We often get asked by our customers what percentage of the money they spend remodeling their kitchen do we think they should get back when they sell their home. The Return on Investment, abbreviated ROI, for a kitchen renovation is more complex that most homeowners and real estate professionals believe.
The most common misconception is that there is some approximate percentage that a newly renovated kitchen should bring upon selling a home.
Another is that renovating a kitchen in a home that is already valued higher than most others in the area won’t be a good investment.
In reality we have seen the value of a home do anything from actually decreasing in value to increasing in value many times the cost of the renovation.
The biggest factor affecting the ROI of a kitchen renovation is the kitchen design itself. For example, redoing the same poorly designed kitchen the same way could have very little ROI. Or a new even worse design that gives a homeowner what they think they want despite it not fitting or working well in their space might lower the value of their home.
Knowing which designs are good choices and which designs don’t work is often not obvious to homeowners.
If fact many homeowners want to implement designs, they thought of themselves even when we explain why they are poor choices. Or they want to keep the present terrible design because it is what they know.
At Main Line Kitchen Design, we believe our first obligation is to at least show our customers better designs than what they might ask for.
It wouldn’t be ethical or professional in our opinion to simply implement a design a customer asked for if there were better designs or design improvements, we felt that they needed to see. Of course, they can buy the kitchen they envisioned after seeing what we recommend, so long as it isn’t dangerous. But working together and having a professional kitchen designer critique different designs usually leads to sensible compromises that customers appreciate. Especially after the dust settles and they begin cooking and living in their new kitchen.
Below is our generalized list of the top ROI’s we see on kitchen renovations. Notice that high end appliances, quartz countertops, custom cabinetry, and gadgets don’t appear.
Top ten ROI ‘s for a Kitchen Renovation:
- Working with a talented and experienced kitchen designer
- Removing a soffit
- Removing a wall separating the dining room and the kitchen in smaller homes
- Going to the ceiling with molding
- Upgrading cabinets to all plywood construction
- Upgrading to soft close dovetail drawers and soft close doors
- Building the refrigerator into cabinetry
- Double trash pull-out next to sink
- Recessed door style
- Large single bowl sink
Main Line Kitchen Design wishes everyone a relaxing Summer and as always, a hearty –
BON APPETITE!
Paul, Julie, Chris, Ed, Lauren, Jeremy, Camilla, Juliet, and Mark
Main Line Kitchen Design
