If you don't have the budget to address it correctly to make it an integral part of the house, then you will either have to leave it as is until you do have that budget, or eliminate it. It's no good throwing some money at it to do it half way. That's why my sunroom sat unused for almost 20 years. To be able to do anything to it mean reconstructing it completely. We tried just adding in a window AC unit in summer and a vent free fireplace in winter to make it more usable. Didn't work. Too many uninsulated windows kept it blazing hot in summer and cold in winter, even with the help.

We are finally tackling the redo of our sunroom this fall. It's becoming part of our home, as we redo the exterior foundation and walls and use LVLs and engineered I joists to be able to remove the exterior wall of the house that it was attached to and create a large open sunny room. The material costs alone are around 30K, and that's without labor. If we had to pay labor costs for this, it would more than double the cost of the project. It's slow going, because the "beer and pizza" crowd of friends who are helping have their own schedules and are only able to help intermittently. But, as the new cathedral roof from the new exterior wall was taking shape, and I could look up further than the 7' ceilings that the space had, I was so happy that we're tackling this the right way! It will add so much sense of space to our house, even if it doesn't really add much square footage. And the difference in light is huge! Having a sunroom on the exterior cuts down on the light that reaches the interior. You really have no idea how much until that wall is gone!

So, if your 40K budget is for a kitchen remodel, maybe hold onto it until it's more? It will depend on where your sunroom is and how it could possibly be incorporated into the home as to how much reno costs for it would be. But, if you just did a "facelift" for your current kitchen, painting the existing cabinets, and not replacing the appliances until each of them had died, would it be possible to shift some of your funds to addressing the sunroom? We'll probably live a very bare bones existance over the next year or two until the project is fully completed, but living with just a slab floor and a less than ideal HVAC system is something we are willing to do in order to be able to afford the "bones" of the major project right now. It's messy and dirty, and if I had kids, I probably would think twice about it, but that first tilt of my head to be able to look up makes the whole thing worth it to me.

Take stock of your DIY abilities and situations that you can improve those. Save more money. Explore all options, both with addressing rebuilding the sunroom, and just eliminating it. Feel out what would be right for your situation. If you would like some feedback on your particular layout, then create a layout drawing and post some pics of the space for ideas of how your space might need to...

I feel trying to make that kit energy efficient will be a losing battle. Better to tear it down and start over. If the sunroom faces South you have a good opportunity to get some passive solar design benefits. I like your french door idea. Better to stick with doors than sliders which goes for windows too. (Casements and Awnings instead of double hung.)

Thanks for taking the time to respond. The sunroom faces east. Unfortunately my kitchen needs a total reno and has been needing it for the last several years but we have been holding off as life kept getting in the way.

I regret the day my husband took me over to see this sunroom kit that had been added on to the back of a house owned by a guy he knew. It was around the holidays and they had it decorated with a beautiful Christmas tree and a small woodstove in the corner which just added to the ambiance. It was love at first sight - we were young and not experienced in asking the right questions - just led by emotion. And to be honest the guy himself probably didn't realize all the problems his sunroom kit would present over the ensuing years. He gave us the name and address and we had it delivered during the time we had the end of the kitchen open and exposed so we were able to add it to the end of the room.

Anyway fast forward 25 years and here we are still dealing with the same issues. At one time when I had a window blinds business out to give us an estimate for custom remote blind, I about fell over when he quoted a price of around $1500 and that was several years ago. So we did the next best thing - we bought some garden shades they sell on a roll at Lowes and cut them and fed them onto spring rods and put them on the overhead windows. They have helped cut the heat quite a bit alot during our summers.

I'll be showing my husband your comments to see which way he wants to go on this issue. We know whatever we decide we have to make it work for our golden years as we plan on living here until they take us out in pine boxes.

so many problems created the day we got our 4 seasons sunroom, if only I had known then what I know now :(

We had one of those sunroom kits tacked on to the house as well. Previous owner. It was always hot or cold. It turned into a storage room as a result. In our renovation we removed it and built a true screenporch as an integral part of the house, on a foundation, etc. Eventually we plan to use Larson scenix windows instead of screens, but that's for next year or so.