If the issue has been properly fixed, there should be no slope to the floor. Crank 'er up; the floor's cracked anyway.

Well, you really do need to fix the obvious damage, shifting and sloping no matter the overall value of the home -- unless you want to sell it "as is" at a discounted price in the future. Other things might depend on the area in which you live -- like choice of materials. Are your ceilings really only 6.5 ft tall? That is unusually low, I think!

For myself, if I am going to the trouble and expense to renovate the kitchen, I would certainly improve the lighting but that might not require recessed LEDs or surface disk lights (even though I love mine).

Would you consider a flooring material other than tile? There is still a place for good quality vinyl in a nice kitchen. You can shop online or locally for discontinued and overstock for a significant savings. Start keeping your eyes open for sales now.

Also, have you looked at all of the options for cabinets? Many people here have used cabinets from Ikea, Barker, or Conestoga and have been very satisfied with the quality and options, while saving money. What about keeping your current cabinets -- refinishing or painting them if they need it?

Likewise, have you shopped around hard for counter material? Again (depending on where you live) there is a wide price range on counters, even some granites are cheaper than manmade materials, especially if you have a place near that sells pre-fab. And there is nothing wrong with formica type material, some of the are quite attractive.

Lastly, have you spoken with several different workmen/contractors? When I was initially getting quotes from remodeling/kitchen specialty companies, they all quoted about $10k more than I wanted to spend. I went with a company that was more of a handyman oriented business -- gave them a detailed list of what I wanted done (and that included the painting and most of the purchasing to be done by me) and they came back with a quote that was right in my price range.

If you post some pictures of your kitchen, and your plans so far, others might be able to give some stronger suggestions.

I think most of your budget is going to go to fixing your badly damaged house. Is a 6.5 ft ceiling even allowed by Code? You have major structural problems - nothing a quick cosmetic change will fix.

When you say that you had it checked and fixed a while ago so that there are no major structural issues, did the extreme slope to the floor and ceiling get fixed at that time? Cause if not, there is still a problem which needs to be addressed.

When we did our renos the GC discovered that the floors going away from the wall separating the DR and kitchen were sloped. The wall had not been properly supported but it was an easy fix as the underneath was accessible and a new beam was put in place to fix the slope.

Burn it down and collect the insurance. Or sell it for the lot value as is. It has no value at all as a residence, because it's not a legal residence. 7' is the minimum for a habitable space. And there are too many other problems.

I can't imagine a 6'5" ceiling. Are you sure? When was this addition done?

If my memory serves you should try to spend about 10-15% of the home's value on a kitchen remodel. I'm thinking the structural or foundation issues would be in addition to that.

Talk with the people at your local authority. You need to find out what they will allow you to do with a 6'5" ceiling. You may not be able to do anything to the space without bringing it up to code for habitable space and that will get expensive in a hurry.

Check your homeowner's insurance and pay extra if necessary to get the coverage that will cover bringing the house up to modern codes in case of an insured loss.

If inspection signed off on the lowered ceiling, the lowered ceiling is fine.

I'm in a 300k house and I would NEVER EVER spend 50k on a kitchen remodel because I know without a doubt I couldn't recoup that money, at least not for 15-20 years and by then the kitchen would likely be considered outdated again lol.

I suggest getting lots more quotes. Find someone you're comfortable with and fix the issues/cracks/ceilings before worry about cabinets and counters. Also seek cheaper options on cabinets and counters. With a 260k home you don't need anything super fancy or high end. There are quality products for less (check out Ikea, local cabinet maker, Home depot cabinets, etc).

Do not use some general rule of thumb, use common sense.

International building code for residential housing is minimum of 7'. Some localities may require higher ceilings or impose other conditions.

The issue with a 6'5" ceiling is that regardless of whether it's legal or not, if resale is of concern (and it sounds like it), the buyer pool is dramatically reduced.

The actual market value of a property isn't as important as its position on the spectrum of local value. A $260K house would have buyers standing in line, regardless of condition, if it was in the hot housing markets of California. Other places in the south and midwest couldn't find a buyer for a mansion at $260K.

Someone bought this house despite the ceiling height and someone else will buy it again.

Is this an area of flat ceiling that is 6'5" or does it slant down to 6'5" over part if it.

In my location if the lowered portion is over counter areas or fixtures and not in areas where one walks, or is a soffit-type drop that doesn't involve the entire ceiling it is sometimes allowable, although 7' is the minimum ceiling height in kitchens and bathrooms in my location, technically.

However I live in an area with extremely old and small housing stock where a kitchen and bath were often added as a lean-to type structure on the back of a house that originally did not have one. Alternately some very large houses with high ceilings (commonly 14') on the first floor were lofted with a kitchen above or below and a bath above or below the loft portion, resulting in two areas of ceiling height of about 6'6".

These areas are grandfathered in terms of already preexisting conditions and the envelope is grandfathered allowing a remodeled kitchen or bath in the same space. (As long as the undersized structure is sound). I've done and seen done permitted remodels under these conditions. Because if they weren't permitted, lots of housing stock would be "uninhabitable" and the entire lot size would need to be changed in order to build currently fully compliant housing--many lots are too small to build something compliant. Brand new construction of multiple units often demands the demolition of say 5 houses and replacement with 4.

I doubt my situation is applicable in many areas but the point is that existing conditions will be grandfathered locally. This would never fly in someplace like California for example

So your locale may grandfather some preexisting conditions if they complied at some past time, to avoid the necessity of complete demolition of a portion of the house. (If the structure is sound, otherwise).

In regards to the ceiling, yes, it really is 6.5 feet! The original part of the kitchen is 7 feet tall, there's a support beam running down the middle, and the addition is 6.5 feet tall, all flat. All of our current cabinets are installed under the lower ceiling area. The previous owner added an addition, and sloped the roof (improperly, of course). So the new part of the kitchen has a really low ceiling. It was supported improperly, and it started to sort of cave in in the middle. The wooden support beam started cracking. A few years ago, we redid the roof and had it reframed, so the structural issues were fixed, no additional damage since, but the curved ceiling (the cosmetic damage) is still visible. It's something we should now be able to fix without having to do anything major structurally to the roof or framing. In theory, it should just be leveling everything out.

Our previous owner was a (very terrible) contractor. He did a lot of things himself, not to code, and improperly. I wouldn't even be surprised if they didn't take out the proper permits.

Did you do anything to correct the settling floor when you did the roof?

Also, when you're talking $50,000, what portion of that is just getting the kitchen to the point of level and not cracked, and what portion of that is lighting, counters and cabinets? If you aren't willing to go all the way, I'd see a lot more value in fixing the broken stuff. You slap a new paint job on a car with a crushed front end, and it's not gonna look pretty going down the road, no matter what the color.