How to get value for money from renovating your kitchen

Everyone wants to know how much a new kitchen costs, but rather than fixating on price, I always encourage our customers to focus on value.

You can also see some of my thoughts on the cost of a kitchen in the video below:

Here are some useful tips to ensure you get the best value and pay the best price for a new kitchen or renovation.

The design of your kitchen matters

Make sure the kitchen is not under designed. I can’t stress enough the importance of this point. One of the tricks designers can play is suggesting a kitchen design they know will keep the cost down, but will not be the best solution for the customer.

For instance, people who haven’t renovated a kitchen before probably won’t know that they would be far better off with more drawers than cupboards. But the designer will suggest the latter to be more competitive on price, ignoring the long-lasting practical implications.

A kitchen designed well, with mostly drawers, can give you 30% or more extra storage than cupboards. See Blum’s “Make optimal usage of storage space“ for more on this. Most older kitchens have mostly cupboards, and often small 450 mm drawer banks that are a bad fit for pretty much everything.

On the other hand, imagine drawers that can hold all your crockery. No more bending down and reaching out to the back of the cupboard to lift out a pile of plates.

Bottom line – an under-designed kitchen might save you some money, and you may have a kitchen that is shiny and new – but it may not be the best-functioning, workable space. If it has less drawers than you need, and you’re not utilising the corner areas, believe me, you’ll be kicking yourself for years to come.

Pick superior quality fittings and components

This is another area I’m absolutely passionate about. Sure, you’ll save money at the outset if you go for cheap imported cabinetry or board, but you’ll lose out five years down the line when it falls apart.

Choose quality now and you’ll save in the long run. You’ll also have the day-to-day enjoyment that comes from installing great craftsmanship from companies like Blum, Caesarstone or Lemans – the products we use here at Rosemount.

Another bonus of having a good design and better quality fittings and components is that there’s a great chance it will push up the value of your home.

To find out more about the importance of quality renovations as an investment, check out our video interview with property advocate, Brian Capp.

Why you should care about customer service?

Kitchen renovations done well are tough and complicated. There’s so much detail, and inconvenience for customers during the life of the project.

That’s why customer service is so vital. You want the best design. You want the tradesmen to not only do a fantastic job, but to do so efficiently – it’s hardly unreasonable to want them in and out of your home as quickly as possible.

You’re only as good as your last job

Reputation counts. When was the last time you went to a new restaurant without going on the net to see what other people were saying about it?

A trip to a good restaurant might set you back more than $200. So shouldn’t you do the same kind of research when you’re spending a couple of hundred times that amount – or more? Of course you should, which is why I always advise people to check out online reviews like this and this before making a decision.

So what is the cost of a new kitchen?

As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider. You can’t compare apples with oranges and expect to get a reliable answer. For example, there could be up to a $5,000 difference between different benchtops and cabinets, depending on the materials and finish you choose.

At Rosemount, we typically create kitchens that cost anywhere between $30,000 and $55,000, and sometimes up to $100,000 and beyond.

For more information, check out this comprehensive post on the cost of a kitchen.

While it’s impossible to predict an accurate price, I can promise you that companies like ours will do everything to ensure you get the best value for money.

Would you like to speak to one of our specialist kitchen designers to work out the cost of your renovation.

Contact us here or call us on 1300 476736.