If you are disappointed that the title of the post is so straight-forward, to the point, and not at all witty, you are not alone.  I could not think of a good pun, and I wanted it to be obvious what this post was about, since many are curious about costs, especially in this economy.

As DIY television connoisseurs, The Boy and I are always astounded by how much money people spend on their renovations!  A $30,000 kitchen?  $18,000 for a master bath?!?  While it would be fabulous to buy everything on our dream list, and break the bank, we simply could not afford to do so.  Considering that our combined student loan debt is … whoa, I just got nauseous.  I can’t even type the number.  Let’s just say it is much larger than our mortgage.  Anyways, my point is, this is not a “Mr. and Miss Fancypants have unlimited funds” type of remodeling blog.  Nor is it a “We have disposable income” type of remodeling blog.  We scrimp and save and search high and low to find the best deals around so that we can afford to renovate.  Therefore, with no further ado, here is our budget breakdown for the kitchen remodel, as well as where we purchased the items from:

Cabinets:        $2,523.00  (a local, very small retailer, and the cabinets came flat-shipped, so we had to assemble AND install)

Appliances:    $2,500.00 (Sears Scratch and Dent store for most, Craigslist for matching microwave)

Flooring:         $550.00  (on close-out at Floor & Decor outlets, but we had to buy the entire remaining inventory, so we used the extra to tile the entryway, and we still have some tiles hanging out in the garage)

Lighting:          $170.00 (hanging light on clearance at Home Depot, recessed lights regular price at Home Depot)

Sink/Faucet:    $250.00 (sink on clearance at Home Depot, faucet from two fabulous men on Craigslist)

Granite:             $372.00 (on “special buy” at Floor & Decor)

Granite Install: $950.00 (a guy recommended by Floor & Decor)

Backsplash:      $171.23 (Floor & Decor)

Window:            $132.00 (Home Depot)

Plumber:            $500.00 (When we removed existing cabinets, we discovered a drain pipe running THROUGH the lower cabinets, so we paid plumber to come re-route and recess into wall – which, in hindsight, we could have done ourselves!)

GRAND TOTAL:  $8,118.23  (check my math – I’m a lawyer, not an accountant!)

The only cost possibly omitted is the drywall patching, and the only reason it isn’t included is that I could not break it down.  We had a contractor do a roof repair, and his guys did the drywall work, so it was all one price, and included drywall in both the living room and kitchen.

So there you have it!  You really can renovate your entire kitchen on a pretty tight budget.  If we had decent cabinets we could have painted, or existing appliances, or anything to work from, it would have been even less.  I will not pretend that it was easy, or that the deals just fell into my lap.  I spent a LOT of time researching and calling places, so be prepared to hunker down.  Any questions?  Bueller?