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!

I love a farmhouse sink. This was the most affordable one I could find that still had the style I liked. I used to think I preferred a two basin sink, but decided to get one large basin when I found out I was pregnant. I imagined us washing the baby in there. Of course, we haven’t done that once, but now I am a complete convert to a one basin sink.

I just have to say that our new garbage disposal is awesome. Every time we used our old one it clogged up the drain and we had to call the plumber.

The wood shelves are in the space where our other built-in cupboard resided. I know for a fact that built-in was original to the house. The plumbing for the upstairs bathroom sits in the space above the shelves and the main drain from the upstairs is in the little bump out wall to the right of the shelves. We left the plumbing in place and saved 6-10k.

The wood shelves were a compromise to save money after we ran into some unexpected electrical issues. I’m really happy with the open shelving.

Instead of the stainless steel fridge imagine this. One day…sigh. Why are all the stylish retro fridges so expensive? SMEG’s are cute but don’t seem family friendly. Have you seen the ice box?

The little doors lead to storage space and shelving underneath the stairs. I also had a wide trim piece installed all around the top of the room. It aligns with the top of the doorways and window trim. I have no idea what this trim piece is called. Anyone? I have always loved the Gamble House kitchen. I wanted to incorporate that touch into our humble little kitchen.

I bought the pendents from IKEA before I had even decided on a cabinet color. What a happy coincidence! And, you can’t beat the price, $60 total for two huge fixtures.

The other thing I am loving is finally having a dishwasher…I mean one other than me!

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.