5 Cost Effective Ways to Update Your Kitchen

Did you take out a home equity loan to update your kitchen?

A couple I know was debating this topic recently. An argument can be made that this is a sound decision because kitchens are known to increase a home’s value most. They had heard that a new kitchen can cost somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000, a rather hefty sum for people just starting out. When I talked to this couple, I strongly advised against taking out a loan. What if there was a more cost effective solution?

I told them that I updated my entire kitchen for under $6,000. This included new appliances, granite countertops, and the whole 9 yards. They didn’t believe me and ended up taking a loan. So many people make this same mistake that costs them thousands more than it needs to. With a little frugality and elbow grease, a brand new kitchen can be created at a bargain price.

In this post, I’m going to share how I built a brand new kitchen without breaking the bank. Hopefully this helps you save money on the renovation and gives you a dream kitchen for pennies on the dollar.

Throw Some Paint on it

When I bought my first house, every room was a disaster. The kitchen, in particular, was the least aesthetically pleasing sight you could imagine. Each window sill was a different color, the backsplash was turquoise (more on this later), and the room was painted a shade of orange.

With a few cans of paint, I was able to paint the window sills white (to stand out) and then painted the rest of the room a lighter grey color. This cost me about $90 and a few hours of my Saturday. The end result? A room that didn’t make me want to gauge my eyes out.

The moral of this story is that paint is cheap and the most underrated instrument of any home transformation. All neutral colors are best if you plan on selling, they also make white window sills stand out more. By far, this was the best return on investment. Paint makes a huge difference.

Keep Your Cabinets

If you choose to replace kitchen cabinets during a remodel, this could easily exceed the $7,000 total I spent on my entire budget. For this reason, I highly recommend working with what you have. To put this into perspective, when I bought my house the kitchen cabinets were a brownish color, the fixtures were broken, there was mice poop in the cabinets (the mice had been experimentation before we bought the house, but the owner didn’t clean anything), and some sort of disgusting oil or grease from never being cleaned. If anyone needed new cabinets, it would’ve been me.

Rather than double my budget, I got creative and saved boat loads of money. First, the cabinets were scrubbed inside and out until they actually looked and felt clean. This definitely took several hours, but there was no way I would put dishes away in a dirty house. Next, I sanded every cabinet until they were smooth, level, and easier to paint. In retrospect, I should’ve bought or rented an electric sander, but I did it by hand. Rookie mistake.

Once this was done, the cabinets were ready to paint. Knowing that this was going to be a pain in the behind, I enlisted help. With some pizzas and beer, I convinced several of my friends to come over for “Paint Night” which was actually really fun. Although we only got a coat of Kilz and one layer of paint on, it was far more than I would’ve been able to do on my own. In the end, I put on about 5 layers of paint. Yes, it was extremely annoying and time consuming, but it saved me thousands of dollars and looked great afterwards.

Knowing that the cabinets were going to be done on a certain date, I was able to order fixtures ahead of time. Note to anyone reading this, make sure to measure unless you want to drill all new holes. In the end, I had to fill all the existing holes, paint over them, then drill new ones. It was a longer process than I had anticipated, but now hopefully you can do this in one foul swoop and not make the same error I did. Nonetheless, the end result was a beautiful new looking set of kitchen cabinets. The room was entirely transformed and at a low cost.

Appliances

When I bought the house, it had a stove top and separate oven. Each was old and quite ugly. I literally hated cooking with either, so I would order takeout instead. When the time came to update the kitchen, it was only natural to seek new appliances.

After doing some research, measuring, and getting quotes from various providers it was time to make a splurge. It didn’t make sense to design a brand new kitchen without stainless steel appliances, so the dishwasher, microwave, and stove (finally got an all in one stove top and oven) were replaced. This cost somewhere in the range of $1,000 to $1,500 including delivery and installation which didn’t seem that bad. It would’ve probably been double that if I’d opted to replace the fridge, but we decided against it because it was fully functioning, blended in with everything it was next to (it was white)...plus it saved quite a bit of money.

Granite Countertops

Granite countertops are definitely not the cheapest option, but you can get a good deal if you play your cards right. To save money, I removed the previous countertops myself so that all the workers would have to do was lay down the granite when it came. If you could’ve seen these countertops, you would’ve had just as much fun as I did with a sledgehammer when I was removing them. They were these awful turquoise colored counters from the 60s that had clearly never been updated.

When going to look at granite, there’s a million different options, providers, and prices. Since the room was already painted grey with lots of white coloring from the window sills to the cabinets, it made sense to try to match that. After looking at what seemed to be a million different patterns, I found one that was on sale. No one will ever ask if you got your granite on sale, they’ll just compliment you on how beautiful it looks, they all kind’ve look the same anyways. With installation and everything, this was about $3,500 and I live in Massachusetts. Just an aside, the sink obviously needed to be replaced too and I wanted a garbage disposal. I paid a plumber to add a garbage disposal plus the cost of the sink and disposal for around $400 total. Some parts of the country are probably even cheaper.

Fake Tile Backsplash

The finishing touch of an otherwise newly remodeled kitchen was the addition of a backsplash. This was going to add texture and another layer of beauty to the kitchen. Originally, I wanted to do real tiles, but then learned about a peel and stick backsplash that was way easier to do and a fraction of the price. They have various measurements, but you basically just cut it out and treat it like a puzzle. It didn’t take too long and it always garnered compliments.

During open houses when I went to sell my house (I’m also a part time agent), this feature got more attention than just about anything else. People would always touch the fake tile and ask how I did that-- I told them the truth and they were astonished. My house ended up going over asking price, and I’m positive that this feature and the kitchen as a whole sold people on it.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a homeowner or investor, a newly done kitchen is sure to increase the value of your property. Saving money on renovations is a win-win. Please share other helpful tips and tricks if you have them!