Our 16K Kitchen Renovation
When my husband and I first bought our house in 2013, we faced the challenge of revitalizing a foreclosed property within the constraints of a very modest budget. We did a “phase one” renovation including replacing the floors and countertop, knocking out a wall and replacing it with an island, and painting the maroon cabinets white. While this initial endeavor did not manifest our ideal kitchen, it certainly made living in our home more bearable. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t handle life with maroon cabinets. Fueled by a desire to have a functional kitchen once our second child arrived, we embarked on a renewed renovation endeavor in 2018. The below pictures are where we began this time around.
The best part of the “phase one” renovation is that it revealed that my original layout idea left much to be desired. In this second renovation, I completely reworked the layout and made the space much more easy to navigate, leaning on the principles of feng shui.
There were a few design choices that allowed us to change the layout so drastically. First, we got both a narrower fridge and a narrower dishwasher which allowed us to put the dishwasher and fridge on the left-hand wall. This opened up space on the back wall so we could center the oven and gain crucial counter space on either side of the stove. We also rotated the island so that the kitchen was more of a galley-style, thus opening up the flow of traffic into the dining room.
On top of the layout re-design, we replaced the flooring so it would be seamless between the kitchen and dining room. We replaced all of the cabinets and added open shelving to make the kitchen feel more spacious. We changed up the lighting, the range hood, the hardware, and got an oven to match the rest of the new appliances.
Below is how the kitchen looks now!
On top of changing the kitchen layout, we also added a pantry to the back wall of the dining room. In the previous kitchen, we had no dedicated pantry and had been using a few of the upper cabinets to store dry goods. The new set-up gives us approximately 200% more pantry space.
One of the most impactful parts of this renovation is the soft-closed drawers. They are certainly an upgrade from the drawers we had previously that were original from the 1950s and dropped sawdust on the items below every time we opened them!
We saved a lot of money by doing a majority of the work ourselves. We completed all of the demo, plumbing, and electrical. We replaced the flooring, installed the shelving, installed the backsplash, and painted.
However, we hired out the drywall patching and the cabinet installation. We worked with a company called VA Kitchens to install the Ikea cabinets mostly because of the time constraints and the fact that my being very pregnant limited my ability to help with that. And honestly? That was the best money we spent. They were incredibly knowledgeable about the process and they installed the cabinets in 2 days, as opposed to what would have been 10 or so for us.
All in, our new kitchen cost us about 16k.
The prices below are what we paid and might be different from what you see.
Materials:
Cabinets (Ikea): $3,290 (including the pantry)
Pulls (CB2): $281
Backsplash (Lowes): $200
Flooring (Floor & Decor): $995
Appliances (Lowes): $3606 (this included the fridge, microwave, dishwasher, and oven) (links below)
Range Hood (Home Depot): $292
Countertops (Capitol Granite): $3053
Faucet (Wayfair): $329
Sink (Lowes): $207
Pendant (CB2): $120
Chandelier (West Elm): $300
Open Shelving (JDS Antique Reproduction): $360
Labor:
Drywall Patching: $300
Cabinet Install (Ikea Kitchens VA): $3055
Grand Total: $16,388
By the time we ordered the cabinets from Ikea, I’d been using their kitchen planner for four years, trying to get the layout right and waiting for the budget. Good things do take time, but boy is being patient worth it! This kitchen has made the biggest impact on our quality of life and the amount of love we have for our home.