5 Ways to Save Money Remodeling Your Kitchen

So, you're thinking of remodeling your kitchen. It's a smart move if your motivation is to improve the value of your home. (It's a smart move if you just want a better kitchen for yourself too.) This is because kitchens are the most important room in the house for most prospective home buyers.

If you're currently doing your cooking and food preparation in a room that's dated, dingy, or dilapidated (or all three), it can seriously affect the amount of money people are willing to offer when it's time to sell your home. Unfortunately, it's easy to spend tons of money on a kitchen remodel. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, dedicated pot-filling faucets, double ovens, professional cook tops, etc. etc. etc. If you want to buy all that stuff, you can expect to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Some people even spend six figure sums on their kitchens.

Fortunately, it's possible to update your kitchen and make it look a lot better without spending an arm and a leg. Let's take a peek at some of the ways you can increase the value of your kitchen without spending a lot of money:

Paint or refinish your cabinets instead of replacing them.

Before you decide you need to completely gut and replace your cabinets, take a good look at them. Are they sound? Are they made of good wood? (If you live in an older home, chances are the cabinets are made from solid wood and of a higher quality than you'll get today - most of today's low to mid-end cabinets are made from particleboard with maple/oak/beech "veneers".)

If they're basically in good shape, all your cabinets may need is a little low-cost TLC. A paint job is the cheapest way to give them a new look. New door and drawer hardware (knobs and hinges) can help bring your kitchen into the 21st century as well, and it won't cost a lot. You might also consider just refinishing the fronts and getting new cabinet doors.

Install granite tiles instead of solid granite countertops.