A good way to manage these costs is to get a good kitchen renovation
estimate.  When setting out to renovate, there are often hidden costs
that can creep up and sink your budget.  A wise idea is to create your
kitchen renovation cost estimate at 15% of your home value.It can be difficult to stick to your budget and keep it under.  Research, planning and a solid kitchen renovation estimate can help you to keep costs down.  A good place to start is with a middle of the road estimate at about $45,000 for a $250,000 home.  Adding 20% cushion to your kitchen renovation cost estimate will cover you if anything sudden arises.  Items like kitchen cabinets, appliances and countertops are the highest priced in a renovation along with flooring, lighting, fixtures and hardware.  Electrical, plumbing and gas add to the costs, making the kitchen renovation a much pricier change than any other room in the house.  Your kitchen renovation estimate should be your guide.  Everything else should be documented and added as things come up.  Begin with your absolute necessities and things you cannot live without.  Then move to your most desired items such as workflow in your kitchen meals when preparing meals or type of materials used for your countertops, cabinets and flooring.  After that you can add in your “wish list” such as a television, computer, kitchen nook, bay window, etc.  A kitchen renovation cost estimate can and should include everything at first with your cushion. Keep a separate spreadsheet of items you would like to add and add them if you can.  Another thing to take into consideration in your kitchen renovation estimate is your family size, your entertainment style, your frequent guests and your work station for food preparation.  If you have a large family you will want to have enough space in the kitchen.  If you entertain a lot, a big table with lots of counter space is nice.  If you love to cook and cook a lot, design your kitchen with appliances that are strategically placed for optimum production.  A refrigerator all the way across the room from the sink or counter tops makes for repeated trips and unnecessary steps.  It can be costly when moving appliances adding to plumbing and gas costs plus electricity, but it can be well worth it.  The kitchen renovation cost estimate tracks all of this for you and makes it easy to see whether you really want those granite countertops versus stainless steel appliances, whether you want to move the refrigerator closer to the sink and counters, or whether you must have that television and couch in the kitchen.  Whatever makes you happy and is cost effective is what you should do.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pieter West travels the world on a regular basis and have written about numerous subjects.  He has an extensive knowledge about, finances, DIY, parenting advice and many more subjects.