Home Improvement - Kitchen Renovation

Why we decided to renovate our kitchen...

Our kitchen in 2008 (at purchase)

Everyone knows that kitchens sell houses. That fact alone does not mean that you should renovate your kitchen. As I shared in my previous home improvement blog, you always need to make sure you aren't spending more on updates than you will get on return if your primary motivation is to sell your home. Caveat: if you plan to live in the home for several years you don't need to consider the ROI nearly as much. But when selling you should be sure to update your home according to the ROI on the updates. There are cheaper ways to improve a kitchen than doing a full kitchen renovation.

My wife hated our kitchen from the start. I can't say I blamed her since there was cheap, pealing laminate on the floors, dark wood cabinets and old appliances in a dimly lit kitchen. We made changes early on that significantly improved the look of the kitchen, including painting the cabinets white, installing more updated drawer and cabinet hardware, laying a better quality floor, installing a nicer light fixture and painting it a brighter color. Though we dreamed about a full renovation, we never thought we'd really do it because the ROI was questionable for our neighborhood. Plus, the few times we looked into bigger renovations, the price tag seemed way too high.

Fast forward to this summer when I sold one of our neighbors homes within 2 days of being on the market at the highest price the neighborhood has seen since 2007. They had done a beautiful update