Home Prices Rise and Kitchen Remodeling Becomes a Smart Investment Again

By Scott Dostal

There is no denying that when home prices rise, kitchen remodeling becomes a smart investment again. During the last week, you might have heard that demand for existing homes is up about 22 percent (on average) from a year ago. Inventory of available existing homes is up only 17 percent. What is more, home prices in U.S. markets are up about eight percent (on average).

kitchen cabinet value

customized cabinetry offers the beauty and practicality of custom cabinets and a fraction of the cost

In many markets, exiting homes that offer the most desirable features become the object of bidding wars, even bidding up the price of a home by as much as 10 percent over the listing price. Not only is it a good time to sell, it is also a good time to remodel in anticipation of selling in the future. According to HGTV, the top ten features homebuyers want in 2013 are:

  1.  Central air conditioning
  2.  New kitchen appliances
  3.  A Walk-in Closet in the Master Bedroom
  4.  Granite Countertops
  5.  Hardwood Floors
  6.  Ensuite master bathroom
  7.  Kitchen Island
  8.  Stainless Steel Appliances
  9.  Eat-in Kitchen
  10.  One or more fireplaces

Many homeowners were understandably reluctant to invest in home remodeling during the recent economic crisis. However, as the demand for existing homes rebounds and prices increase due to low inventory, the investment in home remodeling begins to make far more sense. In fact, remodeling increased by 12 percent in April alone. Of those remodeling in April, 54 percent said their reason for remodeling was to increase the value of their homes.

With half of the top features buyers want in homes related to kitchen amenities and features, the first room of the house to consider remodeling must be the kitchen. According to Forbes, the average cost of kitchen remodeling is:

                Low budget remodel                      $7,133

                Mid-range remodel                        $22,390

                High-end remodel                           $54,942

A more important question for many homeowners is how a kitchen remodel will affect the price of the home at resale. According to the remodeling industry, the cost vs. value assessment looks like this:

                Major kitchen remodel                 Cost: $53,931     Resale Value: $37,139    Recouping 69% of cost

                Minor kitchen remodel                 Cost: $18,527     Resale Value: $13,977    Recouping 75% of cost

HGTV estimates the impact on resale value of the home slightly higher at 80 – 105 percent of cost.

In terms of remodeling an existing space, the kitchen is typically the most expensive room of the house to upgrade. Enlarging the space adds further cost. What makes kitchen remodeling so expensive? In most cases, cabinetry and appliances account for more than half of the cost. Kitchen remodeling costs (on average) break down this way:

  •   35% Cabinets
  •   20% Labor
  •   20% Appliances
  •   10% Windows
  •    5% Fixtures
  •    3% Fittings
  •    7% Other

Cabinets, as the largest portion of the kitchen remodel cost, are significant:

                High-end Kitchen Remodel cost                                $54,942 (average)   x  35%  =  $19,229.70
                Mid-range kitchen remodel cost                               $22,390 (average)   x  35%  =  $  7,836.50
                Low budget kitchen remodel cost            $  7,133 (average)    x  35%  =  $ 2,396.55

There are, of course, several grades of materials and workmanship in kitchen cabinets. There are also several ways to buy kitchen cabinets, including the pre-manufactured modular units now offered by some companies. Your choices will be limited, and units will come in “standard” sizes.

There is another way to buy high quality cabinets, get exactly what you want, and get custom sizes and features. What is more, they can be installed in your kitchen, with granite countertops, for as much as 60 percent less than the cost of the custom cabinets you might want. The process, called customization, takes high quality cabinets in standard sizes and a cabinetmaker resizes them to specification. They can also be fitted with organizational inserts, customized for refrigerated drawers, and used to create unique units for special items.

Home prices are rising, making kitchen remodeling a very smart investment for those thinking about selling in a year or two. With cabinet customization, you can have kitchen cabinets of higher value for lower cost, thus increasing the percentage of your investment you can recoup when you sell your home. You can increase the value of your home and increase the amount of the remodeling cost you will recoup when you sell your home.

 

Kitchen Cabinets Costs

Kitchen Cabinets Cost

We can work with you to reduce your kitchen cabinets costs while giving you the kitchen of your dreams.

When planning a kitchen remodel, kitchen cabinets cost can account for about half of the total cost of your remodeling project. On the one hand, cabinetry seems the logical place to try to save money by choosing less expensive cabinets. On the other hand, however, it seems to make more sense to invest in the best cabinets so you will not need to replace them so soon.

It would be amazing and wonderful to be able to reduce the cost of your remodel by spending less on kitchen cabinets cost and getting better cabinets at the same time. The good news is that kitchen cabinets cost can be a pleasant surprise when you are dealing with the right cabinetmaker. The right cabinetmaker will have a purchase agreement with a cabinet distributor that provides a discount on high quality stock cabinets and the skill to customize stock cabinets to your specifications.

Here is an example illustrating a difference in kitchen cabinets cost. Stock drawers are available in various under-counter sizes. Drawer heights are available only in three and eight inch heights. What you have seen in a custom cabinet and want in your kitchen, however, is an eight-inch high drawer that is divided inside into a three inch top drawer nestled above a 5 inch bottom drawer, all accessed with a single set of pull handles.

A custom cabinet in the wood and finish you have chosen for your kitchen renovation will be costly. If you are working with a cabinetmaker that customizes stock cabinets to your specifications, you pay for the stock cabinet and the modification or customization of the drawer. If your cabinetmaker has a discount relationship with a distributor of high quality stock cabinets, you might pay about the same amount as the kitchen cabinets cost of the stock cabinet in a home improvement store.

What will you do manage kitchen cabinets cost for a kitchen renovation in a very old or historic house? It is common to find that measurements are not as accurate in old houses or that corners are rarely true 90° angles. In this case, your options are very limited: custom cabinetry or customized stock cabinets.

Kitchen cabinets cost can quickly become prohibitive if you decide you need custom cabinets to provide for other specialized needs in your kitchen. If, for example, you want a wine cooler in your kitchen and you want its outer face to match your cabinets, you need custom work. The same is true if you want refrigerated or freezer drawers that blend with your cabinets.

If there are two cooks in the family and the kitchen is short on counter or workspace, meal preparation can quickly resemble a game of Twister. Customizing a few drawers to include a pullout work area atop the items stored within can quickly restore harmony. The best news is that a cabinetmaker can help you manage kitchen cabinets cost by customizing a stock drawer to meet this need for a fraction of the cost of a custom drawer.

Some people find kitchen cabinets cost too high when they want to use spaces that otherwise would be wasted to make items available where they are most convenient. You would need to take on the added cost of custom cabinets to have a spice rack in the side of the island adjacent to the cook top or to have a narrow pullout system of racks for canned goods in the space beside the refrigerator.

All of these needs (and more) can be met by buying custom cabinets or by reducing kitchen cabinets cost with the help of a good cabinetmaker. Kitchen Cabinet Value can pass on our savings by buying high quality stock cabinets from a distributor who offers a discount and then customize those stock cabinets to meet your specific needs. Kitchen cabinets cost can be reduced while you build the kitchen of your dreams.

 

Affordable Kitchen Cabinets

Affordable Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen Cabinet Value creates affordable kitchen cabinets by customizing stock cabinets in our shop.

Most people do not know there is more than one way to buy affordable kitchen cabinets that provide the beauty and functionality you want and the price you want to pay. Most people think there are only three price options: knock down, stock and custom cabinetry. You can take advantage of a little-known fact to get the beauty and flexibility of custom work for the same price as what most people think of as inexpensive kitchen cabinets.

The secret to affordable kitchen cabinets should not be a surprise to most consumers. The secret is to hire a top rated cabinetmaker with a purchasing agreement with a distributor of high quality stock cabinets. The cabinetmaker then customizes the stock cabinets, resulting in custom cabinets at the price of inexpensive stock cabinets.

Think for a moment about why people prefer custom cabinets when they remodel or upgrade from affordable kitchen cabinets. There are several reasons:

  • They want custom for the beauty of high quality natural wood.
  • They want cabinets made of a specific wood.
  • They want a particular door style not typically available in affordable kitchen cabinets.
  • They want a particular finish on the wood.
  • They want cabinets fitted with specific organizational or accessibility inserts.
  • They know they will want or need cabinets in sizes not available in less expensive kitchen cabinets.
  • They want facings for doors on appliances, specialized appliances, such as refrigerated drawers or under-counter refrigerators or wine chillers.
  • They want unique features for storage of pots and pans and lids or other custom storage and accessibility options.
  • They want to add small units for canned goods, soups, canned drinks, etc., not usually available except in higher priced cabinetry.

Kitchens are once again becoming the center of family life. This means kitchens serve multiple purposes in the home. The purposes for which each family uses the kitchen suggest different configurations of cabinets and islands and appliances.

When you use a kitchen for family gatherings and for time spent together, kitchen cabinets are often used to store other items than you might ordinarily expect to find. For example, there might be a cabinet for board games or video games; a place where art supplies are stored; there might be a set of cabinets, shelves and drawers where homework supplies and resources are stored when children do their homework at the kitchen table.

For a different family, their kitchen cabinets might be configured in a way that makes it easy and comfortable to entertain while preparing meals. This kind of usage suggests a floor plan that brings guests into the intimacy and warmth of the kitchen but still keeps them out of the way of the cook – with an island, for example. This kitchen might also include a snacks and drinks configuration in the outward-facing side of the island – an under counter refrigerator and a refrigerated drawer.

Still another kitchen designed for someone who does a lot of cooking and baking, or in which two people cook together, will typically include several work areas – such as a baking area and a food preparation area. Lower priced kitchen cabinets often do not offer these options. This kitchen will have ample storage, a large number of specialty cabinets and shelving areas, as well as sufficient counter space to accommodate all of the cooks’ needs. This kitchen will also typically have multiple sinks, refrigerated units and possibly warming ovens, as well.

What most people think of as affordable kitchen cabinets will not easily accommodate these special needs and demands. If, however, you know the secret of getting custom cabinets at the price of lower quality affordable cabinets, you can have a kitchen that provides the beauty you want with the functionality you need at a price you can readily afford. Kitchen Cabinet Value has distributor agreements that can provide all of the benefits of custom cabinetry at affordable kitchen cabinet prices.

 

“Cheap” Kitchen Cabinets Doesn’t Have to Mean Low Quality

Cheap Kitchen Cabinets

Our shop can modify “cheap” kitchen cabinets to include all the quality features of custom cabinets at a fraction of the price.

It seems that people are always looking for cheap kitchen cabinets. There are certainly people out there in the marketplace who sell cheap cabinets – by which I mean cabinets that are made cheaply. This designation commonly refers to cabinets constructed of cheap materials with secondary quality workmanship and in a small number of variations in color, design, etc.

Most of the calls we receive are actually people who want to buy kitchen cabinets cheap. In other words, they want reasonable quality in materials and workmanship, but at a very low price. They do not really want cheap cabinets.

There are many ways to compare the prices and the quality of cabinets for your kitchen. One is to go to a home improvement store and compare the available options. Most of these stores will have “knock-down” cabinets that you can by for a very low price and take them home on the same day. They might need assembly and you will need to install them or find someone to install them in your kitchen.

If you are willing to spend a little bit more money, you can step up to stock cabinets and get standard-sized cabinets in a wider range of colors, finishes and styles. You will probably need to assemble these, as well as install them. These are the ways to buy the cheapest kitchen cabinets.

If what you actually need is the highest quality cabinets you can get for the lowest possible price you can afford, there are other options. These options offer the widest range of colors, woods, finishes, styles, designs and hardware. You can either order custom or semi-custom cabinets (at a much higher price), or you can take the creative approach with a good cabinetmaker.

Some cabinetmakers offer you the highest-possible quality in cabinet materials and workmanship at the price of stock cabinets. They are then able to take these cabinets, and modify and customize them to meet your specific needs. These are very high-quality cabinets.

Here is how these cabinetmakers are able to offer you the highest quality cabinets, with customization, at the lowest possible price.

  1. The cabinetmaker works directly with a cabinet manufacturer.
  2. Together they select what they believe will be the most popular woods, colors, finishes, designs and styles in the area served by the cabinetmaker.
  3. This defines the line of cabinets the cabinetmaker will offer.
  4. The manufacturer makes the cabinets in the factory and ships them to the cabinetmaker.
  5. Once the cabinetmaker measures and calculates the cabinet sizes needed for a particular job, s/he orders the standard sizes needed, plus extra cabinets to customize.
  6. The cabinetmaker then uses his/her skill to make from the cabinets received the custom sizes needed for each kitchen.
  7. If special features are needed that cannot be purchased from the manufacturer, the cabinetmaker builds and installs those features (for example, lazy Susan, racks, dividers, refrigerated drawers, cabinets that enclose small (under-counter) refrigerators or ovens.
  8. The cabinetmaker combines and re-sizes cabinets for sink bases, cooktop bases, and even for islands and peninsulas that are part of the kitchen design.

By working with a cabinetmaker that has a relationship with a manufacturer and the skill to customize standard cabinetry, you can save a bundle when you remodel, restore, renovate, add, upgrade or build a kitchen. You will not have cheap kitchen cabinets. You will have custom cabinets at the surprisingly low price of standard cabinets.

 

Wholesale Kitchen Cabinets

Wholesale Kitchen Cabinets

This beautiful kitchen is available at wholesale kitchen cabinet prices.

Buying kitchen cabinets wholesale vs. retail can save you a bundle when you’re considering a remodel or renovation of your kitchen.  Whether it’s planning a kitchen expansion or enlargement, or a complete remodel, upgrading your kitchen cabinets at wholesale prices can save you $10,000 or more.  Consider this example for a typical kitchen remodeling job with a total cost of $40,000.  Kitchen cabinets are usually half of the total remodel cost, so that’s $20,000 in our example.  If you can cut the kitchen cabinet cost in half by purchasing your cabinets wholesale, meaning direct from the manufacturer, that saves you $10,000!

Buying kitchen cabinets wholesale doesn’t mean you give up quality either.  Buying wholesale simply means that you are cutting out the retailer and their associated markup and working directly with the manufacturer.  This allows you to save substantially on your kitchen home improvement job, plus you likely will be able to purchase a higher quality kitchen cabinet than you initially planned which makes buying direct an even greater value.

With internet shopping literally at your fingertips, buying kitchen cabinets wholesale has never been easier. You have instant access to hundreds of wholesale cabinet dealers across the country with virtually any cabinet style, wood choice and finish color.  But there are important considerations to assess prior to taking the step of purchasing your new kitchen online.  Here are some drawbacks to an online purchase:

  1. You must accept the full responsibility for assessing the quality of the product when you buy kitchen cabinets wholesale online. In most cases you cannot see the finish or measure the thickness of the shelves or see what kind of secondary wood has been used to build the cabinet box. You must either evaluate the product in a store and then purchase direct from the manufacturer, or ask all of the appropriate and necessary questions to be assured you are buying a quality product.  Of course, until the finished product arrives you’re not completely assured that what you expected is what you’re getting.
  2. When you buy kitchen cabinets wholesale you must deal with delivery and storage until you are ready to install the cabinets. The cabinets will be drop-shipped from the manufacturer directly to your home.
  3. Buying kitchen cabinets wholesale also means you may be purchasing cabinets RTA (ready to assemble). This means that every cabinet must be assembled and installed. Either you will need to assemble the cabinets (which can be a great way to save money, but can create problems if you don’t have appropriate tools or knowhow) or you must hire a contractor, carpenter or cabinetmaker to assemble the cabinets for you. Then, either you or the person you hire must install the cabinets.
  4. When you buy kitchen cabinets wholesale you will be able to buy them only in standard sizes. You will not be able to buy special sizes to fit your kitchen design. You may also have limited access to cabinetry with special features or accessories.  There are companies that do sell after-market items, but ordering the right components can prove cumbersome when dealing with different manufacturers.  You may consider buying cabinets in the size closest to your needs and try to find someone who can customize them for you, but in the end that defeats the original purpose of saving money.

Buying wholesale can be a good idea, but only if you are fully aware of the extra work required in assembly and installation along with the added responsibility for storage.

 

Discount Kitchen Cabinets

Discount Kitchen Cabinets

Our discount kitchen cabinets compare with cabinets nearly twice the price.

Before you buy discount kitchen cabinets, there are some quality tests you should make. There are cabinet dealers who offer lower quality cabinets under the “discount” designation. But if you look around and shop carefully, you can find one of the dealers who offer high-quality cabinets at discount prices. Cabinets really are not the place to sacrifice quality in the name of savings when remodeling a kitchen.

If you will spend some time looking at sample cabinets and asking key questions before you decide where to buy discount kitchen cabinets, you will be able to ensure buying high-quality discount kitchen cabinets (where only the price is lower) instead of cheap low-quality cabinets.

Here are the five things you should look for:

  1. Look at how the drawers are made. High-quality cabinet construction does not include staples or nails to hold drawers together. They are not just glued together, either. Good construction will make drawers with dove tail assembly. A good drawer in discount kitchen cabinets will be able to support about 75 pounds when it is open. It is generally wise to avoid thin particle board drawer construction.
  2. Look at the sides and back of the discount kitchen cabinets. This is an important indication of quality. The case of the cabinet – sides, top, bottom and back should be of solid wood that is at least one-half inch thick. You will create a lot of heat and steam in your kitchen. Thin cabinet casings can warp. Plywood is also not recommended because of the glue and layering, which has a tendency to warp.
  3. Finished interior surfaces are a true test of the highest quality cabinetry. Some discount kitchen cabinets will leave these surfaces unfinished. Not only does this create an unappealing appearance, but it leaves the wood subject to damage and splintering. This could be harmful and very inconvenient.
  4. Look for adjustable shelves. This is a definite indication of the quality of discount kitchen cabinets. It does not mean there is anything wrong with the construction of the cabinets, if they meet other quality tests, but it causes a lot of wasted space that you probably need for storage in your kitchen. Shelves can bow (just like bookshelves) from weight and moisture. Insist on shelves that are at least 5/8 inch thick.
  5. Check the quality of the hardware and the appearance of the hardware. Cabinet doors can be installed in two ways. One style of construction allows the hinges on the doors to be seen. In this case, you will want to check the finish on the hardware to ensure that it will not be damaged by moisture and that it matches other metals used prominently in your kitchen.

By paying careful attention to these five tests of discount kitchen cabinets, you can buy the quality you want at a discounted price and not risk purchasing inferior quality in the name of discount kitchen cabinets.

 

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