Kitchen Renovation Planning: Budget, Buying Order and Install

Jeff of Home RenoVision DIY ran a live session on planning a kitchen renovation, built around one budgeting rule: set aside 15% of the home's value for the kitchen, or up to 20% if walls come down and the living space becomes part of an open-concept layout. His worked example is a $300,000 home, where he lists cabinets at $10,000, appliances at $8,000, natural-stone countertops at $4,000, flooring at $2,000 and about $1,000 for lighting, for a total he gives as $27.5 thousand before backsplash and labor. He adds that hiring a company would mean $15,000 to $20,000 for labor if a wall is being removed.

Remodel or renovation

Jeff separates the two words. A remodel refreshes an existing space with the existing mechanical layout: new cabinets, counters, backsplash and paint, with cabinets measured to match the current configuration. In most cases, he says, a remodel needs no building permit because the plumbing stack, venting, trap location and electrical requirements stay as they are. A renovation changes things: moving an appliance, adding electrical, installing wall ovens or removing a wall to add an island. Removing a soffit and extending cabinet height, as one viewer asked, he calls a remodel that needs no permit.

Geography matters to the budget because of return on investment. He says a house hired out to a contractor returns about 80 cents on the dollar, and he expects that to fall. His example: a $60,000 kitchen done with only materials bought saves about $30,000. At a $600,000 house value, a major renovation budget under his rule is $120,000.

The order of purchases

He picks in order of cost and constraint: cabinets, then appliances, then countertops, flooring, tile backsplash, wall color and hardware. Cabinets have limits in color, appliances in size and style, and natural stone offers less choice than flooring. Light fixtures can be chosen late, after walls are opened and mechanical work is done, so a surprise such as termites doesn't force a restructure on a fixed budget.

His cabinet advice:

• Buy wood, because it can be repainted; thermofoil is cheaper but the joint near a boiling pot will peel and blister.
• Drawers store better than doors but cost more.
• Don't spend on inside-corner hardware, which he says doesn't perform much better than a plain lazy Susan.
• Consider the Masterbrand group of cabinet companies as a way to compare price points and find a local dealer, rather than relying on one box-store line.
• Spend extra on appliances instead; counter-depth fridges are now about the same price as regular ones.

He suggests leaving a 42 to 48 inch gap between counters. He is wary of fridges with water dispensers because leaks onto hardwood cause insurance claims.

The order of installation

Check that the room is square with a 3-4-5 measurement before ordering; out-of-square walls may need furring, leveling or planing. Then do electrical, plumbing and rough work, hang drywall, and for a DIYer prime and apply the first coat of paint before the cabinets go up.

Flooring goes in before cabinets whenever it is attached to the house with staples, glue or thinset: hardwood, engineered hardwood and tile. Modern cabinetry is designed to sit on a finished floor, which keeps an island at the same height as the cabinets and avoids quarter round around fridge panels. Vinyl, though not attached, also goes in first because it has the lowest expansion and contraction. Laminate goes in after, with a gap and quarter round, because of its susceptibility to water damage and expansion. Appliances and hardware (sinks, faucets, handles) come last.

On hardwood, he says pre-finished boards, with a finish baked in, are far tougher than site-finished water-based coatings, and he suggests installing them across the whole space and setting the kitchen on top. With kids and pets he suggests stone or vinyl plank. Native hardwood should be kept between 40 and 60 percent humidity; seasonal gaps of about 1/32 inch are normal.

Power, gas, venting and structure

• Microwave: an over-the-range or shelf microwave needs a dedicated power supply, since it pulls more power than a hood fan; otherwise breakers will trip.
• Gas: Jeff prefers gas for serious cooking and says induction suits light cooks. His gas fitter ran a line along the outside back wall and through the wall for a mixed-fuel range in about 35 to 40 minutes. Have the appliance on site first, because each model's connection point and flexible hose differ and online specs change.
• Island ranges: a downdraft exhaust through the floor joists and out the foundation wall avoids the cost of a large hood; a core-drilling company can cut the hole in a stone foundation for a few hundred dollars.
• Townhouse venting: never compromise the firewall between units. Route the duct through your own floor-joist cavity or a soffit box.
• Load-bearing walls: a structural engineer's plan, quoted by one viewer at $2,000 in Ottawa, is normal, and Jeff says the engineer's stamp takes precedence over the city inspector. Taking out load-bearing walls breaks even on resale, he says, while non-load-bearing walls make money.
• Lifting a sagging floor: a beam under a series of trusses, lifted evenly at both ends, can work, but he says a structural engineer should design the process.

From the phone calls

For tile, he says a subfloor needs 1¼ inches of combined plywood, OSB and cement board. Over a 5/8 inch subfloor on 2×10 joists at 16 inches on center, screwed down, a Schluter Ditra membrane set in Schluter's All-Set thinset can provide the build-up. For a 1954 house with a failing crawl-space vapor barrier, he favors repairing the barrier and insulation, perhaps adding exhaust vents, over roughly $30,000 of encapsulation on a $420,000 home. For stamped concrete, he advises getting practice first, since the timing for stamping is sensitive. For toilet-drain noise in a wall, wrap the pipes in insulation and add mass in the ceiling.