Kitchen

Kitchen

Our kitchen was completed in June 2009 and now two years later I am getting around to posting a complete kitchen series. typical!

When we moved into our house we knew that one of the first rooms we wanted to work on would be the kitchen. It is a little galley kitchen so we knew with hard work it could be a quick project. We managed to finish in a few weeks. We did everything ourselves except for the lighting which was the best $150 we could have spent.

This picture was taken the first time we looked at the house (7/2008), almost a full year before we bought it. I am pretty sure the previous owners replaced the countertops and flooring to put it on the market so they were in good shape, but not what I wanted. Among the things to be replaced were the countertops, sink, faucet, flooring, lighting, stove hood, fridge, and backsplash.

After:

Now some details... A piece of the countertop material was also used as the backsplash. The walls are concrete blocks & concrete plaster so the outlets are run with conduit which is hideous. We were able to move some of the lines inside of cabinets so that helped our kitchen from looking like a garage.

Behind the backsplash were holes in the plaster and concrete blocks so we decided to use beadboard sheets as the backsplash. Now they seem to be everywhere but I loved beadboard then and I still love it. It is so easy to care for! We used a 1x2 to finish off the beadboard. It was more authentic to the style of house than a fancy trim cap and it matched our window frames.

We kept the existing dishwasher and the stove -which was brand new. My inlaws graciously bought the refrigerator as a house warming gift.

This photo was taken while I was painting the cabinets. To the left, where the stove goes there was white metal sheeting covering the most hideous of wallpapers. It was taken down and replaced with bead board to cover the wall damage from the glue as well as plaster damage under the window.

The cabinets were nice wood, just really dark. They also have a ton of dents that weren't really noticeable until we started to paint-of course. The stove hood was pretty gross so it was replaced and made a cover to conceal it.

In the corner is a tall cabinet that we use for a pantry. It didn't come with a cabinet door so we had one made.

I had a door frame made for $100 to match the rest of our cabinet doors. I think I over paid but I needed it in a couple of days and the guy made it fast so he charged what he wanted. To save money and give a little character I had him keep the center of the door open and I used a curtain from Pier 1 instead.

I am not a fan of microwaves on the counter taking up space so Eric was able to re route the plug into the pantry so I could hide the microwave. Added bonus it got rid of the ugly conduit. Our trash can also had to go in here since it couldn't fit under the sink. We still want to reorganize and improve the shelving in here but we just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Like with everything I do, we did this kitchen on a little budget.

Countertop (Ikea) $393.00

Backsplash $115.00

Cabinet Paint (Benjamin Moore Soft Chamois) $76.00

Wall Paint (BM Nantucket Gray HC-11) free leftover from old kitchen.

Cabinet Hardware - ebay $40.00

Lighting (Ikea + install) $220.00

Floor (Premiere Tile Heritage Pavers) $303.00 (these were purchased at cost)

Curtains $20.00

Pantry Cabinet $100.00

Faucet (ebay) $60.00

Sink Sterling Brand (scratch & dent Home Depot) $67.00

Stove Hood $55

TOTAL $1,449.00

I am planning on sticking to the kitchen theme this week and posting on our floor, lighting, stove hood. To see how we stained our Ikea butcher block countertops click here.

This project was featured on The DIY Showoff

Original article and pictures take kleypas.blogspot.com site