Kitchen Update

BEFORE

AFTER

We can't believe how cheap and easy it has been to transform our kitchen. Kitchen remodels are notoriously expensive so we have been putting off making any major changes in the space since we moved in 2.5 years ago. But in March I'd decided I'd had enough. We were hoping for a baby and I knew that if I didn't tackle some of the larger projects around the house we could have a harder time getting to them later.

Our cabinets are a big part of the problem and we went back and forth on whether or not to replace them. Finally we decided that they are good enough for the next few years until we do a complete gut jb on the kitchen and that we should focus on refacing them later, but work on the counters and sink ASAP.

So we headed to Ikea. We loved the idea of butcher block counters and in fact did several inspiration posts here on the blog about them. Ikea woods are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified which means that the wood comes from sustainably managed forests. It was an eco no-brainer for us. We chose their Numerar oak.

We purchased two large pieces and arranged to have my Godfather, Uncle Tony, come over to put them in. He was able to measure, cut and install them in less than two days. We stood in the kitchen scratching our heads as to why we waited so long!

Next we chose an Ikea sink for the space. I wanted a large farmhouse style sink so that I could put a whole turkey in it if necessary and I'd hoped, someday bathe a baby. We went with the Ikea Domsjo.

Now we had the challenge of finding a faucet. The faucet that was already there was wall mounted. Home Depot and our local hardware store had the exact same one. I wanted something pretty but all of the fancy faucets were mounted on the sink. I went on the hunt and finally found a nice gooseneck wall mounted French handled faucet on Ebay for a decent price. 

And even though our cabinets still need new fronts and drawers, we love our new counters, sink and faucet and we think it's a huge improvement on what was here before. So our phase two kitchen remodel cost breakdown went like this;

Counters            $300.00                            Ikea

Sink                   $106.00                            Ikea

Faucet               $100.00 + Shipping           Ebay

Labor                $150                                 Uncle Tony

______________________________________________

TOTAL             $656.00     Not too shabby!

LEFT SIDE BEFORE

LEFT SIDE AFTER

BEFORE RIGHT

AFTER RIGHT

There is certainly a lot more that needs to be done with cabinets, repainting trim, etc, but we're happy with where we are at the moment and looking forward to the next project!