Our kitchen is 95% done. We still have some small things left to do like install the outlet covers and touch up the paint, so no Before & After reveal or resource list just yet. But, the kitchen is functional.

Pictures of cabinets before they were painted and cabinet maker information here. The cabinet paint color is Benjamin Moore Graphite. More about the cabinet color here.

I have to say the new kitchen is absolutely wonderful and I have no idea why we waited so long to remodel it. Kitchen before…yeah, I know! What were we waiting for? The kitchen actually looks nicer in those before pics than it really was.

Looking into our back porch.

I utilized the space from what was probably an original built-in for a pullout pantry. Part of the reason it took me 10 years to do this remodel was because I felt so guilty at the thought of ripping out the built-in. There is still some debate whether that built-in was actually original to the house or added a little later.

Now that the built-in is gone, I don’t miss it at all and haven’t looked back. Having so much counter space makes the kitchen a dream to cook in. We have super deep pullout pantries and drawers. I LOVE the storage space.

I have blind corner pullouts on both sides of the room. These are so functional.

My favorite thing in the kitchen is this Franke Manor House Series faucet. I love how the nickel has brass accents and it ties the chrome, stainless steel and brass hardware used throughout the kitchen together. I found the faucet on Amazon. It was a closeout and I got it for a third of the cost, which makes me love it even more!

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We faced the unexpected cost of rewiring the entire downstairs of our house, blowing our remodeling budget out of the water. We needed to make some drastic cuts to our kitchen remodel to have any chance of the project cost coming in anywhere near our original budget.

One major place to save is on the cost of cabinetry. We are replacing the upper cabinet portion of one of the built-ins (pictured here) with shelves similar to what you see above. The shelves cost less than $100 dollars. When compared to the cost of custom, built-in cabinetry there is no contest. The space is still there if we are able to afford a built-in at a later date.

Another way we cut costs was to forego cabinetry around the vent hood or the refrigerator. Eventually, we will be able to afford a cute little SMEG or retro Big Chill fridge. I prefer the vintage looking fridges freestanding rather than built-in anyway.

One major place we saved is on lighting. I found these economical pendants at IKEA for under $25. You can’t beat spending $50 for kitchen lighting. And, we can always change out the lights later with no regrets.