We are often asked by our customers what percentage of the money spent on kitchen remodeling they think should be returned when the house is sold. The return on investment (abbreviated as ROI) for a kitchen renovation is more complicated than most homeowners and real estate professionals believe.
The most common misconception is that there is an approximate percentage that a newly remodeled kitchen should bring when selling a home.
Another is that it’s not a good investment to renovate a kitchen in a home that already ranks higher than most other homes in the area.
In fact, we’ve seen home values actually decrease, or rise many times the cost of renovations.
The biggest factor influencing the ROI of a kitchen renovation is the kitchen design itself. For example, redoing the same poorly designed kitchen the same way yields little ROI. Or, even worse, a new design that doesn’t fit in your space or doesn’t work well, but offers what you think the homeowner would want could devalue that home.
It’s often not obvious to homeowners to know which designs are good choices and which ones won’t work.
In fact, if many homeowners want to implement a design, they’re thinking to themselves, even if we explain why it’s a poor choice. Or they want to keep the current awful design. because that’s what they know.
At Main Line Kitchen Design, we believe that our first duty is to present our customers with designs that are at least better than what they ask for.
In our opinion, it is neither ethical nor professional to simply implement a design requested by a customer if there is a better design or design improvements. I felt the customer needed to confirm. Of course, you can also take a look at our recommendations and buy the kitchen of your dreams, as long as it’s not risky. But working with a professional kitchen designer to critique different designs usually yields sensible compromises that customers appreciate. Especially after the dust has settled and you’ve started cooking and living in your new kitchen.
Below is a general list of the main ROIs seen in kitchen renovations. Note that high-end appliances, quartz countertops, custom cabinetry, and gadgets are not shown.
Top 10 ROI for Kitchen Renovations:
- Work with talented and experienced kitchen designers
- Removing the soffit
- Removing the wall separating the dining room and kitchen in a small home
- molding up to the ceiling
- Upgrade all cabinets to plywood construction
- Upgrade to soft-close dovetail drawers and soft-close doors
- Assemble the refrigerator into the cabinet
- Double trash drawer next to the sink
- recessed door style
- large single bowl sink
Main Line Kitchen Design wishes you all a relaxing summer and a hearty summer as usual.
bon appetite!
Paul, Julie, Chris, Ed, Lauren, Jeremy, Camilla, Juliet, Mark
mainline kitchen design
Here’s another top 10 list.
