How We Remodeled Our Kitchen for Less Than $600
by
Ariel Noel
Meet my kitchen on the day we moved in. Some background: this image (from the realtor) is HEAVILY photoshopped to make the space appear much brighter and larger than it actually is. The white laminate cabinets were actually covered in brown goo (grease?) and were from the 1970s, when our home was last updated. The black granite and stainless steel appliances were added prior to it being sold to help "modernize" the space.
The Kitchen: BEFORE
We would have loved to replace the cabinets, as the current ones do not utilize the space well. For example, the back left corner of the kitchen is an empty space that cannot be accessed at all. How I wish I had a lazy Susan in that corner for storage! Unfortunately, we were told that our granite countertops would probably not survive being removed and reused without some breakage, and we didn't want to potentially incur additional costs (countertops are pricey!). I had to think of another way to update the space...
The Kitchen: BEFORE
My sister just had her kitchen cabinet doors replaced, and I'm a copycat. Unfortunately, I was quoted a minimum of $1500 for new custom doors (since mine are irregular sizes). NOPE. NOT HAPPENING. Finally, my husband and I decided to update our doors ourselves. We removed the doors, added 2.5" lattice trim around the perimeter (attached with a nail gun), and filled all of the nooks and crannies with wood filler. BOOM! DIY shaker-style cabinet doors on a dime. For 17 doors, we only needed $82 worth of lattice trim.
Adding the lattice trim
Next, I used a milk paint to paint the top cabinets white and the bottom cabinets in a bright emerald green. I totally understand that most people would not enjoy emerald green cabinets. Green is my husband's and my favorite color, so it works for us. I admit that I initially questioned my erratic choice to go bold in color, but once it all came together it made sense. For the record, I would never use milk paint again. I've used chalk paint and milk paint in the past, and I prefer chalk paint any day.
Painting the cabinets
Once we rehung the cabinet doors, the kitchen looked like this. Do you spy my fancy new faucet? It was my 30th birthday gift. It's a champagne bronze faucet by Delta.
The Kitchen: IN PROGRESS
Finally, we ordered cabinet hardware (on clearance) from Amerock and tiled our backsplash with regular subway tile. It was a surprisingly simple task, as we had never tiled anything before. I don't have a how-to tile on my blog because I used youtube videos by pros as my reference. Please ignore that one outlet still needs to be covered.
The Kithen" AFTER
Now, for the budget:
Another view of the kitchen
If you want more detail about the project, I wrote A LOT more on my blog: districtofdecor.wordpress.com/ Otherwise, just enjoy this last before and after! We're happy with the results based on our budget!
BEFORE
AFTER
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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3 of 161 comments
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I would have never thought to use that green but I like it actually better than the white the subway tiles really tight everything in looks really really nice
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I thought the same thing. I think the subway tiles pulled everything together.
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Your kitchen went from somewhat antiseptic and boring to ... STUNNING! The color choice (which I never would have imagined using) is something an interior decorator would use. LOVE IT!
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Impressive. Well done