After our big kitchen reveal yesterday, it seems like the million dollar question still lingers: how much did it cost? (Hint: It wasn’t millions… and it was WAY below the national average spent on a major kitchen remodel, which is $44,000 according to realtor.org)
After crunching some numbers last night we figured out exactly how much our wallets really bled during this project and (thankfully) how much we managed to save in the process. And we’re talking start to finish- wider doors, new floors, electrical, lighting, appliances, etc, etc. This wasn’t just your average cabinet and countertop update.
Here’s the breakdown:
Demo & Construction: $1,400 (negotiated down from $2,400) A local contractor and mason removed old counters and cabinets, widened 2 doorways, and closed off 1 existing doorway.
Electrical: $900 (negotiated down from $2,100) A local electrician wired the microwave, dishwasher, disposal, and added 5 recessed lights and 1 pendant fixture over the sink.
Wood Flooring: $1,200 (on sale from $3,000) Oak floors from Lumber Liquidators were installed by a local contractor.
Appliances & Fixtures: $800 (originally priced at $1,500) We purchased a pendant light, cabinet hardware, a stainless steel hood and microwave, a garbage disposal, a wholesale sink and a faucet (and we got a free dishwasher along with a laundry appliance purchase). We reused our existing fridge and stove.
Kitchen Design: $0 We used Home Depot’s free, in-house Certified Kitchen Designer (thanks Nancy!)
Cabinets: $9,500 (after $500 cash back promotion) We ordered KraftMaid Bel Air cabinets through Home Depot with reinforced drawer slides, Thermafoil protection, one glass-front cabinet door and a wooden two-tiered lazy susan base cabinet. This price includes installation.
Countertops: $3,700 (after $300 off promotion) We ordered Stonemark granite counters through Home Depot. This price includes installation.
***GRAND TOTAL: $17,500***
So thanks to purchasing a wholesale sink and faucet on eBay, buying drawer pulls in bulk, picking up deeply discounted wood flooring, taking advantage of a free kitchen designer, timing our purchases to score promotions, and negotiating with local contractors (and getting second- and third- estimates) we saved $5,500!
Savings aside, this was still a pretty hefty expense for us. But when we look at it as an investment in our home – both in its livability for us and its resale value – it’s definitely money we can already tell was well spent.
Aimee says
Seriously awesome use of your money! We redid our kitchen for about $2000, but that was because we used our old cabinets and only had to purchase a sink, disposer, and new counter tops (we did tile).
I wish we had your budget! :)
Kelly says
wow! Ok, honestly ya’ll did an awesome job with the savings and getting such an awesome end result! I watch all of these design shows where they spend $50,000 on a kitchen redo and just can’t imagine spending that much. Y’all def. did things the way I would want to do it! :) Congrats again and I know that you will enjoy this for years to come! :)
Jennifer says
A very high quality remodel for a low price !
nichole says
I love to read about people bargaining and getting great deals! We have a 100-year old row home and tore out the kitchen the day after settlement. I LOVE reading what other people have done to their kitchens and what bargains they got! Keep up the great blogging :)
YoungHouseLove says
Whee! So glad you guys like what we’ve done and how we’ve negotiated our way through the kitchen renovation. We look forward to featuring more fun befores and afters- and hope to find (and share) a lot more deals along the way.
And Nichole, thanks so much for sending people our way. We’ve noticed people clicking thru to find us on your fab blog- http://www.paislandbaby.blogspot.com/ and through your comment on Etsy. Thanks so much!
xo,
Sherry
laura says
LOVE your kitchen. We are getting ready to build and would love shaker, white, satin thermafoil cabinets. I have heard negative things about thermafoil (even from the cabinet people themselves) What’s your opinion??
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Laura,
We heard very positive things from our certified kitchen designer and decided that they’re the most durable option for a forever kitchen like ours (we want it to last through kids hanging on the doors and sauce spills, etc). More than a year later they look just as lovely as the day we got them, so we would definitely recommend ’em so far!
xo,
s
Sonya says
I just found your blog and have been eagerly soaking up all your kitchen reno blogs. Great work! I love, love, LOVE the end product! Gorgeous! We’re planning a kitchen reno too, but haven’t gotten started yet. We’ve done other things around the house where we’ve hired contractors for (like building a perimeter fence), but I wanted to ask if you had any tips for negotiating with contractors? Outside of getting several bids for the job, we are pretty timid people and don’t know how to “talk ’em down” in negotiating a better deal. I’m afraid if we offer less, they will accept the job, but just do a crappier job. Any issues with this? You guys are obviously VERY successful in negotiating w/ contractors and I would love to hear any tips.
Thanks so much!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sonya,
Check out this post for help: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/11/negotiating-101-smarter-wheelin-dealin/
We love asking “is that the best price you can give us” very nicely and seeing what they come back with. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Lissa says
I stumbled across your blog two days ago and I must confess, I’m a bit obsessed! I just purchased my 1st home six months ago and your blog is my new inspiration. While this is not my forever home, I am still planning on using your kitchen as a starting off point for my kitchen re-vamping.
Basically I’m saying thanks so much for giving me some amazing, budget-conscious hints.
XO
~M
Jennifer says
Your kitchen looks great. Just wondering what you mean by buying drawer pulls in bulk. Where did you get them?
YoungHouseLove says
Instead of buying them one at a time, we found a pack of fifteen door pulls at Home Depot for a lot less (just pennies per pull). You can also check Lowe’s or even local home improvement store. Hope it helps.
xo,
s
Sara Mason says
Would you guys have ever done your own demo work? Would you recommend other people doing their own demo work? Would you guys ever use Ikea cabinets? I know you are happy with your caninets (as you should be the kitchen is stunning), but if it were an option for another house. We are buying a house in the next year and I know I will gut whatever kitchen we get, i am trying for under 10k. I know it can be done. As always, thank you for the endless positive inspiration. Love love love young house love.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sara,
We definitely would have gutted the kitchen ourselves. We just had a crew here to widen the doorway since that involved some pretty heavy electrical rerouting so we figured while they were here we could recruit them for demo since they only charged us a tiny bit (and would haul everything away for us). We actually have since completely gutted our bathroom (which is a lot more difficult- think an entire room full of tile set in mortar and wire mesh!) so a kitchen gut-job is pretty straightforward. We say go for it! As for our cabinets, we’re beyond thrilled with them. We intentionally purchased high-end cabinets (that our kitchen designer assured us would last through kids hanging on the doors and decades of use) so it was worth the long term investment for us (the longer we can go before the next remodel, the better- preferably our entire life!). But that might be because we plan to live here forever so the money was worth it to us. If you only plan to be at your house for a shorter amount of time and have a tight budget we’ve heard great things about Ikea cabinets. I doubt they’re as durable as solid wood KraftMaid cabs, but for the money they’re a great deal and we would hope they’d serve you well for at least a decade or so. Good luck! You can do it!
xo,
s
sara Mason says
Thanks Sherry! You guys are so dependably awesome! It is so appreciated that you answer our myriad of questions on all the topics. Stoked for the bathroom and can’t wait to see what you come up with for the nursery. I am due with baby number 3 just two months after you are due.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Sara! So glad you’re digging our blog.
xo,
s
Wendy says
S and J, I love that I can go to your blog and find answers to just about anything regarding home reno! Soooooooooo… now that it’s been determined that your first house wasn’t a “forever house” afterall would you have still gone with the high-end cabinets?
I ask because we are in a “starter-home” desperately in need of a kitchen remodel and I worry about not recouping our money with high-end cabinets when we sell in 2-3 years…
YoungHouseLove says
We loved those cabinets but we might have gone with Ikea ones. They did help sell the house though, and we have heard that Ikea cabinets are sold with each piece separately (you have to order every hinge and knob and door individually) so they definitely would have been lots of work to order and assemble. If we hadn’t had the help of Home Depot’s professional Certified Kitchen Designer (provided free with cabinet purchase) our kitchen layout would have been a lot less functional and visually appealing, so even in hindsight we definitely don’t regret the choice! It’s probably a case of “you get what you pay for” so it just depends how much planning help and quality you want balanced with how much you want to pay. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Wendy says
Your response time amazes me! Thank you so much for the insights :)
Shaina says
What was the square footage of your kitchen? that is amazing savings! I’m just wondering how much it that would be proportionality to the size of my kitchen. My kitchen would be the same kind of shape too, so just wondering!!
YoungHouseLove says
It was around 12 x 13′ (pretty small, but we packed in a lot of appliances, counters, and cabinetry). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Linda says
We went through home depot it was a nightmare for some time. But we got it finished. We purchased our granite from another co and we have a small kitchen so it was not that expensive. 12X8 and our laundry rm is in the kitchen. Our home is 50 yrs. old. We remodeled the kitchen 1 yr. ago. We purchased a new sink, dishwasher and refreg. We had 3 can lights put in by our bath rm. electrician. We remodeled the bath ( one and only bath) 2 yrs. ago. I went with maple cognac cabinets, every door and drawer closes on it’s own.Used pewter hardware for cabinet doors and drawers I had a spice insert drawer added to the right of the sink.My flooring is vinyl that looks like tile . My brother -in-law when he first saw the kitchen , he thought the flooring was tile not vinyl. I am a gramma and wanted vinyl over hardwood. Less care. My kitchen I think is called galley ? I have the sink ,window and cabinets and turn around and you are facing the other side and it is the stove and refreg. with cabinets. thanks for the pictures.