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If only money was no object, we’d all have the kitchen of our dreams.\u00a0 Well, guess what?\u00a0 I got mine anyway, on a pretty tight budget.\u00a0 And since I learned a few things along the way, I thought I’d share 7 Tips<\/strong> to Save Money on a Kitchen Remodel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Tip #1 Know where to splurge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Replacing everything is costly, so choose one or two things you can change for the greatest impact, and spend your money there.\u00a0 Deciding where I wanted to splurge in my kitchen remodel was actually quite easy.\u00a0 I’ll show you a Before picture of my kitchen so you can see for yourself.<\/p>\n

I could live with my existing cabinetry, my laminate flooring, and most of my appliances… but the island HAD TO GO!\u00a0 I hated how tall it was, AND the fact it was positioned diagonally in my kitchen.\u00a0 It was a two-tiered, formica-topped, giant ship that took up so much space!\u00a0 So, I decided to splurge on a new island.\u00a0 And even though my husband wanted to build it himself, with his crazy work schedule, time was an issue.\u00a0 So, I convinced him to hire a contractor.\u00a0 Besides there would be plenty of other work for us to get our D-I-Y on.<\/p>\n

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Tip #2 Source your own materials<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A reputable contractor shouldn’t mind if you choose to source your own materials.\u00a0 After getting quotes for everything, we knew we could get many of the needed items much cheaper ourselves.\u00a0 My husband and I have a long history of shopping discount warehouses, so we got everything, including the kitchen sink, ourselves!<\/p>\n

We bought a new pull-out microwave at Lowe’s that was discounted because it was the floor model.\u00a0 And guess what my husband did?\u00a0 He asked to speak to the manager, and then proceeded to ask, “is that the best you can do?”\u00a0 I almost died of embarrassment.\u00a0 But just as I was about to walk away and pretend I didn’t know him, the manager knocked off an additional $225!!! Ka-ching!!!\u00a0 Now, we could afford to get a new range hood built over the stove!<\/p>\n

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(If you live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, check out The Handyman’s Candy Store at 2902 E. Elwood St. Phoenix, for discounted cabinetry, granite and quartz counter tops, faucets, hardware, etc.)<\/p>\n

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Tip #3 Do your own demo<\/strong><\/p>\n

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After getting a quote for the island from a contractor, we knew we could save money by doing our own demolition.\u00a0 Besides, we know how much fun it can be!\u00a0 But unlike those HGTV shows, we didn’t want to destroy things.\u00a0 We wanted to carefully dismantle and salvage the usable pieces.\u00a0 Believe me, no matter how ugly you think it is, there’s always someone out there less fortunate who needs it.\u00a0 So donate it to Habitat for Humanity or post it on Craigslist as free to bless someone.<\/p>\n

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Our dog, Miley, gets in on the action, sniffing out what happened to our old island.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tip #4 Enhance existing cabinetry<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Because we couldn’t afford to get all new cabinetry, we decided to paint our existing cabinets and add crown moulding to the top to make them look more custom.\u00a0 If you do this, be sure to take your time and do it right.\u00a0 Remove all the doors and hardware, then sand and prime before you paint. I took it a step further and sprayed a clear coat of polyurethane to give it a protective finish.<\/p>\n

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We ordered new satin-finish hardware online through Amazon.\u00a0 It was delivered in two days, free shipping, and we saved a bundle!<\/p>\n

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My husband, meantime, did such a great job adding the crown moulding to the top of the cabinetry, we decided to add a little trim to the bottom of the cabinets as well.\u00a0 All totalled, we spent about $75 on the moulding, but the look is high dollar.<\/p>\n

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Tip #5 Install your own soft-close feature on existing cabinet doors & drawers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Soft-close doors & drawers are awesome, but who can afford them?!\u00a0 Certainly, we couldn’t.\u00a0 But we found a far less expensive version of soft-close adaptors and drawer slides on Amazon.\u00a0 Installation is easy enough for a novice.<\/p>\n

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Tip #6 Keep existing appliances, but consider changing the face<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There was absolutely nothing wrong with our stove top, or our dishwasher, so we kept them.\u00a0 But, we did change the face of our dishwasher.\u00a0 You can find stainless steel front panels for your dishwasher online.\u00a0 We ordered ours through Amazon, and within minutes of it being delivered to our door, it suddenly looked as if we got a new stainless steel dishwasher.\u00a0 Cost was around $45.<\/p>\n

It’s still the same dishwasher, but with a new stainless steel face.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tip #7 Take on a D-I-Y project<\/strong><\/p>\n

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With every remodel my husband and I take on, we try to build on our DIY repertoire.\u00a0 In this case, we decided to put in our own tile back splash and saved quite a bit of money in the process.\u00a0 We went with a more affordable, classic white, subway tile.<\/p>\n

My husband found this tile saw on Craigslist for just $50. It had only been used once before.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Installation proved to be fairly easy, so we decided to get a little fancy with a herringbone pattern inset over the stove.\u00a0 It all worked out in the end, but let’s just say, there were some very unpleasant moments in between.\u00a0 Lesson to be learned:\u00a0 If you get fancy on your first time laying tile, what should take one afternoon, may end up taking three very long days!<\/p>\n

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It all came together beautifully in the end.\u00a0 Our cabinets are now white with dark gray quartz counter tops, while the island is blue with a white carrera quartz counter top.<\/p>\n

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We could not be more pleased with our kitchen remodel.\u00a0 We finished it just in time to host my daughter’s High School graduation party and the kitchen feels so much bigger, brighter, and welcoming.\u00a0 It more than makes up for the weeks of washing dishes in the laundry room, and microwaving frozen burritos in the garage.\u00a0 It’s the kitchen of my dreams.\u00a0 By using these 7 Tips to Save Money on a Kitchen Remodel<\/strong>, yours may be within reach, too.<\/p>\n

Thanks for checking out my blog.\u00a0 Be sure to check out my Living Room Makeover<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

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Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If only money was no object, we’d all have the kitchen of our dreams.\u00a0 Well, guess what?\u00a0 I got mine anyway, on a pretty tight budget.\u00a0 And since I learned a few things along the way, I thought I’d share 7 Tips to Save Money on a Kitchen Remodel. (more…)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,19,4,18],"tags":[41,39,34,44,42,33,40,36,35,38,43,37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1985"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muralsbymarcy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}