First rental property

[Nathaniel Tant]

Hello everyone!

I just purchased my first home with 25k in equity. I was able to open up a HELOC for 19k and will be using it to remodel the house. The house needs a complete make over, this includes bathrooms, floors, and kitchen. My question is for the kitchen. What kind of cabinets should I invest in? Particle board prefabricated ones? or the more expensive plywood kind.

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @Nathaniel Tant:

@Jim K.

I don't understand why so many questions are asked when I'm simply asking for advice on the type of cabinets to be installed in my kitchen. 

Because it seems you're focusing on what's largely a cosmetic issue about your renovation instead of the more important things you need to get this renovation done. This is an extremely common trap that people new to this business fall into on their first renovation, fussing over largely inconsequential details instead of thinking about the fundamental problems they need to address first. In the real world, outside of television flip shows where manufacturers are trying to upsell you on the cabinets and weekend real estate seminars where the people running them want to impress you with their taste, minor design choices such as the choice between MDF, and plywood for kitchen cabinets are way, WAY down the list of renovation priorities you should be focusing on at this point.

But since you insist -- I like the plywood cabinet carcasses. Definitely go with the plywood. They're so NICE and just give your kitchen that right amount of va-va-va-voom! And about the extra cost...OMG, you are, like, SO worth it.