Faith's Kitchen Renovation: 5 Things We Learned While Buying an IKEA Kitchen Renovation Diary: Faith's Budget Luxe Kitchen

I've explained our big kitchen project, shown you the demolition, and shared our financing, and now it's time to get down to business. The bones of a kitchen are the cabinets and their layout, and we knew from the get-go that we wanted to use IKEA's cabinet system. Here are some things we learned along the way.

An early rendering of my kitchen from the IKEA software.

Why an IKEA Kitchen?

The decision to get an IKEA kitchen was very simple: Price. IKEA is like no other company when it comes to scale of economy in their home furnishings. I don't love every single thing that IKEA does, but when it comes to kitchen cabinets, I really didn't see any other way to get the size and style of kitchen we wanted. IKEA cabinets are completely modular you can buy them in any configuration and adapt them to your style to a rather astonishing degree, especially if you, like us, wanted a more modern and sleek look. I understand that some people are suspicious of IKEA cabinets, since they are made of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). The low cost of the cabinets and their material are red flags to some folks who just really want the best for their kitchen. But here's the thing. Most off-the-rack cabinet systems are also made of MDF. Any other cabinets we could afford (like the Kraftmaid cabinets or other lines sold at stores like Lowe's and Home Depot) are also MDF. You can go a step up and get cabinet-grade plywood, but there is some debate over whether that is actually superior to MDF. To go all the way to the top and buy solid wood cabinet boxes, well that just wasn't feasible for us. It would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, money we couldn't justify even if we had wanted to. Our entire cabinet system cost much less than $10,000. (See my full price breakdown at the end.) For me, the most key part of a cabinet is the drawer. If anything is going to swell and warp, it's a drawer. But IKEA's drawers are solid metal, with really superb hardware, hinges, and drawer dampers. (We love the dampers I'll explain more about them in the next post.) I read copiously on other homeowners' experiences with IKEA cabinets and talked to contractor friends. For the most part, they were uniformly enthusiastic. Yes, IKEA cabinets are cheap, but that doesn't mean they're shoddy or flimsy. Just like everything else, they have their limitations, but we felt that in the end the IKEA cabinets were by far the best deal. Here, then, are a few things we learned in the process.

Ah, the tedious joys of ordering an IKEA kitchen. Many bored/anxious-looking people (OK, usually guys) loitering about.

5 Things We Learned While Buying IKEA Kitchen Cabinets

1. You don't need to buy IKEA's door and drawer fronts.
   Besides price, this was the single biggest factor for us. IKEA's system is so flexible and modular, you can buy the cabinets without any doors or drawer fronts. I liked IKEA's flexibility and price, but I wasn't crazy about their various looks. I wanted real wood veneer, and also a custom color for some of the cabinets. (IKEA cabinets are hard to paint well.) So, I turned to someone I have been so looking forward to telling you about:

   Semihandmade Doors

   Based in Los Angeles, Semihandmade is a sister company to Handmade, which makes fine furniture and cabinetry. Semihandmade offers this craftsmanship at a lower price with doors and drawer fronts crafted to fit IKEA cabinets exactly. I worked with the Semihandmade owner John McDonald to plan out and order drawer fronts, doors, side panels, and filler pieces for my IKEA kitchen plan. I sent him the IKEA kitchen plan I made and he gave me a list and a quote of everything the kitchen needed. It was super simple, and the results are absolutely stunning. I even got cut-outs instead of hardware handles on most of the drawers, just like I wanted. Using Semihandmade was probably the single best decision we made through our entire kitchen renovation process. The cost was radically lower than custom cabinetry but it still gave me the modern luxe look I wanted. While I simply cannot praise Semihandmade enough, there are other companies too that do custom doors and drawers for IKEA cabinets (Scherr's, most notably).

A look at that infernal yet addictive software environment.
2. You will develop Stockholm syndrome with the IKEA software.
   IKEA has a wonderful, horrible, addictive, amazing little piece of software that helps you plan out your kitchen. It is an app you use right in your web browser, which can make it buggy. (Oh the tortures of Java; I would have actually paid real money for a desktop version of this app running on a more stable base.) The IKEA planning software starts out with you drawing your room with the correct proportions, then populating it with cabinets to your specifications. You can add in different wall colors, flooring, and outside views to add a little more (virtual) verisimilitude. You can adjust countertop, door fronts, and appliances too. All of this is quite fun, and there is a magic moment when you switch into the 3-D rendered view and see your kitchen just as it will appear in real life! Bliss. But it's also a little crazy-making. Moving objects sometimes just breaks for no apparent reason. It's tricky to change the size of a room and sometimes the walls will suddenly move of their own accord. You have to save frequently; it doesn't save your work automatically. There were times I literally wanted to pull my hair out, after I had done a lot of work and then my browser crashed, taking all that work with it. So you will love their software and hate it at the same time. It lets you visualize your kitchen, painstaking bit by bit. It's quite powerful, though, and it helps you budget by creating a shopping list with everything in the kitchen. So, plan on playing with their software for a long time, building your kitchen virtually and checking out proportions there before actually buying your cabinets. I built scads of slightly different layouts, bringing them to our architect and contractor for their thoughts and, as I showed you before, then actually drawing them in real life at the playground and on the subfloor of our new kitchen.

   Play around! IKEA Kitchen Planner



3. Wait for a kitchen sale.
   This is pretty simple: We ordered our whole kitchen over the summer, during one of IKEA's big kitchen sales. Usually the way these work is that if you spend a certain amount you will get 10% off, and if you spend a little more, 20%. We also purchased our bathroom cabinetry during this sale (we used kitchen cabinets in our master bath) and a big pantry unit, as well as a kitchen island as a workbench for my husband in the basement. We loaded up! And it was all 20% off. Obviously this really makes a difference in the budget.
4. Prepare (and over-prepare) for a very long ordering experience at the store.
   We thought we were super prepared and we breezed into the IKEA store, which is about 90 miles away from where we live, hoping to be out in a couple hours. Ha ha. No way. The ordering process for the cabinets is quite involved. You bring in your IKEA kitchen plan, and then log in to their computers and show it to a (probably harried) employee. The employee has to go through and order each piece on your list, bit by bit. This is the downside of such a modular system you are essentially ordering hundreds of little boxes at once.


5. Check everything as soon as it is delivered, even if it takes a few hours. IKEA will happily correct anything that is missing or wrong!
   We live 90 miles away from IKEA, and we didn't want the cabinets delivered right away. So we paid for a delivery service. They brought everything right into our house, a process that took over an hour. All of the kitchen pieces were in boxes with strange pseudo-Swedish names. At the time I was so overwhelmed with our renovation that I couldn't deal with the stacks and stacks (our invoice was pages long). So I didn't really go through the boxes until we began assembly. Then we discovered that we were missing various small parts, like some shelves, and that a couple of cabinets were the wrong size. IKEA was a dream to work with on this, though I was actually a little shocked, given how DIY the shopping process is there. I called their post-purchase help desk, and they FedExed the missing pieces straight to our door. They did this even when I belatedly discovered a missing piece over four weeks later, during our final installation.

Our lovely and diligent helper at IKEA with our piles of invoices and papers.

What Our IKEA Kitchen Cost

So, what did it all cost? As I was adding up these numbers, I almost couldn't believe how inexpensive our kitchen cabinets were. Even with cabinets made up mostly of drawers (which are much more expensive than simple cabinets with doors and shelves) I feel we got ourselves a deal on our quite large, rather luxurious kitchen.

IKEA Cabinets What: About 16 linear feet of AKURUM cabinets, lower only, all drawers. Plus, 10-foot-long, 36-inch-wide island with a mix of drawers and shallow cabinets. Also, drawer dividers and extra shelves. Plus tax. 20% discount applied. Delivery fee included. Total: $2500Semihandmade Drawer Fronts & Doors What: About 16 linear feet of walnut veneer drawer and door fronts, with cut-outs for handles. Also, door and drawer fronts for the island, in Semihandmade's DIY product, which comes unpainted and unfinished. This price included shipping from Los Angeles to Ohio, which came out to about $500 of the price. Total: $3500Door Painting What: We had the doors and drawer fronts on the island professionally painted in a spray booth for a really smooth, drip-free and chip-free finish. This is more expensive (because it uses a lot of paint) but produced an awesome result. Total:$800 Grand Total: $6800 not including some incidentals like lumber for the cabinet bases, and a few pieces of hardware for the pull-outs.

What Was Your Experience with IKEA Cabinets?

Tomorrow I'll show you part of the process of installing the IKEA cabinets. We spent a lot of money on our home renovation, but nevertheless it was still a budget operation, comparatively speaking, so we actually installed the kitchen cabinets ourselves with some coaching from our contractor. I'll explain the fun and games of that project tomorrow! But first I'd love to hear all about your own experience with IKEA kitchens. Did you buy and install an IKEA kitchen? What was the shopping experience like for you? Do you have any additional tips and good advice for people wrangling their own IKEA kitchen saga? (Images: Faith Durand)

More posts in this series

Faith's Kitchen Renovation

Faith's Kitchen Renovation: How We Financed Our Kitchen Remodel Renovation Diary: Faith's Budget Luxe Kitchen

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10 Easy, Low-Budget Ways to Improve Any Kitchen (Even a Rental!)

1. Add or change lighting.

I'm always so inspired by dream kitchens like this cottage kitchen in Maine or any one of these gorgeous, glamorous spaces. I appreciate the details, materials, the layout, all the finer things that make it special and swoon-worthy. But sometimes too much day dreaming can make me feel a little deflated when I walk into my thoroughly average and unspectacular rental kitchen. Has that ever happened to you? Most of us probably don't cook in our dream kitchen. Instead, we deal with our kitchens' quirks and inconveniences on a daily basis.

But your kitchen can still be a place that you love and cherish, a place you enjoy, not merely tolerate. These 10 small changes are easy upgrades, but they'll go a long way towards making you feel more organized and uplifted in your kitchen.

1. Add or change lighting. If the lighting in your kitchen is dim, or you hate the overhead fixture, change it! Switching out an overhead light fixture is much easier than it sounds. It doesn't have to be super expensive, either. I bought a vintage light fixture for $20 on Etsy, but before that I was eyeing a few options at IKEA. Don't forget about under-cabinet lighting! That might be all you need to feel like you've seen the light, literally.

How To Remove a Light Fixture and How To Install a New One (from Apartment Therapy)
Smart Solutions: Under-Cabinet Lighting
Lighting Solutions: Task Lamps in the Kitchen
Articulated Arm Lamps for Lighting Kitchen Tasks
Lightbulb Types and Their Pros/Cons for the Kitchen

2. Change drawer or shelf liners. When was the last time you changed those shelf liners? Or maybe you don't have any at all. Laying down a fresh non-stick liner will a) give you an opportunity to take everything out of your cabinets and put them back in an organized way, and b) clean the cabinet or drawer so you start out fresh. There are simply so many uses for a non-slip liner. Bonus tip: You don't have to stick with white. My favorite non-stick liner is this non-adhesive version from Duck ($11.49 from Amazon). I have it in black, and I love how it looks. For drawers, you could also insert oil cloth.

3. Add a rug. I have ugly, grey laminate floors in my kitchen (I'm a renter - no surprise there), and it made a huge difference when I first put down a red 4'x6' cotton rug a couple years ago. I've since upgraded to FLOR tiles which were easy to install. I vacuum them frequently, and they've held up well.

Colorful Rugs for the Kitchen Floor
Casual and Comfy: Rag Rugs in the Kitchen
Comfortable and Cozy: Rugs in the Kitchen

4. Replace the faucet. This is a very simple, straightforward way to upgrade your kitchen, particularly if it's a rental. Really, anyone can do it! Yes, faucets can get pretty pricey, but as Faith wrote here, you can find single-handle faucets for as low as $80, and nicer, high arched faucet spouts for about $150 - a small investment for something you use multiple times a day.

How To Replace a Kitchen Faucet
All About: Single Handle Faucets
All About: Dual or Two-Handle Faucets
All About: Pull-Out or Down Spray Faucets
All About: Restaurant-Style Semi Professional Pre-Rinse Faucets

5. Update the hardware. Switching out your old knobs or pulls for something more modern or decorative, or adding cabinet hardware if you don't have any, can really really transform the look of your cabinets, particularly if they're bland contractor-grade.

Where To Buy Kitchen Cabinet Hardware: 10 Sources for Knobs and Pulls
Contemporary to Classic: Cabinet Pulls
Should I Put Knobs and Pulls on my Cupboards and Drawers?

6. Add pull-out shelves and/or drawer organizers. Sliding shelves and organizer inserts go a long way towards making you feel a little more in control of your kitchen. A few of our favorite sources for inserts and organizers include IKEA, The Container Store, SimpleHuman, and Rev-a-Shelf.

Chris Updates His Kitchen Cabinets with IKEA Drawer Pull-Outs
How To Organize Waste in a Small Kitchen
The Best Junk Drawer Organizers
10 Kitchen Cabinet Organizing Tools (via Apartment Therapy)

7. Add more storage space with small wire shelves.. Wire shelves and under-cabinet baskets make sure you're using all the space available in your cabinets, and even your fridge and freezer. We love these double cabinet shelves ($8.49 from The Container Store) and these under-shelf baskets ($6.99 from The Container Store).

Good Product: Undershelf Baskets To Fit Any Cabinet
Need More Space In Your Refrigerator? Add an Extra Shelf!
Alice's Extra Freezer Shelf
How To Find More Space in the Kitchen

8. Get a great dish rack. I went through two replacements of a cheap wooden dish rack from IKEA, which warped and cracked both times, before I settled on a heavy duty dish rack from SimpleHuman. I've had it for a few years now, and it's held up under even the highest mound of drying dishes, which made it worth the price. As someone without a dishwasher, it makes a big difference to have a reliable dish rack, not to mention it looks nice sitting on the counter. (When I can see it, that is. As mentioned, it's often hidden under a mound of pots, pans, and dishes!)

Best Dish Racks and Drainers 2012 (from Apartment Therapy)
DBA Dishrack: Is This the Dish Drainer of Your Dreams?

9. Swap out the switch plates. Faith and I have both swapped the dirty, dingy white switch plates in past and present kitchens for stainless steel ones. As Faith wrote here, there's something really effective about this small change. "The stainless steel plates are easier to clean, and they often lie flatter to the wall than the old plastic ones." If you want to go fancy, you can find decorative switch plates from places like Anthropologie, or you could DIY a decorative switchplate with pretty washi tape.

Small Rental Kitchen Upgrade: Swap Out the Switch Plates

10. Cover ugly countertops. Putting in brand new countertops is not a small change. So to improve on what you have, try one of these tips: if you're a renter and can't make any permanent changes, top a portion of your countertop with a big, handsome cutting board. It's functional and good-looking! If you're more ambitious, you can try painting your countertops.

Ugly Countertops: A Few Solutions
How To Paint Ugly Laminate Kitchen Countertops

Bonus tip: Buy something pretty: a bouquet of flowers, a new tea towel, a watercolor print for above the stove. Treat yourself and your kitchen to something nice.

What small changes have you made to make your kitchen better?

Related: New Beginnings: 8 Ways To a Neater, Cleaner, and More Organized Kitchen

(Images: 1. Elizabeth Passarella, Emma Christensen; 2. Gracewood Design; 3. Faith Durand; 4. Faith Durand; 5. Chris Perez; 6. Chris Perez; 7. Martha Stewart; 8. SimpleHuman; 9. Faith Durand; 10. Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan)

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Help Me Find Inexpensive Small Bottles for Homemade Gifts Good Questions

Q: I am making homemade tonic syrup (of the gin and tonic variety) to gift to family and friends this year. I have been scouring the internet for some inexpensive bottles (about 150-250 ml in size) in which to gift the tonic. I can't find anything.

I would love to find pop-top bottles like Ikea's SLOM bottle, but in a smaller size.

Does anybody know where I can locate such bottles? Added twist: shipping available to Canada (i.e., no Amazon.com)

Sent by Liette

Editor: Readers, any ideas for Liette? Any suggestions for places to look?

Next question?

Related: New IKEA Favorite: SLOM Bottle with Stopper

(Image: Faith Durand)

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Budget Spice Organization with IKEA's DROPPAR Jars & RIBBA Shelf Reader Kitchen Project

We love seeing our readers' kitchen organization projects! Here's the latest to roll in: a neat, cute spice shelf from reader Sabine. Here's how she lined up her spices with a little help from IKEA.

Sabine says:

I saw your post on the spice drawer and wanted to share my spice organisation. I took a $10 RIBBA picture ledge and bought 18 DROPPAR spice jars ($3 for 9 packs of 2). I then put it all up under our "kitchen moose" (we're expat Canadians living in Berlin, so our moose is a little bit of home in our apartment). I wrote what's in the jars on the bottom in case I forget.

Thanks Sabine! Love the moose. And I love how easy it is to spot a spice quickly, instead of rummaging around. Although, from long experience, I do predict readers will be quick to point out that light is bad for spices. (Amiright? One, two, three... go!) Really, though, that's not an issue here in the least, as the DROPPAR jars are quite small and I imagine Sabine will be refilling them before they have a chance to lose their flavor.

Share your own kitchen renovation or improvement!
We're always looking for real kitchens from real cooks.
Show us your kitchen here!

Related: A Truly Organized Spice Drawer

(Image: Reader Sabine via her Tumblr page)

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Containers For Holiday Food Gifts: $5 Flat Packs from IKEA

Since we're now into November it's safe to start thinking about gift giving for the holidaysspecifically, all those handmade treats we'd love to give (and receive). When I hit up my local IKEA recently, these $5 finds sucked me in. They're the perfect containers to hold your homemade edible goodies!

These plastic containers from IKEA's PS collection come three to a package (in small, medium and large) for just $5. They are easy to assemble and secure enough to hold a salad with dressing or even a few loaves of homemade bread. Oh yeah, and cookies. Lots of cookies.

At this price it would be easy to tie up your goods in a printed tea towel or take things just as they are to a party and leave the dish behind. No muss, no fuss and you won't have to worry about them taking up space in anyone's cabinets, since they wash clean and pack flat.

Buy Them Here: IKEA 3 Piece PS Bowl Set

Related: IKEA 2013 Catalog Preview: Kitchen Trends & Inspiration, According to IKEA

(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)

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Ben & Marie's Clean East London Kitchen Kitchen Spotlight

Print designer Marie and her partner Ben live in a light-filled, converted shoe factory in East London. The apartment has an open design, which extends into the IKEA kitchen. The clean, simple look of the kitchen fits the aesthetic of the rest of the apartment, but if you ever thought IKEA was the easy way out, you may want to think again! As Marie tells Apartment Therapy, "we completely underestimated the challenge of assembling and installing the IKEA kitchen by ourselves!" So, even if you love the look (and budget) of IKEA, you may want to get help putting it all together!

See the Full Tour: Marie & Ben's Scandinavian Chic Shoe Factory Apartment at Apartment Therapy

Related: IKEA 2013 Catalog Preview: Kitchen Trends & Inspiration, According to IKEA

(Images: Rebecca Proctor/Apartment Therapy)

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From Budget to Blowout: Imagining 3 Renovation Scenarios For a Tiny Kitchen The New York Times

What makes a $2,000 kitchen renovation different from a $62,000 renovation? That may sound like a ridiculous question, but the premise is intriguing: take a tiny rental kitchen in Brooklyn, bring in a few expert opinions, and get three different renovation proposals that run the gamut on price. That's what one NYT writer did, and it's such an interesting look at the why and how of small kitchen renovations.

Steven Kurutz's goals for his 95-square-foot kitchen were modest, as he writes in this New York Times article: he wanted modern-looking cabinets that would maximize storage, a little more counter space, and new flooring. So he asked three expertsan IKEA kitchen installation expert (budget), Gita Nandan of Thread Collective (middle road), and Roger Zierman of German design firm Poggenpohl (luxury)to create a design plan for the kitchen. Here's a quick rundown of each plan:

The Middle Road Option

Total Cost: $20,000 for materials and installation, $7,000 for the architect's fee
What You Get: Reconfigured doorways, a recessed nook containing the refrigerator, two extra feet of counter space, built-in cabinets, shelving, and a shallow pantry, a Verona oven, a Miele cooktop and a Heath tile backsplash.

The Budget Option

Total Cost: $2,398.70 for materials (minus flooring and backsplash), $2,113 for installation
What You Get: One row of pressed-wood cabinets, particleboard countertop, and new sink, fixtures, flooring, and backsplash (all from IKEA).

The Luxury Option

Total Cost: $62,381.76 for materials, $6,300 for installation.
What You Get: Reconfigured doorways, a 27-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator, Swiss pear lower cabinets, high-gloss lacquer upper cabinets with lighted glass shelves and sliding door, aluminum backsplash, Ceasarstone countertops, a 30"W x 12" D floor-to-ceiling pantry, a floating shelf that extends to the foyer, a 24-inch Miele oven and gas cooktop, extra drawers, a Fisher & Paykel compact dishwasher.

So interesting! For more details and photos on each one of these renovation scenarios, check out the full article below.

Read More: In a Tiny Kitchen, Lots of Idea Room The New York Times

Related: 10 Kitchen Renovation Under $10,00 (Way Under!)

(Image: Robert Wright for The New York Times, used with permission)

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Kitchen Before & After: Kathryn's Sonoma Garden Kitchen Makeover Reader Kitchen Remodel

When Kitchn reader Kathryn and her husband found the weekend house of their dreams, it was perfect in almost every way. While it did have a huge garden (great for Kathryn's intense gardening obsession), the kitchen was small and outdated. Six months later the couple decided to fix that problem. Here's what they did:

In Kathryn's words:

My husband and I bought a weekend property with a large garden in Sonoma last fall so I could exercise my gardening obsession. The goal was to grow a lot of our own food. We had hoped to find a home with an expansive open plan kitchen but no luck. We did find a property that was perfect in every way (especially the garden) except it had an outdated, galley kitchen with a location that made it impossible to even hope for a large space. After living in it for six months, I couldn't wait any longer and we took the plunge to gut it. We saved on cabinets by using IKEA (we have a 12 year old IKEA kitchen in the city and it still looks great) so we could splurge on appliances and fittings. I finally have the stove of my dreams and love canning and cooking on it every chance I get. Since there isn't much room for storage (I wanted few upper cabinets to keep the tight space open) so we just renovated a nearby laundry room to accommodate all the canned veggies and fruits from the garden. The garden has 16 raised beds and 14 fruit trees, enough to keep me busy in the kitchen and garden every weekend!

Read More: Read more about Kathryn's gardening adventures at her blog: Weekend Edible

How fun is that red stove? We love the new look.

Thanks, Kathryn!

Related: Kitchen Before & After: An Outdated Condo Kitchen Goes Glam

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Get the Look: Natural and Neutral Kitchen Style & Renovation Resources

We were so impressed by this couple's lovely and totally budget-friendly kitchen renovation. Love the look? Want to emulate some of it in your own kitchen? Here are sources to help you get the look. Fill in the blanks in the comments!

Natural and Neutral Kitchen Resources

Butcher Block Made from leftover IKEA countertop
Cabinets: Custom open shelves.
Countertops: IKEA butcher block
Faucets: ______________
Flooring: ______________
Hood: Broan
Island: IKEA
Lighting: ______________
Paint Walls & Ceiling: "Pale Oak" by Benjamin Moore
Paint Cabinets: "Galveston Gray" by Benjamin Moore
Range: Whirlpool
Refrigerator: LG
Sink: Elkay
Table & Chairs: ______________
Windows/Doors: ______________

See More of This Kitchen

Full Kitchen Tour: Jenny & Asmund's $4000 Renovated Kitchen & Garden
Photographer: Leela Cyd Ross

(Image: Leela Cyd Ross)

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Save & Splurge: 5 Places to Put Your Money in a Kitchen Renovation

Save: Lighting. Splurge: Windows!
Simple lighting can be replaced later, if desired, but windows add so much to a kitchen. They're precious.

It's difficult to make sweeping generalizations about kitchen renovations and builds (other than the old "add 50% to the initial estimate!" rule always a good idea!). Every kitchen is different, just as every cook has a slightly different set of desires and priorities. However, as I've researched and shopped for my own kitchen, which is being built from the ground up, I've made some trade-offs in costs and priority that, so far, seem worth it to me. Here are five of my own save/splurge decisions for a new kitchen.

Save: Lighting
Splurge: Windows

No matter what, lighting in a kitchen is very important. I would love to have some spendy modern pendants over the island and the dining table (why oh why do my tastes run to the Champagne in this area??) but it's not in the budget.

I chose instead to put money into high-quality awning windows with good hardware. There are full-length sidelights next to a sliding door, and more windows in the dining area. The cost of windows adds up, but this is the time to put them in. Other lighting is less important, and inexpensive pendants from IKEA can be easily replaced down the road.

Save: Faucet
Splurge: Sink

I predict this will be a controversial choice! The faucet is, after all, the most-frequently-used fixture in your kitchen. But as I have researched and shopped, I have found that some great faucets can be found from brands such as Grohe and Kohler, and they are often on sale at Amazon and Wayfair. You can get quite decent faucets for under $200.

Sinks, on the other hand, often cost more, and they are much more difficult to replace down the road. I am looking for a good although modestly-priced faucet, but I am buying the sink that I want.

Save: Oven
Splurge: Stove

Kitchen designer Susan Serra told me that the oven is the least-used appliance in most people's kitchens. Some folks don't even need an oven at all, especially with the advent of convection microwaves. Unless you're a frequent baker, prioritize your stove over your oven.

And, in my opinion, the stove doesn't need to be a high-powered faux-restaurant monster to be a good buy. I'm going for a more modestly-priced Bertazzoni rangetop, which is a fraction of the price of a BlueStar or Viking (although still the most expensive appliance in the kitchen). My oven is a used model (still in warranty!) that I found on Craigslist.

Save: Cabinets
Splurge: Cabinet doors and hardware

Cabinets are an interesting thing. On the one hand, they seem important. You want them to last a long time and wear well. But they are fixed to the floor, and are protected by the doors and surrounding appliances. Cabinet bases actually come in for less wear and tear than your sofa or dresser. I simply could not justify spending $30,000 for handmade wood-frame cabinets, and more importantly, it didn't seem necessary. I'm going for good old IKEA frames, which are perfectly solid and very customizable, with all the drawers I desire. But I am also getting...

... Custom doors. This is where a smart small splurge can make your kitchen look truly custom. I am ordering doors from Semihandmade, a company in California that makes doors for IKEA cabinets. Henrybuilt, for a fraction of the price. That's the idea, at least.

Save: Tile and backsplash
Splurge: Countertop

It's amazing how tile can add up, especially if you want to branch out beyond the ubiquitous subway tile. And if you want to take it all the way up to the ceiling watch out! Tile creep, both in size of the installation and price of the tile itself, can add up fast. So think outside of the box for backsplashes. What about plexiglass or glass (maybe with bright fabric behind it? Or a sheet of stainless steel?

I'm mostly forgoing a backsplash along my back wall, with the exception of a marble 4-inch rise. I know that I can easily add a more extensive backsplash later, if it seems necessary. For now, I want to put my money into my countertops. Nothing is quite as visible in your kitchen as your countertops and they are the primary surface you work on and clean every day. I knew I wanted stone, instead of the more economical laminate or butcher block surfaces. So that's where I'm putting the cash.

What about you? Did you save and splurge along these same lines? Or something else? Like I said, everyone has their own priorities, and there are always reasons to allocate money differently in different projects. Did you find smart ways to save and splurge in your own renovation or new kitchen build? I'd love to hear your tips!

Related: What Is Your Best Kitchen Renovation & Planning Advice?

(Images: 1. Leela Cyd Ross from Sophie and Iain's Elegant Yet Family-Focused Vegetarian Kitchen; 2. from Lilian's Sunlit Family Kitchen; 4. Gregor Torrence from Kitchen Tour: Food Writer Ivy Manning's Portland Kitchen; 5. Jill Slater from Cherry & Jeff's Oven-Less But Active Hong Kong Kitchen; 6. Kitchen Before & After: Heejoo's Open Floor Plan IKEA Renovation; 7. Rebecca Szeto from Kitchen Spotlight: San Francisco Sleek Yet Vintage Re-Do; 8. Leela Cyd Ross from Ryan's Stunning San Francisco Remodel. Leela Cyd Ross from Jessica & Charley's Chocolate Workshop and Handmade Home Kitchen)

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