Six Reasons Why a Freestanding Kitchen Is Better Than a Built-in Kitchen
If you’ve ever remodeled a kitchen (or even considered it), you intuitively understand the meaning of the phrase “price shock.” Traditional built-in kitchens are expensive, with the average cost being around $27,000 and the highest costing around $140,000 . However, there’s another option that’s gaining popularity: a freestanding kitchen with no built-ins .
A freestanding kitchen is not an attached kitchen or a built-in kitchen — (almost) every part of it is freestanding and modular. These kitchens were once the norm, but in the 20th century, built-in kitchens, which were permanently attached and secured to the walls and floor, became the standard. That’s what you’ll get if you just call a designer or contractor and say you want a kitchen, but you should seriously consider a freestanding kitchen. There are many benefits.
Lower cost
There are plenty of ways to cut costs when remodeling or remodeling a kitchen, from buying stock cabinets to finding scratched and dented appliances that can be fixed up. But if you need a new kitchen and are on a budget, a freestanding kitchen is a great option because you can start with a minimalist kitchen and have a plan for how to build it out. You can add storage, appliances, or other elements whenever you want—when something is on sale, when you find something for free, or when you’ve saved up enough to implement the next step of your plan.
You can also combine sources. Some elements of your freestanding kitchen may come from Ikea, for example , while others may come from a more upmarket store, such as Vipp . You can experiment with the stores you buy from until you find the right kitchen at a price that you’ll be much more comfortable with when (almost) everything is freestanding than with a traditional fitted kitchen.
It’s easier to do it yourself
Freestanding kitchens are generally much easier to install, so they are much more convenient to install yourself. This can make your kitchen much more affordable, as you won’t have to pay professional installers for many things, such as installing cabinets. Even the appliances can probably be installed yourself , as they are not built-in.
You may not be able to avoid all the contractor costs when installing a freestanding kitchen—plumbing and electrical work may require professional help. But if you’re handy enough, you can probably handle most of the work yourself.
Modular updates
Building a freestanding kitchen in stages can be a way to control costs, but it also gives you the opportunity to update gradually. Since you don’t have to rip anything out of the wall or up off the floor, you can always upgrade cabinets or appliances to better ones. Renovating in stages is always a great way to reduce stress and keep your bank account healthy, and a freestanding kitchen makes this approach incredibly simple and straightforward. A freestanding kitchen also makes it easy to update in a very targeted, surgical way, since you can literally update one cabinet if you want to add one detail to your kitchen.
Reconfigurable
A freestanding kitchen can be significantly redesigned at any time. If your kitchen’s flow and workflow aren’t within your control, you can rearrange cabinets, appliances, and islands to your heart’s content (except perhaps the sink, since it’s attached to the wall via a plumbing line, and maybe the oven, if it’s hooked up to a gas line). Keep running into that huge kitchen island you loved in the store? Move it to a new location and see how it works. Want to move the pantry closer to the prep area? You can easily rearrange some cabinets to try out different layouts.
More flexible
If you live in a small home and need more space, whether because of a growing family, a sudden roommate, or a shift to remote work, a freestanding kitchen is also a space you can easily repurpose. Since everything in it can be moved or even removed, your kitchen can become a hybrid space for an office , craft room, dining room, or literally anything else you might need the space for.
Easier maintenance
A freestanding kitchen is also much easier to keep clean and tidy. You can move everything away from the walls so you can clean behind cabinets and appliances, rather than having to deal with the dread of having to replace your oven or dishwasher in ten years. If a pipe leaks, you can quickly move the cabinets away to avoid water damage. And if you need to fix an appliance or cabinet, you’ll have full access and be able to move it to where there’s enough light and space to work. This makes DIY repairs much easier, which in turn will save you money.