It’s essential to save for your kitchen renovation ahead of time and ensure that you can cover the overall costs. This can help you avoid living with an unfinished kitchen or incomplete projects if you ran out of money midway through.
There are a range of financing options that can be negotiated to suit you and your budget. Depending on the desired finish and structural changes involved with the kitchen renovation project, your overall budget should account for this.
One of the best ways to make your budget stretch a little longer is to try and do more with what you have. This can be as simple as changing your kitchen layout based on the current fittings, or using up leftover materials and paints.
If you already have a relatively usable kitchen design that just needs updating, then you could think about giving everything a coat of paint rather than tearing it all out.
In terms of financing your kitchen renovation, there are plenty of loan options that can help you through the process. Depending on your credit rating and your current financial situation, it could be worth saving more than you think you will need.
Allow for hidden costs to arise during the project, and ensure that you have the means to cover these as much as possible with your savings or finance scheme. As a general rule, it is recommended that you add 10-20% to your total budget for unplanned expenses.
The processes that will consume a higher proportion of your budget include cabinets and hardware, installation costs, the cost of appliances, countertops, and flooring. While there is some natural variation with these, they tend to be the most expensive parts of any renovation project.
This can ensure that you are not wasting money on your regular electricity bills, and that you have high quality appliances that will stand the test of time and regular use.
It is not worth cutting corners with the cost of these, as cheaper or second hand items are far more likely to break or become faulty within a shorter period of time.
While every kitchen renovation project differs in terms of budget, overall design, and the size of the room used, these steps are essential for any kitchen renovation. It is recommended that you use the following steps as a guide to keep track of your progress, and ensure that you are as prepared as you can be.
Think about what type of finish you want to achieve, and how a kitchen renovation will benefit you and your family’s daily routine. Try to be realistic and focus on creating a functional space that works for everyone in the household.
Depending on what you want to change about your current kitchen layout, you could print an existing floor plan and draw over it using a different color. This allows you to have a better idea of what will go where, and how much space will be remaining.
This can then be shown to contractors, architects, and building surveyors who will provide another level of insight and accurate information that can show you how realistic and practical your ideas are.
Your plan can be used as a reference for timing as well, and it can be a useful predictor of how long the entire renovation is likely to take.
It is also a highly valuable resource for deciding what will need to be taken out, and what appliances or sections do not need to be touched.
It is this stage that you should seek the advice of an engineer or safety officer who can assess how structurally sound your home is.
This can help to make your plan more realistic, and ensure that you are not aiming to do something that will not be suitable for the type of building you live in.
This is where things get exciting, and you will begin to see some progress. Once you have finalized your plans, and are absolutely certain that you have hired the correct people necessary, you can begin taking apart the pieces of your kitchen that you don’t want.
Old vinyl flooring or busy wallpaper patterns are a thing of the past, and it can be rewarding to tear away at these when the time is right. The main thing to be aware of is what you will be changing, and what the plan is.
Kitchen CabinetsEnsure that you are not breaking something apart that isn’t going to be replaced, as it is easy to create an empty shell of an area that you haven’t planned to work from.
Whatever your intended project consists of, you should remove the things that will be changed or replaced. It is essential that you do not do this until you have a date for your new kitchen appliances, cabinets, and countertops to be installed.
You will not want to be without a functioning kitchen for several weeks for delivery or laborers to be available, so avoid starting the demo process until it is necessary.
When your kitchen is mostly an empty shell of a room and all the cabinets are out of the way, you can schedule plumbers and electricians to deal with the wiring for your new kitchen.
This stage is seen as one of the most important to seek a skilled worker, because household voltages can be extremely harmful to the untrained eye.
Avoid saving costs or cutting corners during this process, as you will need to rely on the electric and plumbing regularly, and do not want to risk injury if you have less experience.
Unlike the plumbing and electric fittings, this is something that you can do yourself if you want to save money on laborers. The main thing to be aware of when fitting drywall is that you are using the correct tools for the job.
Unlike the plumbing and electric fittings, this is something that you can do yourself if you want to save money on laborers. The main thing to be aware of when fitting drywall is that you are using the correct tools for the job.
It is also highly important that you hire or borrow an industrial vacuum cleaner to deal with the high amount of dust that this process creates.
Painting the walls in a less porous brand of paint that is easier to wipe clean should be considered when you are adding color to an area where food is cooked and prepared.
Depending on the colors of the rest of your home, and how detailed your plan or mood board was, you can decide on a color scheme that complements the cabinets and units without clashing too much.
Another idea to gain inspiration is to collect paint samples and experiment with colors over time until you have chosen one that you like the most.
These are typically installed around the same time in any renovation project, and it is up to you which should be done first. Ensure that you know when your cabinets are due to arrive, and that you have already ordered them in advance.
In terms of flooring, it is worth keeping the same finish in other areas of your home to establish a flow and consistency. There is an enormous selection of materials and designs to pick from that vary in overall price and texture.
The countertops are traditionally not ordered until the cabinets have been installed. This is because there is a high level of precision that is needed to get the perfect measurements.
It should be noted that the countertop needs to be cut to fit around the sink, so you will need to either have it installed or on site at the time.
Like flooring, there is a huge range of materials to choose from for your countertops when you are ordering them, that vary in overall finish, price, and required skill needed to install.
