I think you will get many different answers on this. The budgets here range from very limited to those who spend more than the cost of the average home just on the kitchen. Some take out home equity loans to create their dream kitchen all at once. You are taking a good approach given the current economy.

It helps to start with a list of what you want to do. You could post some before pictures and ask the group what they think needs to be done. Unless you have a complete tear down renovation, you may be able to do a little each year. Check out the Finished Kitchens Blog and you will find a number of great budget kitchens.

You can go to sites like IKEA to get prices on cabinets. There are numerous websites with pricing for flooring, tile and countertops that you can use to plan your budget.

We are keeping our budget down by using Craigslist, ebay, and outlet stores like Tuesday Morning.

Know what you're trying to do and get estimates and a list of costs...Then add some for unforeseen problems and inflation. There are so many variables between what you might want to accomplish and what others do, it'd be impossible to guess without specifics. For some, an update has meant moving walls, putting in more or new windows, moving appliances, and completely redesigning a layout, putting in new, top-notch EVERYthing. For others it could mean DIY cabinet painting and a new laminate countertop, while keeping existing appliances and fixtures.

Nothing replaces research and leg work so you won't have surprises. Once you have a total, and adjust your wants and wishes to match what you think is possible, then you can figure out how much you need to save and for how long. Best wishes!

The first time we did some cash and then the rest on a 1-year-interest free card (we had all the cash, but wanted to have more of a buffer in our savings account).

This time (new house) we did the same thing.

We had a ton of equity in our other house-- I think if we had planned on staying longer, we would have gotten a home equity loan and had a few other things done to the house.. we knew it wasn't our forever house, so we kept the budget smaller.

As far as budgets go, in the past we have been reasonably good about ending up where we thought we would i.e. about 35 percent over what we had planned. This has been the case for both residential renos that we have partly done ourselves, and professional work that we have hired architects and contractors for.

Paying for it .. hmm ... we don't spend more than we have. We have borrowed money for business projects but never for our residential ones. We take advantage of any deferred payment opportunities, but make sure that we have the cash on hand before we commit to that. It sits in the bank (or wherever) and earns interest until we have to pay things off.

For the current reno we didn't really set a budget but we have deliberately made some less expensive choices. i.e. we bought mid-range rather than high end appliances and inexpensive Ikea cabinetry. We spent in some other areas -lighting - doors - windows - floor - hardware. Our doorbell and mailbox cost as much as our dishwasher but hey - we liked it and we can pay for it so why not ?

If I were you, I would spend some time on here and researching suppliers in your local area to find out how much the things that you want cost. Then add those up and add another 100% for all the things like sandpaper and wire and solder and drill bits, etc...

If you are hiring a contractor we have found that multiplying the cost of materials by 3 gives us a general idea of where the project will finish.

Once you have done this, if you won't be able to pay for it out of your own pocket, then wait. This is the wrong time to be taking on debt. (I don't think that taking out a loan to renovate a kitchen is a good idea at any time but that's a personal thing).

You might find the link below to be informative. Good luck with whatever you decide :)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0815123731212.html

Warning...do NOT use IKEA as a basis for average cabinet costs unless you intend to use IKEA cabinets. IKEA cabinets are below average in cabinet costs!

Your first question, though, should be to ask yourself how much realistically you think you can save in a year or so. If your date is set and you have access to no other funds, then that's your budget for everything. Next, take 80% of that...and that's what you should "plan" on spending.

If you've been lurking long, you'll notice that it's a rare kitchen remodel that doesn't go over budget 10%-20%...and not just b/c you decide you want something more than you've budgeted for...often it's the "surprises" that pop up during the remodel!

If your date isn't set, then figure out what you need, then what you want. First, come up with estimates for the needs, then the wants. Once you've decided what you need and can afford to want, add 25% (5%-10% for inflation & 15%-20% for overruns) and that's how much you need to save!

The tough parts are coming up with the estimates and waiting patiently while you save! If you frequent this Forum while waiting you'll learn a lot in preparation for your remodel.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Forum FAQ: kitchen-estimate-template.xls

I'm working on number two and I would advise looking at your budget not as a restriction but as an aid - setting a line item budget and sticking fairly close to it will help you make decisions. I break mine down to the major areas (plumbing, electrical, cabinetry appliances etc.)and have a separate line for labour. A good lead tme is an excellent chance to do research and investigate options. Good luck.

Here is my experience, I hope it helps.

It took me 6 years to save $40K for my renovation. Partly because we have a 90 year old house and had to do other renovations along the way. For example, a badly repaired ceiling, by previous owner, fell and we replaced the ceiling, installed crown molding in the lower and upper halls, redid plumbing for upstairs bath, and replaced the rickety banister. We use a contractor for everything and do nothing DIY.

For my kitchen (I am in week 3 of the renovation) I am using relatively inexpensive cabinets (purchased at discount by my contractor from builders supply approx. 5K, putting in granite (2.5K), purchasing a new stove and vent hood (5K), installing LED lights (1.5K) but reusing dishwasher, refrigerator, sink, and faucet. Most of my costs are in removing walls and ceilings in a 12 x 22 foot space, redoing plumbing, electrical, floors, etc. Just last week I got hit with a 2K plumbing charge for redoing all the plumbing from basement to second floor in that part of the house as well as reworking my hot water heating system in the kitchen and dining room. Now the plumbing is to code.

I could have done things for less but we decided that if we were going to do this, we were going to make it the way we wanted and bring all the systems up-to-date.

I would like to say this is my forever home but I have learned that you can't predict that. I thought my previous home in Maryland was my forever home but life circumstances brought me back to New Jersey.

The moral of this is save and spend what you are comfortable with and give yourself a cushion because cost overruns are inevitable.

I think you're smart to pay cash-- we're doing the same, and the great thing about it is you CAN'T spend more than you can afford. Once the cash is gone, it's gone. We're doing the installation ourselves and ordering the cabinets from a place I heard about on here (MKFUSA). We're not moving the sink or dishwasher so we'll save on plumbing costs, but we do have to get an electrician for the lighting.

It's like others have said-- find out what you want and approx. how much it costs, and save 'till you hit a little over that amount. Your kitchen can cost as much or as little as you want, and remember you can always do things in phases. For example, we're not going to do the backsplash until later when we save more money again. Overall, our kitchen will cost (including appliances) less than $15K, all cash, but including many of the bells and whistles you see in cabinets on this forum.

We are taking out home equity, but if we had the cash I'd probably go that route. Just take a look at what else the cash could be doing for you. For ex., if you have car loans out or credit card balances with a higher interest rate, makes more sense to pay those off first, esp. keeping in mind that some people are able to get a tax break on HEL. Rates are quite good right now.

One point I haven't seen addressed is how MUCH to save. Make sure the budget you strive for is in keeping with the value of your home. Our first house was in a neighborhood of raised ranches on 1/4 acre lots, then-valued at about $150k. It wouldn't have made sense to put a sixty thousand dollar kitchen into it. OTOH if you live in an upscale development and are concerned about resale, you don't want to use builder's grade appliances and formica.

They way to decide your budget is to talk.

You need to talk to:
*your neighbors about how much they have spent (if they are willing to tell you)
*a GC or KD about average budgets for your area
*several cabinet makers about approximate costs for the layout you want
*salespeople at appliance stores, hardware stores, kitchen fixture stores, tile stores, etc.
*your spouse about how much they a comfortable spending (it may be much more or less than you think)
*your bank about possible loan options and how much they might cost before you rule out borrowing
*anyone else you can think of that might have useful information for you

I wish we had done more talking before entering into this process. We spent 18 months saving hard and thought we had saved enough but not quite. We had to trim back some of our wants (OK my wants) but it was a rude awakening for me. We are trying to pay for the kitchen with our savings but have also arranged for an emergency Line of Credit on the house. That way we are protected if any major expenditure comes up either as part of the remodel or in any other area.

In the meantime I am still putting money into the savings account (as well as our dwindling investments), I have restricted myself to budget (which I am trying to follow) and keeping my eye on the prize.

As to the size of the budget only you can decide that. There are too many mitigating factors to come up with a rule that fits everyone. Do a search on the word budget and you will get lots of different points of view.

Good luck.

Ditto lululemon's list of suggestions. We asked around for ballpark amounts, and then for more specific things. We saved for a while until we had enough, and then were able to do our remodel without borrowing. As an emergency plan, we did open a heloc in case of hidden disaster, but we didn't need to use it.

Having the kitchen of our dreams is awesome, but not as nice as knowing we got it with no debt!

If you were planning on buying a new car, what price range would you be looking at? That's generally what most people are comfortable spending on a new kitchen. Another guideline is 10-20% of your home's value, depending on area and the extensiveness of the remodel. Average kitchen remodels in the US are around $30K with very little plumbing or electrical work, just replacing like for like. About 50% of the budget should be planned for cabinetry as it's the most difficult element to change out later. Every bit that you can DIY can help to stretch your dollar, or if you can GC the renovation yourself, that will also help. But, don't overestimate your skills nor the time necessary to devote to a renovation if you plan to be an active part of it.

These figures are guidelines for helping you to set a budget. There's also the old tried and true saying of you can have it good, fast, or cheap---pick any two. But you can't have it all.

As far as saving for a renovation, well, that's going to depend on your income, investments, and how you structure your financial plan so that your current living and retirement plans aren't negatively impacted. Many people are still getting HELOCs to fund their renovation and paying that off through savings since that is one route that at least leaves the interest tax deductible and also lets your money work somewhere else at a (hopefully) higher interest rate. Many people also take advantage of big box or major manufacturer's financing promos that involve no interest if paid off by a certain time.

Whatever financial strategy you choose, and whatever level of funding that you have, I'm sure you can create a lovely kitchen. I basically specialize in budget kitchens, and I've had very few customers who couldn't realize their needs and plenty of their wants if they planned the renovation in the right order and put the money in the right places. For instance, any structural issues will be the most costly and if they can be avoided, you're $$ ahead. I've already mentioned putting the lion's share of the budget into the cabinets, but maybe also think about stretching out that replacement of appliances to one at a time as they fail rather than all at once. Granite is beautiful and most of my clients want that as their counter surface. I advise any of the handy clients who need to stretch their budget to pick the slab stock laminate off the shelf in a big box and cut it to their size and then save towards the granite. It's more of a piecemeal approach, but it can help the bottom line in difficult times.

We've been a nation of instant gratfication keeping up with the Smiths AND the Jonses, but the pendulum is slowly swinging back the other way. I won't say a "Depression mentality", but that would echo some of the thinking of some of the folks like my parents who lived through that time. "Reuse and recycle" and SAVE to pay cash with very little credit is once again becoming more the norm rather than the exception. Thankfully, because I was never one who regularly had mostly clients who spent $70K on cabinets in $150K renovations, my business is down some, but not too bad. More and more people are looking for "budget redos" and I've long been in touch with how to accomplish that!

"IDRIVE65" touched on the most important factor, I believe, in determining a budget. Finally as an accountant I can speak with definitive knowledge..DO NOT OVER BUILD FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. We all would like to think that we could live in a home forever but the reality is that the average American moves every 5 years. Most of us never thought the economy and housing prices would tank the way they have of late causing many to have to leave their homes under duress. With this in mind you want to be the less expensive house in the neighborhood and not the most expensive. Do some comps on other homes around you and see what improvements you make will raise the price of your home. Also realize that you will only, at best, get 85% of what you spend on a kitchen remodel when you sell. If you have a real estate friend ask them to give you idea of what your house is worth now and with the improvements and what other homes in the area are selling for. This will go a long way towards helping you come up with a budget.

It's good to save, but have a contingency for budget overruns.

We paid cash for the granite & fabrication & Install and for the contractor work demo-ing and building pantry. We paid for lighting fixtures, paint, backsplash tiles. We did a lot DIY including the flooring.

For the cabinets and appliances we used Lowes and got the pay nothing, no interest for 12 months option. So I still have that out there. When I get my tax refund, it'll go there. The plumber I hired to connect the sink and garbage disposal still has not sent me a bill.

All in all our budget was $10,000 and we ended up a little over $16,000. It's amazing how all the little things add up.

Good luck and taking the time to save up money can be spent looking for inspiration photos and items that you really want.

We have been remodeling this house for 5+ years (I thought dh was kidding when he referred to the "ten year plan", but he at least had a realistic view of how long this would take, LOL!)
We are, however, pretty much redoing our whole house, on a cash basis as we have the time and money.
The next step requires some bigger portions that we can't stretch out though, so we are probably going to take advantage of the lower mortgage rates to refinance and use some equity for this major step. I am gathering estimates so we can figure out how much $$$ we will need.
We have been working (slowly) on our kitchen/diningroom in its new location for about a year and a half, but we still have our old kitchen so it has been tolerable.

This thread has been helpful so far, I really appreciate it!

Here's some info about our kitchen - many of you may find it familiar since I have been dreaming about redoing this kitchen since this time last year when we had our offer accepted on it, and have been posting on here since then!
- Bought the house in May 2008
- Kitchen has oak floors in good shape which we will leave in.
- Kitchen is approximately 13x15 or so
- Knowing that a full-fledged redo was not in the cards in the first year or two we went ahead and purchased new appliances to 'hold me over'. We bought GE profile range & MW, and a counter depth kitchen aid. All in stainless steel. Probably spent about 5k on all of them, including getting gas plumbed up to the kitchen. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these things!!
- The main thing we want to change are:
- The GIGANTIC built in fluourescent light fixture in ceiling. Requires ripping out the entire ceiling due to the way it's constructed. Goal is to have this done first, inspect the existing soffits above cabinetry to see if we can pull those out too (if no plumbing/ductwork in them), and then redo the ceiling, install can lights, maybe a couple pendants.
- Replace kitchen cabinets to a less-grained wood (Maple, Cherry)
- Replace the kitchen counters to solid surface
To be honest, that's really it!

The problem is that both my husband and I are not very good at DIY-ing, and work full-time making it difficult to even get estimates, etc. So we'll be looking at spending a big chunk on labor, which seems to be the part that can fluctuate greatly.

Thanks for your help!

I should add, the house was built in 1988.

I'm lucky in that I have the cash.
My advice would be free estimates - get as many as you can stand, and take your time. Breathe. But, be sure that all credit cards are paid for before doing it.

My DH didn't blink at spending $16K on his shop. He told me to "do what you want" with the kitchen. Then he had a couple of panic attacks over the budgeting. I've decided on $12K. And, I'm not worrying about what is "in" and what isn't, or weather what I'm doing today will be "in" in 5 years. Of course it won't, but who cares? If we should care about that, then none of us should ever even consider remodeling unless you know you can do it again in 5 to 10 years. And, some people can! I'm not one of them. This will be my last hurrah on kitchens.

I happen to like laminate, and yes, even the kind with the wood edge around it. Did I hear a collective gasp? Well, my carpenter is making sure it will look very nice. And, I LIKE THE LOOK. So, it's all good. Let the next owners do the granite, I have a bathroom to move on to after this!

stretch, it sounds like you're remodeling my kitchen LOL

I won't tell you what I spent, (Because it turned out to be far more than planned LOL) but I will share cabinet bids (from memory) with you for a kitchen of the same size.

I had bids from $15,000 to $90,000 (cabinets alone). I wanted to share this with you because it's step one of your thought process. The quality and the features in your future cabinets can be amazingly expensive. You need to think about what you want from your cabinetry as a first step to deciding on a budget for them. It sounds like you've already paid for great appliances, so the cabinets will likely be the biggest expense aside from labor.

You want a quick peak into your future? Go get a drill and a drywall hand saw :) cautiously drill into those soffits and then open up a patch with the drywall saw big enough to see what is in there with a flash light (sticking a camera on flash in there and taking a blind picture works really well). In one of ours, we found only wiring for the millions of 8" pot lights that ran like a runway strip across our ceiling (we live near an airport...I was always worried about diverting traffic if we had them all on at once). In the center monstrosity (like yours, it dominated the ceiling) we found a heating duct, but it was an easy move up into the floor above) and then in the final soffit, we had a solid wood beam. Moving that up into the floor above was a $5,000 endeavor, unless you add in the engineering costs, which put it closer to $7500.

I then closed up the hole with the patch I cut out and "glued" it in with sylicone and painted over. No one noticed, and really if they had I wouldn't have cared since they were coming out. :)

Answering that question is a biggie in your budget and in the planning.

So what do you budget? I agree with the idea of thinking of your neighborhood, home value, budget to save, possibly borrow, etc., but also take into consideration what you can afford to lose if that's an issue. We significantly overimproved for our neighborhood. But we live on the edge of a lake so we can get away with being a higher cost home than the neighbors due to the unique property and it's desirability. But we had some specific wishes as well for our remodel and didn't mind taking a bit of a loss on sale if we have to.

A funny figure to think about is the standard that half of us will admit to having used...$40,000 is the average kitchen remodel (I think that was a 2008 number). Many of us started there :) Some did better than others. I did worse heh heh

We are using savings and a HELOC. We still have savings set aside for emergencies. Even if we use all of the HELOC, we still owe much less than our home would sell for in this economy (we bought ten years ago). We don't have credit card debt or any other loans.

I considered the 10-20% of your home's value figure, what we could afford to pay on the HELOC and also what I was comfortable spending. I was not comfortable spending thousands on a range or fridge, so I didn't. I really wanted inset cabinets, and was comfortable spending more to get them. Moving walls to end up with a 12'x12' kitchen was also worth it to me.

Can I just say Holy Crap? I could not in 100 yrs dream of spending that much money. Most of these kitchens are costing almost as much to twice as much as my whole house!

My original budget was somewhere around $10-$15k. I was doing good until the darn walls & insulation had to go (mold), the ceiling fell out (water damage), & I found hardwood until the lino. The hardwood is great, but its missing a big chunk, so now I have to pay someone to make new t&g boards to fill the hole (not cheap).

The budget is still the same for the rest of the kitchen. I bought range & dw before I started all this, so that's not a problem. I'm reusing my sink, because I like it and its free. Labor is dirt cheap because its all done by friends and family. So its just cabs, hardware, & counters, really, and my final cabinet total will determine what kind of counters I get. Hardware is going to be steeper than I wanted, but not too bad.

Backsplash, new faucet, filtration system & filtered water faucet, new fridge, new lighting, table & chairs...all will have to wait. It sucks to do the big part and not finish, but its the best I can do at this point. I make almost no money (I am not even kidding - I'm a college student) and this is what I can afford, putting every dime I have into the thing. I was trying to wait and save up, but then the old cabinets, that were rotten already, rotted some more and collapsed. The counters made a big wide V and it just couldn't be put off - it had to be done now. So I'm doing just what has to be done now, and then bit by bit as I can afford to do it.

I am just lucky that I can afford to do anything, really. "Budget" and "afford" are very different for me than for most people.

**I totally posted this on the wrong thread. I guess the other thread was linked in this one, and somehow I got messed up. OOPS! Sorry!

Melanie - I read that thread too and was quite surprised at how pricey some of the remodels were. However, to put it into perspective I reminded myself that they might live in much larger and/or higher end houses, in higher cost of living areas probably. If I spent that much on my kitchen I'd definitely be over-improving it to the point where I'd recoup only a tiny fraction of the cost.

Sounds like you're doing a much needed update on a pretty reasonable budget!

I agree with Igloochick that you should do as much preliminary recon as possible. This will help you avoid bad, expensive surprises down the line and help you get the best design for your space. We removed a chimeny and poked big holes in all the soffits before we started. We also had a plumber and electrician come out and examine what could be moved (we have a cellar under our kitchen, so it was pretty easy to figure out).

Some people demo before they order anything-- that is the safest way, but can prolong your kitchenless misery by 10 weeks or so.

We would have been on budget if it hadn't been for the loss of our original cabinet deposit early on-- if your budget is tight, make sure you vet all of your vendors and contractors as thoroughly as possible.

Put me in the demo before ordering. I feel stupid for doing it like that (OH MAN how long am I going to be without a kitchen? Especially with custom cabinets? Feels like forever), but with the old kitchen collapsing, there wasn't much of an option. A wall had to come down, and all the walls had to be redone, so it's better to fit the new cabinets in the new space, instead of trying to measure the old space and guess.

Stretchad, I know that I am in one of the lowest priced areas of the country, housing-wise. And my house is on the smaller side for my area. But even in a much larger, more expensive house, it just blows my mind. The other thread had much higher priced budgets, in general... this thread is a lot more reasonable for my area. I should have edited my comment to fit this thread better...oh well. Teach me to have more than one thread open at a time.

Labour isn't the place to cut corners but you can still save. One way is to act as your own GC and coordinate your subs. Took more work and time on our part but we definitely saw some savings and in some cases paid less for better work.

Hi, this is my first time posting, and if it is too long, I apologize. This is about our odyssey in creating our kitchen on very limited funds. We wanted top quality while having little extra cash to put away. We ended up purchasing one piece at a time, while looking at Craigslist/Boston Globe online/etc. I researched which were the high quality cabinet brands (here, thank you all!), and bought a set someone was removing. We found it online in the Boston Globe. Very high quality, lots of pullouts, and if you are at all creative, this can give you a good opportunity to think outside the box. Our Quakermaid cabinets have lots and lots of features (pull outs, 4 drawer stack, dividers, lazy susans, etc.), we made sure that the set we purchased had more than we could use of lots of different sizes, (which has been very helpful in fitting as well as in creating a recycle center elsewhere in our home.) We paid $2,500 for 19 of them, with extra fillers included. We have installed a plate rack, created a baking center (by cutting down a cabinet which had strange side cut outs - we leveled the top and have a lower surface to roll out dough,) and are creating a kick drawer under one of the cabinets, per instructions on Ikea Hacker.

I check CraigsList every morning and evening for about 20 minutes. I was the second caller on some gorgeous Oceanside Glass Tile (Veil blend with white, iridescent white, iridescent clear and frosted tiles.) It was left over from a job, and the first person to see it didn't know what she was looking at due to the tile's clear tiles appearing brown on the backing paper) and I paid the outrageous price of $5 a square foot. I still cannot believe that. It was a good thing I checked that morning, as the seller said that he had many, many others call about the tile.

Last Saturday I drove 3 hours to pick up just the sink I wanted. I paid $500 for a 60" long Kohler Pro TaskCenter (with cutting board, rack, strainer included - it acts as its own countertop, and has a built in stainless drainboard.) It retails for over $3000. It is about 2 years old, and stunning. It was advertised (I check multiple CraigsList locations) including the faucets, which I did not really want. I was planning on removing them. However, when I had a chance to really look at them back at our home, I fell in love with them. They are very high quality - Vinnata Faucet, matching Wellspring filtered water faucet, and matching soap pump, all in Vibrant Stainless. The faucet may not work well - I don't know. Based on what I was told, however, it works fine - they had bought and gutted the home, and were totally renovating. I at first thought that the styling was too traditional for our kitchen, but believe that the Vibrant Stainless finish will work well with our knobs/pulls and really pull things together. A new Vinnata in Vibrant Stainless costs more than I spent on it all.

We ended up looking for this type of sink because we could not afford the soapstone we really, really wanted. We purchased butcherblock from Ikea - gorgeous and affordable. We finished the baking area with beeswax/mineral oil, and will be treating the counter on both sides of the sink. We may use the Ikea product, or wait for good weather and use Waterlox. We installed a stainless hood I found half off on ebay, which was through a local retailer, which saved on shipping. I purchased cabinet knobs a while ago when a local store was closing - I purchased a few more than I needed, just in case our plans changed a bit - we still saved quite a bit. We installed the cabinets ourselves. Two years ago our local big box store had an insane sale on overstocked appliances, and we picked up our Frigidaire Professional with Convection Range for $299 (true story) and our Maytag french door for the same. The unexpected sale ended in three hours, so we lucked out. While I keep checking Craigslist, the only things we anticipate paying full price for will be the flooring (we want Forbo Click Tiles) and the electric installation. I have tiled our entryway, and will practice before installing our glass tile backsplash, but feel confident that I will be able to master a good tile install. I did an estimate the other day, and believe that when all is said and done, we will have spent under $6,000 and our kitchen will have an added value of close to $50,000. Finding the time to work on it is challenging, but we continue to make progress. From dark, gloomy early 70's to light and bright modern, we can see it coming together.

This type of doing the work only works if you don't move your main supply lines, are willing to spend the time moving around your floorplan (google sketchup is helpful, but I finally made a 3D scale plan to help me visualize the space). Lots of time, but believe it or not, my DH and I are closer because of working on this common goal together. I think having strangers traipsing through the house for months would be much more stressful. Doing it this way takes patience, luck, flexibility and knowing what you are willing to settle for. I will post photos when we are done, but just wanted to say you can pay for it in cash and have a kitchen that you are truly happy with.

I worked backwards.

I made of list of what materials/items I absolutely felt was a necessity if I was even going to bother with a final nod towards functionality.

My list was short but expensive:

Soapstone
Induction

Then I figured out the cheapest way to each of those (ordering slab for DIY on the soapstone at 35 a square foot and getting a friend of mine to order the induction cooktops I wanted under their resale license so I got a large percentage off after paying for shipping).

With those two things settled I listed everything else I needed and the cheapest possible way to do those. The best example is that I bought used cabinetry (way more pieces than I needed and full of extras) and made it work (easier for me perhaps because I have some design experience). I spent 3,500 on roughly 25,000 worth of cabinetry by doing it that way. Each item necessary was worked in for the ultimate bottom line:

Soapstone/induction with fabulous funtionality at the lowest cost possible. All told in the end I spend about 20,000 for everything spread over several years. I feel like it was important for me to look at the kitchen remodel as buying what I wanted rather than budgeting to what I could afford.