Renovating the kitchen is something that many families want to do but keep putting off because of the inevitable expense. This is not like decorating the bedroom, which if you are halfway useful with a paint brush you can probably do yourself. Yes, you COULD just repaint the kitchen, but somehow it is not going to make a huge difference if the cabinetry looks tired and worn out and the cooker and fridge have seen better days.

Not only that, today we use the kitchen so much more than we used to even 30 years ago. Back in the day, the kitchen was used for cooking, and then the washing machine and possibly tumble dryer were installed there as well, but it was a workplace. You cooked in the kitchen and ate in the dining room.

Today, that has all changed to the point where the kitchen is not only for cooking and doing the laundry, but we eat in there, very likely have a TV in there, and even entertain guests in there to dinner. So now it needs to be a room in which you will be happy to spend time and invite family and friends into as well.

What that means is that a lot of kitchens in London are really in need of a makeover so that you are happy to spend time in them, and don't feel embarrassed to invite others into them either.

All of which means that you are going to have to spend a lot more than just decorating the bedroom or the sitting room.

Just how far you go with a kitchen makeover will depend on how much you can afford to spend. It certainly isn't going to be cheap, even if you go for a fairly restrained budget, but you can also spend as much as £25,000 on a kitchen re-vamp. Throw out all the old appliances and replace with new. Tile the floor and perhaps the walls. New sink. Table and chairs. Perhaps an island, depending how much space you have. Then if you want to change everything around, you may have to completely alter the plumbing and the electrics. You can easily see how this becomes an expense.

And we haven't even started with all the new cabinetry, worktops, and so on. Having said all that, the final result will be well worth it, but it depends on what you can afford to spend. Of course, you may be able to get a bank loan and/or buy some items on your credit cards, but you still have to pay it back.

Renovating your kitchen in London really does mean that - unless you are "loaded" – you are going to have to sit down and think carefully about how much you can spend and where you might be able to reduce or cut out some costs. For instance, do you really need a new fridge? If the present one is working and there is nothing wrong with it, why buy another?

Do you really need to tile the walls, or could you just give them a fresh coat of paint? Yes, it would be nice to tile them, but how much is it going to add to the cost? Are there some jobs which you could do yourself if you are fairly handy with DIY? Tiling the walls, for instance? If you could tile them yourself, then you only have the cost of the tiles to consider.

One thing that you almost certainly can't do yourself is the worktops, especially if you want stone worktops in London. Faced with a slab of granite or marble, where do you begin? You haven't got the machinery or the skills to produce a stone worktop. It needs to have cut-outs for the sink, the hob, and so on, and this is a job for a trained stonemason, not DIY. Even if, somehow, you could get someone to do all that for you, you still have to fit stone worktops in London, and that is another skill that you haven't got.

So, yes, while you may be able to reduce some costs on kitchen renovation by keeping certain appliances rather than buying new, and painting the walls yourself instead of having them tiled, there are some things such as electrical and plumbing work, and manufacturing and installing stone worktops that need the services of an expert.