Here's a real-world *inexpensive* kitchen refresh. With pics. (flooring, countertops, washer)

[Zippyman]

I thought I'd post about my most recent project.

This is a mid-eighties tract-home in Phoenix - with a kitchen that has been untouched except for paint & tile since it was built.

The pics should be "clickable" if I did this right.

This is what it looked like on closing day:



The day after closing, I had a professional crew come in to remove all of the saltillo tile from the house:



Then, I sold the old cabinets on Craigslist - the uppers were still passable, but the lowers were falling apart. Still, I got $300 for them.



I had a plumber come in and "re-stub" & cap the pipes - just like they do when building new houses - I wanted to have enough pipe sticking out of the walls to attach new shut-off valves. I painted the kitchen, & installed an outlet for the microwave in an electrical box, instead of just sticking out of the wall, like the builder did.

The cabinets were off-the-shelf & in-stock from the depot, around $1100 on sale.

I hired a trim carpenter to install the cabinets for $220 ($20 per "box").



Then, I found a local supplier of formica countertops, installed, with tax, they were $490



The numbers?

$1100 cabinets
$490 countertops
$200 sink/faucet (I bought a nice deep sink for ~$100, and a name-brand faucet)
$700 Appliances - $100 Craigslist stove, $175 new microwave (the day after thanksgiving sales), $200 Sears-surplus new dishwasher, $175 Craigslist black double-door ice & water in the door fridge.
$~300 cabinet installer (he still needs to install the crown molding over the cabinets)
$200 plumber
$200 misc plumbing/hardware
$50 knobs/pulls

Flooring is hard to figure - the tile itself was about $.70 per square foot, I had tile laid everywhere except the bedrooms - materials and labor worked out to a little under $2k for ~700 square-feet of tile.

I might have left a few things out cost-wise, but you can get the idea based on what I posted - a decent kitchen can be done without taking a second mortgage out.

Left to do for now, crown molding over the cabinets, a tile backsplash, hanging the new light fixture that replaced the old florescent fixture.

[ylisa7]

Nice job. Now that's my kind of kitchen. Most kitchens get outdated and need to be updated every decade or so. I really don't understand the reasoning behind spending a lot of money on a kitchen. Even the cheaper ones will last 10 years at least well except for today's disposable appliances

[ShaneSA]

Good job. That's the way I do things, expecially in rentls I have. There is no reason it can't be done in your own house. (meaning the one you live in and use).

[ehmom]

Looking at this, I wonder why you couldn't just paint the existing cabinets white and put new hardware on? They are basically exactly the same configuration as the new ones - and they seem to be in good shape (although reading again, it looks like you said the lower ones were falling apart..).

I'm just getting started thinking about kitchen renos and whether I want to do a full scale one vs. smaller spruce-ups. Thanks for the tally of cost and effort - very helpful.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by ehmom

Looking at this, I wonder why you couldn't just paint the existing cabinets white and put new hardware on? They are basically exactly the same configuration as the new ones - and they seem to be in good shape (although reading again, it looks like you said the lower ones were falling apart..).

I'm just getting started thinking about kitchen renos and whether I want to do a full scale one vs. smaller spruce-ups. Thanks for the tally of cost and effort - very helpful.

I had considered painting the cabinets, but the labor to do it would have cost about the same as the new cabinets did - and doing *that* myself just wasn't an option - I painted kitchen cabinets one time before, doing it right is incredibly time-consuming, and usually the results are underwhelming.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by ehmom

Looking at this, I wonder why you couldn't just paint the existing cabinets white and put new hardware on?

Because the OP said....

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Then, I sold the old cabinets on Craigslist - the uppers were still passable, but the lowers were falling apart.

[hueyeats]

Beautiful Kitchen... Good for you.

Won't work for me.... as I cannot do "Home Depot" (traditional style) / nor even Ikea cabinets (look nice but what "bones")...

I much prefer going back to Wood Mode (have them, & love the experience of having them) for its "built" & contemporary styling.

[chris410]

Looks good! we did almost the same exact thing at our last house.