What if you just don't have the money to renovate your kitchen and I need both kitchen and bath. I would love to be able to take a shower or sit down and eat in a beautiful clean kitchen.

Really not much that can be said for this other than to be sorry and sympathetic to your situation. Even having a TV show redo your house is not the answer - IRS rules force you to pay taxes on any 'winnings". Home improvement shows are considered the same type of winnings and additional income as if you won something on "Wheel of Fortune". Sad but true, you can't run from the I.R.S.

Since home improvement shows always showcase top-of-the-line stuff, an average TV show kitchen will cost the equivalent of $50,000. Your tax hit will be about 25% of that, or over $12,000.

Unless you can find some local volunteer building groups that would be interested in your house as a project, there is not much you can do short of find a source of money or plan for just a basic makeover that is more in line with your budget.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jaybee,

what's wrong with the kitchen and bath, coincidentally the two most complicated and expensive remodels possible?

if it's just got no marble and no island and the faucet drips, big freakin' deal. replace the faucet and carry on.

the big thing is are the rooms dangerous, totally broken, and full of dead systems... or are they just done in clown colors? you can live with clown colors while you save up. we bore up under dark-black wood, chipped yellow Formica, and an orange sink for a year until we had really decided what we wanted. there were no dead systems, gross code violations, or rot, so the kitchen was mainly sanding, restaining, making countertops, and replacing the sink/faucet. you can do that for two grand easily. adding tile, upgrading the electrical, and reflooring with engineered wood doubled it... but we didn't ever buy anything except a needed tool that wasn't on sale, really on sale.

shot plumbing, no vent, bad wiring, crumbling cabinets, asbestos, broken appliances, and so on run into astronomical costs. wacky layouts are even worse.