our kitchen breakdown...




Sorry for the delay on this post!  Thanks for the patience while I was getting this post together :)  We are fully in the throws of enjoying our kitchen makeover and love it still everyday!  We were so lucky to have good bones in this space and a lot of potential to work with.

As we have mentioned before, our kitchen space is fairly small but nothing we couldn't work with. We like the lay-out downstairs with the living room and dining room combined, with the kitchen and family room connected on the other side of the house.  But, since its a smaller home, the kitchen and dining room or still right next to each other (just not open to each other).  I wanted to be completely transparent and tell you how we spend each dime in our little re-do.  So here is the breakdown:

1. Gallon of a paint for all the cabinets-39.95 from Orchard Hardware.  We had a custom-color made and we only needed a gallon for all the cabinets (with built-in primer).  

2. Counter tops-$1199 from Home Depot which included the under-mount stainless steel sink.  We used a 20% coupon and also saved an additional 10% by using our Home Depot credit card.  We LOVE the counter-tops and plan to use them for all our bathrooms in the near future.

3.  Kitchen Island-$200 from Craigslist.  We needed an island but something small.  We found this bad-boy on Craigslist and it originally had a blonde butcher block top that we stained dark (we already had this in our garage so stain was $0.).  PS-I love staining now :)

4.  Faucet was $119 by Moen from Orchard Hardware.  It was $149 but we had a coupon for $30 off a purchase of $100 or more.  Jeremiah installed it himself and we used our old disposal so that was great.  I love the faucet!!!

5.  Pendant light from West Elm was $99.  We debated if it was a bit too big, but once Jeremiah installed it we thought it was perfect.  Another point for the husband on installing this too :)

6.  Appliances were $1998 from Home Depot.  I will say the experience on having these delivered was not favorable and installation was kinda hard for the oven, but we still love them.  The fridge is stainless steel but doesn't show fingerprints (yay!) and the oven had to be a drop-in which typically cost a little bit more.  We shopped over a holiday weekend so that helped with the pricing.

7.  Cabinet re-facing was a total of $145 in materials.  We got a quote to re-do all the cabinets for well over $2k and our cabinets were in good shape, so no need for that.  I disliked the rounded-corners of a 1980's home so we wanted to cover those and modernize the doors themselves.  The supplies for $145 include:
  • sand paper ($10)
  • wood filler ($60)
  • 5mm 2x4 underlayment ($60)
  • staples ($15) 
The supplies that you would need to accomplish the same look are:
  • Table saw with a finish blade
  • Chop saw with a finish blade
  • Jigsaw
  • Air compressor
  • Staple gun with 1/2 inch staples
  • Putty knife
We had some help with the cabinets.  We used Ben from Degessi Construction and I found him on Home Advisor.  He did an EXCELLENT job and we will certainly call him again.  I think he secretly loved us too because every time he came over to work, we would leave the World Series games on the television downstairs so he could watch it while he worked (Go Royals!).  He was really great if you live in the Portland area and need some help on a project big or small.

8.  Hardware-we used the existing swing hardware from before and just spray-painted them in a nickel finish ($7.99).  We bought the stream-lined hardware from Orchard Hardware for $4.99 each for a total of $159.68 (we needed 32 handles).  We decided to have them installed horizontally instead of the standard vertical to give the space another "twist."  I think we made a good call!

9.  Back splash-I love a good ship-lap look so I asked Home Depot to cut some underlayment in 7 inch strips and then Ben used a staple gun to attach them to the wall.  The underlayment cost $25 for the entire back splash and then we also used the leftover for a small spot under the oven that was open after the installed the oven. The strips are thin and just give the illusion of ship-lap when they are spaced apart.  I bought a gallon of paint from Home Depot in a nice white that we used in the space above the cabinets when we first painted the house a few years ago.  

10.  Whoopsies-Okay, for full disclosure there were a few whoopsies that I would like to include in the cost.  When we did the back splash wood, I was convinced that the back splash would look great in a gray.  I.  was. wrong.  So, that was $22 in paint that didn't work out.  Meh.
Here are some more progress pictures so show the "journey" we went through all because I messed up majorly on a counter top DIY:














There it is!  Please email us if you need any specifics at ladybirdandfellow@yahoo.com.  Thank you!