Return on Investment – Blog 7 – Kitchen Renovation

Whether you’re planning your kitchen renovation to make selling easier, or for your own enjoyment, it’s probably the most expensive room that you’ll do.  For that reason, you’ll want to make choices that will hold their value over time.  In this series return on investment is the focus.

Kitchens have endless potential features when it comes to plumbing.  Extra sinks, waste disposal, instant hot water, filtered water, and pot fillers to name a few.  Are any of these things really necessary?

If you’re planning on selling your home in the next few years then you’ll be competing with professionals. Developers and house flippers have done the same dance as you will in trying to make choices that are cost effective and popular.  You could tour 30 – 40 homes and get a feel for it, or do it the easy way and ask an expert.  We’ve checked in with North Shore realtor Lance Phillips who has already done the work.

What do we need in our kitchens?

 Waste Disposal / Garburator?

“Waste disposal units are not expected any longer, and the perceived environmental impact reduced their level of importance.”

Although the trend is to compost, most new builds do still have garburator in them, so although they are not an absolute must, you may still want to consider one.

Filtered water at the sink?

Most fridges come with a water dispenser that not only filters the water, but serves it up cold. This makes filtered water at the sink redundant.

Instant hot water at the sink? 

There are very few instant hot water dispensers found and this realtor has found that it is more of a lifestyle choice.  It has added convenience and has many uses – especially for the busy family that arrives home and starts dinner in the same movement.  This feature has yet to catch on as a trend, but is definitely mentioned in the feature sheet.

Pot fillers?

 Ever wonder who makes that much pasta in such a huge pot that they can’t carry the pot from the sink?  The pot fillers on the stove were trendy for a time but they have their limitations.  They go with a certain style of decor and work with a more with a traditional style of kitchen.  You will not see as many of these in new homes due to designers moving more toward clean lines. Save your money on that.

What should you spend your money on?

Lance advises to splurge on an under-mount sink (always double) with nice high-quality faucets.  If you have the room, an island is a must.  The newer renovations he has seen are starting to trend towards a prep sink/salad sink on the island as well, and he often sees those doubling as an ice bucket for entertaining.  And those, surprise, surprise, tend to have a garburator in them.

What else?  In higher end houses he’s seeing a trend towards twin dishwashers on either side of the sink.

The last word?

Gas, gas, gas?  A gas range or stove is what everyone seems to want, right?  At R&B, we often get calls to run a gas line into a kitchen, but is it a must?  For a long time, electric coil burners were seen as below standard, but now developers are installing the sleek flat top, easy to clean models.  Some consumers are trending towards induction, but the price point of the appliance is almost double.  What should you do?  Lance says, he sees about 50/50 between electric and gas.  Gas tends to look more expensive, and if you want to appeal to an avid cook, the gas is the way to go.  However, since the appliance price point is very similar, the added rough-in cost to run the gas line would be the only consideration.  For the perception of luxury, you might want to go for it!