Low Cost Kitchen Upgrade

After living in Pensacola for two years, we decided we missed being on the road.  So, we put our house for sale (anyone interested in a home in beautiful Pensacola?). John has been restoring the entire house, but the kitchen was an interesting challenge. It needed a lot of work but we couldn’t cost justify an expensive upgrade.  They say the average kitchen remodel is $28,000!  After much discussion, here’s how we completely changed the look without spending much money.

The cabinets were wood and solid construction, but made the kitchen dark plus had some damage.  John spent a lot of time repairing drawers and trim.  Then the whole thing was primed and painted white with a roller.  Painting the insides of the cabinets made a big difference too.

Hardware was interesting.  We bought some new hardware, but found it didn’t fit well with different offsets on hinges and such.  After we returned the new hardware, we decided to spray paint the old hinges and handles.  It gave it a cool look with an old-fashioned shape but with a modern black color.

The counters were in very poor shape.  After considering the options, we went to a local store and ordered counters with laminate.  John measured everything carefully and was able to install it without many problems.  The sink and faucet are new.  We also used new vinyl tile for the floor. We had to buy a new refrigerator, but all the other appliances were working.  We considered buying stainless, but knew that would cost quite a bit.  Plus white is a timeless pick.

Again, we considered many options for the backsplash.  Finally, we decided just painting the area gave us a color we liked, was washable, and low cost.

The biggest savings is that John did all the work himself.  He’s pretty handy!  Total cost for the kitchen was around $2,100.  Not bad at all!