S/o Kitchens…gut or update?

[mrspez07]

We are starting to reach the tipping point on our kitchen. It is functional, big enough, and was probably updated 20 years ago (our house was built in 79, so that feels “newer).
If we were to remodel, we’d probably make some changes to make it more functional, bigger peninsula, relocate appliances, etc, potentially reconfiguring a wall or going from a dining room and a breakfast nook to just one table eating area. In addition, it is a tri level with vaulted ceilings and a very open floor plan, so it has the same floors as most of that level and the lower level that would need entirely replaced. There is also popcorn ceilings and paint texturing that needs updated throughout. So basically the entire living area would make sense to roll into a kitchen remodel. Definitely some scope creep!

Or, we could replace the sink, countertop and backsplash we’ve been talking about forever, stain/update the existing cabinets and update the cabinet doors. Though that almost feels like since you are doing nearly all of it, so why not all of it?

[libbygrl109]

I think it may come down to how much money you're willing to spend at this point, and what your ultimate goal would be. We had to completely gut our kitchen because it was from 1960, cabinets were breaking down, and it was barely functional for us. My parents, on the other hand, had renovated their kitchen in the late 80s, and because the cabinets were in excellent shape and the layout worked, just changed out the doors and hardware, and put in a new countertop and backsplash. Fraction of the price, but looks brand new.

[mrspez07]

Let’s assume for now we could afford to do the remodel and that we could afford to do it in 10+ years as well.

[penguingrrl]

It sounds like a matter both of whether you prioritize completely redoing all of that (and can afford it) and whether the current configuration works for you even if it isn’t ideal. My house is from the 1920s, but the kitchen was done in the early 2000s (very cheaply, due to an issue it was an emergency repair). The layout is terrible so someday I will be doing a full gut reno on it. But if it functioned well I probably wouldn’t spend just to go from good to better.

Do you otherwise like the textured walls, popcorn ceilings, and flooring that’s on that level? If so, and the space works for you there’s no reason to redo it. If you would like an excuse to change all of that and can afford it, then it certainly would never hurt resale value, etc.

[libbygrl109]

Jan 28, 2024 9:18:57 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Let’s assume for now we could afford to do the remodel and that we could afford to do it in 10+ years as well.

You mentioned some thing that you thought would make it more functional for you. Is that list something you keep going back to when you think about doing the kitchen over? We had the option of just keeping our kitchen the way it was or expanding it out into an adjoining area. As much as it would have been nice to save money by doing a smaller project, we knew that ultimately the larger plan would better fit our needs.

[simpsongal]

We did a face lift when we bought in 2012 - spent maybe $10k for new counters, a cabinet swap (ETA - like removed 1 cabinet for another, not all cabinets), backsplash, new floors and a wall removal And now in 2023 we’re doing the big reno that’s over $200k.

I wouldn’t have done the facelift if the new kitchen were 3-4 years away. But we knew it would be 10+ years away.

[SusanBAnthony]

We went through this exact thing.

Our house was built in the 50's and the kitchen was original with one horrible change (someone painted the laminate countertops with wall paint!).

We wanted to do the countertops ASAP but that meant we didn't have the money saved up for a whole gut. Plus it wasn't AWFUL.

What we ended up doing is keeping the layout almost exactly the same. The one thing we moved is the oven because we went from a horrible tiny wall oven to a normal range. On that run of cabinets, we replaced all the cabinets with new ones that matched the old ones (painted white so not super hard to match). On that side we changed all the bottoms to drawers.

On the rest of the kitchen we left the cabinets. We then replaced all the counters and put in backsplash.

In the end we spent 10k and 5 years later we are still super happy with it.

To me the key decider would be if the layout work.

[jinkies]

Our kitchen remodel turned into remodeling 3 of the 4 rooms of our first floor. It was stressful but I'm glad that we did it all at once.

I highly recommend making sure that you have a contractor committed to get everything done in a reasonable time frame (my SIL did almost the exact same reno at the same time but her guy puttered around and kept their house torn apart for more than a month longer than ours)

Also recommend doing it in the summer so you can mostly grill and keep yourself busy outside of the house.

SIL scheduled a vacation over the worst of it so that they had a week away from the mess.