Budget gourmet.(Editor's Perspective)

With mortgage interest rates rising and new and existing home sales slowing, what are you doing to keep your sales from plummeting? A little creativity--and very little money--in the kitchen could heat up your sales.

For example, Nigel Maynard, a senior editor at BUILDER, a sister publication of BUILDING PRODUCTS, doesn't have oodles of money but he can swing a hammer with ease. He's remodeled several homes in the Washington, D.C., area including the Maryland townhouse he now lives in. For $5,500, Nigel turned his tiny kitchen (above) into a showpiece that's been featured in Home magazine and The Washington Post, and on HGTV, which aired a five-minute segment about his work, a huge amount of time in the world of TV.

What's so alluring about Nigel's kitchen is that it looks so good but cost so little. He installed white MDF cabinets from Ikea, builder-grade appliances that sport stainless steel fronts, laminate flooring, a white ceramic tile backsplash, and butcher block countertop. When Nigel sells his house, I think it will be a quick sale, even in a sluggish market, because of his beautiful but low-cost kitchen.

In the early 1990s, the housing market in the Washington area was slowing and interest rates were around 10 percent. When my husband and I went shopping for an existing house 13 years ago, we toured a cute brick Colonial with a remodeled kitchen that was to die for. It had high-end stainless steel appliances, which was rare for that time; beautiful tile flooring; exquisite cherry cabinets; unique light fixtures ...