Article: 20 cost-cutting ideas for your new kitchen

[Steve]

Here's an article at Better Homes and Gardens about saving money when designing a kitchen. Most of these are specific for remodeling, but there are a few good tips for everyone.

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jhtml;?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/cutkitchencosts_02112002.xml

I particularly liked the suggestion to add a pantry to reduce the volume of cabinets that you need (cabinets are much more expensive than a closet with shelves).

Any other good tips out there?

Steve

[JeffandSara]

Hi, Steve--

Too late for us to save much on our kitchen, not to mention (as discussed in an earlier poll question) our kitchen was the place we planned to spend the most anyway... our top priority.

I did want to second your comment about including a pantry, however. We decided VERY early in the design process that we would DEFINITELY have a pantry, no matter what. Several people have laughed because ours is actually a hair larger than the first floor guest powder room... but we need food every day, and we don't get that many guests! :wink: You have to have priorities.

But seriously, it IS much cheaper to install even pretty fancy pantry shelving than to install full box/door/drawer cabinetry like most kitchens have (so if you want to save money, not be stylish, you need a closed pantry not the now-again-trendy "butler's pantry" with the fancy cabinetry for dishware, etc.)

We're still using temporary shelving units for our pantry, so we're not maximizing the space. But in the final configuration, we're looking at basically floor-to-ceiling shelving on two walls, and that should be AMPLE for any amount of food storage, canning, bulk buying we're likely to do in our family.

Something else I noticed in doing square footage/actual drawer-door comparisons from other kitchens, is that not only do you end up with "more" space for utensils and equipment in a similar sized kitchen if you don't have to store your cereal and flour and canned goods in them... a pantry may allow practical out-of-the-way storage for seldom-used equipment and small appliances as well.

I "lost" several of my planned "pan drawers" and a few other features partway through the kitchen design/installation process (long story), but even so, when the pantry shelving is completed, I think I'll still have much more ACTUAL USEABLE storage in this kitchen than in any I ever had. And that's with only ONE set of free-hanging uppers, compared to my old kitchens that had uppers on every wall.

Oh, and some of you may have noticed my post a few months back about our "cold room" mudroom/laundry, and how well it's working to keep the cold out of the main parts of the house when people come in and out. Our pantry is maintaining a temperature that's 12-15 degrees cooler than the kitchen, which is very very nice for storage. :D

Good thread, Steve.

Sara :D