Remodeling your home freshening up living space, replacing the kitchen cabinets, or renovating to improve your home’s value in anticipation of a sale can be a worthwhile investment. Depending on the scope of your planned renovation, these projects can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands.
If your kitchen’s looking tired, new or updated cabinets can wake it right up. Cabinetry is the most defining feature in your kitchen, it sets the tone for everything else in the room. If the cabinets are dull, your whole kitchen feels boring.
Kitchens are such a focal point in the home, it’s no surprise that two of the top five most common home improvement projects involve the kitchen. In the first place is a complete kitchen remodel, and refacing kitchen cabinets comes in at number five.
If you’re thinking about an upgrade, this guide to kitchen cabinet financing will tell you what you need to know before you start, and how to choose the right financing option to pay for it.
Financing Options
If you’re going to finance a project, updating your kitchen has a better return on investment when it’s time to sell than many other home improvements you might make.
So what can you do if you don’t have $5,000 or $10,000 lying around for your new kitchen cabinets? Luckily, there are several financing options that allow you to pay for new cabinets over several years. Explore these options and check your eligibility for loans here.
Personal Home Improvement Loans
These loans are unsecured and all you need is decent credit, proof of income, and a signature to qualify. You don’t need to tap into your home equity (assuming you have enough to cover the project), so your home isn’t at risk.
Personal home improvement loans are great if you plan to spend more than about $2,000; you can get them in any amount you want up to about $35,000, which should more than cover your kitchen cabinets.
From a budgeting perspective, these are probably your most dependable option in the interest rate is fixed, meaning your payments won’t change over the life of your loan. Loan terms generally run between 3 and 7 years, so you can get your payments where you need them. And if you want to pay them off early, there’s no prepayment penalty.
On the downside, you’ll pay a higher interest rate than you would with a home equity loan or HELOC, but the application and approval process is far more streamlined, and you’ll usually have your money in just a day or two compared to a month or more with home equity products. Plus, there are no application fees or other hidden expenses; you’ll pay a simple loan origination fee when your loan is funded.
Paypal Credits
With Paypal Credit, you Get 6 months of special financing on purchases of $99+ every time you shop. That’s not an introductory offer and there’s no limit on the number of qualifying purchases you can make. Just complete a quick application and get a credit decision in seconds. You can choose this option when buying cabinets on your website.
Home Improvement Credit Cards
Home improvement credit cards can be a great option if you’re doing a lower-cost cabinet project. Most of them offer a 0% introductory rate for the first 6 to 12 months, which means you won’t pay any finance charges if you can pay off your balance during that time.
On the other hand, home improvement credit cards have the highest interest rates, once the introductory term expires, of all your financing options. You’re looking at 16% to 22% APR in most cases, which really drives up your monthly payments.
If you’re doing your cabinets DIY, credit cards are flexible and easy-to-use options you can buy things as you need them, up to your credit limit.
Overall, if you can pay off your balance during the introductory period, home improvement credit cards are a great way to go.
Knowing your financing options lets you move confidently into the next step in planning your kitchen cabinet upgrade.
Set Your Kitchen Cabinet Budget
If new cabinets are part of a complete kitchen remodel, you’ll spend about 30% to 40% of your total budget on cabinetry. If you’re simply upgrading your existing cabinets, sticking more or less to your current layout, you can spend anywhere from around $1,800 for stock or ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets all the way up to $18,000 or more for custom cabinet work.
The point is, that it’s important to set your budget and assess your financing options before you start to shop and let that figure drive your cabinet choices. That way, you won’t waste time looking at options that you can’t afford, and you won’t throw a wrench in your finances for the next several years by overspending.
Cabinet Expenses to Consider
In addition to the actual cabinets themselves, you may need to budget for other expenses, as well. Learn about financing options for the whole project that won’t break the bank.
Installation. Professional cabinet installation adds another 50% to 75% to the cost of the project, although you can cut that figure significantly if there’s a handyman you trust to do the work. Of course, if you are an experienced DIYer, you can skip these costs altogether.
Hardware. Custom hardware can really personalize your kitchen cabinets, but it’s expensive. Custom knobs and pulls generally run between $2 and $20 each; the average kitchen with 30 linear feet of cabinetry needs about 40 pulls, so add $80 to $800 to your budget, depending on your taste in hardware.
Countertops. If you’re changing the existing layout of your cabinets, you’ll need to redo your countertops, as well. Likewise, your old counters may clash with your new cabinets. You can expect to spend between $40 and $100 per square foot for a new countertop installation if you need it.
Craft an accurate budget and get ahead of extra cabinet expenses by looking into your financing options today.
It is important to note that Semi-custom cabinets are a happy medium between the stock and custom cabinet options. Usually, you choose the overall cabinet style and then choose your finish. You can generally order these in different sizes, although within a range of standard sizes. That is the reason why Cabinets ASAP only sells semi-custom cabinets as you get the most for your money.