If funds are tight and you find it difficult to raise the funds for a full kitchen extension using either the ‘knock through’ approach, or maybe extending into the garage, there are alternatives. Such alternatives include kitchen makeovers. It is still possible to do a kitchen renovation and still end up with a new-look kitchen, and having added thousands of pounds to the value of your home. You don’t actually have to spend huge amounts of money on the update. There are easy ways of remodeling, or updating your kitchen, and we’ll run through some of these now.
You have complete flexibility to choose a kitchen style that will fit into you existing house and lifestyle.
Planning the Project
Rather than planning a whole new kitchen from the ground up, a good idea is to visit some kitchen showrooms to get some good kitchen design ideas. It’s essential at this stage to get a good idea of possible kitchen renovation costs, in order to avoid overspending on the budget. Most of these kitchen showrooms will have a good selection of kitchen components such as taps, sinks, counter tops and kitchen cabinets on display.
Estimating Kitchen Renovation Costs
First Of All, our recommendation is to stay away from DIY kitchens unless you are either a skilled tradesman or, well… a builder! It all sounds easy at the time but we’ve known jobs where the home owner has started down the DIY trail in order to save a couple of thousand pounds, only to end up 6 months later paying a builder twice that amount to finish the job off properly.
One of the quickest ways to get an idea of exactly how much a kitchen renovation will cost is to write down the cost of the improvements that you would like to incorporate, total them up, and then as a very rough ‘rule of thumb‘, add on around 40% as the labour cost for fitting.
Financing Your Kitchen Makeover
By obtaining a good cost estimate using the approach detailed above, you can easily determine whether or not you can realistically afford to spend or borrow the money to have your outdated kitchen renovated or updated. It may require financing, or re-mortgaging your home. You might be able to have the carried out piecemeal, where the cabinets and counter tops are replaced, but the floor is updated later. Check with the bank to determine exactly how much money can be borrowed on a home equity loan to begin the project.
Updating the Cabinets
The cabinets in the kitchen might not need to be replaced, but simply re-faced. Instead of purchasing new cabinets, new doors can be added and the existing cabinet carcasses can be cleaned up professionally for a reasonable cost. Usually, the cabinets are still in good condition, and it is only the doors that are outdated.
Changing the Flooring
There is a large assortment of flooring options available when renovating the kitchen. These include hardwood, laminate, linoleum, tiles, and even carpet (but carpet is best avoided unless it’s the type of carpet which can be scrubbed down and will dry within an hour or so). The linoleum fabricated today is far more appealing than the flooring in your grandmother’s home. There is a huge array of laminates available that look identical to hardwood that hold up significantly better and have nearly no maintenance requirements.
New lighting
The quickest way to update any kitchen is to change the lighting. This might include adding recessed lights, under cabinet lighting at counter top level and LED lighting that fits into the kick boards below the base units. There is a huge assortment of available lighting to meet any budget.
New Counter Tops
Selecting the best type of counter top material can be challenging. You will find that there’s a huge number of options for material – hardwood, wood block, expensive Formica finish unlike any that you’ve seen in the last 5 years. In our view, new counter tops will make the greatest impression in any renovated kitchen, and this is one item that your should not try to save money on. A good place to check out would be John Lewis.
Updating the kitchen is a very significant home improvement project that can transform the interior of the home. Some contractors will want to gut the whole kitchen area, while others will be happy to simply add new components to the existing kitchen. At Belmont Carpentry, we’re happy to work with you on the budget that you can afford.
More relevant information:
Garage Conversions
Kitchen Extensions
