{"id":1909,"date":"2016-11-02T20:17:45","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T20:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2023-10-11T20:29:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T20:29:56","slug":"frugal-diyers-reveal-costly-mistakes-kitchen-remodel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/frugal-diyers-reveal-costly-mistakes-kitchen-remodel\/","title":{"rendered":"Frugal DIYers Reveal Costly Mistakes in a Kitchen Remodel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sadly, not all DIYers have the foresight of Jim, who wrote a letter recently describing his success remodeling his mom\u2019s kitchen. Here at RTA Cabinet Store, we hear our share of \u201cwar-stories\u201d from frugal DIYers who tried to save money, only to wind up spending more money or wasting tons of time in the long-run. Here are a few, in hopes that you can avoid the same costly mistakes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underestimating Time and Incidental Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen and Bob from Minnesota thought they could handle their kitchen remodel themselves. By using RTA kitchen cabinets from RTA Cabinet Store<\/a>, they saved almost $5,000. Add in another $3,000 or so in labor costs that they did themselves for \u201cfree,\u201d and that\u2019s some serious savings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, given enough time and determination, most homeowners can tackle almost any project that doesn\u2019t involve plumbing or electrical work. A lot of DIYers though, Bob and Helen included, underestimate the amount of time and complexity of a big job like a kitchen remodel. Sure, a remodeling contractor can get the job done in a few days in a pinch, but that\u2019s with multiple experienced workers devoting entire work-days to the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ll be working on it during weekends and around your work schedule, a more realistic time frame is one to two months<\/em>. Two months is what it took Helen and Bob, and that\u2019s a lot<\/em> of money spent eating out and ordering pizza that wasn\u2019t in their initial estimate for the kitchen remodel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also didn\u2019t factor in the cost of new tools; sometimes you just really do need the right tool for the job, or you risk a low-quality result you\u2019ll be kicking yourself for, for years or even decades to come. By the time they accounted for the cost of eating out for two months, and the extra tools they needed, they actually wound up spending more<\/em> money than the best bid by a local contractor, and they didn\u2019t have a kitchen for two months!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor Design Choices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What good is a kitchen remodel if a week after finishing it, you find out you made a serious mistake in the overall design, and wind up remodeling again<\/em> in a year or two when you just can\u2019t stand it anymore? That\u2019s what happened when Carol from Oregon designed her dream kitchen based on things she\u2019d seen in magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her sons did a wonderful job installing her new cabinets<\/a> and a small island she\u2019d managed to fit into the design for extra work space, and the result was beautiful! Unfortunately, she\u2019d committed the cardinal sin of functional kitchen design: she neglected The Triangle\u2014the three most-used stations in any kitchen of stove \u2013 sink \u2013 fridge. See, she\u2019d wound up with her fridge on one side of the island, the stove on the other, and the sink at the end. After a couple of years of walking all the way around the island over and over, she wound up taking the island out, and had to redo the floor, costing more money in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let Us Help Before<\/em> \u201cMistakes Were Made\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Proper design and a realistic estimate of time and materials are essential to a satisfying kitchen remodel, both during the project and in the years to come. That\u2019s why we offer FREE professional kitchen design consultation, as well as an online DIY design tool on our website. If you do decide to do the work yourself, we can help make sure it goes right the first time. If you decide it\u2019s just a little more than you can really handle, we can recommend qualified and reliable contractors in your area who\u2019ve installed our cabinets many times before and can get the job done quickly, efficiently, and for less than you might think. And you can still get some of the satisfaction and pride a DIYer enjoys, by assembling<\/em> the cabinets yourself. All you need is a screwdriver and a free weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remodeling costs can get out of hand quickly. Find out how to avoid overspending on your kitchen remodeling budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[2273],"amp_validity":null,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6310,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions\/6310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rtacabinetstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}