Kitchen remodels are universally recognized as one of the best ways to add value to your home. Not only do they increase your home’s value, they also transform one of the most important spaces in your home into an area that you, your family and your guests will enjoy for years.

If you are on a budget, the nice thing about contemplating a kitchen remodel is that if you know how to shop, it doesn’t have to be as expensive as it seems.

Here are a few areas where you can save money as you plan to make changes:

Planning and Design: A lot of people enjoy putting their personal touch on the decor in their home. Using the internet and local home improvement centers, you can both educate yourself and avail yourself of themes and material types that fit a style that you enjoy. It may take some time to decide what you want, but the results will likely be more satisfying as your kitchen will become an extension of you. You will also save quite a bit of money.

Flooring: There are several types of flooring that you can choose from to go into your kitchen. Vinyls are one of the types of floor that is easy to lay and easy to clean. When purchasing vinyls, you can often find deeply discounted rolls of flooring at home improvement centers or flooring stores. Usually the discount flooring is available because the roll that contained the vinyl has been purchased and therefore cut down until there is only a specific amount left. These rolls are known as remnants. They typically sell for much less.

Laminates are another popular type of flooring. Several furniture and flooring retailers sell laminates and also use them in their stores to show you how well they hold up to heavy traffic. Laminates are easy to install and typically cost less than traditional wood flooring. Of course if you must have wood flooring, you can do so by getting either finished or unfinished flooring. Finished flooring comes with a polyeurathane coating that typically lasts for a couple of decades and provides a lot of shine. Unfinished flooring has an advantage for the color-conscious because it can be stained to take on any color that you want it to. The best way to purchase wood flooring for less is to look at sales that home improvement stores have. When you buy, buy everything you need at once so that the flooring matches. Tile is another option that is quite popular to put into kitchens. Because floor tile stores often order in bulk, there are certain times during the year that they will discount sitting inventory in order to make way for new inventory. If you like the pattern, this is a very good time for you to go shopping for your flooring.

Lighting: One of the most important elements of your kitchen will be how well you design the lighting fixtures. Many homes have kitchens that do not have well-designed lighting and the overall environment suffers for it. As some states require that you use energy efficient lighting in your kitchen, you should look towards a combination of recessed lighting, overhead lighting, and under-counter lighting to make your lighting design come to life. LED lighting has made great strides in terms of technological development and now offers bulbs that will last for years, yet provide adequate overhead lighting. By going with fixtures designed to optimize LED lighting, you will save hundreds of dollars in electricity costs over the years.

Cabinetry: Kitchen cabinets are a part of the kitchen that usually provoke the most comments from visitors. Having great cabinets is a dream for many. The problem is that a custom cabinet set can be quite expensive. To save money, you don’t have to replace all of your cabinets. If the layout of your kitchen satisfies you and you just want to update the style, you can purchase cabinet doors and drawer fronts ala carte, updating your kitchen for a fraction of the cost. If you want full cabinets, finding the largest cabinet manufacturer in your area will sometimes pay dividends. On average, kitchen orders that are canceled sell for around 20 percent of the original price because it is hard to fit custom cabinets into someone else’s kitchen. Nonetheless, if you are completely changing your cabinets, you can often fit someone else’s order into your own kitchen seamlessly.

Counter tops: In the past, most people went with laminate counter tops and had them custom-made. They do not cost a lot and they last for a very long time. Today, they are still popular and inexpensive, yet many people have started looking at traditional tile or stone as an alternative. Tile can be easily found by those on a budget because there are often remnants available at most tile stores that will cover the space that you need. Granite counter tops are more expensive but you can also look and find remnants at local installers’ shops or at wholesalers without too much of a problem. If you have your heart set on granite, but are not able to find a remnant that you like, you can always substitute granite tiles. Sold by the carton as regular tiles are, they are usually less expensive than a full counter top.