Do the kitchen first or the rest of the house first?

[Delicateflower]

WWYD? We have the money to either renovate our master, master bath, master closet, laundry, 4th bedroom, hallway, office, living room and playroom (it's mostly paint, and a lot of work), plus get a new fridge and freezer, or we could get our kitchen cabinets done now and get other things done once our tax refund comes in. WWYD?

PS: I really really hate the kitchen as is, but I hate the bedroom walls too. And the freezer.

[limette]

kitchen. ours still isn't done after 5 years of living here and it's the room that depresses me the most. we did the rest of the main floor first.

[thriftyqueen]

I would personally do all the other stuff first and then do the kitchen later. Kitchens are the worst room in the house to remodel and it is very stressful. At least if you have the rest of your house in the way you want it, it won't be quite so bad to have your kitchen a mess for a while. Plus it will feel like you have more done if you do the other stuff first. Can you paint your kitchen cabinets for the time being?

[cristeen]

Is the kitchen serviceable? Are there smaller things you could do (like painting the cabinets like the pp suggested) that could get you another few years on the kitchen?

I'd probably do the rest of the house first - like the pp pointed out, kitchen remodels are extremely stressful. I do NOT look forward to doing ours, but of course it's also going to cost over $50K to do.

[Pinoikoi]

Tough.. I couldn't live without a freezer and fridge in good working order though, and it will make using your kitchen space as is better for you.

[vm9799]

i would do the kitchen first if you spend a lot of time in there cooking. i've been in my house almost 10 years and we JUST got the kitchen remodeled this past january......and what a MAJOR difference it is! we did the rest of the house first thinking it was no big deal, but it's the one room i spend a HUGE amount of everyday in. if the kitchen isn't functional and it makes cooking in it a major pain the butt, it really doesn't matter that the rest of the house is pretty. if i could do it all over again i'd definitely have done the kitchen first and did the rest of the house over the years.

[noobmom]

I would get the new appliances first, then get the cabinets done. It would be terrible if something went wrong with the measurements and then the appliances didn't fit!

[HeatherAtHome]

We started with the kitchen as it's the first room (with the DR) that you see when you walk in the house, we spend tons of time in there, I cook and I just felt good, like our home was more "in order" once it was done.

We did it before unpacking though which was great. A good chunk of what we owned belonged in kitchen.

[HollyBaby]

I'd do the kitchen. A quick coat of paint will buy you time in the other rooms, but more time is spent in the kitchen. The more at ease you feel in the kitchen, the more likely you'll want to be in there to cook.

[beanma]

Hard call. In the kitchen would you just be doing new cabs or are you going to redo the layout, change plumbing, electrical, new floor, etc? Kitchens are a whole lot of work if you do it all. They make a huge difference, though, and are really big on resale value.

Paint is cheap. What else would you do in the bedrooms, playroom, etc.? Would you get a new closet system? I'm having a hard time seeing those things as being equal cost-wise even with appliances thrown in.

We're in the midst of doing it all now. We got new beds. We put the bunks together for the kids' room and put a new bed in our room as well. We painted (got great mistint paint at Sherwin Williams for $3 a gallon) our room. Haven't painted the kids' room yet as they're too happy with the bunk beds to let me. The kitchen is pretty overwhelming to me. We're DIYing. We're pulling all the cabs down, building out an island, replacing the sink (staying in the same spot, so no plumbing moving), replacing dishwasher and fridge, redoing the floor, stripping wallpaper and painting. It's such a huge job I felt like I wanted to do the bedrooms first since they would be quicker and offer us a safe haven while the kitchen is torn up.

Personally I wanted mostly all new appliances with the new kitchen. You might consider just saving your appliance money and adding it to your tax refund and doing the kitchen all at once. Then doing the other rooms in the meantime.

[Ola_]

I vote to do the kitchen. Yes, it's stressful especially if you're changing the whole thing. We remodelled our kitchen/dining room last year (incl. floor, ceilings, some walls and everything in between) and I LOVE it now. It's by the main entrance so visitors see it, and when we have people over they inevitably end up hanging out in there. I love that it looks so good, plus I spend a bunch of time in there cooking/cleaning and it makes it so much pleasant.

We're working on the rest of the house, slowly but surely, doing some of it ourselves. I also feel like I have a better "vision" for the rest of the house now, after making all the design decisions for the kitchen and seeing how it turned out.

[Delicateflower]

We decided to do the rest of the house, and I've already primed and got sample tiles for the laundry today! Mostly because of what a couple of people said, that you have a refuge while the big work is happening. And, for that matter, for the next weeks and months until we decide on a quote for the kitchen we'll have something to do on the weekends.

We've already done the wallpaper stripping, demolition and electrical work in the kitchen, so it's just the cabinets left.

Originally Posted by beanma

Paint is cheap. What else would you do in the bedrooms, playroom, etc.? Would you get a new closet system? I'm having a hard time seeing those things as being equal cost-wise even with appliances thrown in.

They're not, the rest of the house will be $1-1500 or so, with $650 in the laundry, plus a ladder, 6 gallons of paint and new bathroom mirrors and knobs. And that will take the rest of the house to perfect. But it will be the difference between having enough money for the kitchen and not having enough.