Hello lovely Sarah Titus readers! It’s Carrie from Carrie This Home and I’m here to share some tips on how to remodel your kitchen on a budget!
Kitchen renovations are among the most expensive home projects. The average kitchen renovation can easily hit the $50,000 dollar mark.
With the budget kitchen ideas below, you don’t have to do an entire kitchen renovation to achieve the look of a brand new kitchen. Rather, consider doing an upgrade and update to old kitchen cabinets instead. You’ll be amazed at how a couple of low-cost projects can make a big impact on the look of your kitchen!
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We did a DIY upgrade to our cabinets in our own kitchen and this was the amazing result:
How To Remodel Your Kitchen On A Budget
Do some of the work yourself
One of the biggest costs of any home project is the labor. Complete as much of the work yourself to save money on your kitchen remodel and hire out the parts of the project that may be too difficult. If you have friends that are handy, you can ask them to help assist you or ask them to teach you how to do projects yourself.
Add crown molding for a custom look
Installing crown molding will instantly transform boring builder grade cabinets into custom luxury looking cabinetry (here’s a book that will teach you how to install crown molding like a pro!) It’s a little detail that adds so much class! Just look at the difference:
Before:
After:
Crown molding is a great return on investment for cabinets. Installing the molding was cheap and only costed $32 and the difference it made to our cabinets was priceless.
Complete small projects over time as your budget allows
Our kitchen didn’t change overnight. We completed projects one at a time, as our budget allowed. This helped spread out the cost of the entire project and made it more affordable.
Don’t replace good cabinets, paint them!
If your cabinets are in good shape, painting them a more modern color, can change the whole look of your kitchen! I did this in my own kitchen and the difference was amazing. Painting the cabinets gave my kitchen new life and a brand new look. Be sure to check out my how to paint cabinets tutorial for all the step-by-step instructions.
Add a touch of luxury with wainscoting
While we painted our kitchen cabinets, we also added wainscoting to the end of the cabinets. We opted to use paintable wainscoting wallpaper, which is much less expensive than traditional wainscoting. One roll of wainscoting wallpaper costs just $20 and covers up to 56 feet!
Add a dash of good lighting
The right lighting can make a world of difference in any room. It’s amazing to see how lighting can take the same kitchen and make it look much warmer and classier.
Cabinets without lighting:
With added lighting:
As you can see in the photos, canned lighting in the ceiling helps bring warmth to the whole kitchen. Lights on the bottom of the upper cabinets help illuminate the countertops.
Installing rope lights above the cabinets adds warmth and depth to the space above the upper cabinets.
Know what you will spend money on
As you may have noticed in the photos, we added a backsplash to our kitchen. This was our one splurge item and I’m so glad we did it! It’s the statement piece of the whole kitchen. Save money on most of your projects so you can have fun spending a little more on a big ticket item.
To see more of how I transformed my entire kitchen for less than $4,500 (!!!) click here to go to her post, Budget Kitchen Makeover.
Carrie is the face behind the blog Carrie This Home, where she gladly shares the fact that she doesn’t have it all together. A little bit of coffee and a lot of Jesus gets her through the day as a busy wife, mom and part-time blogger. Her passion is to share encouragement and tons of great ideas her readers can “Carrie” home to make life a little easier.
Alexandra says
I love the backsplash! We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago — we had really awful countertops, and replaced them with a nice, low-cost option. We also splurged on the backsplash. I think doing so makes a huge difference to the kitchen.
Sarah Titus says
Yeah, backsplash can make all the difference. Have you done a similar post? I’d love to see your new kitchen! 🙂
Carrie says
Finding one or two things to splurge on during a project makes it a lot more fun! Isn’t it amazing how a budget counter top can make a huge difference? I hope you’re enjoying your new kitchen Alexandra!
Scarlet says
These are all great ideas! A coat of paint instead of replacing entire cabinets is really beneficial and financially so smart!
Sarah Titus says
Very true. 🙂
Carrie says
You’re right Scarlet–a fresh coat of paint can make such a big difference. Using paint to refresh items has saved us so much money over the years!
Katie says
I love this! We are going to a small kitchen facelift- paint the cabinets and add concrete over our existing formica. This gives me inspiration!
Katie
Sarah Titus says
That sounds cool Katie. What color are you going to paint the cabinets?
Carrie says
I’m honored to be a part in your inspiration! I’ve thought about putting concrete over existing counter tops too but I haven’t had the time to try it yet. Let me know how that goes Katie!
Guy Gardener says
You did a really nice job remodeling this kitchen! The wall tile in between the counters and cabinets look absolutely stunning. Also, it’s true what you said about how you need to take your time and not rush. Doing a small project a day, or even a week, can really make a difference on how mentally and financially exhausted you can get.
Carrie says
Thank you so much Guy! Taking our time with projects has not only been good on our wallet but it’s been good on our marriage. Trying to complete too much at once can be really taxing and stressful. Taking a project in little “bites” helps us refresh so we’re excited and ready for the next project.
I can’t argue with you about the backsplash tile–it really IS stunning!
Jenn says
I love how much the white paint instantly brightens the room. It looks bigger already. And the rope lights and canned lights make a huge difference too. We are planning our remodel and hadn’t really thought about changing our lighting yet.
Andre Beluchi says
Carrie, the kitchen that you remodeled looks quite beautiful. The way that you remodeled the home has me thinking about doing almost the same thing for my home. Since my plan is to do some kitchen renovations because of how dull it’s looking like.
Nina says
Love the remodel! Do you remember the brand and style of the backsplash? I love it.
Cindy Hoffman says
Hi there Carrie, we were are also looking forward to remodel our kitchen and was shopping around for some ideas that we can achieve o a budget. Last time we did it, we blew our budget before we completed the work. I really love how you have simplified things in this post. Thanks.
tosha says
That is an amazing transformation!! I’m getting ready to remodel my kitchen but the problem I have is that it is opens into my living room. Both need an update so trying to figure out how to do it at the same time is what I’m needing help with. Any hints?
Trina Hahnemann says
These concepts will be very beneficial in the time of remodeling of kitchen. I think doing so makes a significant difference to the kitchen. It’s real what you said about how you need to don’t rush and not hurry.
Anonymous says
These are all incredible thoughts! Really good content.
erin says
Amazing article!! The ideas you have mentioned are awesome and unique. Thank You.
Janet says
Where did u get the backsplash I love it
Becky says
I know this is an older post- curious how the white is holding up to kids? We are in the planning stages of a new kitchen and I love the look of white- just concerned how dirty it will end up looking with 2 little boys running around. Thanks!!
Sarah Titus says
I can’t speak for Carrie, but I’ve had a white kitchen before and just used Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to clean cabinets, etc. 🙂
Mary says
Kitchen is beautiful and I agree with updating with paint on the cabinets. This is my next project. I have purchased the cabinet paint kit. Seems really doable for me. I want to replace the cabinet hardware at the same time. Now my cabinet door hardware hinges are visible and I want to use hardware hinges not seen from the outside. How do I do this exactly? What hinges do I need to buy?
Thank you for any advice and help.
Mary
Rishav Jain says
Doing some remodeling by yourself can reduce the labor cost to much extent. Also repainting the cabinets can change the look of the kitchen. It’s not important to change the cabinets or build more of it. Even adding some good lighting can make the kitchen look new.
Tori Raddison says
I like how you said that you did projects one at a time so you could afford a renovation. It’ll be a lot easier to save up for one thing than the whole project. I think I want to get started on my floors because I really don’t like the tile that I have right now.
Builder Nelson says
I am so happy I found your blog and I absolutely love your information about how to remodel the kitchen on a budget. I liked and it is wonderful to know about so many things that are useful for all of us! Thanks a lot for this amazing blog!! I agree with all your points that you have stated here, love this blog.
Sarah Titus says
So glad you like it. 🙂
Sarah Taylor says
Kitchen Looks great in images. You explained every thing very well. I am inspired 🙂
Conociendo las finanzas says
It is an excellent article, thanks for sharing it.
Sarah Titus says
Absolutely. 🙂