#Sandra and Justin s Kitchen Renovation: What it Really Cost - A Budget Breakdown

Type of Project: Kitchen remodel

Location: Arlington, Texas

Type of building: Single-family home, 2,450 square feet

Last week, we got out first look at Sandra and Justin's gorgeous, family-friendly new kitchen. This week, we're going to delve a little bit deeper and answer the question you've all been wondering about: how much did it all cost?

We were really close on our estimated to our actual budget. I was pleased with how we did. But there were some things we opted to spend money on that took us over budget: the pie safe (we ended up not finding what we wanted and had one custom built), the backsplash tile (since we elected to install ourselves, we decided better tile with built-in bumpers would make it so much easier — it was), buying a new disposal (we forgot to save a key component to the old one), and paying someone else to texture the walls (since we didn't have the gift for that DIY task).

While I tried my best to make up in a few other areas, saving extra money on a few things, we still spent more than we expected, and more still that we had thought from our early budgets of around $25,000, before we elected to extend the flooring through the whole first floor, and realized how uneven the concrete underneath it all was, and the cost to level it. After doing research and pricing things out, we got a good sense of what it would cost, and went for it. After all, we bought the house at a good price, knowing the work and money that needed to be put into it to fix the kitchen. So when we look at it that way we are okay with it.

It helped that we reminded ourselves regularly that the renovation would end up taking longer and costing more than we had thought at the beginning. It also helped when one of our contractors informed us that it would have cost an additional 10-15 thousand if we had brought in a design team and general contractor. Considering the massive scope of our nearly full-gut remodel (requiring the pricey moving of the gas, electrical, and water lines), and the much larger size of the new kitchen compared to the old, we were good with the final numbers. And we simply love the final product.

Budget Specifics :