I love watching shows on HGTV and seeing photos online of other people’s kitchen remodels. Most of them are not only functional but beautiful as well, but as you probably know, all that beauty comes with a huge price tag. I personally, don’t have upwards of $30,000 to plunk down on a kitchen remodel and I doubt you do either, otherwise why would you be reading this article?

Here’s what the masses don’t want you to know. Your kitchen remodel can be done for less, way less. The key is, you have to be willing to think outside the box a little bit and you must be willing to do much of the work yourself. Think of labor as the most expensive part of your remodel, the more you can do yourself the better.

First, assess what you cannot compromise on and work from there. If you can work within your current kitchen’s layout you can save a lot of money, moving the sink or the stove will mean extra labor costs if you have to call a plumber or electrician. Cabinets can be a huge expense to any kitchen remodel. Can you make your current cabinets work by painting them, re-staining them or refacing them?

Our house features an open concept kitchen, living and dining area. To make these areas flow we chose to remove the ugly tiles in the kitchen and dining area and the carpet in the living room and use hardwood throughout this area.  Our exsisting cabinets looked okay, but they were poor quality and the particle board boxes were literally crumbling causing the drawers to malfunction.  I hated the open area above the cabinets anyway so this was my chance to buy cabinets that went all the way to the ceiling.  Just doing this will give you 20% more storage space.  Don’t worry if you’re short, keep a step stool nearby and use the top shelves for lesser used items like platters.

Buy the best quality cabinets you can afford in a timeless style and you won’t have to worry about any major updates as long as you own your home.  We chose a shaker style in a rustic knotty alder in a medium tone that gives our kitchen that little bit of lodge appeal we wanted for our Montana kitchen.  Depending on where you live, you might want to consider something a bit lighter and brighter.

Most importantly, set a budget and stick to it.  I know it sounds impossible, but we set a budget of about $12,000.  Our biggest expense was our cabinets, just over $7,000.  Yep, high quality cabinetry will take a huge chunk of your budget, but believe me, it’s worth it.  We bought our hardwood floors from a local lumber mill and we installed them, stained them and applied the poly to them ourselves.   Lots of work, but totally worth it in the end, and so much more durable than pre finished floors.  This set us back about $1100.

Our countertops are what I am most proud of.  This is where thinking outside the box comes in.  My original idea was to have timelessly elegant marble counters or a quartz look alike.  After 4 estimates that put the price of my dream marble/quartz at over $6000, I began to rethink what I really needed in my dream kitchen.  I love my house, but I also love to travel, that $6000 threatened to take away any chance of traveling.  My cabinet designer had a great idea.  She showed me the live edge, wood slab countertops they had installed in several kitchens and my husband and I fell in love.  The wood was sourced locally and when it was finished the colors in the grain of the wood were spectacularly beautiful.  The best part was the price, about $450.  I was sold.

I did want to have a stone slab for my island.  My daughter loves to bake and I like to make pasta, so a stone surface of some sort in my kitchen was mandatory.  Since my island wasn’t huge it was suggested that I look for a stone remnant for my island.  This way you don’t have to buy an entire slab, and since this stone is a leftover per say, the granite fabricator will most likely cut you a deal on the remnant.   We picked out a nice piece of granite that was rich in gray tones, blacks and burgundies, the piece complete with an edge treatment of our choice was $400.

Now for a backsplash, here’s where thinking outside the box really pays off.  I wanted glass tile, but my husband wasn’t fond of the look.  If you’re married you know, you can’t always have your way, so a compromise was in order.  I put the glass tile just behind the stove, approximately $60.  I found a really cute bead board backsplash on Pintrest.  It would have been a thrifty choice anyway, but I ended up finding a large stack of bead board, in completely new condition at my neighborhood Habitat for Humanity Restore for just $8.  I know…score!  I even had enough left over to do my stair risers.

We already had recessed lighting in the kitchen but I did need a light for the dining area and a light over the sink.  The dining area light is also a Restore find just $35.  I took it apart and painted it with Rustoleum hammered bronze spray paint to match the rest of my fixtures and it looks fabulous!  The light over the sink I made myself with a copper colander I found at a neighborhood antique store for $20.

This colander ended up to be the inspiration for my sink which was my other big splurge.  It’s hammered copper and when I purchased the matching faucet my total was right at $500.  I could have cheeped out on the cabinet hardware but we have a bit of a “thing” at our house.  We try to avoid junk made in China at all costs.  We prefer locally sourced or made in the USA.  I knew exactly what I wanted, hand forged wrought iron, made by a craftsman.   I opted for twisted iron handles, no knobs, at a cost of $200.

There were a few other expenses, paint for the backsplash, caulk and a few pieces of trim.  If you’re keeping track you know at this point, I’m still under budget.  We did have one potential budget buster.  When we pulled up the old tile we realized that our sliding patio door to the deck had been installed improperly and was leaking.  We replaced it with a beautiful french door with built in blinds.  We needed to have it professionally installed, at a total cost of about $1200.

How awesome is that?  Still under budget.  Just so you know, we did not plan for any new appliances with this remodel, that would have raised the budget considerably.  The appliances we have are relatively new and we plan to phase them out at a later date.  If you think outside the box and do much of the work yourself, you can have the kitchen of your dreams on a budget.

By guest blogger Jean Marie Stanberry-Author of “Laying Low In Hollywood”, “One World United”, “The Illusion Of Order” and “Blood, Sweat and Fears”.  Available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

jeanstanberry.com   @jeanstanberry