What's worth splurging on in a remodel: the 5 details that matter
Where we tell our clients to spend the money — and where to save it. The five details you'll touch every day for 30 years.
There’s a budget conversation that happens on every remodel: “Where should we spend, where should we save?” After decades in the trades, our answer is consistent. Spend on the things you touch, see, or hear every day for thirty years. Save on the things you’ll forget about by year five.
Here are the five.
1. Cabinet boxes, drawer slides, and hinges
Splurge here.
The cabinet box is the structural part — it holds the doors, drawers, and counters in place for the life of the kitchen. Cheap boxes (particle board, stapled, with stamped-metal hardware) sag, swell, and pull apart in 8–12 years. Quality boxes (plywood, dadoed and glued, with full-extension soft-close hardware) outlast the house.
The drawer slides matter more than the doors. A cheap drawer slide grinds, sticks, and breaks. A Blum or Hettich slide opens silently with one finger for 30 years. The first time you open a cheap drawer after a year of use, you’ll know.
Cost delta: $5,000–$15,000 for a typical kitchen, depending on cabinet count.
2. The shower
Splurge here.
The waterproofing system, the glass, the niche, the drain. This is the single most expensive thing to fix later, and the most-used wet area in the house.
Specifically:
- Waterproofing system: Schluter Kerdi or comparable, never just thinset and hardibacker. Failure here = $20,000 in mold remediation in year 7.
- Frameless glass: looks better, ages better, easier to clean.
- Curbless or low-curb threshold: feels like a hotel, ages with you.
- Linear or center drain placement: matters for slope and aesthetics.
Cost delta: $4,000–$15,000 for a primary bath shower.
3. The faucet you use most
Splurge — but only on the one you actually use.
The kitchen faucet you’ll touch 8–12 times a day, every day. The primary bath sink faucet, the same. A $400 designer faucet vs. a $90 builder-grade: the difference in feel, leverage, and lifespan is enormous.
But — the powder room faucet you use twice a year? The hall bath your kids use? Solid mid-range is fine. The designer line doesn’t earn its premium for occasional fixtures.
Cost delta: $300–$1,000 per fixture you upgrade.
4. Lighting (specifically: how it’s controlled)
Splurge on layering and dimming. Save on fixtures.
The right number of lighting circuits, properly zoned, all on dimmers, will transform how the house feels. A great $50 fixture on a dimmer beats a $1,500 fixture on a single switch every time.
What we do on most projects:
- Three light layers: ambient (general), task (work areas), accent (mood)
- All on dimmers (Lutron Caseta or similar)
- Smart switches in primary spaces only — most homes don’t need a smart fixture in every room
Cost delta: $1,500–$5,000 for proper lighting design + dimmers across a full remodel.
5. Heated floors in the primary bath
Splurge here. Especially in Denver.
A heated floor in a primary bathroom costs $1,500–$3,500, lasts 30+ years, and you’ll feel it on your feet every winter morning of every year you live in this house. Of all the small upgrades that compound, this is the one nobody regrets.
We’ve never had a client say “I wish we hadn’t done the heated floor.” We’ve had a few say the opposite.
Cost delta: $1,500–$3,500 in a primary bath.
What to save on
If the budget needs to compress, these are the easy cuts:
- Designer toilets. A $4,000 Toto vs. a $400 Kohler — same plumber time, similar feel for 95% of users. Not where the money goes.
- Imported tile in low-traffic areas. Beautiful zellige in a powder room nobody uses is a beautiful waste of money. Save it for the kitchen backsplash where guests see it.
- Smart everything. Smart toilets, smart shower heads, smart mirror — these become obsolete in 5 years. Smart switches and dimmers, on the other hand, don’t.
- Custom millwork in closets. Standard solutions from Container Store or California Closets cost a third of custom and look almost as good.
- Range hoods over $3,000. A solid $1,200 hood works. Designer hoods are a vanity item — fine if budget allows, first cut if not.
The principle
Spend on the thing that meets your hand. Save on the thing that meets a guest’s eye twice a year. From decades in the trades, that’s the rule that separates remodels people love at year 10 from remodels people regret.
If you want help thinking through these trade-offs for your specific project, tell us about it →.