Kitchen Renovations Produce Highest Joy Scores for Homeowners

The results are in, homeowners are happy with kitchen and bathroom renovations they’ve done over the past few years. The “joy score” for home remodeling involving kitchen cabinets, bathroom renovations and laundry rooms were near the top of the charts according to the National Association of Realtors.

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Beginning during the start of the pandemic in 2020 and continuing through 2022, countless homeowners have set out to improve their living spaces with renovations and remodeling projects in an effort to give their homes more character, elegance, and spiritual and financial value. Now that these upgrades have been completed for some time and homeowners have gotten used to the changes, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry have decided to examine the price, value, and emotional effects of these significant home improvements. They released these statistics in a shared study titled the 2022 Remodeling Impact Report, which also looks at why people decided to remodel, and which kinds of projects produced the most overall satisfaction.

The Remodeling Impact Report finds that most homeowners are happy with the changes made to their homes, with 84 percent reporting wanting to stay in their homes more than they did before, and 69 percent feeling a sense of accomplishment in regards to the finished products. The report also discusses the “Joy Score,” a 10-point scale of how ultimately successful a renovation project is in making the homeowner happy and satisfied, with a score of 10 being the highest. The home improvement projects that were reported as having Joy Scores of 10 include painting the interior of the home, the addition of a home office, closet renovations, and refinishing hardwood floors. Projects scoring just below a 10 include kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, and additions to or upgrades of laundry rooms.

These projects improve the quality of the home and the life of the homeowner because they allow for better functionality and livability, and they are significant undertakings which produce a strong sense of accomplishment when complete. Changes to the kitchen, which score high on the Joy Score scale, were reported to be most commonly to the finishes, surfaces, and materials. With a Joy Score of 9.8, complete kitchen renovations cause 94 percent of homeowners to have a greater desire to stay in their homes, 86 percent experience an increased sense of enjoyment when home, and 85 percent feel major accomplishment just by thinking of the finished project.

Although large-scale renovations often cost a substantial amount, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry found that the changes made to the kitchen specifically will add value to a house, and an average of 75 percent of the cost will be returned during resale. Kitchen upgrades, a less significant undertaking, still return 67 percent of the cost, and improve functionality and livability by 40 percent.

With a vast array of options available from Conestoga Wood Specialties, Fabuwood Cabinetry and Executive Cabinetry, Cabinetmaker’s Choice can help you feel the joy of a kitchen renovation. Contact us today to feel your joy.