Why does a person think of remodeling when the kitchen is already somewhat beautiful and nice? It’s because every now and then new designs arrive that attract your attention. You can either see them on the internet or celebrities’ kitchen or in magazines. So, you get an urge to transform your kitchen into something that is trendy yet modern. But if you don’t want to get carried away and end up broke, follow the following 5 tips on how to remodel your kitchen on a budget.
Remodeling a kitchen is a time taking process so you might have to go through several designs before stumbling upon one that might be your dream kitchen. So after a lot of ifs and don’ts, you get a perfect kitchen that is modern, gives the trendiest look, is airy with lots of lights, and just sweeps you away. Following are a few things you need to keep in mind before you go ahead with the remodeling:
- List the things you need to remodel
- Set up a budget
- Prioritize your plan
- Keep the cost as low as possible
- Be prepared for the unexpected
1. List the things you need to remodel
The fun part is where you list all the things that you need to remodel in your kitchen. First, it should be the flooring, then the paint, lighting, windows, shelves, or cabinets. Whatever is in your mind, just make a list so that you don’t forget what you want. Otherwise, you might entirely forget the first and foremost thing that you really needed to remodel, and you’ll end up cursing yourself for it. So, making a list is the most important step in the remodeling process.
2. Set up a budget
If you are looking to remodel your kitchen, the first thing that you need to look at is your expenditures or cost. You will need to check your savings or start saving before you think of renovating your kitchen. After that, you will need to assess the amount that would be required for different accessories and building materials. These materials would include shelves, cupboards, paint, sandpaper, cabinet knobs (and the list goes on) for the new fixtures. You will have to check the latest price of all the materials in the market. Then match it with your own budget.
Also, if you plan to do the work yourself then you can cut down on the labor cost. Otherwise, you will have to calculate the amount that you will need to pay the workers who will be doing the hard work in your kitchen to make it look more modern and trendy according to your plan. The budget will help you organize the things you will be spending on.
3. Prioritize your plan
Think about your plan and prioritize it by making a list of things you need to remodel. Then, rank them according to your prioritization of remodeling. For example, you want to replace the countertop on a priority basis so you would go ahead with it first. Then think about other things like the cupboards or any additions that you want to make depending upon your budget.
Note your responsibilities and your job in the task at hand. You must avoid unnecessary holdups and set up a deadline on which you can depend on. Most importantly, a person needs a break every once in a while so set up little intervals to take a breather.
4. Keep the cost as low as possible
Once you have prioritized the things you need to replace, you must conduct thorough research in the market – where you can get a reasonable price of items without compromising on quality. You can ask your friends or acquaintances if they have knowledge about the market prices of the kitchen items that you can get within your budget. Plus, you need to evaluate the amount that you would need to spend on the things where you would need professional help like flooring. Try to cut down the expenditure by doing things on your own rather than hiring help wherever possible.
However, you must not compromise on quality and do not get into doing it yourself if you cannot do it to perfection. Otherwise, you may end up getting it done all over again if it gets damaged. That means double the cost of what you actually estimated. Hence, cutting down the cost is beneficial but not at the cost of ruining what you initially intended to do.
Another way of cutting the cost could be to remodel in parts. You can do the flooring one year, countertops the next, then cabinets the year next, and so on. If you don’t want to do it after a year, it could be 6 months – depending on how much you can spend at a certain time.
You can also save on appliances by doing your research on good, affordable appliances. For example, getting the best refrigerator under 1000 will certainly allow you to spend more on other things, like flooring.
5. Be prepared for the unexpected
Even the people who have actually planned well according to their budget can sometimes expect a loss. So the perfect way to overcome these events is to be prepared for the unexpected. The first thing to do is to have an emergency fund that you can use in the time of a crisis. It can be your backup or fallback budget that will come in handy if you end up spending on something that was not initially on the list but is essential for a certain item. Also, if you experience any accident or a period of unemployment, you can make use of this emergency fund.
You can also have the liquid cash in hand which you can easily use whenever you need to. Hence, you must have a contingency plan well before you start remodeling. It could be 15 to 20 percent of the total expected cost or an amount evaluated by you keeping in mind the number of things that you need to replace in your kitchen. Hence, being prepared for an unforeseen disaster will get you through your task. Otherwise, all your efforts might go down the drain if you somehow have to put everything on hold just because of an unexpected emergency.
Remodeling the kitchen is no doubt a tedious and exhausting experience. However, if things go according to your plan, you will be the happiest once it’s done. It’s a feeling that everyone gets once a thing is done according to plan. The personal satisfaction of giving a new life to your kitchen will be everything!
