Whether you’re redesigning an existing kitchen or building an entirely new home in the greater Phoenix area, money will undoubtedly be a primary factor in the decisions you will make. Creating a kitchen design budget before beginning the project is a crucial step, as it will help you determine how extensive you want your kitchen renovation to be, which materials are ideal, and features to include.

Proper budgeting will also help ensure that the project doesn’t get derailed due to lack of funds.

Kitchen Design Budget Considerations

As you’re creating a kitchen design budget, remember the following factors in order to determine the scope of the project and avoid complications.

Determine Expenses Far in Advance

Decide ahead of time how extensive you want your project to be. Online research can help you determine the average cost of labor and the cabinets, flooring, appliances, lighting, plumbing, and so on that you desire. Afterward, schedule a consultation with a kitchen designer to further identify the cost of more specific design elements of your kitchen.

Create a Contingency Plan for Cost Overruns

After compiling and adding up the list of expenses and anticipated costs, there’s another step you cannot overlook.

Although they may make every effort to adequately predict the course of a kitchen renovation project, even the most skilled and qualified contractors will come across issues that they didn’t anticipate. It’s not about being unprepared, but rather about discovering issues that they couldn’t possibly have known beforehand.

Consider these rather drastic but imaginable examples:

• A prior owner may have hidden something in one of the walls or in the ground, and remediating this issue would delay and add costs to the project.
• A natural disaster may strike and wipe out a section of the kitchen roof.
• A neighbor may file a complaint with the city that would ultimately change the scope of the project and extend the timeline.

These are only a few examples, but truly any number of events could happen that would change the course of the home renovation project. Therefore, your kitchen design budget should include a contingency plan, and it should be 5 percent to 10 percent of the overall budget.

Pay Yourself

How do you plan to spend your days during the kitchen reconstruction? Chances are that you will eat out more, purchase items that you can use during the duration of the project such as a mini refrigerator, and so on. Include these expenses in your kitchen design budget.

Allow Yourself Wiggle Room to Change Your Mind … Just a Little

Before you start your kitchen renovation, you really should have a clear vision of the end result. However, it’s possible that after you see an element added into the kitchen, you feel so uncomfortable with it that you’re unhappy.

Let’s say, for example, that you thought you wanted a single basin sink, but once it was installed, you saw that it could be awkward to use on a regular basis. You may be able to switch to a double basin sink with simply a few minor structural modifications and changes in plumbing.

The last thing you want is to be unhappy with your kitchen for years. If you address concerns before the project is completed, you can avoid a more drastic redo years later. In other words, speak now and it will be better for everyone involved in the long run, even though the project may end up costing a little more and take a bit longer to complete.

Word of caution: Avoid changing your mind too much, or the project will become more challenging in many ways.

Understand the Costs

In order to fully understand the cost associated with your kitchen design ideas, you should know the specific brand you wish to use, the specific contractors, and the kitchen design consultants.

If you want to explore your options with JK Cabinets & Design, call us for a consultation. You may also visit our showroom in Mesa, Arizona to speak with one of our designers.