There is a substantial amount of planning that goes into every kitchen renovation, and for good reason. First of all, remodeling an entire kitchen can be a pretty expensive task. However, it has the potential for a huge pay off, especially if you plan on selling your home sometime down the road. Even if you don’t have any plans to sell your home, designing and building your own dream kitchen turns the everyday task of cooking into a culinary dream. Another reason why kitchen renovations require so much planning is that there are a LOT of things that go into kitchens, such as countertops, drawers, cabinets, flooring, and all of the various appliances that you plan on using. With all the factors that go into planning a kitchen renovation, it’s essential that you carefully plan each step of the process. Doing so not only ensures that you get exactly what you want out of your kitchen, but it also can make the process faster and less expensive. We’ve outlined what we consider to be the 5 most essential steps that go into planning a kitchen renovation project.

Determine Your Budget

Determining your budget should be the first step you take once you make the decision to remodel your kitchen. Determining your budget first helps you have a more realistic idea of what you can afford to remodel, and this helps prioritize many aspects of the renovation project.

When it comes to renovation projects that are for your enjoyment and not intended to increase the value of your home in advance of selling, determining your budget is more dependent upon your personal desires for your kitchen and how much you are willing to spend to get the kitchen you’ve always dreamt of. However, there is a different strategy for if you are planning on selling your home.

Determining a budget for a kitchen renovation project that you hope will boost your asking price can be approached a bit more straightforwardly. A simple equation we recommend for determining your budget if your intention is to sell is to take the total overall value of your home, and set your budget to be 5%-15% of that number. If you are thinking of doing a large-scale renovation, as in totally remodeling your kitchen, then go for 15%. If your kitchen just needs a light touch-up and doesn’t need a total makeover, go for 5%. If your kitchen lies in the middle in terms of what it needs to have renovated, then set your budget at 10% of your home’s overall value.

Decide What You Can’t Live Without

Most people don’t have an unlimited budget when it comes to renovating their kitchen, and if you are one of those people, it’s important to distinguish between what you want most and what you can live without having.

If you plan on increasing the value of your home, it’s quite helpful to consult a contractor or a kitchen designer to see what your kitchen needs to have in order to increase the value of your home. However, if you are planning on remodeling kitchen for your own enjoyment, then there are some important questions you can ask yourself to get a better idea of what you should allocate your budget for.

It helps to determine exactly how you envision using your dream kitchen. If you would love to have a kitchen more hospitable for entertaining guests, consider renovating to have more space in the kitchen. If storage is something you find to be lacking in your kitchen currently, consider a renovation that focuses on adding more cabinet space.

Have Your Plumbing Inspected

A fully thorough inspection of your plumbing can’t really be done until after most of your kitchen appliances and flooring have been removed. However, it doesn’t hurt to have an inspection before and after the demolition process begins.

Some plumbing problems can’t be identified until after the demolition process begins, however, that is not always the case, and it always helps to know what kind of plumbing work you might need before you begin the renovation process, as such information can really influence your budget allocation.

It’s also very important to have your plumbing inspected in the post-demolition/pre-renovation stage. You certainly wouldn’t want to pay to have brand new appliances installed only to need to have them taken right back out again in order to fix a plumbing problem you were unaware of.

Get Professional Help

Unless you yourself are a contractor, tackling a kitchen renovation project on your own can be a very risky endeavor. From plumbing work to installing electrical wiring, there are a lot of things that require a great deal of skill that can go wrong if you are doing the work yourself and don’t have a lot of experience. Every mistake you make costs money, and at the end of a trial-and-error process, you might end up spending more money correcting your mistakes than you would have paying a professional to get the job done.

Professionals like the ones we’ve got on our team here at Divine Home Remodeling can also help you with all of the steps mentioned above. Our free estimates regarding any project you can think of will help you enormously when it comes to determining your budget. With home remodeling projects being one of our top specialties, we know what kinds of things go into making a renovation project boost your home’s value, and we also know a thing or two about spotting plumbing problems. So please, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today so we can help make your kitchen renovation dreams come true!