I think people are more inclined to answer when they have the "best" answer - cash only, no credit, no financing.

We took out a HELOC to fund our renovation. We have significant equity in the house and realized we happily would have purchased this house for an additional "X" amount if it had a kitchen designed to our liking. We were faced with a leak under the sink, a broken OTR MW, a too-small fridge that needed to be replaced (leaking internally), a broken cabinet care of the previous owners hacking it to fit a too-big fridge and insufficient lighting (made even worse by a 2nd floor leak that blew out the one light in the space). So while we could have paid cash to fix these items piecemeal, it would have been putting lipstick on a pig. We plan to be in this house for at least the next 10 years so decided just to take out the HELOC, do what we want, and get to enjoy it all. I think it'll be worth it! (We're still in the demo phase)