Kitchen remodel: What it really costs, plus three ways to save big

When I talk about my kitchen remodel, which I've done endlessly this year, people confess they want a new kitchen, too, and ask how much mine cost.

The answer: about $22,000.

That's not even close to the $54,394 listed by Remodeling.com's 2014 Cost vs. Value report for a midrange kitchen remodel in Denver. An upscale kitchen? Figure $109,127.

The newly renovated kitchen of freelance writer Lisa Greim on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. Greim has been in her home for 18 years and just did a two-month-long renovation. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

My 18-by-9-foot kitchen, in a 35-year-old suburban house, required no major demolition or structural work. It features flat-pack Ikea cabinets that I assembled, closeout appliances, Formica countertops and laminate flooring.

And it's so pretty, so functional and so much better than what it replaced that I could sit right down in the middle of the fake acacia floor and weep.

Budget is the elephant in the remodel room, according to Kelly Morrisseau, a California master kitchen designer and author of "Kelly's Kitchen Sync" (Springline Media, 2011), a guide to the nuts and bolts of remodeling, and an e-book, "Kelly's Kitchen Savvy: Solutions for Partial Kitchen Remodels."

What drives designers nuts, she says, are clients who make their wish lists with no idea of how much things cost and then complain that her plan is too expensive.

There's no shame in scaled-back designs or a modest budget, Morrisseau says. "None of us will think badly because it wasn't what you wanted to spend; we all have the same choices to make ourselves. Our goal is to find something you like."

Design magazines and renovation TV shows don't help aspiring remodelers get a grip on reality, either.

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Kitchen remodel: What it really costs, plus three ways to save big