4 Secrets To Renovate Your Kitchen On A Budget

The kitchen is the heart of the home, a multi-functional room where families gather to talk, cook, share news or just hang out. It’s arguably the most important room in a house. Spend even just $10,000 on your kitchen, say property experts , and you can expect a return on your investment come sale day in the vicinity of $50,000 - $60,000.

That’s great if you can afford to spend $10,000 on your kitchen. But if you have to renovate your kitchen on budget, what can you do?

Fortunately for the budget-stretched there are plenty of cheap makeover tricks you can use to give the impression your kitchen is more expensive than it really is.

1. Power of paint

Applying a fresh lick of paint to tired kitchen walls and cabinets will instantly uplift your kitchen decor. Getting the colour right is important, but you don’t need to agonise over this. Here are a couple of easy options for choosing your new kitchen colour:

• Classic white - if your kitchen is on the smaller side, then opt for white. White has a classic timeless appeal and can really open up a space, see how great this kitchen looks after its white paint job.

• Trending colours - if you want to be up with the play, and you have a larger space, then go with House of Home’s kitchen design trend recommendations : darker moody colour schemes, such as charcoal grey, black and monochromatic; colour blocking of your wall cabinets in navy and using contrasting colours for wall and base cabinetry.

Before you tackle this task with gusto, prep is all important too; read this article on what not to do when repainting kitchen cabinets .

If you have wiggle room in your budget, then replace outdated cabinet handles with modern equivalents too!

2. Flooring options

Your kitchen’s flooring can really let the space down if it’s old, worn or damaged. You can be sure it will be noted by a potential buyer so it’s best to replace it. But with what?

Australian Floor Style gives some insight on current floor trends that may help:

• Non-traditional wood colours
• Bamboo
• Texture
• Planks

Laminate is always going to be the best budget option for flooring, and with this you can get the hardwood look without the costlier price tag of a real wood floor.

3. Update lighting

Replacing outdated or ugly lighting is a cheap way to add style and personality to a kitchen without breaking the bank. Good lighting is necessary for functionality, i.e. to illuminate task areas when you’re preparing and cooking food, but also needs to create ambience for eating and entertaining.

Places like Ikea have lots of affordable lighting options, including very cool pendant lights that can really make a statement. Bunnings also has some great cheap lighting solutions for strip lighting underneath cabinets and benches.

Don’t DIY lighting though, it’s always best to get in a qualified electrician to change your lights, just to be on the safe side.

4. Kitchen installations

If you think your kitchen could do with an entire overhaul, an alternative option to DIY is to get a new kitchen installation, such as the range of packages offered at Bunnings . For just under $3,000 you can get a studio style kitchen or for around $5,000 an industrial elegance kitchen .

A kitchen installation can save you the hard yards and still net you a tidy profit when it’s time to sell.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading these tips on how to update an old kitchen on a budget. If you’re interested in further ways to add value to your home fill out our renovation quiz and our expert team at Bricks+Agent will show you the best areas to focus your budget.