How to know how much kitchen renovation adds to home value

[Rick Alexander]

I have to question the idea that $6,500 in materials is an appropriate amount of money to spend rehabilitating the kitchen of even a $300,000 house.

Not in my mind - depends on a lot of things - how much glass, how much moving electrical/plumbing, flooring or tile, lots of things. I could do an awful lot with $6,500 materials only - not including appliances - just won't be able to use things like fancy Italian countertops or all tempered glass door fronts. In my case I'm using sawmilled lumber solids (have my own kiln), UV ply boxes, and veneered faces (have a bandsaw to make the veneer and a press to make the faces).

[Steve Milito]

We just finished a kitchen remodel. Originally, I wanted to make the cabinets myself but that idea was nixed by senior management. We got two bids, one semi-custom and one from a custom cabinet shop I used before. Anyone buying an expensive house (mid six to entry 7 figure) is going to expect a really nice kitchen. In my kitchen we had over 100 pulls, even at $10/ ea that's over $1000. Drawer slides are $35/ ea. Magic corners for the blind corners are $600+. The finish can drastically alter the price of cabinets, are they painted white or are the glazed, brushed, and distressed? Yes, a simple kitchen can be done for minimal materials but a kitchen that screams attention to detail and craftsmanship will cost substantially more for both materials and labor. Admittedly, I don't have the skills necessary to do the finishes that were done to my cabinets and was happy to support true craftsmanship. Many people here can but not me. Yes, if you can do that quality work, then you added value.

[Derek Cohen]

We bought a rehab.
the kitchen was old and awful.
building a new kitchen myself, total costs come to ~$6,500 (not including appliance cost)

when I got quoted (for fun) by cabinet shops in town - they were between $70,000 and $110,000.

since I did it myself, how do I know what value is added to my home?

I spent several months earlier this year renovating our kitchen. I saved the carcases, but replaced all the doors and drawers, building them myself from Hard Maple, replaced the counter tops with granite and all the tiled splashbacks with tinted glass. Excluding the new range hood, ceramic hob and new fridge/freezer, we spent around $10k on that area.



(I am presently building three Windsor bar stools to replace those in the picture).





Will this increase the value of our home? Probably not. What it will do (if we chose to sell) is make the house more desirable. That may help us get the price we want. In that sense a new kitchen adds to the value of a house.

I believe that it is really only a rough guide to look at the selling prices in a neighbourhood. These say more about the property value than about the house value.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Victor Robinson]

In any given area, houses sell for a range of price/sqft. You can figure out the range for your neighborhood pretty easily by looking at recent sales and dividing by the square footage.

If the house is very old and needs updating, but livable, you'll of course be at the low end of that range. If the kitchens/baths/etc. all are decent, but say, 10-20 years old, maybe you'll be in the middle. If the house is recently updated (to non-eclectic tastes), you'll be at the high end. And if all the fixtures and finishes are of the highest quality and the house is renovated top to bottom (with permits) and never lived in after renovation, then you'll fetch the highest end of that range or even push it higher.

It's not about how much x improvement adds - it's the overall condition and desirability of the house. That all being said, you've clearly done a lot of work to what was a total fixer and you'll reap the rewards when you sell. In the right market there is a tremendous amount of sweat equity to be gained.

[Martin Wasner]

since I did it myself, how do I know what value is added to my home?

Sell it.

Extra characters

[mike waters]

I spent several months earlier this year renovating our kitchen. I saved the carcases, but replaced all the doors and drawers, building them myself from Hard Maple, replaced the counter tops with granite and all the tiled splashbacks with tinted glass. Excluding the new range hood, ceramic hob and new fridge/freezer, we spent around $10k on that area.



(I am presently building three Windsor bar stools to replace those in the picture).





Will this increase the value of our home? Probably not. What it will do (if we chose to sell) is make the house more desirable. That may help us get the price we want. In that sense a new kitchen adds to the value of a house.

I believe that it is really only a rough guide to look at the selling prices in a neighbourhood. These say more about the property value than about the house value.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you! and sweet kitchen by the way
that backsplash is pretty rad - what is it?

[mike waters]

I think I understood what you were saying and it made sense to me. I just did a kitchen and the hardware costs .... slides, hinges, handles, sheet goods, hardwood [$1000, $400, $600, $2200, $600] were relatively in line with your number. I bought the doors and drawers separately and those were expensive ... but I expect a lot less than the alternative of having me build them. But if I had built them the material costs would have been perhaps $2500. So adding up the estimated raw material costs ... $7300. It took about a month to assemble (would have been much longer if I'd built the drawers and doors) and two+ weeks to install. What else ... painting was $4000. Then the client spent a fair amount on appliances and fixtures, countertops, floor refinishing, and of course all the rough construction (framing, windows and doors, insulation, electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, trim). But outside of labor, I can see the hard cost of the kitchen being in alignment with your original estimate.

Your original question was about value ... I can't imagine someone basing their "value" on a collection of receipts. More likely – depending on where the house is located – they will look at the neighborhood and comps, and whether they feel the house is in "move in" condition. Having a well-executed, and desireable kitchen goes a long way towards making the house attractive and move-in ready. If it were not (and this is what goes to your question) the potential buyer would ask themselves, "is this work that needs to be done, and about how much would it cost to get what I want?" Likely their number is going to be closer to the cost of a professionally completed kitchen (than your actual expense) and perhaps in the $80k +/- range if indeed the kitchen you built is the one they want. Likely that amount (whatever it actually is) is the value you have added to the house.

thanks bill!
The old kitchen was just awful and unrealistic... Gas burnerm on tiny middle island with a downdraft vent. Doors everywhere, chipped countertops etc. (old granite too, from 1992) it had double ovens that were 24"... in a 1million dollar neighborhood - it was painted like a barn - heavy brush strokes with this awful white color.. They had black and white 4x4 tile as backsplash - with this awful tile on the floor as well that was lipping so bad - i cut my foot on it.

The kitchen now has (or will have)
Wood floors that are inlaid with the previous floors for seamless transition.
36 legraboxes with servo-drive aventos HF struts for the uppers.
Tip-on everywhere else.
wave switches under the uppers that are conocealed
and a routed out light track under the uppers for LED strips that are concealed as well.
8" x 48" slate tile as backsplash
two 36" bluestar wall ovens
induction 36" cooktop miele
miele everything else
stainless blanco sinks with Blanco Faucets/pot-filler
But most of all - extremely functional

[Bill Adamsen]

All sounds nice. I think Martin captured it in another post. To know how much value it added? Sell it!

[Derek Cohen]

....
that backsplash is pretty rad - what is it?

Mike, the backsplash is tinted glass.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[paul cottingham]

Its funny. I know a couple who spent 25k Canadian on a kitchen reno. They are convinced it raised the value of their house by a huge amount. But...the fridge and stove/oven are on opposite sides of the island. The cupboards come down right to the countertops, leaving almost no usable counters. There is a massive island, that you need to walk around to get to the fridge. When you walk in to the kitchen it immediately seems "off," even if you can't put your finger on why. They had several people tell them the design doesn't work, but wouldnt listen. Cooking in there is exhausting. But it looks "fancy."
My point? Get feedback on your design. Listen to it. If i bought their house, i would likely rip the kitchen out. And I'm not a "renovator." Hell we still have the Ikea style kitchen our house had when we bought it, with no intention of renovating it (yet!) Well, the cook in me, no. The woodworker in me, yes!

[Warren Lake]

timing is one of the biggest factors.

We just sold the old guys home for 519k. in feb march april when the market was insane one down the road a bit nicer than his finished basement went for 825 or more. that home now is worth around 600 or less. thats a massive difference and had nothing to do with anything other than the market was running out of control when he bought it. Wonder how that guy feels now knowing his home is worth 25 percent less than he paid for it and how long will it be to come back up to the value of what he paid for it.

Also its just the right person being there right time. I had a home listed with real estate to rent and they brought me junk three tennants no one would want, paid them some money to go away and listed it myself in eh local paper, got a lady exec who was there for two years and treated it better than her own custom home she had just sold. I had no skill set real estate had, it was just timing and there happened to be the right person when I put an ad and not when real estate did their thing.

[Patrick Kane]

Didn't see anyone mention it, but it's pretty easy to come up with comparable properties and ballpark the value of your home. In the case of your kitchen Reno, look at other recent home sales in your neighborhood and see if the listing still has photos of the kitchen. Is your kitchen better, worse, or the same as theirs? Judging by what your bids were, yes, I think you added substantial value to the home with the kitchen reno. To determine "how much" you added strictly by doing the kitchen, you would need to find a few comparable houses with vastly different kitchens and then compare sale prices. This would be really difficult to have all attributes apples to apples except for the kitchens.

[Art Mann]

We are talking about a $1M class house. I would expect to pay more than $6500 just for counter tops. Those can't be home made.

Not in my mind - depends on a lot of things - how much glass, how much moving electrical/plumbing, flooring or tile, lots of things. I could do an awful lot with $6,500 materials only - not including appliances - just won't be able to use things like fancy Italian countertops or all tempered glass door fronts. In my case I'm using sawmilled lumber solids (have my own kiln), UV ply boxes, and veneered faces (have a bandsaw to make the veneer and a press to make the faces).

[Rick Malakoff]

The genius of kitchen scientists is that no matter how well equipped it is and expensive it was....the next owner will hate it! It's like dog houses ....original owner loves it! Subsequent owner won't use it and think it smells funny.

I gotta go with Mel on that. In 1980 I had just finished a big kitchen remodel close to 100K and the owner said "Rick if I ever sell this house the first thing the new owner will do is rip out the kitchen".
I thought he was crazy, since that day the kitchen has been remodeled 3 times with each new owner.
Rick

[Bill Adamsen]

I don't think Mike was including countertops, fixtures maybe even hardware (handles) ... his $6500 was for the materials (sheet goods) for carcases, (wood for) drawers, doors, drawer fronts, face frame (if any) and any other visible panels plus finish as well as the slides and hinges to put it all together. Basically the materials. To me that's a very "rational" accounting because it is the same way I think of the cost for a kitchen. Labor and materials. And from that perspective the $6500 is a feasible number. Of course I would likely buy the drawers, doors, and drawer fronts ... so that would shift dollars from the labor pile to the materials pile. When I do a project around the house, I consider my labor to have no value or cost ... so typically I shift as much as possible to labor.

The other items we all realize is required to complete a kitchen include: counters, electrical, plumbing, lighting, fixtures and appliances. That's is almost always the most significant investment, and typically has the most variability. But it is also chosen at the perogative of the client and fulfilled by the general contractor. Occasionally a contract arrises that we fill ... solid wood countertop, concrete countertops (formwork), special interior trim ... but from my perspective it is typically outside the scope of the cabinetmaker's work.