Steps:
- Kitchens are some of the most expensive rooms in the house to renovate, so if you’re planning on buying a house and renovating the kitchen, you should consider a few things to make sure that kitchen renovation will still fit in your budget before making an offer.
- A big thing to consider is the layout. If utilities, doors, or windows need to be moved around to make room for additional cabinets and counterspace, that will require a bigger investment.
- If the utilities for the stove, sink and fridge are in less-than-ideal spaces, those may need to be moved as well. It will be very expensive to make this change.
- If the layout of the kitchen is okay but the cabinets and appliances look dated, simply painting the cabinets, replacing the hardware, and upgrading the appliances can be money well spent.
- If the changes that need to be made to the kitchen are extensive, it might be helpful to hire a kitchen designer.
- Small “facelift” improvements to the kitchen can cost a few thousand dollars. A full kitchen renovation starts around $15,000 and can easily go up from there. Consider how much this renovation will cost before making the offer on the house.
Resources:
Tom’s general advice is to consider the condition of the kitchen on a house you intend to purchase. If improvements are needed, the costs to update the kitchen can start around $10,000 and easily go up from there. Keep this in mind when putting in an offer on a house with an outdated kitchen.