<p>If you intend to stay in the house, then do what you personally like. If you plan on moving soon, thumper makes a great point - look at what the typical buyer would want. And why a ss sink with a Corian counter? An integrated sink looks so much better. </p>
<p>In my neck of the woods, $14k for that job would be reasonable. Does it include demolition/removal of junk? Make sure everything is well spelled out in the contract!</p>
<p>may be this is a better thread.</p>
<p>48 inch of a 12 inch deep cabinet from floor to ceiling, plus a total of 11 ft of top cabinet and 8 ft bottom, “premium” level standard size. about 24 sq ft of Corian® Solid Surface, SS sink and faucet + disposer. Is $14K total too much?</p>
<p>all labor to demolish and rebuild…including all the materials and labor. Plus hook up of dis washer and exhaust vant</p>
<p>tax and everything included </p>
<p>SS sink because all other appliances are SS - gas Stove, refrig, and dish washer. </p>
<p>It does not sound much - about the cost of a new lens. But some cabinet found on line for 10 by 10 kitchen is only $2000.</p>
<p>Your kitchen isn’t 10x10. </p>
<p>As I wrote on the other thread…why corian? We have friends with an exceptional house in a fabulous neighborhood. It has corian counters and they have had NO offers. Folks want granite or Quartz…and the prices are about the same.</p>
<p>You don’t mention the floor…but if the cabinets are being ripped out…is the floor also being replaced? It might need to be.</p>
<p>And don’t forget the lighting. My husband is a lighting designer, and he says it is,often overlooked in Inexpensive remodels…and it shows!</p>
<p>$14,000 sounds reasonable to me including all parts and labor…demolition and rebuild.</p>
<p>DadII…you now have your question in TWO old threads. Why don’t you start your own new thread…and get current info…</p>
<p>What thumper said. And while cabinets could be cheap, labor is not cheap.</p>
<p>Maybe you will get more responsesif you start a brand new thread.</p>
<p>If you are worried about having enough money for retirement, why spend it on remodeling unless you are planning to sell it soon and think you will recoup all of the cost.</p>
<p>What BB said. prices have changed since you bumped this and the other old thread.</p>
<p>I bought a condo on Saturday that needs a cheap kitchen remodel that will look good. </p>
<p>This condo will be a short-term rental (VRBO) so its use will be for mostly 2-7 night stays. So, needs will be different than a family living there full time.</p>
<p>Anyway, it’s a small corridor kitchen that has OLD stuff in it. </p>
<p>Obviously, this won’t be some gorgeous pricey remodel. I want attractive stuff that will wear well and isn’t expensive.</p>
<p>What do you suggest?</p>
<p>Post 1</p>
<p>I merged the two older threads. This is one of those fairly rare types of topics where being a year or two old doesn’t really matter. Lots of information in the older posts, and prices won’t have changed that much. How many threads on kitchen remodeling do we need 
? Let’s just continue this one for now.</p>
<p>@thumper1, We are also thinking of doing some kitchen updates. We still have recessed flourescent lights (the tube bulbs, yuck)…and popcorn ceiling. Just wondering since your H is a lighting designer, what is the most current basic lighting in a kitchen? Is it still the ‘pot’ lights I’ve seen on a lot of remodeling shows (but I see them on netflix, so they aren’t always up to date). </p>
<p>Thank you fallenchemist for merge the threads. I did a search and start posing on the first thread found. Then realize this thread deals more on the budget.</p>
<p>EK4, our kitchen is so outdated, we will not have buyers if we don’t update it. The floor is hardwood and it is fine.</p>
<p>T1, we were offered the Corian package. Will investigate about other tops. Thank you.</p>
<p>Adding lights will increase the cost. This is an old house and we don’t want to lose too much $$.</p>
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<p>Our Banker told us that we could retire today and would have a 77% chance to have a sound finance to 95. My worry is about the unknown and trying to get that chance to above 90%. As I said, without updating the kitchen, no one will buy the house. Our plan is to get it ready to put on market by the coming Spring. </p>
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Our Banker told us that we could retire today and would have a 77% chance to have a sound finance to 95. My worry is about the unknown and trying to get that chance to above 90%. As I said, without updating the kitchen, no one will buy the house. Our plan is to get it ready to put on market by the coming Spring.</p>
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<p>?? Aren’t you the one with the $10M invested?</p>
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<p>No, I don’t have $10 million today. I said I would like to have that much for retirement. No there yet. </p>
<p>Dont be cheap doing a remodel. The best investment in a renovation for resale is the kitchen and the bathroom. DS is looking at homes. The cheap renovations were obvious and a real turnnoff.</p>
<p>Neighbors with the same model house we have (60s split level) redid their kitchen two years ago. $75k. They pulled out a wall and added skylights as well. We still haven’t pulled the trigger on the shower repair that has morphed into a master bath reno. (The quotes for the shower repair were 4x what I expected, and was a significant chunk of the way to a whole bath reno…)</p>
<p>Mathmom, is there any kind of guidance for how much one should spend on renovating a bathroom or kitchen (i.e., no more than 10% of house value on a kitchen, etc.)? I am leery of overimproving our house.</p>
<p>Dad II, the hardwood may be fine now, but it may need refinishing/staining/repairs by the time the renos are done. The footprints on cabinets and appliances may not be exactly the same. Be prepared to deal with that in your budget.</p>
<p>I couldn’t resist piling on to this “Chance Me” thread for adults.</p>
<p>OP, we can’t help you without your stats:</p>
<p>What is your home acreage?
What cars are in your driveway (qty., make, & model)
What is the ‘Feel’ of your neighborhood? Is it a small suburban “LAC” or more an urban “Uni”?
How will you use your kitchen (entertaining, or warming up frozen dinners), i.e. what do you intend to major in?
How much profit margin do the contractors generally take in your ZIP code?</p>
<p>Also, you may want to consider how much you can afford. There is a kitchen for everyone, and it is not clear the price of a more expensive kitchen is “Worth It”. Certainly NEVER take out loans for a Kitchen remodel! Once your remodel is done, you will find you love the kitchen you have, don’t look back!</p>
<p>Everyone WANTS the slab granite and Wolf stove with the SubZero refrigerator and hardwood floors, but you can have a wonderful experience with other options, and you will be happy in the coming years without the loans to pay off. It gives you more freedom in throwing great parties!</p>
<p>Read this <—> College Confidential thread on alternative appliance brands that are just as serviceable but cost half as much.</p>
<p>Finally, have you considered commuting to a nearby kitchen for preparing your meals? Not everyone has the luxury of having a stocked kitchen in the same building where they sleep. Consider commuting to a great kitchen. It may be a great option!</p>
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<p>Last summer I did a total remodel of a kitchen of one of my vacation rentals (I was in the planning stage earlier in this thread). The kitchen is about 9X11, so similar to that “quoted” example. </p>
<p>Way upthread, when I bought this property, my intention was to find an inexpensive solution. After some thought, I gave up on that intent. </p>
<p>The cabs were about $9k plus installation (Kraftmade, shaker-style, cherry - sunset blush from Lowes). I forget how much the granite, sink, faucet, and garbage disposal were. Seed glass inserts in two upper cab doors. The granite was one of the least expensive per square feet, but still very nice looking. Lowes uses a third party to provide their granite so I was sent to some granite place in the sticks to walk around a huge place to pick out the actual piece that would be used. </p>
<p>Tumbled marble backsplash with random inserts (about $1000, including installation. Purchased appliances were nice but not elite models. Flooring is 1’x 2" tiles. Got a super deal on the floor tiles as they were discontinued and I was able to get the amount needed by buying the leftover stock at two Lowes. The floor turned out lovely.</p>
<p>Lowes did everything, including remodeling two bathrooms at the same time, but I paid as I ordered, so I don’t remember the big total for the kitchen alone…I would say roughly around $20k? Everything came out very nice and my guest reviews have been extremely favorable. The price would have quickly risen if I had selected many of the fab customized cab offerings, such as slide out shelves, etc. But this is a rental, so I wasn’t going to include most of those choices. </p>
<p>I did go with upper cabs that go all the way to the 9’ ceiling because it isn’t a large kitchen and this provided more storage. Doing so didn’t add much to the cost. </p>
<p>I was very happy with Lowes, but with any big store (Lowes or Home Depot), success depends on the employees they have. Years ago, I used HD in Calif for a kitchen remodel and had a fabulous experience. The kitchen designer was this little Greek man who was just amazing. So, when I had this job ahead of me, I went to the nearby HD and was quickly dissatisfied with the employees - too young and too inexperienced…and it showed. </p>
<p>Then I went to Lowes and happened to strike up a conversation with the lady in lighting. Turned out she is an interior designer who works very part-time at Lowes to get discounts for her own rentals. She told me that the Kitchen and Bath designer at their Lowes store is a former antebellum home and fine furniture restorer. He turned out to be a life-saver. Knew how to handle all issues. Plus he was extremely artistic so I relied on him and the lighting lady to “ok” all my color/style selections. Oh and the lighting came out beautifully, too. </p>
<p>Tip…if you ever do “random inserts” into a backsplash or anything, use larger post-it notes to figure out placement. Don’t just tell the installer “random”…their idea of random will not likely be yours. Using post-it notes made it fast and easy to figure out where to place the “random” inserts.</p>
<p>good morning. </p>
<p>What we don’t want to do is to put too much $$ in the kitchen. That would make the other parts of the old house look even older.</p>
<p>CD, the guy made very clear, the quote is the final quote any change they will take care of. He said about 60% are labor so they could absorb any minor thing. </p>
<p>Of course they offered you Corian. That’s because they have it and NO ONE wants it!</p>
<p>Where did you get your estimates? </p>