Kitchen Remodeling - DIY Strategy Guide | Chapter 3 - Budget The third step in your kitchen remodeling process is identifying your budget and realizing you either have to make some tough decisions, or go over budget.  For the sake of this article, we're going to address those that do not want to go over budget.  And it can be done.  First you want to identify all the materials costs for everything.  In order to do that you need to take measurements so you can try and calculate how much material you will need.  And in order to do that you need a plan, a blue print, a drawing. You'll need to take measurements and select which types of materials you would like to use.  After you've made all these decisions you can run some numbers and find out what your costs for materials will be for each separate task.  For example, if you plan to tile the floor you will be able to group all the material costs for tiling the floor together (tiles, grout, etc).  Once you've calculated your totals for each task you plan to do in your kitchen, you'll be able to get a sense of the big picture.  This sheet of numbers is exactly what you will use to ultimately make your final decisions. By separating these areas of the project out you can more accurately distinguish between your personal NEEDS and WANTS.  You may find that you are going to go over budget and that you need to cut costs somewhere.  If cabinets aren't as important as granite couter-tops for you, then you can get a feel for how much the difference will be.  Perhaps you'll find that settling for another type of counter-top saves you a lot of money that will allow you to add a bunch of other features instead. So you're going to need some good numbers in order to make some tough decisions.  If you need help in calculating those numbers just give us a call.  We're happy to help you.