The meal preparation, cleanup and eating is all done in the kitchen. Also, guests get together in the kitchen area. We began researching kitchen remodeling costs and had to rearrange our priorities quickly as we discover it won't be an inexpensive project. When it comes to kitchen remodeling costs, there are many hidden expenses.

A local contractor was invited over to get an estimate on having a professional remodeling. He requested for our wish list which should be arranged in order of “have to have” to “it would be nice”. We found it to be a very helpful suggestion considering the high kitchen remodeling costs. On top of our wish list was the change of our cabinets.

They made the kitchen seem small and closed in as a result of their dark color. Also, we wanted to put a tile counter top to match the tile on the floor. And I wanted more light to come in by expanding the window area. The wallpaper is to be removed and we need to change the exhaust hood above the stove.

Though our appliances were neutral and worked well for us, my husband want to convert the electric range top from electric to gas. We thought we would have enough money in our savings account to cover the kitchen remodeling costs as we handed over our wish list to the contractor.

Disbelief was the word when the estimate of the kitchen remodeling costs was handed to us. Taking out a loan will be needed to complete everything we had put on the wish list. A search for alternatives began in order to keep down the kitchen remodeling costs. We learnt about preparing the surface of the cabinets for painting.

The kitchen became brighter after painting the cabinets in almond color. After buying new hardware for the cabinets, the transformation was awesome. In order to let in more light I simply removed the curtain that had been hanging and this made the window area larger.

By taking down the curtain during the painting project, I found that without it, more light came into the room. The countertop also looked better with the lighter cabinet. We kept it and put a tile back splash instead. This way was cost effective as it forms part of the remodeling that we could carry out ourselves.

The next thing we removed was the wallpaper and we painted the walls in lemon yellow. The exhaust fan color was changed into almond color to match the cabinets.

The kitchen remodeling costs was kept to a minimum as we had the satisfaction of doing majority of the work ourselves and the result was a beautiful kitchen. Though we did not use the service of the local contractor, he did help us have an affordable new kitchen.