Doing a Kitchen Renovation in Manageable Chunks

Many of us want to fully refresh our kitchen from top to bottom but cannot realistically cover the expense to do so. As people are paying back mortgages, credit cards and loans as well as forking out for monthly maintenance bills and council tax finding the funds to cover a full kitchen renovation can be impossible. But you don’t have to do everything in one go. It is quite possible to split up the work into smaller jobs so that you can spread the cost over the time period you choose as well as maintain an operating kitchen during the process.

Start with a Detailed Plan

The initial stages of a renovation project can decide how successful and how expensive it will eventually turn out to be. This applies even more so when you are doing the work in stages. Look at your current kitchen layout and see if you can plan around your pre-existing fittings so that you can save costs on extensive electrical and plumbing professionals making major alterations to what you already have. You will often be able to make quite major changes with relocating many of your white goods etc. Speak with a designer to see what they can make out of your kitchen and bounce ideas around with them. Sometimes getting another point of view, whether it’s professional or not, can open up new ideas you hadn’t previously considered. A carefully positioned island or breakfast bar can completely change the functionality and design of a kitchen so use a designer’s expertise whenever possible. Look at other people’s kitchens too or showrooms and at least look at other options to discount them out after having looked at them if nothing else. The key thing with this plan is to make it as detailed as possible down to the very last things. A poorly placed unit of draws could become incredibly annoying very quickly so test run where items are located in reality compared to your plan and see if everything feels right and things are suitably positioned.

Purchase Furniture, Fixtures & Appliances

Having made your plan, you will have decided exactly what you will need to buy or at least have a good idea. When you get to the point where you have the funds to purchase what you need you can do so and store it away. It is not entirely necessary to have everything installed at the same time as you buy it and this can seriously spread your costs. The fixtures, furniture and appliances will be your biggest outlay throughout the entire project so do yourself a favour and split up the cost of buying and installing. Clear out your garage or storage room and use this space to keep everything stashed away until you choose to get it all fitted. You should also consider how you can make use of what you have already or look at ways to upcycle it. Changing cabinet doors and handles can allow you to get a new style and look in your kitchen without having to spend a lot on all new furniture. Be honest with yourself and prioritise what you want and whether you can realistically afford it. Often people achieve beautifully designed kitchens by reusing a lot of their existing items in new ways or by altering their appearance.

Get The Professionals In

You should aim to get any electrical or plumbing work done at the same time to minimise the disruption on your daily life. You will need to remove the oven and white goods etc. and put them in another room. If you have the space, you will be able to plug these in elsewhere and continue to use them. Note that this stage can take a few weeks and this can be the most difficult time so it is often recommended you do this in the summer months so you can make use of the ability to cook outdoors. Hire an electrician and a plumber and get them to complete any of the necessary work at the same time. This will ensure that your schedule does not get drawn out further than it needs to and they will be able to work collaboratively if needs be as they will be on site together.

Final Installation

If you have followed the list in order you will now be in a situation where all the needs doing is to have the fixtures, appliances and cabinets etc. put in their rightful place and secured correctly. Remember that you don’t have to do all the design elements at this stage. You can make use of old items such as counter tops until you have the fees to replace them with better ones. Just get all the major items where they need to go and start living again in your kitchen like normal. Over the coming months you can make small additions and changes but these will likely be purely aesthetic touches so there is no rush to get these done until you see fit.