Where to Spend vs. Save in your Kitchen Renovation

Keeping to Budget During your Kitchen Renovation

A kitchen design may look fabulous and aesthetically pleasing, but to be true value for money, you need something that is also functional to your needs. At Jag Kitchens, our professional design consultants can help you design the kitchen of your dreams – while sticking within the realms of your budget requirements.

Below we discuss the various ways in which you can ‘save’ on certain parts of your kitchen design budget, while allowing for other options that require a bit of a ‘spend’ to take place.

Save on Benchtops

We know there’s a lot of choice out there when it comes to benchtops. That’s why customers can find it quite confusing. When advising you on benchtop options, we will start with a discussion about your lifestyle and likely budget.

One of the questions we will ask you is whether you are likely to be selling your home in the short to medium term. Intending buyers have definite expectations about what materials a kitchen should be constructed from depending on the value of the house they are purchasing. A rule of thumb is that once a property is selling for more than $950,000, buyers are likely to expect that a stone benchtop of some type is included.

The most cost effective combination of materials is melamine cabinets and a laminate benchtop. Most customers choosing to upgrade from this combination tend to spend additional money on upgrading to an engineered stone bench top. Depending on the thickness of the benchtop, engineered stone can almost compete with that of laminate, meaning it doesn’t necessarily need to break the budget to enjoy the aesthetic that engineered stone has to offer.

Because Jag Kitchens offers an in-house service for custom-sized benchtops, the installation and turnaround times are much less of an issue. You can rest assured that when you purchase a benchtop through  Jag Kitchens,  you won’t experience delays that can be common between a cabinet and engineered stone benchtop installation.

Spend OR Save on Splashbacks

Part of choosing the right splashback design for your kitchen, is choosing the right material to suit your needs. Options include glass, Laminam™, Duropal Pyroex, Metalier or tiled kitchen splashbacks.

Using glass as the chosen material for your splashback design will suit the needs and functionality of most kitchens. The flexibility of colour, pattern and print ensures that a glass splashback can either create a design feature within your modern kitchen, or slot seamlessly into the background within a budget that suits your requirements.

A cost effective solution for splashback options, when colour choices are less critical in a kitchen design, is Duropal Pyroex splashbacks. This is a compact high-pressure laminate available in 4 colours; both fire retardant and scratch resistant. With a 3 day lead time and easy installation, it can be the perfect solution for a splashback design needed in a hurry.

A current favourite and on-trend material to use within your kitchen design are tiled splashbacks. Tiles can come in a range of shapes and textures, and you may choose to utilise a coloured grout for pops of colour or drama as a design feature in your modern kitchen.

It’s worth keeping in mind that some tiled splashbacks do tend to take a little more work to keep clean, due to the detailing and various spaces created from grouting, but they are very stylish and tend to create another dimension to a kitchen design.

Save on Melamine Cabinets

The inside of your kitchen cabinets will almost always be constructed from Melamine. This is a product manufactured from a wood bi-product core sandwiched between two layers of melamine material.

The board used for cabinets will typically be white but you can always specify a coloured interior at additional cost. Melamine is the accepted industry standard for cabinet construction because it is durable, easy to clean and reasonably priced. A coloured version of the same board is often used for door and drawer faces. Jag’s AQUA-SEAL™ edge banding system dramatically reduces the likelihood of moisture damage to cabinets.

Whatever cabinet design you are considering for your kitchen cabinets, there is a high quality, durable melamine kitchen cabinet option to suit. Melamine cabinets remain a top choice in New Zealand kitchen design, for their stylish look, but cost effective price point.

Save on Flooring

Your kitchen floor plan will make a large impact to the overall style, practicality and success of your kitchen design. When it comes to kitchen floors, materials need to be low maintenance, durable but also stylish and modern – so it’s important to choose the right floor for your lifestyle.

We consider the kitchen to be the heart of the kiwi home – they are ‘high traffic’ areas that are prone to lots of spills, so you may need to choose a kitchen floor that will be able to withstand the test of time and many dirty feet! If you’re a younger family, chances are you may have pets, many visitors as well as young children – your kitchen will be a busy thoroughfare, so you’ll want to choose a floor that handles wear and tear. On the other hand, if your kids have flown the nest and you don’t have two dogs in tow, choosing a higher maintenance style of kitchen flooring will be more feasible.

Laminate flooring is an affordable, stylish and modern option for a kitchen floor. It is easy to install, UV-protected so won’t fade like hardwood can, is very durable, retains warmth and comes in a variety of modern styles. It is a cost effective alternative to hardwood.

Another option for cost-effective kitchen flooring is lino. This is now manufactured from natural materials, is very durable and low maintenance for cleaning – a big plus for families with young children on the go! Recently it has had a resurgence in popularity in kitchen flooring due to the availability of eco-friendly options on the market.

If your budget allows, there are higher end options such as tiling and hard wood, but it is worth considering that these are higher maintenance and can be quite hard on the feet and legs underfoot if you are likely to spend a lot of time standing in your kitchen.

Spend on Lighting

Available in various modern designs to fit seamlessly into your kitchen design, Jag Kitchens has a fantastic range of quality kitchen lighting to suit your needs.

Points to consider when making a decision on your lighting options, is choosing a lighting design that both matches the mood you would like to create, as well as the purpose and function of the area.

Combining Under-Bench, In-Cabinet, or Sensor & Motion Remote Control with an LED lighting design, means not only will your kitchen design shine in all the right places, the lighting itself will be safe, energy efficient and low maintenance.

Your lighting design should match the mood you would like to create. For example Sensor & Motion Remote Control dimmer lighting is a fantastic way to create an intimate atmosphere around the dining area, while still maintaining the lighting you may need in other parts of your kitchen at the same time.

Ensure your lighting choices help with the overall functionality of your kitchen instead of hindering the design. In-cabinet lighting is an effective lighting design for both functional and decorative purposes. This lighting option works specifically well in an island kitchen design to highlight a display of artwork, or in hard-to-reach cabinets where a little lighting offers a helping hand in finding the right kitchen utensil you’re after.

Spend OR Save on Appliances

The technology in modern kitchens is so different to 70 years ago when it was a big deal to have a fridge in your kitchen. Today there are so many different options. At Jag Kitchens our experienced designers can help you to choose the right appliances for you and your new kitchen – it’s not just about choosing white or stainless!

Here are some things to consider when thinking about the appliances to include in your new kitchen;

• Ovens – There is a range of different sized ovens on the market these days, however, 600mm and 900mm wide are the most common. This refers to the external width of the oven. The internal cavity actually varies between different brands. This affects the practical use of the oven, particularly when it comes to large joints of meat or the cooking of multiple dishes.Although 900 wide ovens or free standing cookers give you more space they come at the cost of heat up time and the extra electricity they consume.They also take up additional space that could otherwise be used for cabinetry.Have a think about how often you would use the full width of a 900 wide oven versus everyday use.If it’s once a year for Christmas dinner, would you be better with having a more efficient oven the other 364 days of the year? However, if you love to entertain, then a wider oven may make sense for you.
• Rangehoods – These come in two basic forms – freestanding canopies or integrated. An integrated or powerpack rangehood is built into the cabinets so that it appears to be part of the cabinets.Freestanding canopy rangehoods are visible and can even become a feature of the kitchen.At the end of the day, it comes down to what you like the look of and what works for the design layout of your kitchen. Freestanding rangehoods were the most popular for many years but it integrated rangehoods have gained in popularity to the point that they make up around two thirds of our current kitchen designs.
• Refrigerator – Whether it’s double or single doored there are several different permutations of fridge, freezer and chiller layouts. Some people like a single door with the freezer below or above the chiller. Double doors traditionally have had a freezer on one side and a fridge on the other but this often sacrificed fridge space and width to the freezer.One option that can solve this, is the double door fridges with a full width double door fridge at the top and a freezer drawer underneath. These French door fridges are particularly good for wide platters.Ice and chilled water dispensers are options on some narrower and most wider fridges. Adding this feature typically costs an additional $500 (approximately), but is often money well spent as children in particular will drink iced water rather than wanting juice and soft drinks.
• Dishwasher – These come in either the conventional style or as dish drawers. There are many different brands of conventional dishwashers, but dish drawers are manufactured by Fisher and Paykel. The early dish drawers didn’t always meet people’s performance expectations, but the new ones perform very well. A single dish drawer uses approximately half the water of a full sized conventional dishwasher. Double dish drawers can be run independently, which allows you to group items like with like – a heavy cycle for your pots and pans and a delicate cycle for your glassware.Smaller households can also have the option of just one drawer to save space and and budget.One aspect of dishwashers that is often overlooked is the noise that they make. Many kitchens are open plan so a noisier dishwasher can intrusive to those sitting in adjacent family or dining rooms. Check the decibel rating of any dishwasher that you are considering. There is definitely a relationship between the cost and noise levels of dishwashers. Generally, the more you spend the quieter they perform.

Booking an appointment for a custom-sized kitchen renovation with Jag Kitchens will ensure you don’t fall into common traps that make sticking to your nominated budget completely impossible! The beauty of choosing Jag Kitchens for your new kitchen install is that our experienced designers know what works and what doesn’t – and can help you make choices that you can be confident in.

Contact us for your free design quote, or pop in to see us at the Jag Kitchens Showroom, based in the Botany Town Centre.