The New York Times reports that the kitchen is the most expensive room in the house to renovate. The average cost is $25,000, with some experts saying that it is easily double that in New York City - a somewhat surprising discovery, given that space can be so tight there. Some New Yorkers are looking to do things on a budget of less that $15, 000, though, and by limiting their luxury purchases to one or two big-ticket items, they can have a kitchen that looks fantastic and saves them money.

The best ways to save include doing most of the labor yourself and salvaging some of the more expensive items, such as a refrigerator or range that can last for another five years. Getting some furniture from Ikea also proved to be a popular choice with the home redecorators in the article, as they could get a specific look without going with custom-made cabinets. The final thing to keep in mind is that it's important to compromise. As one woman said, after ending up with a green kitchen when she was originally thinking of blue, "green is kind of blue."

But what items did people splurge on when they didn't have $162,000 to spend?