Pre-built Kitchen Cabinets

Photo by Speed Racer

It’s no secret to homeowners that carrying out a kitchen remodel is one of the most expensive home remodeling projects you can undertake. Planese is always looking for ways to help homeowners save money when they remodel while not compromising on what they want, as it is also essential that you get exactly what you’re looking for when you start a remodel. One of the simplest and most effective ways to save when you remodel your kitchen is to use pre-built kitchen cabinets instead of custom made ones.

The modern trend in remodeling is to strive to everything custom made and unique to your home and your home only. It’s great to want to be as individual as possible in your remodeling design, but making the decision to have everything designed and made bespoke is going to severely inflate your kitchen remodel cost.

Anything that’s mass-produced will probably be less expensive than something custom designed, but that doesn’t mean you have to install a generic looking kitchen. Pre-built cabinets come in a wide range of materials, styles and paint colors, and will usually have the option to customize them with a choice of handles, knobs and doors.

Aside from the aesthetics of buying pre-built cabinets, they can be cheaper to install as they tend to come in a standard size and are designed to fit together quickly and easily. Yourself or your own contractor should be able to install them, whereas custom made cabinets often have to be fitted by workers from that particular manufacturer.

There are of course many other factors to take into account when you calculate the cost of your kitchen remodel, such as what type of materials you will use and whether you are able to do any of the work yourself. But using pre-built kitchen cabinets is a good place to start when you’re looking to save on your kitchen remodel costs.

Find out more about home design such as Jack and Jill bathrooms, and to help you plan your remodel, download our FREE Planese app and get help every step of the way with your remodeling project.

Best Kitchen Layouts

Here at Planese, we know that when you’re planning your kitchen remodel, it can be tempting to want to build an addition to create that large, spacious kitchen you’ve always dreamed of. But you can actually revolutionize the existing space that you have in your kitchen just by taking a look at the best kitchen layout for the area. We can also help you plan for a small bathroom remodel.

There are four basic kitchen layouts, and each one comes with its own advantages.  Deciding which one works best for your new kitchen remodel depends on the shape of the room and your own personal needs.

Galley Kitchen

The ‘galley’ style takes its name from the nautical term for a ship’s kitchen. It’s usually a long narrow kitchen with only one entry point, and the main fixtures and fittings are found along the kitchen’s two longer walls. Though the actual dimensions of the room are not firmly set, the galley kitchen is great for compact efficiency, saving space in the floor plan of your home. Through a creative use of space, you can actually include a lot of storage in a galley kitchen.

L-shaped Kitchen

These types of kitchens are popular as they are efficient, easy to build and can include a flow of traffic into other rooms in the home. The L-shaped kitchen layout will usually have the refrigerator, dishwasher and sink along one wall with the stove and over on an adjacent wall. This leaves room for a dining area if the room is big enough, and there can be two or more entry points into the kitchen.

U-shaped Kitchens

A versatile design that allows for several work areas, the U-shaped kitchen is great for larger rooms and will allow for two cooks to work at the same time. The third side of the U-shape can allow for an extra sink and an informal dining area, while you also have more space to add under-counter appliances such as refrigerators or dishwashers.

G-shaped Kitchens

The fourth common type of layout is the G-shaped kitchen, which comes with the addition of an island to a U-shaped kitchen. If you’ve got a larger area to play with, then the G-shaped kitchen is a great kitchen layout to go for. You can have several different work areas, an extra sink, an informal dining area as well as plenty of under-counter appliances. Anyone that loves entertaining while cooking will enjoy the clearly defined yet open-plan vibe that the G-shaped kitchen has.

You can have the exact kitchen layout you desire as long as you are clear about what you want. Think about the space you have to work with, the budget for your kitchen remodel, and the best kitchen layout for you and your family’s needs.

To help you plan your remodel, download our FREE Planese app and get help every step of the way with your remodeling project.

How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen?

There are plenty of big decisions to be made when you’re planning a kitchen remodel – what sort of material you want for the countertops, the design of the cabinets, the right appliances and so on – but the biggest factor you have to take into account is the cost. Working out what you can afford initially will determine what you decide for all of these things, and can mean the difference between a brand new kitchen addition or simply refacing a few cabinets for a fresh new look.

Let’s take a look at some of the variables involved in calculating the cost of a kitchen remodel.

Building a brand new addition vs. remodeling your current kitchen

If you decide to build a bigger kitchen you then have to find the extra floor space! Will you repurpose existing floor space in your home or will you build an addition into outside space? If you want to build an addition then you have to factor in extensive building work into the cost of the kitchen remodel. Consider these factors:

• Will you be knocking down interior walls?
• Will you have to bump out exterior walls?
• Will the walls you have to adjust be load-bearing walls?
• Will you have to build completely new foundations?
• Will you need new doors and windows?

Plumbing and electrics

As with any new kitchen remodel, you have to consider that drastically altering plumbing and electrical lines will drive up the cost of your remodel. New plumbing, a gas line and entirely new wiring will be quite an effort! Consider the following variables for plumbing and electrics:

• Will you have a new sink, or even add an extra one?
• Will you install a dishwasher?
• Are you going to move the stove and the oven?
• If you’re adding new appliances to your kitchen, will you need new electrical outlets?
• Will you install a new lighting system? Will it require new circuits?

Countertops and Cabinets

An easy way to lower the cost of your kitchen remodel is to keep the existing cabinets that you have and simply reface them to give them a new lease of life. Adding a new countertop too will give your kitchen a fresh new look. Even if you choose the simpler remodel option, there are several factors to take into account that will affect the cost:

• Will you simply sand down and repaint the cabinets you have, or will you reface them with different materials altogether?
• Will you buy pre-made cabinets made to standard sizes or will you have bespoke cabinets designed specially?
• Will your cabinets have to be built and installed by specialists? Can you build them yourself and have someone install them?
• Will you be choosing lower cost materials for your countertops? What about the tile – will it be custom made or store-bought?

Finally, one of the biggest cost factors for a kitchen remodel is whether you can do any of the work yourself to save on labor costs for a contractor. Even if you can do some of the initial demo work and clean-up afterwards, you’ll be able to save yourself some cash.

Find out more about kitchen remodeling at Planese.com, and let us help you with your kitchen remodel with our brand new app.