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A Kitchen Makeover Alongside Penny Tile And Open Shelves

Room Styling

A Kitchen Makeover Alongside Penny Tile And Open Shelves

Ok, we are calling it. The kitchen is officially done!

our-big-kitchen-makeover-is-done

Of course that is a lie and we still have a bunch of little things to complete, like:

  • adding decorative molding to the back of the peninsula
  • adding a message center/chalk board to the side of the pantry
  • adding the last of the transitions/reducers to finish the floors (and that rectangle of fireplace tile)
  • replacing the broken light in the fireplace area – most likely with a spotlight that washes down the fireplace wall
  • adding some sort of window treatment (colorful roman shade?) over the sink

And of course we dream of refinishing the surrounding oak floors to match the dark mocha cork in the kitchen so our whole house is more seamless (more on that here) but that is a down-the-line thing. Thankfully all of the big stuff and most of the small stuff in the kitchen is checked off the list and we are so excited to see how this room has transformed in the last five months. Can you believe we have been slowly chipping away at this renovation since October?! Things have certainly come a long way…

Simply to save you from scrolling back, here is the before again for comparison’s sake.

It truly does not even feel like the same room anymore. We can hardly remember the dark paneled kitchen that we lived with for nearly a year while we planned our remodel and saved our pennies.

Here is the makeover from the other side of the room:

And here is a before and after shot from a similar angle where we opened up the wall to create a pleasant big doorway between the kitchen and the dining room:

Oh and here is another lively before and after comparison (from the doorway of the office that leads into the kitchen):

Here are a few more POVs of the room as it looks now:

Plenty of things are still in flux (items on the counters and shelves will certainly rotate in and out, which is lively for a kook like me). And these two 4 x 6′ rugs from our first house’s kitchen and third bedroom are not permanent…

… we simply tossed them down for a few shots, but we envision getting something new to assist define those areas (they are old and stained and not as soft underfoot as a few other options, so we will keep you posted).

Oh and when it comes to the bar stools that we debated spray painting anything from a bright color to oil-rubbed bronze, now that the floor is so dark the silver color ties into the stainless appliances and looks pleasant and balanced in person. So we might live with them a while before we decide to defile them with spray paint or anything. Of course we will keep you posted.

And we in fact have one more tweak that we are seriously thinking about ever since a reader sent us a photoshopped picture of our hood with the top as wide as the bottom part (thanks Brooke!). She in fact sent the pic on the 15th of February, but we chose to wait to finish up the kitchen (add the flooring, etc) before making any rash decisions…

The good news is that we are still smitten with the idea, so all signs point to beefing up the neck of the range hood someday! Of course we will keep you posted on that too.

But back to the overview of our big kitchen makeover. We certainly got truly hands-on with this transformation (especially when compared to our first kitchen reno, which we managed but mostly outsourced, my how things change). It simply goes to show you that over time you can learn as you go and five years later you might be way more comfortable doing a lot more than you did the first time around. Here are some of the things we did in our current kitchen to save money:

And here is an actual budget breakdown:

  • New cork floor + underlayment from Lumber Liquidators (including the cork in the laundry room too): $848
  • All new stainless appliances (originally priced at $3,776): $2,129 (we originally spent $2,384, but later switched the microwave)
  • Opening the doorway into the dining room, which was done by a local contractor and then wrapped up by us: $790 (which includes $90 of materials that we picked up to drywall and trim it out)
  • Additional base cabinets from the Habitat For Humanity ReStore to create peninsula: $88 (they would have been $500+ new)
  • New pendants over island and sink: $149 ($60 for each globe pendant and $29 for the one over the sink)
  • The cabinet we built around the fridge so it looks built-in: $90
  • All electrical work (done by local pros over three visits): $711
  • Wood filler, primer, and paint for refinishing the cabinets: $69
  • JennAir range hood scored on craigslist (worth $350): $60
  • Wood and brackets to hang/frame out hood: $115
  • Wood & brackets & all hanging materials to make shelves: $141
  • Corian counters in Glacier White from Home Depot ($33 a square foot): $1,700
  • All new cabinet hardware and hinges: $173
  • Backsplash (penny tile from The Tile Shop): $280
  • Four industrial lab stools (from a school supply store): $168 (they were simply $33 each plus shipping)
  • Miscellaneous (screws, nails, glue, little cords/connectors for appliances, flooring & tiling supplies like grout and sealer, shoe molding, etc): $194
  • Items we sold on craigslist to get money back to put into our reno: old black microwave: +$90, old fireplace insert: +$60, old dining table and chairs: +$120, old bisque dishwasher: +$90, old granite: +$350, old bisque wall oven: +$40 (total back: +$750)
  • TOTAL SPENT: $6,955

Not bad since a large kitchen renovation of this scale (our room is 24′ x 12′), if outsourced would likely be around 30K (for a giant new doorway that leads to the dining room, an accent wall of penny tile to the ceiling, all new cork floors, all new appliances, refacing oak cabinets and adding a peninsula to match the original cabinets, all new Corian counters including a giant 3 x 5′ slab for the peninsula, an entirely new lighting plan, a built-in hood with custom built shelves, a relocated pantry, stove, and built-in fridge, etc). We originally budgeted 10K for the job, so we are truly glad to come in under!

By contrast, our first kitchen renovation (from back when we both made bank working in advertising, haha) involved pricey granite, a lot more professional assist, and all new cabinets.

It in fact came to $20,500 (including the purchase of a fridge and stove that were not included in this breakdown since we picked up them a year prior). And that room was only 13′ x 10′!

So although this second kitchen reno took us tons of time (we began this project back in October, and have likely put 5-10 hours a week into it since then – for a total of around 155 hours) it was certainly something that we enjoyed doing – mostly on nights and during weekend Clara-naps. We nearly never worked on it during the day on weekdays (when the journal is active and the bean’s awake one of us is a stay at home parent and one of us is on journal duty) so that might assist those of you with a day job who wonder if you can pull off a major kitchen remodel like this on nights and weekends.

You can! It might simply span across five months or so, but as long as you take things one small project at a time (it is waaaay less intimidating than thinking of it as one big project when you break things down into bite-sized chunks) you will most likely live to tell the tale. And all the enjoy and sweat that you put into your “new” kitchen will be totally worth it in the end.

Who is excited to call this turkey done? Is anyone else out there about to start a big kitchen reno? What have you folks done when it comes to being hands on and saving some money by doing things yourself? We’d enjoy for everyone to share pointers about how they renovated their kitchen on a budget so this post can become an excellent resource for anyone out there who is thinking about getting began and would enjoy to peruse a bunch of what-worked-for-me pointers! And now we simply owe Clara and Burger a big thank you: for sleeping through all the hammering and drilling and simply generally being such strong little Hands-on enthusiasts (Clara still loves to measure the cabinets with her tape measure since she remembers us doing it months ago).

A five month long kitchen reno can certainly “interrupt” daily life, but our little ones are such troopers, so we are sending them both a big virtual kiss for their patience and excitement throughout the loooong and not-consistently-straightforward process! Our pointer is to try to maintain as many working appliances as possible (which is easier when you are working with your existing cabinets, but nearly impossible when it is a full gut job). We only had a few days without most of them, if that, which was no sweat! In fact it totally paled in comparison to the 113 days that we were without our first house’s kitchen during that reno. Thank goodness for extension cords to keep the fridge running and the fact that moving our stove across the room did not mean losing the function of it!

Psst- To check out virtually every post about our kitchen renovation, click here, here, here, here, and here (hooray for monthly breakdown posts that have 20+ links in one place!).

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