Smart Budgeting for Your Sydney Kitchen Renovation
While our favourite renovation shows may make the process look quick and fun, the reality is that the renovation process involves a lot of time and planning to pull off the end result.
One of the most important elements to plan is your budget. Informing all the other decisions to follow, it’s crucial to set a realistic and achievable budget for your Sydney kitchen.
Research and educating yourself will go a long way towards ensuring that your project runs smoothly and to your budget.
Read on for our top tips on how to set a smart budget for your renovation.
Research price ranges
It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to setting a budget for your kitchen updates. Depending on how much you want to change, this can sit at any point on a relatively large spectrum; so it helps to have a ballpark figure before you commit to anything.
As a general rule of thumb, the more structural work required, the more your costs will start to add up. You can also blow out a budget quite quickly if you opt for high-end appliances and expensive materials.
Source quotes from a variety of kitchen designers and contractors to get a feel for the range your project may sit in, and determine whether you can commit to that cost.
Remember, when it comes to spending your budget for kitchen renovation, it’s highly recommended to keep 10-20% of the total aside as a buffer in case of unforeseen changes or challenges.
Prioritise your inclusions
When you’ve been trawling design sites or visiting showrooms every other weekend, it can be hard to compromise on the stone benchtop you’ve got your eye on or to pass up that smart fridge you really want.
That’s why we recommend creating a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves at the outset of your planning process, to understand what’s most important to address as part of your renovation.
Bigger-ticket items like custom joinery are more expensive, but harder to update down the track; whereas it’s much easier to upgrade your fridge in a year or two, without incurring extra costs.
This early prioritisation will help you to approach design decisions with more clarity and stick to your budget for kitchen renovation.
Looking for guidance on where to save and where to splurge for your upcoming renovation? Look no further than our latest kitchen design eBook, where we outline the most important elements and principles of a modern Sydney kitchen. Download your copy now.
Consider what you can keep
Renovating your kitchen doesn’t have to mean ‘out with the old’ literally – in fact, you can achieve a high-impact update while keeping much of your original kitchen intact.
Being able to keep the carcasses of your cabinetry and updating the doors, for example, will save you thousands of dollars (as long as you’re happy with your current configurations and storage, of course).
Similarly, leaving your plumbing where it is will also help to keep costs down; as will keeping your current flooring.
This can either free up spend for your ‘must-have’ items or alternatively help to keep your budget on the lower end of the spectrum.
Stick to the plan
Once the works to create your new kitchen are underway, it can be easy to get swept up in the excitement and to start second-guessing any items on which you initially compromised.
Hold yourself accountable to your budget – creating a spreadsheet to keep everything central and to tick elements off as they are completed can be an effective way to stay on track throughout the process.
Consider marking small milestones during your project; perhaps celebrating with a dinner out or another activity to receive the same dopamine hit without adding extra zeros to your expenditure.
Planning and executing a renovation should be an exciting process, so set yourself up for success at the outset by creating a proper budget for your Sydney kitchen. By researching to come up with an initial price range, outlining your priority items to include, looking for ways to save within your existing kitchen and sticking to your budget once it’s been set, you will create your dream kitchen without the side of bill shock at the end of your project.
Need help budgeting for your renovation or researching your options for joinery, materials and appliances? The team at Apollo Kitchens is here to help. Visit one of our showroom locations or get in touch with us today and let us help you to achieve your dream kitchen.
