This post highlights how we were able to remodel a kitchen on a budget!
Our kitchen is SO close to being done that I get to share the reveal! This little kitchen has come a LONG ways in the four months we’ve lived in our Retro Ranch. We’ve gone every step of the way pinching our pennies and watching our budget so today I want to share how YOU can remodel a kitchen on a budget!
This is what we started with, a sad seventies kitchen that didn’t have a microwave, dishwasher, pantry, or an island.
My first tip for remodeling on a budget starts back to when we gutted the kitchen. We were able to get the demo done for free by giving away the old cabinets to anyone who was willing to demo them. We also sold the old appliances, putting $50 into our reno budget.
After gutting the kitchen, we saved a ton of money by purchasing our new cabinets on Craigslist! We also bought new appliances really affordably by watching for the cheapest price around, then having Lowe’s beat it by 10%. We also used a 10% off coupon at Lowe’s. I shared an entire post on how to buy appliances affordably.
Because the cabinets were not built for this house, we did have a carpenter build us one cabinet, as well as build side panels and some other small tweaks. This was still FAR cheaper than buying new cabinets.
Then I painted all the cabinets, costing under a hundred dollars by doing all of the work myself. The colors are Benjamin Moore Winter Snow and Sherwin Williams Night Owl.
For countertops I LOVED the Silestone that we put into our last house, but it was out of our budget this time. Instead we went with Quartz from Menards that we measured and installed ourselves. It took two templates and about 6 weeks, but in the end we got all the countertops for about $1200.
Down the hallway we saved a lot of money by using one of our Craigslist cabinets to create a pantry by stealing from the back of a closet. In our last house we also created a super affordable pantry by DIY’ing one.
We replaced the cabinets original knobs with these, that we bought affordably online.
This kitchen is small but packs a lot of punch. We were able do a lot of the plumbing and electrical work ourselves, and ended up only spending about $150 to have an electrician add a circuit for the dishwasher.
I LOVE having the prep space of an island, but didn’t have room for stools on the backside. Instead we made a 13″ overhang with room for two stools on the end.
Another tip for how we did everything so affordably is that we shopped for our lighting, plumbing, and knobs online. By shopping each item hard we spent less than half of shopping retail. We still have to do some caulking, install a backsplash, and finish some details, but for now this kitchen is just perfect.
I’ve read that the average cost of a kitchen remodel is $19,588. After the Craigslist Cabinets, Carpenter, Appliances, Countertops, Electrical and Plumbing Fixtures, Knobs, and a percentage of the flooring, ours came in just under $6,000. Although that’s far from pennies, for replacing EVERYTHING I’d say we did pretty good! On our last house we were able to keep the same cabinets, but after replacing everything else I think we spent about the same amount. If you’re looking for some SUPER cheap updates, our first house kitchen came in well under $1,000 and still looked awesome!
So do you have your dream kitchen or could yours use some affordable updates? Even if you can’t afford to do it all you can always take it one step at a time. Start out with a fresh coat of paint and new hardware and then take it from there! Even a new faucet or light fixture can make a huge difference! This is me encouraging you that you can have a kitchen you love on ANY budget!
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sarah says
September 28, 2015 at 5:51 amImpressive! Pinning these tips for our daughter’s home reno 🙂
BrightGreenDoor says
September 28, 2015 at 11:23 amThank you so much! Good luck with the renovation!
Karen Neapolitan says
October 19, 2015 at 6:55 pmwhat flooring product is this? Love it!
BrightGreenDoor says
October 20, 2015 at 9:18 amIt’s Armstrong Rustics in Acacia Laminate. I have been SO happy with it!
Karen says
October 31, 2015 at 6:12 amYou mentioned getting lighting, plumbing and knobs online. What sites did you use? We are looking at Kenmore appliances too. What is the Sears outlet? Are the prices considerably better there? Thanks! And your kitchen looks amazing!!
BrightGreenDoor says
October 31, 2015 at 12:26 pmI went back and edited the post and inserted links for each item! Here is the list of all of the Sears Outlets http://www.searsoutlet.com/d/stores_list.jsp we have always done really well there. Thanks for the compliment!
Dominique says
December 16, 2015 at 1:39 pm“We did electric and plumbing on our own.” Uhmm what? this isn’t some weekend DIY that a normal working person has the time to learn such trades… do you guys even half full-time jobs? This whole website suggests these results can be done ‘with a little elbow grease’….right.
BrightGreenDoor says
December 16, 2015 at 7:24 pmYes we both work, my husband full time and I work 20 hours a week (plus blogging) and raising our young kids. We learned basic plumbing and electrical through reading many tutorials, and asking skilled friends for lots of advice. Nothing was done with “a little elbow grease”, but instead through spending our nights and weekends working incredibly hard to complete this house.
Susanne says
December 25, 2015 at 3:00 pmYour kitchen reno looks great! I just got a huge estimate on my own kitchen reno that even after 2 down pairings is still way over my budget of $40,000. Seems like I can get a lot more for the dollars. Thanks for the encouraging words!
BrightGreenDoor says
December 26, 2015 at 7:03 pmYes definitely, if you’re willing to do your own work and shop around you can really do great. Sometimes it’s stressful, but even by coordinating your own subcontractors and really shopping around you can save a lot of money. Good luck with your kitchen remodel!
Lillian Schaeffer says
February 1, 2016 at 1:37 pmThanks for sharing this great post! I love your idea to have a bit of overhang on the end of your island for seating! I have a really small kitchen, and the space isn’t utilized very well right now, so I’d like to renovate it. I’ll definitely look into making my new island like that so I have some extra seating.
BrightGreenDoor says
February 2, 2016 at 7:58 pmThanks! I didn’t like the thought of stools leaning towards the open staircase, so this was they aren’t! It’s a little tight, but for two kids or 1 adult it’s perfect. Thanks!
Ryan says
February 4, 2016 at 10:36 amI really like the light hanging over the island, what is the make/model?
BrightGreenDoor says
February 4, 2016 at 10:56 amThanks! Here is the link to the light! http://www.lowes.com/pd_616025-2120-38171___?productId=50356094&pl=1&Ntt=barrington
Elizabeth Facun Daniels says
July 19, 2016 at 7:34 pmIncredible! Love it!
Talaya Ragin says
October 3, 2016 at 7:07 amI have shelving as part of the cabinets. I can’t remove them from the wall. I wouldn’t use the spray on that right? I imagine that would go all over the place.
BrightGreenDoor says
October 3, 2016 at 7:35 amNo for that part I just use a roller and brush. Otherwise you could spray it but it would involve taping off EVERYTHING. I perforate spray the doors, and roll and brush the rest. Hopefully that helps! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Janeen says
October 4, 2016 at 11:17 amI love your site! I am starting a big project on my basement Kitchen! Thank you so much, your DIY kit is just what I needed. Do you have experience painting faux granite countertops?
BrightGreenDoor says
October 6, 2016 at 9:52 amOh awesome! To have a basement kitchen would be awesome! I have painted faux granite before, here is the post: https://www.brightgreendoor.com/how-to-spray-paint-countertops/ Thanks for stopping by!
Lauren Madan says
October 12, 2016 at 3:58 pmWe’re remodeling our home right now, and the kitchen layout looks almost exactly like this! I love what you’ve done!! Have you had any issues with the oven being so close to the refrigerator?
BrightGreenDoor says
October 12, 2016 at 8:24 pmCongrats on your remodel! I was worried it would be a problem, but in the short 5 months we lived there it never was. One time the oven got tilted and the door scratched the edge of the fridge door.
Jodi says
February 1, 2017 at 8:58 amLooks fabulous! We’re considering painting our kitchen cabinets — how long did it take you from start to finish to paint the cabinets? Is it something that could be done in one long day??
BrightGreenDoor says
February 1, 2017 at 9:24 amNo it’s a good Week long project. Because of prep, dry time, and multiple coats. Maybe 3 long days. Thank you though!
N schulfer says
March 12, 2017 at 1:50 pmLooks looks like you had soffits above your cabinets in the before. How hard was it to remove them and put cabinets higher?
BrightGreenDoor says
March 12, 2017 at 6:14 pmThankfully there was finished drywall under the soffit so it wasn’t bad at all. If you didn’t have that luck it would be a lot more work though.
23rd Jan 2015 says
April 5, 2017 at 11:36 amAfter I initially commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment
is added I recieve 4 emails with the exact same comment.
Is there a means you can remove me from that service?
Kudos!
BrightGreenDoor says
April 5, 2017 at 12:11 pmOh no! I think that you have the option to opt out, would you mind forwarding it to me so I can see what’s happening? Jess@BrightGreenDOor.com Thank you so much for letting me know. I’m going to change some settings and see if I can get it straightened out. I really appreciate it.
Laura says
April 24, 2017 at 11:09 amThis was so helpful. Your paint color.. Did you use flat, satin or gloss?
BrightGreenDoor says
April 24, 2017 at 1:00 pmSatin. Thanks so much!
liz says
April 26, 2017 at 9:44 amLooks lovely! ! We are about to remodel our kitchen in a couple months. How much space do you have from your island to stove and island to sink? im getting to figure out if our kitchen is big enough. Thanks
BrightGreenDoor says
April 26, 2017 at 11:49 amSorry but we no longer live in this house and I’m not positive what the dimensions were. I know that when the oven was open there wasn’t any space to pass between the oven and island. It was a similar situation with the dishwasher and island. It was small but very functional.
Liz says
April 26, 2017 at 3:00 pmaww man ok thank you for responding 🙂
nicolina kolster says
October 4, 2017 at 6:21 pmThis is so beautiful! What an inspiring blog post, thank you so much for sharing your kitchen reno experience and some of the stages! <3
BrightGreenDoor says
October 4, 2017 at 7:41 pmAw thank you! It was a fun little kitchen! Sadly we moved so fast we barely got to enjoy it!