Bathroom Reno vs. Kitchen Reno: Scott McGillivray on How to Decide

It’s the age-old question. You’ve got a kitchen and a bathroom that both need renovating, but you can only afford to do one. Which should you choose? The answer is – it depends.

Scott McGillivray is a real estate expert and host of HGTV Canada’s Income Property and Moving the McGillivrays.

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Return on Investment

Kitchens

and bathrooms are both important when it comes to resale value, but kitchens see just a little more ROI. So without considering individual cases, I’m pretty comfortable saying that the kitchen is the way to go if you’re looking to add the most value to your home.

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Market Value

When choosing which room to renovate you have to make sure it’s keeping with the overall quality and style of the home, but also the market value of the property. A kitchen should always get you a good return on your investment; however, if the homes in your neighbourhood all have luxury baths and yours doesn’t, you might want to consider going that route instead. Do your research before you renovate!

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Budget

Neither a kitchen nor a bathroom renovation can be considered ‘cheap’ – but in most cases, bathrooms cost less to renovate than kitchens. This can be chalked up to the fact that kitchens are often bigger, require more cabinetry, more appliances and more finishes. However, bathrooms can get expensive when you start adding extras like steam showers, glass enclosures and expensive tile. So if you have a small budget, it’s probably better to do the bathroom and do it right rather than do the kitchen on the cheap.

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Disruption

Sometimes it comes down to how much you’re willing to disrupt your daily life at a given time. If you have another bathroom in the house, renovating your main bathroom shouldn’t cause too many problems. But if you only have one, losing it for a couple of weeks is a big deal! With a kitchen, you have alternatives like dining out or ordering in. So it’s a pain, but manageable. This is personal to your home and lifestyle, but always consider the disruption to your daily life when planning renovations.

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Time

It’s a pretty safe bet that a bathroom renovation will be completed in less time than a kitchen renovation. While it’s not always the case, bathrooms tend to be smaller and have fewer elements than kitchens. So if your time is limited, you may find that a bathroom renovation is the way to go. Of course, there’s always a good chance it will take longer than you think, so be sure to build a buffer into your timeline.

Kitchen with stainless steel appliances and large kitchen island

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Efficiency

An important question to ask yourself is: how efficient are these rooms as-is? Is the kitchen layout a mess? Do you trip over yourself trying to cook meals? Is it important to your sanity to get it done? Then forget everything else and do it. Same goes for the bathroom. If the kitchen is manageable, but you can’t bathe the kids or get ready in the morning without total chaos, do the bathroom first. Think about how efficient these rooms currently are and how they impact your household, then proceed according to what will make your life better.

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The Verdict

When all is said and done, if I had to choose one renovation, I would choose the kitchen. For me, it has a bigger impact on the entire house in terms of efficiency, quality of life, value and more. The kitchen is really the centre of the home. It’s where we gather with our loved ones, entertain and share meals – and therefore it holds more importance than any other room.