3 Strategies to Remodel Your Kitchen for Less

What to do about everything from buying cabinets and appliances to scoring discounts.

(Image credit: Justin Krug)

Ready to pull the trigger on a new kitchen? Use these strategies to get more for your money.

Great Deals on Practically Everything

Cut the cost of cabinets. For high-quality cabinets in a variety of styles at a moderate price, it’s hard to beat Costco. Ready-to-assemble cabinets by Euro-RTA (delivered flat) run $1,785 to $2,665 for a 10-foot-by-10-foot kitchen; semi-custom cabinets by All Wood Cabinetry (delivered assembled) run $3,035 to $4,648.

Buy a suite of appliances. If you buy at least three appliances (refrigerator, stove and dishwasher) from the same manufacturer and product line, you’ll earn a significant discount or rebate and achieve a coordinated look.

Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Be a smarter, better informed investor.

Save up to 74%
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hwgJ7osrMtUWhk5koeVme7-200-80.png

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Sign up

For example, in late March Sears advertised the Kenmore Pro Stainless Steel Kitchen Suite (four pieces, including a microwave oven) for $5,830—a discount of 37.5% from the suggested retail prices of the items.

Hunt for discounts. Search retailers’ websites or call to ask about special buys or offers, rebates, or backroom deals. You might find overstock, clearance, store display models, and dinged and dented items.

Check Habitat for Humanity ReStore, where you may find new or like-new components donated by builders and homeowners.

Patricia Mertz Esswein
Contributing Writer, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Esswein joined Kiplinger in May 1984 as director of special publications and managing editor of Kiplinger Books. In 2004, she began covering real estate for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, writing about the housing market, buying and selling a home, getting a mortgage, and home improvement. Prior to joining Kiplinger, Esswein wrote and edited for Empire Sports, a monthly magazine covering sports and recreation in upstate New York. She holds a BA degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, in St. Peter, Minn., and an MA in magazine journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University.