Saved the money first, paid in full.

Paid in full, but credit card whenever possible (better warranty with credit card, plus airline miles which I'm questioning lately). It's paid off monthly.

We did a whole house reno and gutted it. We paid for it with savings and a small mortgage (we didn't have one before) which was paid off in two years.

I saved for it and paid cash.

Cash!

HELOC (now paid off) and doing the same for a front porch rebuild. I talked to my financial adviser about taking money out of savings for an upcoming front porch project, and he said it makes more sense to use a HELOC, since the interest I'm making on investments is greater than the interest I would pay on a HELOC. I refi'd my zero balance HELOC for no fees and a current rate, which is lower than it was when I paid it off after our kitchen reno.

I'm financially conservative and debt averse, so I had planned to pay in full with cash but his thinking made sense. I will pay off the HELOC fairly quickly.

Since I have the money in savings, I suppose I could say that I saved for it first. But I'm choosing to pay another way.

I did a cash-out refinance. I had the savings to pay out of pocket, but I was already refinancing and financing made more sense than selling investments.

I did order a ton of stuff on my credit card to get the cash back%. I requested a higher limit before we started, but my primary card got maxed out the month I ordered cabinets, and I had to pay down before the bill came. Oops!

Credit card for whatever I could (it's paid off monthly). Cheques for the balance.

We did a cash-out refinance too. Like caligirl, we were refinancing anyway, so the timing was right. Our kitchen remodel cost about $28K.

Thanks everyone for chiming in.

caligirl5 & AnnKH - with a cash out refi, does this mean you're using the equity in your home to get the money?

Yes, exactly. I got a new mortgage for a higher loan amount and got a check for the difference.

cash/checks

we did live in our old place during the remodel, paying two mortgages, we didn't want to sell it too, at first..but we did sell couple of properties overseas

Paid by cash and credit card that was paid off each month. Had lived in an inexpensive apartment for several years which helped me save money for the kitchen reno in my new home. I bought my appliances (except range), faucet, sink, lighting, and pulls online by shopping carefully which saved a bundle (as an aside, despite what you hear about "contractors discount", you can find less expensive prices than contractors discount, but be prepared to pay in your time spent on this effort and the additional stress).

Also, I made a strict budget in advance which included an extra amount for "surprises" which always happen. If I hadn't been disciplined about my budget, my reno would have cost me much more. There are always so many temptations to spend more and go above what you really should.

We got a HELOC last year and used it to landscape our backyard for our two little kids, who use it daily now. We'll be using our HELOC for our kitchen remodel as well, but trying to save money by doing a lot of the work ourselves or hiring a low cost handyman family friend to help us.

A little at a time.

When we did a whole first floor remodel in our old house, we used money from an inheritance. In hindsight, wish I hadn't used as much as I did as we sold the house 5 years later. I have no doubt that our kitchen sold the house, but there is no way we recouped what was put into it.

Inheritance - deposit & then maybe a handful of payments throughout.

Refinance with cash out. Lower interest rate, 15 fixed rate. No brainier.

Cash

Saved for it for many many years. Paid for it using a credit card wherever we could, but always paid off the card in full at the end of each month. The rest we paid in cash. We renovated our entire main floor when we did our kitchen. My husband did most of the work himself, but we hired an electrician to replace all the aluminum wiring with copper wiring, a fabricator to install our granite, and a company to stain and spray the raw wood cabinet doors we purchased and sanded ourselves. Our remodel, including rewiring, flooring, cabinets, plumbing, lighting, drywalling and appliances, cost us about $30,000. We spent the money over 5 months, which was how long it took us to complete all the work.

cash

Cash and sweat. Ours isn't a remodel, but a complete new house, 95% DIY, paid in cash as we went. We don't make a lot of money, but we are very thrifty, and have been putting money away for years. 20 year old cars, dinner at home, no $5 coffees, etc., etc. When your parents tell you save your money, listen up.

DIY of course saves a ton of money, if you have the skills. Our kitchen has fully custom cabinets, 32 drawers, two sinks, reclaimed wood floors, and a tin ceiling. All in, we spent about $8K, including appliances.

Saved up and paid cash. My kitchen is very small. I purchased the cabinets on a credit card, went home and transferred the payment from my savings account. I bought things well in advance, on sale. I had a dishwasher in my living room for 5 months because I knew the one I wanted and it was 50% off. I bought my faucet on sale on a no tax weekend, and had that hanging around for a while too. I live 5-10 minutes from the US border and the exchange rate was very good when I did my reno. I calculated exchange rates, taxes, etc. and some purchases I made in Canada (all of my appliances, all on sale) and some I made in the US (backsplash, cabinets from Ikea which were both cheaper and closer for me to go pick up). I did the same when I did the bathroom reno as well.

We planned for it, saved up, and paid cash. With everything, it was about $30K. Three months after we finished, it was all wiped out in a horrific flood. Now we are doing it all over again, plus rebuilding the rest of the house. No flood insurance so we are paying as we go along.

Just a small OT digression in response to mgmum's post - be careful about buying appliances too far in advance. For the majority of appliances, the clock starts ticking on the warranties upon delivery, not upon installation. The cost of the manufacturer's warranty--which almost always is for one year--is built into the price of the appliance. When you buy early, and wait months to install, you are foregoing those months of the warranty, so it's like money out of your pocket. There have been posts on Gardenweb about people with an appliance that needed repair within a few months of use, but the warranty had run out, because it sat a while before installation.

There is always another sale. If you miss the Black Friday sale, there is an after-Christmas sale, a Presidents Day sale, Spring sale, Memorial Day sale, you name it.

Agree 100% with friedajune. This is such good advice! My brother just learned this the hard way. Not only can warrantee expirations sneak up on you quickly but you can have trouble matching lots if you end up without enough of that tile you grabbed on sale last year, or coordinating items become discontinued, or whatever... Ends up costing more in repairs, hassle and plan b's.

In cash. Ditto with my bathroom remodel. I'm a good saver.

Used funds from a CD that matured. Great peace of mind so I could enjoy the process.

In increments. Decided what I really wanted and started buying things as I could afford them. Bought light fixtures, plumbing supplies, faucets and sinks etc. for a kitchen and both baths. Used credit cards with zero interest promotion, some reward based credit cards etc. Because we know exactly how things will fit in the new spaces we ordered cabinets before appliances. Since I have the specs for the appliances doing the prep is not an issue. The only built in is the wall oven. Dishwashers are standard, the fridge is not surrounded completely by cabinetry and the range and hood were my first purchases years ago. They were put in place by cutting down existing cabinetry in the spot they would keep in the remodeled kitchen.

Everything in the house waiting to be installed is fully paid for except the cabinets which will be off at zero interest. Zero interest except for around 60.00 or so it cost me while applying for a new card and the short time have the transfer to take place. Something like one billing cycle at a low interest promotional rate via Lowes.

The rest is nickel and dime stuff to us. Our expenses to be will be flooring, counter-tops a vanities and toilets. They are already budgeted for. Ditto the appliances. I have enough cash back rewards saved up to buy either the wall oven or most of the fridge. But I will charge those and use them to pay after so it shows up as a charge on the cards that allow rewards to be used that way.

This is a really slow process but it is working for us. The electrician is coming to upgrade our panel and run/drop wire to the areas for future needs. We do our own hook ups. Ditto with the plumber who will come next. Then a framer for a few minor changes and pocket door prep. Then the drywall guy. The rest is DIY except for having the counter top fabricated.

My living room is a warehouse. The family room has x pens set up around more things so the dog can't get at them. They are acting as equipment bays. ;-)

Some is for kitchen only some includes other areas of the house to save labor costs down the line.

The first time around, we had a small inheritance and then saved for other things we wanted. We also did some things ourselves. I really wanted a custom island, but it was sooo expensive. I did a lot of research and figured out how to build it myself.

The second time round was due to a fire (insurance) and I got the kitchen of my dreams by being a pain in the butt (but a really nice one :) to everyone involved and we got upgrades here and there where we really shouldn't have. The custom island was ruined and replaced with a much nicer one built by a real craftsman (as opposed to a housewife with a mission).

ETA: seb25. You have my sympathies. I don't know how you are doing it. Even though I found the insurance process frustrating it was also a godsend. I can't imagine going thru that emotional turmoil of losing all you've worked for and also not having insurance to help out.

It's not that I have a boatload of cash rolling in every month. The main reason I'm able to save money is that my house is paid off and I still enjoy decent medical care benefits in retirement.

I saved up since moving in to the house in 2011. I wanted to make sure to pay into my 529 plan and 401K first, and then leftovers went into the kitchen fund. I originally had a GC who, at the last minute, priced everything out at 55K. I balked and decided (gulp) to work on it myself with the help of my KD. I ended up finishing it for 32.5K. That included new cabinets, quartz countertops, appliances, floors throughout the 1st floor LR, DR, and kitchen, plus painting the same area. When I could, I paid on my credit card (gives me cash back straight into the 529) and paid in full at the end of the month. For the rest it was cash. My next project is to save up for the bathrooms.

Paid off house then saved the money to remodel kitchen and entire main floor.

Same as Fori. Saved, paid with credit card, and paid it off monthly. No debt.

Ditto -- saved for years (this was after saving & paying for floor refinishing, new roof and new furnace and A/C). Used my credit card when I could (I bought a lot of the materials myself) and paid it off in full monthly in order to collect cash back. I also used EBates and groupon when I could -- so I would buy things from, say, Lowes by clicking through Ebates, buying online, using credit card.

We are doing ours about half cash and half heloc, should have the heloc paid off fairly quickly.

we used a heloc and cash/credit cards (put stuff on credit card for the points but always pay it off every month).

Cash all three times (three different houses).

Cash in primary and beach house.

I say cash and credit card because I saved up the cash and thenI use a travel rewards credit card and EVERYTHING possible goes on the card and it gets paid off in full, every month, without fail. Ours was a mostly DIY remodel so the costs were almost all supplies, appliances, construction material. Everything went on the card, everything was paid off each month. We paid for airline tickets for 2 separate trips with the rewards from the kitchen remodel!!!

The majority was paid for from selling stock, 20K came out of a house refinance so we didn't have to sell more stock. The appliances we financed at 0% for 12 months. We paid for our cabinets through a rewards credit card in order to reap the benefits from that, which was paid in full monthly.

Had house almost paid off. Sold it- got enough out for a 40% down payment and $100k kept back for remodel. Although we were WAY over budget so we used some of my "play" stocks cashed out, and some other liquid savings to cover the difference. Be sure to order lots of checks! Lol

Insurance settlement from water damage covers replacing the builder grade kitchen we had. We are able to leverage a lot of the labor costs and a portion of the material allowance, and are supplementing with our own savings (cash) to upgrade to the design and quality we want. Our new kitchen is 2x the value of the old one.

My small kitchen cost abut $30,000. to remodel. About half was money left over and purposely set aside from the prior house sale. The other half was divided between a HELOC and a 21 month no interest credit card. Kitchen was finished last August; HELOC was paid off in March, and there's about $3500. left on the credit card, which will be paid off completely before interest starts accruing this coming January. This strategy proved to be pretty painless!

We used a small home equity loan, but also started shopping well before we started constructions for deals. My range sat in the basement for almost a year because I found a great deal at a Sears Outlet. We also did every bit of work ourselves for our complete gut job, including rewiring, replumbing, removal of load bearing wall and spray foam insulation in the exterior walls. My husband is a carpenter, which helps.