Kitchen Renovation - Part 1 (BUDGETING/PLANNING)

I'm so excited to finally share more on our full kitchen renovation. This was the biggest renovation we have ever done and we wanted to do it all ourselves to keep cost down.

We started out by deciding what we wanted our budget to be. We really wanted to stay right around $15k. Realistic? Eh...maybe. We were doing all the work ourselves and okay with giving up a few luxury items to keep it under that number. So we'll start with that.

Our home was built in 1975 and had already had the kitchen re-done once but with builder grade materials. There were green laminate countertops and somewhat decent, white cabinets. The sink was just a standard silver 2 bowl sink and our appliances were 15+ years old and ALL breaking. The fridge was leaking underneath. The gas stove flame would randomly go out, just leaking gas. The dishwasher was also starting to leak.

The kitchen was almost like a galley kitchen but wider. But not wide enough to put in an island. There was dining room off to the side with a window and a 36" doorway to walk through into it from the kitchen.

My favorite (kidding) feature was the ceiling fan. In the kitchen. I'm still confused about that one. There was a weird soffit going all around the top of the cabinets so it really closed everything off even more.

The appliance layout was also not ideal. The stove, sink, microwave, and dishwasher were all in the same corner. So I couldn't do dishes while my husband was cooking. We wanted the layout to be more open and conducive to more than just 1 person being in the kitchen.

I was DYING for an island, but it just wasn't going to work. I taped it off, measured, thought of building a moveable bar cart instead, but nothing made sense. Then, I came up with the idea of a peninsula. It would add even more counter space and an area where we could add 2 barstools to eat. It would make so much more sense. Everyone thought I was crazy and that the space was way to small but I taped it off and left it there for a few days. It felt good so we went with it!

I drew out some ideas/plans and decided to go with floating shelves on the left side. It would be balanced on either side of the sink and we would move the stove to the other side of the kitchen by the new peninsula (which meant moving a gas line) so there was more space to cook and move around.

Our budget was:

Cabinets (RTA): $5000

Appliances: $3500

Sink: $500

Lighting $200

Backsplash/tile $300

Hardware $400

Countertops: $2000

Misc: $3100

TOTAL BUDGET :$15000