The kitchen once over

For a basic remodel there are numerous modular options available.

It's a well-known fact that when a woman walks into a house for the first time it's the kitchen she notices first. In fact real estate agents say if you can sell a woman the kitchen you can very nearly sell the entire house.

Even if you aren't planning to list your house for sale but want to spruce it up, it's odds-on the kitchen and the bathroom are high on the list of priorities. So how affordable are kitchen remodels these days?

It depends, of course, on how extensively you want to remodel. If there are walls to be moved or removed, an extension to plan or rewiring to be done, the cost can creep up. But if it's a basic remodel and not bespoke, out with the old and in with the new in a matter of days, there are numerous modular options ranging from DIY flat-pack kit sets to having a design-and-build company install a completed kitchen.

It is well to first consider the size of the kitchen you require. Statistics New Zealand estimate that by 2021 the majority of dwellings will house only one or two people. Logic dictates, then, that a large kitchen will not be a major requirement for the majority of these households and yet micro-kitchens or kitchenettes are still thought to devalue a property for resale.

There is probably a compromise between too large for your own needs or too small to attract a buyer and it may depend on whether you live in a city, a smaller town or the country. Given the take-away and restaurant options that proliferate cities, and a generational viewpoint that cooking in an oven is a time-waster, smaller kitchens are in vogue in urban houses and apartments.

Then there is the choice of materials to be used in both new or renovated kitchens. The natural and untreated kitchen components used from early last century to about the mid-eighties is now called retro chic. The materials are better for the environment and may cost more unless you source them from a recycle depot. A quick-fix solution like melamine faced chipboard (MFC) is affordable and effective for cupboards, drawers and doors and could allow you to spend more on bench tops. Once again there is a wide variety of options are available for the working surfaces - laminate, stainless steel, stone or tiles.

It's great to have a brand new kitchen but what if the old wiring can't cope and you need new flooring? These things need to be factored into any remodelling budget. It's surprising how many kitchens have been remodelled but the floor has been left looking like a scruffy child in desperate need of attention.

Then there's bench height. A generation ago builders stuck in benches of a certain height regardless of whether it suited owners or not so if it needs to be reduced in a remodel, the additional cost of wall work needs to be taken into account.

It's better to plan and budget before you start to avoid being slapped with a cost you hadn't even thought of. Newspapers are a good source of information and the internet offers advice from the comfort of home.