Four Home Renovations That Are Worth the Extra Money (and Five That Aren't)

Renovations are expensive, but some aspects of one will show every penny you spend—and some won’t.

Renovating or remodeling your house can be a disorienting experience. Between the mess, the strangers crawling all over the place, and the constant discovery of disasters hidden inside your walls, stress levels can skyrocket. And when the bills come in, it gets worse.

One reason the average home renovation can cost more than $40,000 is our tendency to assume you have to do it all in one marathon instead of in phases—and to spend top dollar on everything along the way. All that flooring, hardware, and construction materials (not to mention appliances and new furniture) really add up fast, especially if you assume that higher prices equal better quality. While some renovation materials cost what they cost (you won’t be comparison shopping drywall any time soon) the fact is that not all your renovation or remodeling choices matter the same amount. There are aspects of any renovation where paying extra money makes a difference—and aspects where you can get away with cheaper, less flashy materials and no one will ever notice. If you’ve got limited funds for your project, here are the renovations that are worth extra money—or not.

Home renovations that are worth it

There are certain aspects of a home renovation where you should spend extra money:

• Kitchen floors. You have a lot of flooring choices, and in other rooms you can likely get away with a cheaper carpet or an engineered wood of some sort. But your kitchen floor is going to see a lot of traffic—not to mention a lot of spills, temperature extremes, and scrubbing. The kitchen floor also pulls together the whole design, and you can’t easily cover it with an area rug as you can in other rooms. Spend that extra money here.

• Furniture. In general, it’s worth spending money on furniture like sofas, chairs, and beds. If you’re remodeling or renovating your living room, buy a really good sofa. After all, you will spend a lot of time using these pieces, and the minor problems that come with cheap stuff will quickly become major irritants.

• Appliances. Higher-end appliances are generally going to be worth any extra margin you have in your budget. They look nicer, actually do last longer, and tend to perform better.

• Windows. If you’re replacing your windows, spend the extra money for high-quality ones. They will look better, last longer, and offer energy efficiency benefits that will actually reduce their overall cost over time.

Home renovations that might not be worth it

If you have all the money in the world, sure, go to town and spend on every little thing. If you’re trying to fit your renovation project into a modest budget, there are some areas you can get away with basic, no-frills stuff:

• Kitchen cabinets. In the end, your kitchen cabinets are just boxes of wood. You want quality construction, but beyond that you can buy basic cabinets and easily make them look more expensive with new hardware, paint, or adding a soft-close feature.

• Moving plumbing and wiring. Your ideal kitchen or bathroom renovation might include shifting the sink or toilet and changing the location of every single power outlet—but you can almost certainly get away without doing that. Moving plumbing can add close to $1,000 to your job, and rewiring a kitchen can run you nearly $2,300. Unless you need to do this to get the place up to code, it’s an easy place to not spend your money.

• Lighting fixtures. Recessed lighting costs an average of $300 per fixture. Just by going with wall- and ceiling-mounted lights you can save a fortune and still have style to spare. And there are plenty of inexpensive light fixtures that look pricey and provide the same light that more expensive stuff does.

• Cabinet/drawer hardware. Trust us: No one will know if your drawer and cabinet pulls cost $300 each or $10.

• Backsplash. While you don’t need to spend a fortune on tile to get a luxe look, generally speaking, cheap tile will look cheap. But a backsplash is typically a very small area, and is usually obscured by appliances, cabinets, and all the stuff on your countertops. You might not want to put the cheapest tile or other materials on your backsplash, but you can definitely get away with cheaper.