Renovating our 2006 Builder Grade Kitchen on a Budget

HGTV has lied to me. As a dedicated viewer, and firm believer in “I could do that too,” I thought that the cosmetic update of our kitchen would cost the same amount as my favourite, half an hour flip show, and in the same time frame. My sweet naive goal of a few thousand dollars had to be enough, right? It was only a cosmetic change,  “new flooring, new cabinets, new lighting, new hardware, new appliances, new countertops….” Not to mention labour, permits, electrical, plumbing, etc…But that is what happens all the time on TV. That budget is attainable. That budget is “realistic.” I was literally jaw dropped when I got the quote for us to redo just our kitchen cabinets. 

$17, 000. 

That was more than our entire kitchen budget! And that was only for cabinets.

And so began our start of a more serious DIY home renovation.

The back story: We moved into our 2006 build in 2019. Thirteen years doesn’t seem like that long, unless you are talking about home design and builder grade materials. The previous owners had put in new appliances, but it was still dated. *Disclaimer- this house and this kitchen was lovely. We are grateful to be in our space, to bring our babies home here, and to have a place where (pre-pandemic) we could gather with our friends and family. But we bought the house with dreams and ideas of changing it to brighten it up, and really create a space that worked for our family functionally, but also represented who were are as family too. And hey, mama loves a bright, fresh kitchen!

• 

• 

Where we Started: Flooring

So, where did we start? Floors. Luckily Mr. Lovelee has experience laying floors in our old home, and in previous projects. Choosing flooring was more difficult that I thought. It is something that is seen from every vantage point on the main level. And it is not something that is easily changed. Our goal- affordable, durable, and light. We wanted to brighten the space, but make sure dog claws, babies dropping toys, mom spilling wine, would survive the mishaps of a family. We ended up going with a luxury vinyl plank from our local home improvement store. 

• 

• 

The floors were the start of a long process to renovate the kitchen, but really necessary to update the space. Sometimes one thing leads to another, and guess what? Its okay if renovations and changes in your home take time. Not everything is as fast as they make it seem on TV and that is okay!

The Cabinets:

Once the floors were done, we had to figure out the cabinets. How to paint them and what to do with the space above cabinets but before the ceiling. Can we talk about that for a second? It is such a waste of space, and the king of dust collection. So many homes have a space between the cabinets and the ceiling, butI have a serious bone to pick with whoever decided this design was on trend. Okay, maybe for some it is not that big of a deal; my parents have it in their home. My mom changes our her wax paper every few months, gives it a dust, uses it for cute containers, and drapes plants. In my perfect world, the cabinets go to the ceiling, where you hide dishes and holiday dishes and once a year knick knacks on the top shelf.

Our goal for this space was to make it brighter, and bigger. And make our dated space feel fresh. So cabinets to the ceiling was a great way to draw the eye up and make the space feel larger even though it wasn’t. And hey, if I never had to dust/ scrape kitchen gunk off the top of the cabinets I am happy.

Using plywood and crown moulding, we were able to take the kitchen cabinets to the ceiling! Make sure you have a backer on the plywood.

• 

• 

As you can see, the space between the cabinets and celling is hollow; it is decorative, not functional, but makes a huge difference in cleanliness and making the kitchen feel bigger.

• 

• 

I cannot stress this enough, it is worth it to buy the samples! What you see on the paint cards in the store is not always the true colour. And most paint will look different depending on so many factors- lighting, sun position, time of day, etc… I have always found extra ways to use up paint samples. Trust me on this one, get the samples.

• 

Counter Tops:

We got our cabinets from Exotic Stone. We were able to go in store and discuss what would be best for our family, within our price range. We went for a quartz counter, with a little bit of marbling. They also gave us some great tips that we would not have thought about:

• Recommended rounded corners on our kitchen island, especially if you have little heads walking around at counter depth.
• Recommended a seamless sink for easy cleaning.

• 

• 

Appliances:

We looked long and hard for appliances. One of the things to mention is that our appliances at the time were in perfect working condition. In this case we had the luxury of time; however, we were also in the middle of the pandemic, and appliances were on back order, had months shipping time or were sold out. We knew we wanted black stainless steel and that an appliance package was what we wanted for a uniform look. We found an incredible appliance package from Best Buy (similar ones here). We also were able to get a matching microwave/ hood fan. Delivered, installed and on sale. They even had a bonus 1O piece cookware gift set. It was worth the wait to find what we really wanted.

As an added bonus, we were able to sell our old appliances as a package (*see Lovelee Lessons for details).

Finishing touches:

The last part of the renovation probably took the longest. The biggest “impact” items (and most expensive) were in place- the space felt different already.

• 

• 

So we waited until the budget allowed and installed timeless, classic and inexpensive subway tile, and searched amazon for quality, but budget friendly pendant lights and kitchen faucets.

The Final Results:

• 

• 

• 

• 

Lovelee Lessons:

• Don’t be afraid to ask for sample flooring planks! It is so important to be able to see the colour in your home, because based on lighting, something can look completely different in your space! Most stores should be able to give you a sample piece for free- just ask!
• Test the sample piece to see how it will show wear before you install. Scratch it, bang it up, get it dirty- that will help show you how it will be to clean/ fix once installed.
• Look for sales and compare prices. If you have the luxury (and/or patience) of time, it is worth it to wait for a sale- often times sales repeat themselves in bigger home improvement stores.
• Make sure you do your research before you instal flooring yourself! Some floors require levelling, removal, or addition sub flooring, etc… before installation directly on top of them.
• Sell what you are replacing if you can. For us, our appliances were relatively new, clean, and worked great! They were just not what we wanted for our upgrade. By cleaning them and listing them we were able to add $1000 to our appliance budget!
• Look for metal scrap bins. Where we live there are free metal scrap bins where you can put metal items. They unload the bin when it’s full as a fundraiser for local charities. We were able to put the sink in the bin- saves it from the landfill, we do not have to pay to get rid of it, and it goes towards a good cause!
• If you can’t sell, donate or get rid of things for free- at our last property we replaced the appliances- our local restore was not taking these particular models because they were quite outdated, but a local church reached out, said they could use them, and came and picked them up to use in their kitchen! 
• Obviously the choice to paint is the huge money saver here. Make sure to do your research and know what type of paint is best for your cabinets.
• It is possible to buy hardware used! Make sure you know the measurements of the drill holes, and how many you need (because you may not always be able to get the right amount when looking second hand- we got lucky- there were the exact # we needed!)
• Don’t be afraid to use spray paint on hardware, but my best advice is to not use it on high traffic knobs, or ones where your fingers are grabbing around the pull often. Our half moon pulls get used from underneath and have been holding up well to spray paint, but we had to replace our original round knobs that we spray painted as they did not wear well very quickly.
• It may cost more upfront but make sure you get paint samples! Especially with cabinets, because while you can paint them again, it would probably be best to make it a one time, done! And I have always found a use for extra paint samples