge improvement in how a space feels and functions. Adding a well-designed grid of new LED pancake fixtures in the ceiling (or replacing outdated recessed lights with the LED versions), installing LED undercabinet lighting, and adding new decorative fixtures like pendants over an island or a hanging fixture over your table can give your space a whole new feel.

Let’s Get Started

At Kitchen Tune-Up we want to help you make the most of your home. We would love the opportunity to see your kitchen, show you door and hardware samples, and create a plan to update and upgrade your space to meet your needs. Contact us today for a free design appointment and estimate.