Kitchen Renovation

Great article in the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville talking about renovating your kitchen.  You can go to bit.ly/14VWv0e to see the official data from the Jacksonville region on costs of renovating your house. Who would not want a new kitchen? After all kitchens and bathrooms are where you get the most value for a new solution!

First question to ask is, "How long do I plan to stay in the house?" I would recommend that if you renovate the kitchen you need to stay in it 3-5 years, to create something that is mainstream and something people can live with when you go to sell the house. Try not to do something too exotic that will drive a potential buyer away. Having a pink kitchen is perfect for you, if you plan to stay in it forever, but there are fewer buyers who really want a pink kitchen.

Need to know this when you spend 10,000 or 20,000 because you are going to see a return of between 60-70% return on your money. It is simple math from a sale standpoint. When I renovate a home, I normally make sure I follow the standards of knowing that I spend an appropriate amount to the cost of the home. Whole area, plumbing, electrical, cabinets, appliances all should not cost more than 10-15% of the total sale price of the house. So a 700,000 house, you could get a 70,000 kitchen solution, conversely a 70,000 house should be around 7,000 to 10,000 in expense.

Be realistic in the kitchen too, if you only have $10,000 to spend and you want to gut the kitchen, put in new appliances, granite counter tops, tile back splash, canned lighting, get realistic. Appliance packages of a fridge, range, dishwasher and microwave will run from $2,500 and up. Right there, that is a large amount of the budget.

In the end, know what your budget is, spend what you can in the budget, but remember you can always change the appliances next year or add to the other side when you have more resources. Yes, it would be better to have it all done, but the reality is that you need a plan and work within that plan. Have fun with it!

Liz