How to get a luxury kitchen for less

The key to creating a luxury kitchen on a low budget is to decide which areas to save on and which to spend on. By mixing and matching the right elements, you’ll be able to design a kitchen that looks and feels expensive but won’t break the budget.

Top 3 items to save on in your kitchen

Cabinetry

If you’re building a brand-new kitchen, a good way to save money on cabinetry is to combine made-to-measure doors with affordable units. That way you, you can semi customise your cabinets for a fraction of the cost. You’ll also be able to update the cupboard door fronts again and again, depending on your budget.

If you’re looking to update your existing cupboards, refacing your cupboards is a good way to save some dollars. During cabinet refacing, cabinet doors, drawer fronts, and moulding details are removed and later replaced with wood, plastic laminate, or rigid thermo foil (RTF) versions in line with your style, colour, and finish preferences. Refacing is usually about 50% cheaper than installing brand new cabinets.

Another option, which is on trend right now, is to consider open shelving instead of upper cabinets. If you’re comfortable with having your dishes and glasses exposed it’s a great money-saving option.

Flooring

Choosing affordable vinyl options that mimic the appearance of wood and are just as durable and low maintenance is good way to save money on flooring. Vinyl planks in particular are great and come in realistic colours, patterns, and textures.

Ceramic tiles are also a budget friendly option, and they too come in a variety of shades, patterns, and styles. They are durable, easy to clean and require no ongoing maintenance.

Image: Godfrey Hirst

Backsplash

Save on backsplash installation and material costs with sheets of mosaic tile. You can find these in a huge variety of tile patterns and designs. Several rows of individual tiles are mounted to each sheet of mesh backing, so you can easily install an entire square foot at once.

Top 3 items to spend on in your kitchen

Benchtop

The kitchen benchtop is one of the most heavily used items in the kitchen, meaning that you want to ensure it is good quality, carries a good warranty, is stain, heat, and water resistant, and is easy to clean.

A natural granite or engineered stone benchtop will be resistant to all of the above if you choose a high-quality product. Cheaper materials will be prone to chipping and cracking and are not likely to resist stains very well, costing you more in the long run.

Tapware

The tap is the hardest working piece of equipment in your kitchen, so you should select one that not only looks good, but is high-quality, long-lasting and can suitably meet all of your different needs. While you might be seduced by price point, low quality taps – even ones that have an appealing aesthetic – have cheaper cartridges, seals, hoses and washers, which perish quickly. Investing in high quality tapware means the lifecycle of your tap will be much longer and you’ll have the peace of mind of a good warranty should anything happen. For example, at Phoenix, our cartridges have a 15-year warranty, product or parts a 7-year warranty and labour a 1-year warranty.

Phoenix’s Vivid Slimline Sink Mixer Gooseneck in Brushed Gold

Appliances

Spending the extra money on kitchen appliances can vastly improve the function of your kitchen and provide lower energy costs with high efficiency products. Plus, if you sell your home with appliances included, it can increase its value tremendously. You should however carefully consider which appliances you’ll splurge on, and which you’ll save on. Your refrigerator will probably need to be replaced in about 10 years, so you may not want to splurge as much on that as you would on your cooktop, which lasts even longer.