New to here, kitchen question

JstnJL

Hi ladies, I am a lurker here (occasionally) I am out of work for the next few days (darn bronchitis!) so I actually have time to post a few questions.

 My husband and I want to start renovating our tiny kitchen.  We are not planning on staying in our house for too much longer, but we know the kitchen needs some updating to make it more marketable.  We want to repalce the countertops, sand the cabinets and restain them and put them up with new hardware, put a blacksplash up, paint, and maybe start replacing a few of the appliances (the microwave is black, oven is black & white, fridge is white, and dishwasher is creame...not exactly matching but they work!)

What would you suggest tackling first? We are on a tight budget and thankfully do not have much countertop to replace.  I was thinking

 1) Redoing the cabinets.

2) Adding the backsplash

3)Painting

 4) Redoing the countertops (I don't want to get paint on the new countertops)

What would you suggest? TIA!

decoraholic

I would do your backsplash after your new counters are in because you want it to be within about 1/8" of your counters. Counters can have varying thicknesses.

apugglesmom

I would tackle the cabinets and hardware first. And then I would paint. That will make a huge difference. 

I would then live with the countertops for awhile to see how they look after the cabinets and paint.

I would recommend appliances last or not at all. When I purchased my house, the owners took the appliances so I had to buy new ones. In the past 3 years, we replaced all our appliances with stainless steel ones. We are thinking about moving and will mostly take the appliances with us (except the dishwasher, of course). That may not be the norm, but it's what we will do. 

dr.girlfriend

Have you talked to a realtor...I would worry that you are not going to get the value of your renovation back, especially when you're talking about doing countertops and stuff like that.  I think redoing the cabinets and painting is fine, but for the rest I would just offer a credit.  No point in getting new low-end appliances that people will want to replace anyway.

JstnJL

Thanks for the input ladies! We are hoping to put the house on the market towards the end of the year.  Things are still really slow selling in our area right now!

 

emjacobs13

If you know you are moving I would look at doing this the cheapest way possible.  If the cabinets really look bad sanding and painting/staining isn't a bad option.

I wouldn't put up a backsplash because prospective buyers might not like what you chose. 

I'd look at doing the countertop restoration kit to fancy it up a bit for cheap. 

Keep your eye out on craigslist for someone selling used appliances that either match some of yours or will fit for cheap if your really concerned about the matching or they don't work. You are bound to find someone that did a kitchen remodel and is selling their stuff. 

 

Mrs Acorn Blue

I would do the cabinets, paint countertops and backsplash, in that order.  What do your current countertops look like?  You can get countertops at a wide variety of pricepoints from inexpensive laminate to granite.  If the market will not support something like a natural stone, I'd replace it with a neutral laminate, especially if it is dated.  I'd leave the appliances as is unless the maket will support you replacing them and you plan on getting some use out of them yourselves.  We did a mini face-lift on our kitchen when we moved in and it was less than $1000.

emoflamingo

Are the cabinets that bad or are they just an unattractive color? You can tone down color with the right paint and counters. I have sort of orangy-oak cabinets that would benefit from some darker stain, but the house isn't worth it. Painting and counters made a huge difference.

I would definitely go as cheap as possible, especially since you said the market is slow. I would probably not replace the appliances unless you can get them cheap enough and I wouldn't really do backsplash (it's not necessary) but if you did it, I would go as neutral as possible and wait until you have the counters done.

JstnJL

Our cabinets are 26 years old and definately dated, but I don't want to go through the expense of replacing them so sanding/refinishing is the best option.

We priced laminate countertops and are planning on spending about $150 on them.  Its a faux light granite colored, very nice.

I am not completly sold on a backsplash (more DH) so I will see what the new cabinets and countertop look like.  Hopefully some fresh paint will do the trick.

We will have to replace the microwave, its an above range and it is incorrectly installed.  I think if we get a new one in white, everything will look better.  The dishwasher is not that noticable, and it was free so it does not bother me.

I appreciate all of the feed back!