The kitchen is the heartbeat of the home – the place we spend time as a family and ours is U-G-L-Y. With only one bank of cabinets, we need to add an island for workspace and storage, fix the crumbling tile and make the entire space look stylish all on a budget! This is what we are starting with.
We need to make this space work for our family of five but don’t want to over-invest since we will do a complete remodel down the line. So, while that money tree grows we plan to makeover our kitchen with a lot of sweat equity.
New appliances, a new floor, backsplash, open shelving, and a kitchen island are on our wish list but with a modest budget, something has to go. Unfortunately, it’s the appliances. We purchased a new refrigerator but the electric range and dishwasher are in perfectly fine working condition and will stay. My first thought is to paint the lower cabinets black so the range and dishwasher blend in instead of sticking out. That’s totally out of my comfort zone for this all-white kitchen-loving gal and then I saw this on McGee & Co.’s site and it stopped me in my tracks. Major design inspiration. Black lower cabinets, with open shelving, and white walls. Now I could start to see how we just might pull off this makeover.
The existing floor is an issue. It’s unlevel, cracking and the taupe tile with brown grout is unsightly. We will rip out the existing tile and hope for original hardwood that is throughout the rest of our house. If there isn’t any or it can’t be saved then we will continue the mudroom flooring into the kitchen. Either way, it will look better than what we have now!
Last, we’re going to tackle a DIY island using IKEA cabinets. I would love to get quartz for the island and sink counter but we still need to address some plumbing at a later date so that will most likely wait and we’ll go with butcher block.
Oh, and did I memtion baby Flynn is 2 months away from making their debut? We are determined to get this makeover done before welcoming our third child. Crazy, yes. Doable? We shall see!
