Ok, we’re calling it: the kitchen is officially done!
Well, mostly done. There are a few finishing touches on our list:
- Add decorative molding to the back of the peninsula
- Install a message center or chalkboard on the side of the pantry
- Add the remaining floor transition pieces and finish that patch of fireplace tile
- Replace the broken light near the fireplace, most likely with a spotlight to wash down the fireplace wall
- Add a window treatment—possibly a colorful Roman shade—over the sink
We also dream about refinishing the surrounding oak floors to match the dark mocha cork in the kitchen to create a more seamless flow through the house, but that’s a long-term project. For now the major work is finished and most of the smaller items are done, and it’s amazing to see how much this room has changed over the past five months. Can you believe we started chipping away at this renovation back in October?
To save you from scrolling back, here’s the before again for comparison’s sake.
It hardly feels like the same room anymore. We can barely remember the dark, paneled kitchen that lasted almost a year while we planned the remodel and saved up.
Here’s the makeover from the other side of the room.
And here’s a before-and-after from a similar angle showing how we opened the wall to create a large doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.
Another fun before-and-after, this one from the doorway of the office that leads into the kitchen.
Here are a few more perspectives of how the room looks today.
Many details are still evolving—the objects on the counters and shelves will rotate, which is part of the fun for a kook like me. The two 4 x 6′ rugs we laid down from our previous house are temporary; they were useful for a few shots but they’re old, stained, and not as comfortable underfoot as options we’re considering. We plan to replace them to better define those areas.
About those bar stools: we debated spray-painting them a bright color or oil-rubbed bronze, but now that the floor is so dark the silver ties in nicely with the stainless appliances and feels balanced. We might live with them for a while before making any permanent changes.
One more tweak we’re seriously considering came from a reader who photoshopped our range hood so the top was as wide as the bottom. Her mock-up arrived back in February and we decided to wait until we wrapped up flooring and other finishing work before making any rash decisions. We still like the idea, so beefing up the neck of the range hood is likely in our future.
We got very hands-on with this renovation—much more so than our first kitchen project, which relied heavily on contractors. Over the years we’ve learned a lot, and five years later we were comfortable tackling more of the work ourselves. Here are some of the cost-saving tasks we handled:
- All drywalling and trim for the opening to the dining room
- Relocating the fridge, pantry, and stove ourselves to create a better work triangle
- Refinishing our original cabinets and reusing the sink and faucet
- Adding base cabinets sourced from Habitat For Humanity ReStore to create a peninsula
- Reselling old items—granite, dishwasher, microwave, wall oven, dining table, and fireplace insert—on Craigslist
- Choosing Corian countertops instead of pricier stone
- Buying appliances on sale during a tax-free weekend with Energy Star discounts
- Building a cabinet around the fridge to make it look built-in
- Scoring a range hood on Craigslist for a fraction of retail
- Installing all of our own tile, using on-sale penny tile
- Building a custom range hood cover and open shelves
- Purchasing inexpensive metal lab stools from a school supply site
- Finding pendant lights at a local outlet and spray-painting one to match the others
- Using clearanced cork flooring that we laid ourselves
Here’s the actual budget breakdown:
- New cork floor + underlayment (including laundry room): $848
- All new stainless appliances (sale price): $2,129 (originally priced at $3,776; initial spend was $2,384 before a later microwave switch)
- Opening the doorway into the dining room (contractor + our finishing): $790 (includes $90 of drywall and trim materials)
- Additional base cabinets from ReStore for peninsula: $88
- New pendants over island and sink: $149
- Cabinet built around the fridge: $90
- All electrical work (local pros, three visits): $711
- Wood filler, primer, and paint for refinishing cabinets: $69
- JennAir range hood (Craigslist find): $60
- Wood and brackets to hang/frame hood: $115
- Materials for shelves (wood, brackets, hanging hardware): $141
- Corian counters in Glacier White (Home Depot): $1,700
- All new cabinet hardware and hinges: $173
- Backsplash (penny tile): $280
- Four industrial lab stools: $168
- Miscellaneous supplies (fasteners, glue, appliance connectors, flooring/tiling supplies, trim): $194
- Proceeds from items sold on Craigslist (old microwave, fireplace insert, dining set, dishwasher, granite, wall oven): +$750
- TOTAL SPENT: $6,955
That’s a strong result given the scale of this kitchen (24′ x 12′). If fully outsourced, a project of this scope—large doorway to the dining room, penny tile accent wall to the ceiling, new cork floors, new appliances, cabinet refacing with an added peninsula, Corian counters including a large peninsula slab, upgraded lighting, a built-in hood with custom shelves, and relocated pantry and appliances—could easily approach $30K. We originally budgeted $10K, so finishing under that amount is a win.
By comparison, our first kitchen reno cost about $20,500 and included granite, more professional labor, and all new cabinets in a smaller 13′ x 10′ space.
This second renovation took time—about five months, with roughly 5–10 hours per week invested, totaling around 155 hours. Most of the work happened nights and weekends, during naps and after hours, so if you have day commitments you can still tackle a major remodel over time by breaking it into manageable tasks.
Work steadily, take one project at a time, and the process becomes far less intimidating. The effort and love you pour into a kitchen pay off when you enjoy the finished space.
Who’s excited to call this turkey done? Are any of you about to start a big kitchen renovation? We’d love for readers to share tips and budget-saving strategies so this post can become a helpful resource for anyone starting a kitchen remodel. Special thanks to Clara and Burger for being such good sports—sleeping through hammering and drilling and even helping measure cabinets. Our kids were troopers throughout the long process.
A five-month renovation can interrupt daily life, but keeping as many appliances functioning as possible makes the disruption manageable. We only had a few days without most appliances—far less than the 113 days we lived without a kitchen during our first reno. Extension cords and strategic appliance moves kept things running.
For a complete collection of posts about this renovation, see the monthly roundups from October through February for step-by-step updates and links to all the individual posts.