Budgeting for a Kitchen Remodel in Your Gainesville Home

Is your kitchen ready for a makeover but you are not sure how much it will cost or how to budget for what you want? Understanding the costs involved in a full kitchen remodel can be daunting, but if you do your research and partner with an experienced full-service kitchen design firm you can be certain you will get the most value out of your remodel. In part two of our series on remodeling costs, here is our guide to budgeting for your Gainesville kitchen remodel, with top tips to get you started. Then contact us to make an appointment with one of our kitchen design experts, who can help you start planning your new space.

What determines your costs?

No two projects are the same, just like no two homes are the same. As we discussed in our last blog on remodeling costs, you must first examine your goals to understand why you want to remodel, set your priorities, and then understand the costs involved. The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) advises to spend 15-20% of the value of your home on a kitchen remodel, but several factors influence your final cost.

1. The size of your space. While this may seem obvious, it is still important to think about how the size of your room impacts the final price tag. A large kitchen design requires more materials like kitchen cabinets, tile, countertops, and flooring. Likewise, if this is an open-plan kitchen you may need to update elements in the adjoining living or dining spaces.

2. Materials. There is a difference in quality and price between stock and deluxe cabinetry, or laminate and granite countertops. Which materials you choose for your kitchen remodel will make a difference, but there are also ways to save money with suitable alternatives and your kitchen design expert will be able to advise you on this.

3. Type of remodel. Do you plan to completely tear out everything and start from scratch in your kitchen design or are there elements you want to keep, like some of your appliances? Any other extras, like adding a second island, additional high-end appliances, or knocking out a wall to create an open-plan space, will all increase the cost of your remodel but also the return. Here are the categories of kitchen remodels and associated costs for our region according to Remodeling.net:

• In a basic remodel you plan to maintain the structure and make basic changes to refresh the kitchen, like refurbishing cabinets and adding new hardware and some lower-cost products. You might decide to do some work yourself.  This remodel type is ideal if you just want to refresh your space or you plan to sell your home. The cost in our area is about 22,125 and you recoup 77.6%.

• For a mid-range remodel you will likely work with your existing structure, and remove and replace it with new stock cabinets, quality countertops, appliances, lighting, and plumbing fixtures.  The cost is about 65,166 and you recoup 58.6%.

• With a deluxe remodel you are planning for your forever home, which can include opening up the space, removing/moving a wall, changing the layout, relocating windows and doors, installing new custom cabinets/high-end countertops/hardware/flooring/lighting/plumbing fixtures. This costs about 129,555 and you recoup 53.6%.

How to get started.

Determining the scale of your kitchen remodel and figuring out your budget may seem like a daunting task, but it helps to start with the basics. A bit of self-reflection and maybe even an old-fashioned family meeting to discuss your kitchen space will help you figure out what is important for your home.

What are your priorities? Do you have to have granite countertops but can live with your existing appliances? Figure out what is most important to you and make a list and, yes, you guessed it, number them in order of priority.

What do you like and dislike about your current kitchen? Has your existing kitchen gotten very small as your family has grown larger? Maybe your layout is inefficient, and it drives you crazy when you are cooking and everyone crosses your path to get a drink from the refrigerator. Or perhaps you can’t stand your outdated countertop but still like the look of your cabinet finish.  Look around your kitchen and figure out what works and what doesn’t. This will help inform your design priorities and style direction.

What do you do in your kitchen and what do you need? Are you an avid home chef or do you only cook once a week? Do you love to entertain? How you plan to use your kitchen design will have a large impact on your budget.

What is the breakdown of costs?

Now that you know what you want and what you don’t it’s time to get down to business and start to investigate the cost of your remodel and how you plan to finance it.  Like any project, a kitchen remodel is made up of a combination of materials, labor, and fees. According to the NKBA, the breakdown of these costs looks approximately like the following:

• Cabinetry and hardware make up almost 30% of your cost, which makes sense since they cover so much of the surface of your kitchen and form the foundation of your layout, workspace, and storage.

• Installation including all construction-related labor accounts for approximately 20% but can vary depending on the scale of your job.

• Appliances and ventilation are about 14%

• Countertops are about 10%

• The remainder of your costs includes flooring, lighting, walls and ceilings, a design fee, doors and windows, and faucets and plumbing.

• NKBA says to set aside 20% of your budget for unexpected costs. When you work with Haile Kitchen & Bath your allowance for unexpected costs is much lower because of our proven design process. We put care and detail into the planning, design process, project management, and good/better/best budgeting to minimize unexpected costs.

Once you know what you want out of your remodel, and what your goals are for your new kitchen design, you can start investigating costs and financing for your project. Understanding the costs and how much your chosen design and products will cost helps you to plan and set expectations. Our kitchen design team is ready to help you create a design and investigate these costs so contact us today to get started on your remodel.