Budget Makeover: What you get for $15,000

Best for: Someone who plans on spending less than three years in their house. While all kitchen upgrades add resale value to your home (experts say you can expect to recoup between 90 and 102 percent of your investment), minor remodeling has the surefire guarantee of a full return.

"Small changes can have a big impact," says Janice Anne Costa, author of Everything and the Kitchen Sink and editor of the trade publication Kitchen and Bath Design News. "We're not talking about a triple glaze on cabinets or baroque cabinet carvings of course, but adding a new countertop or a fresh coat of paint. These can quickly reinvent the most-used room in your house." Here are some of the must-have ways you can get more bang for the buck.

Surfaces get a lot of wear and tear in the kitchen. So freshening up the countertops can instantly reinvent your kitchen. While precious marble or stone will most likely be a budget-buster at this price point, there are economical choices that are also now virtually indestructible, too. CaesarStone, for example, is 93-percent crushed quartz that's combined with polymer resins to create a tough-as-nails, nonporous surface, according to Janice Anne.

Often the biggest expense in a kitchen, new cabinets will probably be out of reach at this price point. If you have an older kitchen, it may be wiser to repaint or refinish the existing cabinets, which are likely wood. It will cost half as much as the price of new wood cabinets — and smarter than downgrading to particleboard to fit the budget, Janice Anne points out.

Consider tearing out cabinets completely and going for a trendier, open-shelving design, like the one pictured above. While this is an inexpensive option, it's important to keep shelves clutter-free to maintain the stylish, airy look.