How to Remodel Your Kitchen And Still Have Money For Groceries

How to Remodel Your Kitchen And Still Have Money For Groceries

Pop quiz. Which TV personality would be more at home in your kitchen: Candice Olson from the HGTV show "Divine Design", or Carole Brady from "The Brady Bunch"? Now, if you honestly love your gold laminated counter tops and linoleum floor, than just put on your bell bottoms and cook up a nice cheese fondue on your avocado green stove. But if your heart is yearning for stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops, a kitchen remodel is definitely the way to go. But you say "I can't afford to remodel my kitchen", and the we say "tosh", an affordable kitchen remodel is simply a matter of making a few informed choices about materials and design. Here are the pointers you can use to stay on budget, and send the avocado green back to 1974 where it belongs.

1. Granite Counter Tops. Nothing says "new kitchen" faster than granite counter tops. Or marble, or soapstone, or any number of natural stone counter tops. The problem is that natural stone has to come out of the ground and be transported to your new kitchen. The larger the slab of stone, the harder (ie. more expensive) it is to excavate it and transport it in one piece. But you can still indulge in the luxury of natural stone countertops if you are willing to install the stone in pieces. Just purchase small squares of granite and have them installed by your tile installer. Choose a grout color that matches the stone as closely as possible and you may even be able to achieve the visual effect of a solid counter top. As an added benefit, if you damage one square of tile, it can be easily replaced without incurring the expense of replacing the entire counter top.

2. Stone Backsplash. A kitchen backsplash does more than keep fingerprints and chili stains off your walls, it also provides one more opportunity to accessorize your kitchen with contemporary kitchen finishes. Of course, the most elegant finish for your new stone counter tops would be a new stone backsplash. But as we have already discussed, granite and other natural stone tiles are expensive, as compared to a standard ceramic tile backsplash. One trick is to turn your stone tiles on their side, so you are creating a diamond pattern instead of the standard horizontal row of tiles. The diamond pattern looks expensive, but actually requires fewer tiles than the horizontal pattern.

3. Custom Kitchen Cabinets. While your heart may yearn for custom kitchen cabinetry in your new kitchen, remodeling your kitchen on a budget may require to ditch the site-built kitchen cabinets and use standard factory built cabinets. One trick that kitchen designers use is to install factory made cabinets, but to vary the height of the cabinets. By using a few 42" kitchen cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, with a mix of standard 36" cabinets, you can create visual interest and the illusion of custom cabinetry. Or, if you are splurging on 42" cabinets for the entire kitchen, skip the expensive options like matching crown molding, and ask your trim carpenter to pick up some poplar crown molding at the local lumber yard, stain it to match your cabinets, and install it on site. This method is usually cheaper in the long run than ordering the fancy trim pieces from the cabinet manufacturer. Your carpenter can even fabricate the look of intricate moldings by layering a couple different simple moldings together.

One last trick. Remember that lighting goes a long way toward the overall effect of your kitchen. Installing three small hanging pendant lights over your kitchen island is can be less expensive than splurging on one large kitchen light fixture, and definitely cheaper than installing an entire gang of recessed lights.

By looking at each component of your kitchen remodel and asking "how can I do this cheaper without cheapening my kitchen?" you can pull your poor dated kitchen out of the 1970's and into the new millennium where it belongs. Candice Olson would be proud.

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