My post, Before & After: Brightening Up the Kitchen Cabinets, inspired a loyal Apartment Therapy reader to point me toward her own kitchen rehab. Just wait until you see what Lisa was able to do with this very dated kitchen ...
When Lisa directed me to her flickr photostream and I saw this amazing kitchen transformation, I knew I had to share it! After getting more details from Lisa on the rehab, I'm even more impressed. Not only was the majority of the project DIY, Lisa also sourced many of the materials from her local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Lisa explains:
"We didn't really have a budget, but the rule was that we couldn't put anything on credit. The whole kitchen transformation happened over a long period (a little over 1 year) in phases, and was all diy except for the electrical upgrade. The first thing we did was put down the new flooring (Dupont Chess laminate flooring) and got a new laminate countertop (Wilsonart Galactic Black), since we determined those two things to be the biggest eye sores. We also replaced the shallow sink that came with the place with a deeper sink.We found a goldmine of long glass Kraftmaid cabinet doors at the Restore and bought the whole lot. We pulled the glass out of the frames and routed out our original upper cabinet doors to fit the glass in. We were also able to use two more of the glass doors on our pantry. After the counters were installed, we put up and grouted the backsplash (got tile on ebay). I wish I had done that part before we put up the new counter, but, eh, live & learn. We liked it so much we bought some more tiles and extended the backsplash to the stove side of the kitchen too. Our stove was a cute Philco electric stove, but we had a gas connection and really missed cooking on gas. We had been keeping an eye on Craigslist for a 42" vintage gas stove, but couldn't find anything listed for less than 1k, which is probably reasonable but we are cheapskates and a half. Finally spotted a crazy stainless Frigidaire gas stove (lovingly dubbed "the beast") that was an insanely low price with matching microwave, which we quickly snatched up. Now we had added so many appliances at this point that an electrical upgrade was necessary. And we had to contract it out. Boo! So we had an electrician put in the new box, then we connected everything ourselves, which kept the cost down.
We made a built-in pantry out of an old double oven cabinet. We trimmed it out, added a shelf and some pullout bins (from a cut down ikea Antonius unit), then slapped a couple of glass doors on the front. We bought a 5-gal jug of Valspar white glossy interior paint. $50 and you don't have to wait for it to be mixed! We just figured if we hated it we could write it off as primed and paint over it. When it was all done, I freaked at the lack of color. I had a half-gallon of Stonington Grey (BM) paint left and painted the upper cab doors in it. I wanted to keep the bottom white to match the "integrated" dishwasher that we gutted the left side of our bottom cabs to install. I freaked a bit more and pulled out some teal fabric, stapled it to foamboard and inserted it on the back of the cabinets. I figured I could change the color out if we wanted a "change" later on down the road."
Lisa concludes, "Our kitchen remodel is basically brought to you by our local Restore. We found that white dishwasher, all of the lighting, the kitchen sink, glass doors, and the shell for our "pantry" there. We love that place! I don't have exact totals, but my conservative estimate is that we spent $3500 all inclusive but the electrical upgrade. The electrical added another $2600."
Bravo, Lisa! And thanks for sharing. Your kitchen rehab is an inspiration!
Images: Lisa
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Holy mother! Wow-wee!
umm... where did the fridge go??
Love it!
Hate to say it, but I agree with thorndale - cabinets were lovely, would have definitely kept the pine. Would have replaced the iron handles with white ones to match the knobs. Or new handles and knobs that matched. Even if you didn't like pine and redid them, the redo cabinets are ugly, in my opinion. If I wanted glass, would have remade pine door with glass inserts.
As to floor, if I didn't like the black and white check, I would have replaced it with .... something different, perhaps?
I even like the look of the old sink and counter better than the new ones.
Tiled backsplash is, I agree, an improvement - though might have picked different tiles to go with the old stuff. Like the new cabinet next to the stove, assuming the fridge is somewhere convenient where it fits well. Adding a dishwasher certainly is a good idea. New faucet is nice.
I would have painted the walls something other than white.
To each their own...
That beautiful wood... gone! I wonder how it would've looked with new countertops, hardware backsplash, but no paint?
Congratulations on such a fantastic job. Besides, working hard, you obviously worked 'smart' with all the resources you had. Love that you made a pantry out of left-overs.
Okay am I missing something? That wood was not beautiful!
I love the transformation and the fact that you did it all yourself (with stuff from ReStore!) makes it even more impresive!
Funny, I'm trying to sand down and expose my wood cabinets! You did a great job and I love the after. I agree, too much wood can look dated, so I'm planning on trimming mine in white for contrast and a "shaker style" look.
Sure, the wood is "dated" - that's how it became a classic look.
Fantastic job! I love it. I liked the knotty pine, too, but I think they look great they way you have them now. I'm impressed that you did so much of it yourself and that you kept to a sane budget without going into debt. We approach home improvements in the same way and I admire watch you've accomplished here.
Eh, count me in the paint lovers. I lived with a wood kitchen for many years and hated it every day. I think this looks amazing, and I'm going to steal the back of the glass-front cupboard color trick. And the price? WOW!
I meant "what you've accomplished here". Not watch...
I usually am on the pro-wood side - but knotty old honey-stained pine? Yechhh. Great transformation!
It looks WONDERFUL! You were so resourceful and smart with all you've done. I much MUCH prefer the redo!
The old knotty pine covered in yellowing shiny varnish was awful... makes me think of cheap vacation homes. Bravo on covering it all up! Even as someone who loves wood (and who actually works in a sawmill making pine finishing boards all day), I'm still on the pro-paint side on this one.
I'm sorry people but sometimes you go too far with the "keep the wood" thing. Those things were way too overpowering and looked like shiny plywood.
ok, there is classic, there is dated, and there is horrible. yellow knotty pine - in my book - falls under the latter two. but that's just me. i like it a lot better as is now, and besides, it wasn't that great a wood, they did it within their means (which many could learn from) and it fits their taste. you go girl!
There's nothing "classic" about cheap knotty pine cabinetry, unless having a kitchen that looks like a basement from the 60's is your thing.
Love the remodel. Very tasteful.
Oh, yeah; the knotty pine had to go. The rehab is terrific. Great job!
Hi all, Lisa here! Thanks for the all the comments so far. :)
Man, I knew I was gonna catch crap for painting those cabs. As I should, lol! I actually love those pine cabinets, they are what originally drew me to the kitchen. We spent two weeks trying to refinish them, but alas years of grease stains and water damage won out. Painting them was not arrived at lightly. And the fridge is there, just not in the pics, sorry about that.
Are you kidding me? SAD to see the wood go? Uh, no! The "after" pictures look fabulous. I am all about wood, but cheap knotty pine cabinets from the 60s are nothing to mourn.
I can not believe how little they spent. I have seen kitchen makeovers that cost twice as much and didn't look half as good. Nice work!
I think the kitchen is beautiful! Great decision to paint the cabinets. But I will paint wood no matter what :-p Unless it's mahogany or maybe cherry. That's it!
The first thing I thought when I saw the "before" photo was "please tell me that she didn't paint those gorgeous knotty pine cabinets." I regret looking at the "after" photos. While the other improvements made are really nice, I would NEVER have painted over such beautiful solid wood cabinets. Sorry for the sour grapes.
I think they did a great job using much of what they already had. My only neg crit is that the hinges jump out at me.
This is an amazing, resourceful, clever job... I love it! Congratulations! I think it's especially cool that you creatively re-used recycled materials and hacked IKEA to create a kitchen that looks like it cost a bomb to create... way cool and very original.
(BTW, I too painted over crummy old knotty pine cupboards... and never looked back. I don't know what era the nostalgic folks are referencing... I live in a 141 year old house where original cabinets would have been painted or knot-free... knotty wood was considered inferior and used only in hidden locations or for fuel. The era of exposed knotty wood is actually the 1970s and '80s (when our kitchen cupboards would have been installed...) and I figure that that era does not exert any stranglehold on taste, attractiveness or entitlement to preservation. Knotty wood is just the inferior bits and pieces of wood that we are left with after cutting down all the big old growth forests. IMHO.
Love the kitchen, love the painted cabinets! It looks amazing!
@ gatineauhills i second you! hate pine, it is the worst, cheapest wood there is!
and the hinges are jumping at me too, maybe you could spray paint them to match the hardware, or white... it could only improve.
I despise knotty pine; the painted cabinets look great. Love the new pantry as well. Not a fan of the tile, but overall I think the kitchen looks fantastic. Great for you for being so resourceful and frugal.
Really surprised at all of the knotty pine lovers. I have a whole basement finished with thick heavy knotty pine paneling - want to come and do my demo for free?
I think you kitchen looks great. Good for you to stick it out for a whole year not to do anything on credit.
I LOVE a good wood/white combo everytime - but I am not a fan of knotty pine. I'd have painted too. Great job!
I LOVE the hinges!
This is SO much better! I love it! I like the kitty decal on the dishwasher too!
I'll echo the hate for the pine too. It's like a '50s cabin. I'd paint over it with absolutely no hesitation.
Yeah, I'm not getting the love for the knotty pine either. I also love natural wood, but to me, knotty pine is just one step up from plywood, and I'm talking a baby step up. I love the 'After'! Great work!
FAB.
My in-laws have those yellow knotty pine cabinets. They are horrible and very dated. They're very bossy and compete with any sort of update you want to attempt. It's far from sacrosanct to get rid of them, whether by painting them or changing them out.
The new kitchen is fresh and modern. Job well done!
knotty pine belongs in log cabins.
and, i LOVE the backsplash!!
I think it's great, but what's even better is that YOU, the homeowner, love it and are proud of your very hard work! Thank you for showing us your beautiful kitchen. That backsplash is totally fabulous. Ignore the negative comments. :-)
Amazing job! I agree with a previous post on the floor- couldn't money have been saved and the similar original floor left alone? Was it damaged? And the cabinets before were hideous- great job on the remodel!
The problem with the wood cabinets is the hardware and the countertop -- I would have replaced them with stainless steel. I also would have painted the baseboard beneath them black. Matching stainless steel appliances for sure, maybe a mod backsplash, maybe new flooring. It doesn't have to take that much work to spruce up an old kitchen.
I do love some beautiful wood, but kitchen with all wood cabinets do tend to look a little bit dark and overpowering and this wasn't even nice wood, just cheap wood with a bad finish, painting them was absolutely the right decision. Love how you bought cheap glass-cabinet doors and used the glass for your doors, so clever! All in all a very nice kitchen make-over for a good price.
I'm with sarahashley on the knotty pine--I rather think knotty pine looks best inside a pine tree, actually. Lovely re-do.
Great! This is my kind of Before and After.
Nicely done.
Love the transformation. Congrats!
Beautiful remodel. I appreciate that this was done with a budget and produced a kitchen that looks very easy to cook in. I especially like the glass cabinet doors, the teal liner, the backsplash, and the double oven cabinet redo. Very smart! The only negative is the dark hinges.
I've already commented on Flickr about how beautifully-done this is. Seeing it again still makes me say, "Oooh, aaah!"
Those before cabinets were hideous. I cannot believe how many people are mourning their loss! The remodel looks great Congrats on your new look and kudos for your resourcefulness.
Wow! I can't believe how many people are saying that they love the knotty pine look. I wish I could say the same, it'd make house hunting here in Northeast Ohio so much easier for me. That's all that there is here. Old school oak and pine kitchens. Yuck. I'm a modern kinda gal so of course I'm just mortified! You did a great job. Well done. So much better. Can't say enough about how much better it looks!
Hi there, Lisa again. Thanks again, I appreciate everyone's comments!
Re the flooring: the "before" flooring was vinyl stick tiles that had yellow staining and were coming up in many areas. I actually stabbed the inside of my toe with one of the peeling tiles while walking barefoot in the kitchen that first week! We loved the b&w checkered look, but wanted something more durable, and so went with the hardier laminate.
Fabulous job!
Also, I guess the comments on this post show that everything has its die hard fans, even knotty pine. Really, though, even if you like it, knotty pine is far more limiting stylistically than other kinds of wood.
Yes, I HATED the knotty pine. Very 90s. The white was a great choice, and I never would have thought the light gray would add so much! It looks incredible! Fantastic backsplash too.
I love this redo. The cabinets now look totally fresh and clean. The tilework is great, and I love the ingenuity with the glass work. Great job!
Wow - I love that you had a 'no credit' rule. You have beautiful taste and I love seeing financially savvy choices like the second hand stainless steel appliances. I am totally inspired - for the day that I have a kitchen I am allowed to rehab anyway. Also, I think you've got the perfect amount of color going on right now.
I don't know about the knotty pine. The before look was not nice at all, but perhaps the wood could have been stained in a different colour.
The before was really cool... I would have just painted the walls bright teal or yellow and bought an apron..
I'm glad to see the knotty pine look gone! Regarding the floor, I knew exactly why you replaced it, you can clearly see the yellowing in the before picture. If you love the checkerboard look, nothing wrong with getting something similar.
I love your backsplash and all the creative things you did along the way. Beautiful stove. Don't freak about what you perceive about less color, you have plenty of interest there with the blacksplash and the flooring.
Great redo, especially using the Restore.
I am one of those who likes the pine cabinets- but I totally understand why they needed to go. (I discovered when starting my kitchen remodel that my kitchen was originally knotty pine, and yes, it was originally a 1948 cabin.) I do like the finished kitchen, and I love the flooring.
My kitchen remodel is moving slowly too- new countertops, backsplash, faucet and fridge so far. Next is painting the cabinets, and new handles, then eventually a new dishwasher.... Also doing it on a no credit card rule. (but the counters were included in the home loan, the old ones were very poorly done tile.) I will eventually redo the floor, but it came with a not too old wood laminate already down.
I can't quite understand why there is ONE decal, smack in the middle of the dishwasher, of a cat. Makes no sense, unless a cat would find it amusing, since it's at their eyeheight.
LOVE the color in the back of the cabinets. I am trying to find the right china cabinet for my dining area and am starving for some color and timid about putting it on the walls. Easy to put it in the back of the cabinets, especially when it's a temporary addition and can be changed. Thanks for the illustration, I am emboldened!
Fantastic transformation! Very creative use of resources. There is a reason we call it "naughty" pine.
I've had a kitchen full of those type of cabinets. I found they were called knotted pine, and people fainted just at the sight of them. They were revered. People would just stand in my kitchen and stare in awe.
I wasn't one of them. I thought those were the ugliest cabinets I had ever seen. Usually I am not a fan of painted cabinets, but I am all in favor of painted knotted pine.
There is an Emperor's New Clothes component to knotted pine, IMHO. I envision contractors getting the wood for cheap, and then deciding to make it all the rage. That's so American.
PS I thought the cat was art. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
That cabinet wood was heinous. Great job on the redo!! I normally and not a fan of white, but this is an exception. It's fantastic!!
I don't think there's ANY item that I could have a hard and fast rule about keeping, they way some people seem to feel about knotty pine cabinets. The fact that they were in bad shape makes it a no-brainer: why would anyone cling to greasy, stained cabinets?
I love that dicey1 called the pine "bossy"-- hilarious! At first I thought you meant your in-laws :)
I love the backsplash- the kitchen is tied together without matching. The 'before' pic looks oppressive and depressing, the after shots look so light and fun and just enjoyable. Well done!!
The reason old cottages built in the 1940s and 50s had knotty pine cabinetry is because it was cheap and full of KNOTS, which also makes it rather weak and undesirable for many uses. The heavy varnish helped keep the knots from popping out.
Yikes, people...
Pyrexmaniac's comment above is cracking me up. He/she regrets looking at the "after" photos? REGRETS? That's a pretty firm stance on someone else's kitchen remodel, buddy. Actually laughing out loud, here.
Those cabinets were AWFUL and your kitchen looks amazing now! So fresh looking. Great job, and kudos to your "no charging anything" rule. This is inspiring!
Those of you who loved it before must need some glasses. Seriously, that was the ugliest wood. She did a wonderful job on theremodel.
Paint is the greatest thing ever!
all of you guys in favor of the wood are bizarre to me. heck no would i have left it either - you were looking for an update to your dated kitchen and you acheived that. the original wood was drab and dingy. GREAT job!!!
There's a Yellow Knotty Pine Army out there! Who knew.
Great job, Lisa!
i had to comment just to outweigh the bizarre Yellow Knotty Pine Preservation Brigade that stumbled in here.
Great job! Inspirational for me!
Your hard work is an inspiration. I've never ventured to buy appliances on Craigslist as I'm afraid I'll end up wasting money on something that ends up being a piece of junk. I like the painted cabinets. The old ones were cool if you lived in a cabin, but I'm guessing you don't!
I just hope that old range went to a good home. But I'm sure glad I have a vintage gas range - it's great.
Loved the old one.
La'Ah'Uv it! Great Job!!!
Knotty pine wasn't used because it was just 'cheap'. Also, it was durable which is partly why it was so popular. I have seen knotty pine in more modest homes to more expensive mid century homes, as well.
The 'after' is lovely. And like Lisa, I'd only paint over my knotty pine if I had to.