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Home > I must just be cheap.

I must just be cheap.

February 17th, 2010 at 09:22 pm

It's official. I am super cheap. That, or everyone else has lost their minds.

I'm wringing my hands because we budgeted $5,000 to redo our kitchen. That includes converting the cooktop from electric to gas, a new cooktop and super beautiful and indestructible Silestone quartz countertops.

We will likely have money left over when we are finished, depending on how much the counters set us back.

So, I was watching Sweat Equity on DIY last night and they said several times that the AVERAGE mid-range kitchen remodel costs $54,000. Ten times my budget. Are these people crazy? That's mid-range? I could add on to my house for that!

No wonder we are in a housing crisis, if that's what people think they need to spend on things.

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

10 Responses to “I must just be cheap. ”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 09:24 pm 1266441867
    1266441867

    You and the rest of us! That amount is crazy...not yours the one on the show. I bet you'll have some money left over. Smile

  2. thriftorama Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 09:36 pm 1266442589
    1266442589

    There's no possible way to get your money back if you spend that much, unless you live in Beverly Hills!

    My kitchen is from the 1950s, but with only the amount we are putting in, it will look totally gorgeous. Maybe people just don't see the value of what they already have. Our cabinets are beautiful, they just need cleaned and new hardware, and once we put it in counters (ours are heavily damaged) it will look like a million bucks!

  3. Ima saver Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 09:46 pm 1266443172
    1266443172

    The last house we built had granite countertops in the kitchen and they ran us about $5000. My kitchen has tile countertops and they only cost $300 plus my dh did all the labor. (The last house was a spec house)

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 09:54 pm 1266443648
    1266443648

    Yeesh, I agree. You should only spend that much if you have (and consider it) DISPOSABLE income, because you're never getting a comparable "return on investment" at that amount. It's just pleasure spending or else it's poor investing.

    We had to replace all three major appliances in our kitchen in the past few years, and each time I internally freaked out a little because I didn't automatically pick the cheapest replacement available. (Even though each one--dishwasher, fridge and oven--cost less than $1000, I still felt very extravagant.)

  5. thriftorama Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 09:59 pm 1266443988
    1266443988

    Ceejay, I think it's worth it to spend a little more for better appliances if you plan to stay in the house, particularly if they are energy star. We replaced the 1970s dishwasher in this house last year. I wanted something really efficient, but didn't want to pay toooo much, so I bought a really nice Bosch at a scratch and dent place for half what Lowe's wanted.

    We picked Silestone countertops, in stellar night. They will look good and they're made of 35 percent recycled glass. We plan to stay in this house, and we will only do this once, so it's worth the money. I think Home Depot quoted $78/sq ft installed, and I am waiting for a quote from a locally owned place.

  6. monkeymama Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 10:39 pm 1266446392
    1266446392

    Amen.

    We have granite, but with new construction, they didn't cost much at all. The quality is incredible, and they should last forever. But I do get the people who think we spent a fortune on our kitchen (or house). I always find that ironic. Because we are pretty cheap! Big Grin

    I think you can do a LOT with $5k. I hope you share pics when it is all done!

  7. zetta Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 12:00 am 1266451249
    1266451249

    You saved a bundle by keeping your cabinets. That's where a lot of the money goes, for both materials and labor. Granite countertops are good value for reasonable outlay.

    We spent $25k on our remodel of a 10x10 kitchen (new cabinets, floor, granite, and appliances), but we had neighbors with the same floorplan who spent upwards of $75k! They went for custom cabinets, moved walls and plumbing, super high end appliances, etc.

  8. Suzanne Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 12:31 am 1266453104
    1266453104

    I redid my kitchen a few years ago for about 6k. Cabinets, counters, tile, floor, etc, etc. 54k? They are nuts.

  9. baselle Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 05:01 am 1266469304
    1266469304

    Not cheap, just focused. You've picked your battles, instead of having a designer and contractor pick them then the battle begins.

    Super duper high-end kitchen remodels amuse me, because most people can't cook from scratch anyway. Wink
    I looked at the cost for fully replacing the farmette kitchen floor and subfloor that we desperately needed: 2K.

  10. whitestripe Says:
    February 18th, 2010 at 07:24 am 1266477887
    1266477887

    good god, i think that amount is how much we'd spend remodelling our entire HOUSE. i think when we eventually get around to doing the kitchen, it will be ~$5k too. and i sweat thinking about that amount. haha. Frown

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