Do you know people who spend outside their typical neighborhood budget on a renovation? Too much or too little? Picture a home worth $350,000 and putting in a $100,000 kitchen. That homeowner will not recoup the value when selling. We know every neighborhood has a maximum price a person is willing to pay to live in.

On the other side, we can be assured celebrities drip in diamonds, not cubic zirconias. The same concept applies to homes in upscale neighborhoods. Choosing "Cubic Zirconia" like products in an upscale neighborhood renovation will almost definitely be a negative feature when selling. What they don't realize is a low end renovation on a valuable home not only lowers the value of their home, it is much harder to sell when they need to.  

The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) recommends remodeling a kitchen with a budget of 10-25% of your home's value.  According to the NKBA, you should expect to spend between 5 to 10 percent of your home's value on a bathroom remodel.

For a $1.5 million home on Long Island or NYC, it makes sense to spend $150,000 on the renovation. Luxury cabinetry, luxury appliances, flooring, tiles, countertop adds value to this level home. Some clients also choose, to expand their kitchen. And a professional designer adds an amazing dimension to the kitchen design. A luxury homeowner doesn’t want to just buy cabinets from a cabinet salesman. They benefit greatly from design advice and expertise a kitchen designer offers them.

Imagine a $2M home in Upper Brookville fitted with low grade stock cabinets and an inexpensive, non-built-in appliance package. Picture a $400K Levitown home with custom luxury cabinetry surrounding a $35,000 appliance package. Neither benefits the client unless they plan on living in the home indefinitely and are not worried about the impact it has on the value of their home or pocketbook.

Yet how often do people cheapen their home & lifestyle with inferior products? Some people spend more on their depreciating Mercedes than their entire kitchen renovation. Compromising on materials such as cabinetry as well as renovations that improve ones lifestyle is short sighted.

Home staging has become popular to sell homes. But if the kitchen is outdated or low grade, no home staging will help.

Keeping to the home’s style is also important. Putting an ultramodern kitchen into a 100-year-old Tudor home isn’t typically the way to go. It can detract from the value. A new space should be designed to be congruous with the rest of the house’s architecture and improve the clients home life.  

As a standard practice, we advise clients on the best options for their lifestyle as well as resale value of their home. Of course, it is the client's choice but we feel it is our obligation as experts in the field to let them know our thoughts.  What do you think?