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Questions about DIY kitchen remodel
Our kitchen is VERY outdated... I have been trying to talk DH in to putting a little work in to it since we moved in and I think now with one of our ovens broken he is finally on board. We live very near the college and plan to rent out the house when we move, not sell it, so we are not going to go very high end with our finishes (laminate counter tops, rolled flooring) since we would probably be renting to college kids... my question is, do you think it's possible to redo everything for under 5k? The only appliance we would need to buy is a stove. Also, if you have done a diy kitchen where did you get your cabinets/counter tops?
This is what our awesome kitchen looks like (note the sexy gold swirl countertops):
And this is our current layout:
And if we redo it we will be tearing out the double oven and range top and putting in a standard oven, and we will probably take out the "L" at the end of the cabinets... so it will be something like this
Re: Questions about DIY kitchen remodel
Fun! We DIY'ed our kitchen in 2009. We demo'ed everything out ourselves, bought unfinished cabinetry and stained it ourselves, installed our own countertop, replaced plumbing and put in new sink, installed slate backsplash, and laid ceramic tile floor....the only appliance we kept was the stove because we had only bought it a couple years beforehand it was already stainless - everything else we replaced (and even added an above-the range microwave and hood). Replaced ceiling fan/light and added pendant lighting above sink as well.
We gave ourselves SO much more storage, I love it, could not be happier, and I think we spent about 4K.
pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenirvt/sets/72157623441427880/
We got almost everything (except the fridge and lighting) at Menard's, they were the cheapest and also were very helpful!
We DIY-ed ours too, but we didn't replace the cabinets, just painted them. We also didn't replace appliances, but I still think you can easily do what you hope to for under 5k.
We also shopped at Menard's for most things, like Jeni, because they definitely had the best prices.
Here are some pics of ours: http://tinyurl.com/4nbg8cq
we did ours this past summer, but we probably spent $7-8K.
We bought new stove/range, overhead microwave and fridge. We got them at the Sears Appliance outlet in Perrysburg. Basically, they were 1/2 what we would have paid in the stores. All Kenmore Elite stuff. It's one of those "scratch n dent" type places, so you need to look, but we have like a small scratch on the side of each appliance, but they're hidden by walls/cabinets.
We ended up just putting in a linoleum floor because tile would have been too much work/too much money...and DH took FOREVER to do this, so I didn't want to extend the project any further.
We bought all new cabinets and countertops. We used Home Depot. We probably could have shopped around, but DH isn't one to do that for some reason. We splurged a bit on our sink and faucet, but I love them and wouldn't have it any other way! We got 20% off the cabinets because they had a sale on their in-stock stuff, and we saved bits and pieces elsewhere.
And we had fancy gold-speckled countertops before! They were VERY nice!
Thanks for all the input! I told him we could probably do it for about 3k and he doesn't believe me. Countertops won't be too much since we will be doing standard laminate and we already have a stainless fridge and a black microwave that are pretty new. I plan to put the stove where the range is currently so we don't have to get a new range hood as that is still in good shape. I was considering doing a built in dishwasher as there is not one right now, however we are already going to lose some cupboard space, so we will probably just leave the portable here. We are going to do rolled linoleum in the kitchen/laundry room/bathroom because they all have it now, and the doors to the bath and laundry are both in the kitchen but they all 3 have different floors and I HATE that you can stand in the kitchen and see 4 different kinds of floor (3 linoleum, plus the carpet in the rest of the house).
We don't have a ton of cuboards so I don't think it will be that expensive to replace the cabinets since we would be doing a standard size... and the coutertop and backsplash I have picked out are very similar to Merin's.
As it stands right now between the stove and fridge would be a single wide cabinet and then between fridge and wall is double door cabinet, I think I am going to shift the fridge over (wiring permitting) and put a single wide pantry (see below) and then have a double wide cupboard between the fridge and stove. I would like to be able to just refinish the cabinets we have and add hardware, but because we have to tear out the broken double oven that's not really an option.
the rolled flooring is inexpensive! We went with a no-glue kind, which was actually Home Depot's "high end" of the in-stock stuff. I want to say that for our galley kitchen, we ordered a length of maybe 11x20ft. (this is a complete guess) and it was less than $250. (vs. the $$ we would have spent on ceramic tiling...and knowing we won't get the money back whenever we sell)
Just price stuff out. We had thought of finishing our own...but then realized that DH had taken the doors off our old ones to repaint before I had R and he just turned 2 over the summer...and the doors were still in the garage, not painted. We decided to save ourselves the time and spend the extra money.
We had the same counters as your kitchen too!
we would probably be renting to college kids...How long to you plan to live in the house before renting it out? That would make me think about what I'd want to put into the kitchen while you're still living there.
do you think it's possible to redo everything for under 5k? Absolutely
The only appliance we would need to buy is a stove. Ditto Sears outlet in Pburg
Also, if you have done a diy kitchen where did you get your cabinets/counter tops? We got our cabinets from Ikea and granite counters through them as well. If I were you, I'd go to Menards and have them plan out a kitchen for you and keep it in their computer, wait for a sale on stock cabinets and get everything then. Stain yourself, voila, new purty kitchen! Find deals at Overstock.com, Anderson's, big box home stores regularly have clearance items (as you already know). Also Big Ugly Warehouse (they do kitchen design too) and Craigslist are 2 more to check for deals.
Also, from experience, wait until it starts getting warmer out - being w/out a kitchen in the cold sucks!
These still-unfinished kitchen pics are from about a month ago: (yes it's a mess)
I am hoping to be here 2 years or less... and at this point I would just be happy to have a working oven that is big enough to fit a cookie sheet in. I really thought when we bought the place that I would like having a double oven, and in theory it is nice... but now the top one doesn't work and that's the one with the top heating element. Plus, they are tiny, big cookie sheets do not fit right and end up elevated slightly on one end. I also cannot cook a ham or turkey because roasting pans do not fit.
I would definitely just do plain stock cabinets then. Find a nice middle of the road color stain that you like (since you'll be there for a little while to use them) and have Chase do them. Do some neutral color on the walls, paint trim, inexpensive cabinet handles and be done.
An working oven would be a huge improvement I'm sure! I hear ya about having one so small. I could fit a full cookie sheet in mine, but that was it, it was so shallow.