this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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No, I just do a lot of stuff myself. I could do better than that kitchen for $5,000 with some smart shopping and elbow grease. I redid the floors, bathroom, and kitchen in an 1860s cabin for that much back in 2013
Yes, 2013 is indeed the past. Inflation, shrinkflation, and price gouging has driven prices up and quality down
I’m not old you’re old.
2013 was over a decade ago we've went through both a housing crisis and record levels of inflation since then.
Yeah that’s why I can only do the kitchen for five grand and not the whole house
X
The most expensive part here is the countertops, which is pretty hard to do on your own, especially if you're doing stone (super heavy, special tools to cut to size, etc). That alone is probably $3-5k.
The rest is pretty easy to DIY:
So you could probably do <$5k if you're in the budget range, <$10k for something a bit nicer, assuming you DIY most of it. This doesn't count appliances and whatnot, which IMO shouldn't be part of a reno unless you're specifically planning to change the size of the appliances (e.g. you want an in-set oven, larger fridge, built-in stove, etc).
If you ask a contractor, they'll probably say $15-30k, and it could go up from there.
This is just some back-of-the-napkin math after some light browsing on Home Depot.
One way I saved a ton of money adding a kitchen was to get cabinets and counters from people who were redoing their kitchen. Got that for the price of hauling it away. I also got 1000 sq ft of solid oak tongue-in-groove flooring for $250 from someone who overbought for their own home improvement project.
Nice!
The more time you take to look, the more deals you can find. If you're planning to DIY, it's usually best to do things one-at-a-time so you don't end up with a half-finished project, but instead have small, attainable goals that can be 100% completed in a short period. For example, don't redo the countertops, cabinets, and floors at the same time, just complete one completely before moving on. That said, if you're going to hire someone, do it all at once, you'll end up paying less overall, though you'll probably blow your initial budget.
If you don’t pay for the labor and have the time.
IMO, if you don't have the time, don't do the reno, unless there's something really dangerous that needs to go, or you have a lot of money. Having a nicer looking kitchen isn't worth adding even more debt, and it's most likely not going to pay for itself when you sell (and why would it? The buyer would factor the reno in to the purchase price).