If your goal for the new year is to finally give yourself the kitchen you deserve, may I offer Better After reader Sunni for inspiration? She was sick of looking at her orange kitchen all day every day, so she and her husband fixed it up themselves with a budget of less than $2,000! That included the flooring, granite, appliances and everything. Sheesh. That’s incredible. She should teach a class.
I love the plate holder above the sink, it’s like a bridge of inclusiveness for that sad lonely cabinet in the corner. And did you notice how the island seats four instead of two now? Great job Sunni!
Update: Sunni has shared with us her budget breakdown! Check it out in the comments below.
47 Comments
Michele from IL
January 4, 2013 at 7:10 PMGreat kitchen re-do…..you crack me up! Now every time I hear Simon & Garfunkel’s song, I will be singing “Bridge over Soapy Water”. hahaha! 🙂
Anonymous
January 4, 2013 at 10:08 PMHOLY CRAP that’s a wonderful Kitchen remodel!
Not sure if you allow the word crap on here but those are the first words that flew out of my mouth. I soooo wanna redo my kitchen. It needs to be gutted though I don’t know what these cabinets are made of but it looks like cardboard.
Anonymous
January 4, 2013 at 10:36 PMEven $20k would be impressive. Wow!
Audrey @ Neverending Decorating
January 4, 2013 at 4:30 PMWow and WOW!!! I love the painted cabinets and the addition of the crown molding to them. Makes a huge difference. I’ve been contemplating painting mine.
Jenna @ Sharing My Jennarocity
January 4, 2013 at 4:32 PMI wish she had a blog to show how she did all of that for $2,000! That’s amazing!
Erin @ The Impatient Gardener
January 4, 2013 at 4:34 PMUnder $2,000? Na uh! I’m totally impressed. And yes, I’m so happy that plate rack has invited that poor cabinet to come play.
M. at Making Sense of Cents
January 4, 2013 at 4:39 PMI’m in love!
Pieced Pastimes
January 4, 2013 at 4:46 PMSuch a beautiful kitchen. Adding the plate rack was such a smart idea as was adding to the countersize for more seating to the island. Very Nice!
Julie
January 4, 2013 at 4:57 PMShe needs a blog! Beautiful!!
sara
January 4, 2013 at 5:13 PMHow in the world did she do that for less than $2000? Hats off to her! Amazing job.
Ann Marie @ Twice Lovely
January 4, 2013 at 5:15 PMI didn’t even realize that I wanted a plate rack until right now! 😉
Janette Church
January 6, 2013 at 3:17 AMLol!!! I was thinking the same thing!!!!!
jtc
January 4, 2013 at 6:00 PMNo way they replaced appliances and did all the upgrades for $2000 – could she do a breakdown for us please.
Faye Libler
January 4, 2013 at 6:09 PMFantastic!
catpal52
January 4, 2013 at 6:48 PMIt’s gorgeous, but I have to admit to being skeptical about the budget–wish we could see how it breaks out…
Andrea Davenport
January 4, 2013 at 7:05 PMSimply stunning! WOW WOW WOW gives me hope & insipration… if we end up being able to buy the FIXER upper we have our eye on, after hubbies Army retirement! because we will be on a TIGHT budget
suzyq
January 4, 2013 at 7:53 PMWhat a gorgeous makeover!
Love it………….
Happy New Year Lindsey
Hugs,
Suzan
PML
January 4, 2013 at 9:58 PMThat looks so great! I can’t believe that included the appliances. I am so happy for them!
Ellora Drinnen
January 4, 2013 at 10:24 PMHow pretty! Okay, you gotta follow up with a break out on costs for this. We would all love to see how they did this for under $2000. I’m so inspired!!
Little Oak Creations
January 4, 2013 at 11:34 PMI don’t think I’ll ever get sick of white cabinets over 90’s honey oak. Love it.
Julie Boarder
January 5, 2013 at 12:36 AMFantastic job, I’m totally impressed!!
Heather K Miller
January 5, 2013 at 4:21 AMThat’s amazing! And totally inspiring! I always think projects like that would be way too crazy and cost way too much! Good to see it is possible on a budget! I love it!
Amber Campeau
January 5, 2013 at 4:31 AMBreakdown on how…please! That’s a heck of a lot of work on 2k and I’d love to know how they pulled that off!
Della
January 5, 2013 at 2:03 PMumm. WOW! i dont think thats possible for $2000 in Australia… America must be heaps cheaper for things like that. like your food is so cheap compared to us… because $2000?!?!?! including appliances?! wowww!!! i would also absolutely love to see the breakdown and how to! amazing!
Janette Church
January 6, 2013 at 3:20 AMWith appliances?! Hooooow?!?!? Did they fall off a truck? We did our kitchen for $750, but no appliances and no flooring. Seriously impressive.
Barbara Eads
January 7, 2013 at 12:40 AMI’m from Missouri, so you’ll have to “show me.” I recently bought a new refrigerator and they are nearly $2000 alone! Cost aside, it is absolutely beautiful. I’ve always loved painted cabinets. They just freshen up the place and make everything look so clean. Fabulous!
Roz
January 7, 2013 at 3:27 PMImpossible! The appliances alone cost much more than the reported price of the whole kitchen redo.
Bonny Woods
January 7, 2013 at 5:42 PMDoes Sunni have a blog she shared that documented this transformation? It’s so pretty!
Sunni Pehrson
January 7, 2013 at 9:00 PMHello Everyone!! (Warning: long comment) I started to chuckle as I read all of these comments. I also told my husband that I should have actually calculated to the dollar the exact amount we spent before I spouted off to Lindsey that we did it for $2,000.00!! I added it up with my husband after seeing all of these comments and it actually came to $2,205 so we were a bit higher there. It is important to note that WE did it for that much, not everyone (obviously) could do that. If I had left over supplies from other projects, those weren’t counted in the out of pocket breakdown for the kitchen. Anyway, here is the breakdown of what we did and how:
Painted the cabinets: $25 (i primed with kilz, but only used a little from a left over project)
Hardware on cabinets: $45
Crown Moulding: $45
Painted the one wall with left over paint from another project
Plate rack: $5 (i saw one i loved at lowes for $300, studied it really well bought $5 worth of dowels and went home and made it from some scraps out of my lumber pile)(I do have pics of that project if you are interested)
Granite tiles for countertops: $300 we bought those on a clearance at a local tile outlet, my husband used to have a flooring company, so he mostly laid the tiles. We also bought a tool that rounds off the edges of the granite tiles so that they aren’t square.
Tool for rounding granite edge:$250
Other countertop materials (thinset, grout) $0 (left overs from other materials)
The base cabinet that we added to the island to make it bigger was $180 from lowes, but I could have gotten it for $60 from habitat from humanity if I had used my brain.
The stove was $200, we sold our white one from the before picture on craigslist, and then used that money plus our $200 to buy a stainless one.
The Microwave was $130 out of pocket. we sold our white one on craigslist and used that money plus $130 of our own.
The Dishwasher was $180 out of pocket (same thing here, we sold our old one on craigslist).
We kept the same fridge.
The sink and faucet: 200
Backsplash :$45 I bought some clearanced tiles from the same tile outlet I purchased the granite tiles from.
the flooring was $500, we bought vinyl tiles (they look like wood planks) on a labor day sale and would NOT recommend them. We thought vinyl would be best in a kitchen because of spills, but they were SO HARD to install, (and my husband was a flooring installer) and the corners have started to peel up, so i don’t recommend those to anyone. I don’t have a blog, I am actually a wedding floral designer, I just love to refinish furniture and do fixer-upper stuff around the house. If there are any specifics you’d like to know about any of these things, or are attempting any of these projects yourselves and want to learn from my mistakes, feel free to email me at sunnipehrson at yahoo and I’d be happy to answer any questions.
Crunchy Diva
January 9, 2013 at 3:51 PMYou rocked it, Sunni. Too bad on the flooring tile install – live and learn, right? Kudos to you – I hope every time you walk into your kitchen you are delighted and proud of the work you did.
Tracy
January 9, 2013 at 2:37 PMWhat about the new flooring?
Barb
January 9, 2013 at 2:40 PMI think the problem is that the fridge in the first picture is not the same one as in the second, so people couldn’t help but question it. You must have replaced it before the renovation and then it didn’t figure into the calculation.
Mel Mac
January 9, 2013 at 3:46 PMIt’s still an amazing change on that budget.
Can you please elaborate on the vinyl flooring you used, as I was thinking of going that route, but would like your advice on the product you used.
wendy2shoes
January 9, 2013 at 4:22 PMI may be wrong, but the flooring looks like Allure vinyl planking. I’ve heard it’s a b**ch to install.
strobukm
January 9, 2013 at 4:23 PMI’m pretty sure that the refrigerator is the same in both pictures, the lighting is just different.
SKetch
January 9, 2013 at 9:42 PMWOW! This is inspiring and impressive! A real stunner. =)
Handles on the fridge do look different, tho.
Sunni Pehrson
January 9, 2013 at 11:22 PM@ Tracy: The new flooring is included in my breakdown
@Barb: You are correct. I took the “before” picture about 30 seconds after we moved in because I painted that orange wall a khaki color about 30 seconds after that. Shortly after that, our fridge kicked the bucket and was replaced. I didn’t actually redo anything else in the kitchen for another year or so.
@crunchy diva- we have moved to the phoenix area and so I have a new house to fix up! So, I, like you hope that every time my renter walks into the kitchen she is delighted on my behalf. 🙂
@MelMac- it is the vinyl planking,and was TERRIBLE to install, and a year later the corners of half the planks were starting to peel up. In fact, we took pictures of the problem and asked the manufacturer if that was normal and they had received so many complaints with that lot that they refunded all of our money…so I guess we could take the $500 for the flooring off and we did make it under $2,000 😉 I don’t know if vinyl planks have improved in the last few years, but none of the tongues fit into the grooves. Each tile was a fight to get down.
pave
January 10, 2013 at 4:57 PM@Sunni: I, for one, would LOVE to see how you went about building the plate holder.
Pretty please with cherries?
pave
January 10, 2013 at 4:57 PM@Sunni: I, for one, would LOVE to see how you went about building the plate holder.
Pretty please with cherries?
Meg
January 11, 2013 at 3:39 AMI second the allure vinyl planks being terrible! They were a huge pain to install and the seams started coming apart almost immediately. We did that in a basement and click and lock laminate on the main floor. The laminate was much easier to install, looked better and was actually cheaper on sale around thanksgiving.
ShannonU
January 11, 2013 at 6:48 PMGorgeous work on your kitchen!
Thanks for the follow-up budget breakdown.
I’m so sorry you had trouble with your vinyl planks. We have used the Allure planks in 2 rooms and they were no trouble to install and have held up fine for 2 years. We are in Texas, so not sure if humidity is a factor since you’re in AZ.
We also used the peel n stick planks from Lowe’s and those have held up fine, too. We are on a slab and prepped with Henry’s primer for that one.
Good luck, all you DIY’ers!
Sara :-)
January 12, 2013 at 2:01 AMI have used allure too and it was easy peasy. No problems a year later! Too bad it didn’t work for you 🙁
Anonymous
January 20, 2013 at 9:33 AMCan you please tell what color you used on cabinets.
Fizz Fizz Bang
January 29, 2013 at 6:08 PMYou should definitely start a blog to document what you do in your new house! I’d love to see what you do!
Fizz Fizz Bang
January 29, 2013 at 6:08 PMYou should definitely start a blog to document what you do in your new home, I’d be a dedicated reader!
tonya williams
May 23, 2013 at 3:48 AMSunni Pehrson, could u let us know what paint colors u used? On walls and cabinets.
Diane Price
February 16, 2021 at 7:53 PMAwesome kitchen redo! I want to do this on my kitchen but I just can’t deal with computing costs and deciding on new designs for now.