Before & After: A Stunning DIY Kitchen Update for 15k
We recently featured Ashley’s dining room makeover, and now we get to see what kind of magic she’s worked in the kitchen. She unenviably lived through a year and a half long updating process, but the result is pretty stunning.
From Ashley: The kitchen had ugly wallpaper, chipped paint on the cabinets, and was closed in. We wanted to open the space up to our dining room to make it feel bigger.
We did almost all the work ourselves and it took us about a year and a half. My Grandpa and I built the cabinets that are on the wall with the oven to save money and also get the look that we wanted. The tile, open shelving, cabinet painting, and decor really came together at the end. With all new appliances, this project came to around $15,000.
We love the whole space. Originally, we were just going to lightly update the space but the more we got into it, the more we decided to do. If budget wasn’t a problem, I would have knocked the wall down between the kitchen and the dining space and reconfigured the kitchen layout. That being said, I’m very happy with the space as it is right now.
We saved money by keeping our original cabinets within the u shape. I wanted hidden hinges though so we had cabinet doors made for the space. That was such an inexpensive way to update the cabinetry. I believe the doors for the whole space were around $500.
Ashley’s words of advice: Just know that you are going to be living with drywall dust and messes for a long time but it will be worth it!
Thank you, Ashely! Readers, you can see more on Ashley’s blog, Bigger Than the Three of Us.