My Kitchen Remodel
Y E S! One of the most exciting posts I’ve shared, all about my kitchen remodel!
When I first moved into my place, I knew right away I was going to have to renovate it. It was so outdated and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
Obviously considering I’m a first time homeowner, I knew absolutely nothing about what it takes to renovate your home. Or how EXPENSIVE it is!!! So today I’ll walk you through the whole process!
MY ORIGINAL KITCHEN
INSPIRATION
Obviously before you get started, you’re going to want to figure out the direction you’ll be going in. What color cabinets? Hardware? Backsplash? Lighting? Pull outs? Shelving? And lastly, a budget you’d like to stick within.
To be completely transparent, my budget was around $20k. My kitchen needed a lot of work and I knew it would be costly, but also knew it would be more than worth it when it eventually comes to selling my place.
I knew I wanted a very white kitchen. I’ve always had darker kitchens in any of my apartments and I was never really happy with them. Before getting started I knew I wanted:
White shaker cabinets, black hardware, a quartz countertop (with a simple marble look), and wood accents if I could make that happen somehow.
GET DIFFERENT QUOTES
Make sure you don’t go with the first person that gives you a quote!! Definitely browse around and see what other people charge before making a decision. I originally got a quote from Home Depot and they estimated it would be around $40k for what I wanted to get done. That was absolutely not happening lol. I ended up working with a general contractor that was recommended to me by one of my neighbors, he quoted me around $21k.
CHECK OUT THE MATERIALS IN PERSON
Right before we started demolition of the old kitchen, my contractor had brought over a bunch of different samples for me to pick out the materials we’d be using. When it came to the countertops, I honestly couldn’t decide from the tiny little samples and didn’t want to regret what I ended up picking. So I went to go see all the material in person from the provider he uses!
They had tons of finished kitchens in the showroom, which made it so much easier for me to make a decision. I went around taking pictures of everything I liked and showed them to my contractor the following day!
THINGS I WANTED AFTER WE GOT STARTED
As I mentioned, this was my first time doing anything like this so it was definitely a learning experience. While we were making our way through the remodel, I thought of new things I wanted them to do while they were at it. I was a little flexible with my budget so I was able to make some additions without it getting too crazy.
Pull out trash & pull out drawers under my stove.
These were absolutely worth the added expense! Having my trash pull out right where I usually cook makes clean up so much faster! As well as having drawers installed under my stove, grabbing my pots and pans is so much easier now rather than having to dig in the back of a cabinet.
MY KITCHEN - AFTER
My dream kitchen! I can’t believe how perfect it turned out. I honestly get so excited every morning when I go downstairs and see it, I think that puts me in prime “adulthood”. I would’ve loved to have some floating shelves with a nice natural wood, but I didn’t want to mess around too much with the current layout. Maybe in my next kitchen!
This was seriously such a cool experience and I’m so happy with the outcome. I have a few more renovations planned out for my home, can’t wait to share those with you guys!
Until next time, XO!!