When you find yourself in a situation where you have to remodel and upgrade the kitchen, it usually means that stress will overrun you. There are hundreds of little details you need to have in mind, and there’s a chance that once it seems that you have everything planned to the last little detail, you’ll find that creating a kitchen of your dreams is above your budget. After all, renovating a kitchen is one of the most expensive remodeling projects, and according to the Remodeling magazine, it costs over $60,000 on average.
But before you give up on chasing your dreams, you should know that there are alternative ways to refresh the looks of the kitchen. You can make a huge difference without spending tons of money and tear out the entire kitchen, as long as you are willing to put some effort into it.
Here are the top 5 little budget-friendly tips for updating your kitchen without breaking the bank.
Replace old pulls and handles
Whenever you are opening kitchen cabinets, the oils and the dirt on your hands wears away the finish from pulls and handles. Over time, this creates stains and makes the whole kitchen look old. Luckily fixing this is one of the easiest ways to upgrade the design of an old kitchen and it you are remodeling the kitchen on budget, this should be one of the top priorities.
If you have some DIY skills, you can do it all by yourself with very little investment. The only thing you need to be careful about is to measure the distance between the current screw holes on the existing handles and find handles that have the same measurements between the screw holes.
Pulls and handles are sold at almost every large retailer with home equipment. If you are looking for something more special, you should look for specialized stores that are selling old, but renewed handles that can serve you for years to come.
Paint your kitchen cabinets
Kitchen cabinets get scratched and worn out through time. Most homeowners find no other solution but to tear out the entire kitchen and replace it with a new one.
However, there are dozens kitchen cabinet makeover kits available on the market, and they cost anywhere from $20 to $80.Most of them include all the tools and instruction you need to make a drastic makeover of your kitchen, as long as you are willing to put some effort into it.
Buy a new faucet
According to the Amazing Consumer, the faucet is the heart of every kitchen. It’s one of the things that make your life around the kitchen much easier and replacing it with a new one can make a drastic difference.
There are several types of kitchen faucets on the market and although the most expensive ones can cost over $300, you can get a decent one with chrome finish for as little as $50. Just make sure that the style of the faucet is compatible with the style of your kitchen, and that’s it.
Another thing you have to be careful is to choose a faucet with appropriate number of holes. If the faucet requires fewer holes than there are on your kitchen sink, you will have to buy hole covers which won’t cost a lot of money, but it probably won’t look as good.
Replace or renew the countertop
Besides the faucet, the kitchen worktop is the second most used thing in the kitchen. It gets worn out through time and replacing it for a new one can transform the kitchen drastically.
Buying a new worktop can cost several hundred dollars, but if you are willing to put some work into it, you can resurface it for much less, as long as you have some DIY skills. There are plenty of resurfacing kits available online which include everything you need to transform the outdated and worn-out of the countertop for as little as $10.
Buy new appliances
Maybe your kitchen doesn’t need a remodel after all because the only thing that makes it look outdated are old appliances. Buying new ones is unfortunately usually costly, but can easily improve the look and feel of the space. Just make sure that the new appliances match the style of your kitchen and that’s all there is.
