Kitchen Talk
April 9, 2009

Budgeting for your kitchen

When planning for your kitchen, you need to crunch some numbers, go online, check out stores like www.exclusivekitchensvc.com to get an idea of appliance prices, average cabinet costs, countertop costs, usual price/sq ft and get an idea before hand how much money it may cost you to get your new kitchen. The figure should be used as a guide only and not a general cost, since each project is unique and would, therefore, cost differently.{{more}} Getting this step completed would do two things for you. 1. It would make you revisit your step one (1) to see if you need to add more to your list or 2. Take away from it. I usually advise that you take your project to a professional to get a true representation of your cost before you do either. If you are planning a remodeling of your cabinets, decide up front whether you would be refacing or replacing. These two decisions would have varying implications on your budget. Get all of that out in the planning process to act as a yard stick guide to your project.

Discuss Timeline

If you are living in the home that is about to have a kitchen re-model done, be prepared to be inconvenienced for a few weeks and perhaps months depending on the extent of the work you are having done on your kitchen. Discuss this with the contractor to have a timeline set because you will need to make other cooking arrangements and sometimes living arrangements. It’s always easier doing a new kitchen over a remodelled one. Make sure that they understand your criteria. Some things are more important than others depending again on your particular needs. Get those out in the open so that you can have a set timeline for completion. However, always remember, even the best laid out plans have holes. Your job is to make sure those holes are small, and if you do step one extensively, more than likely, they would be.

Have fun at it! If you plan well, you will reduce the amount of stress and downtime that is normally caused by insufficient financial design planning and also by choosing the wrong kitchen company! New kitchen or remodels should be fun!