Is it possible to make such a kitchen?

amother

Cerise

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 3:32 pm

The short answer is yes. People have renovated their kitchens for $10k or even less.

The long answer is "depends." If you need to rip out and replace all of your cabinetry and flooring, move plumbing and electrical outlets, and replace all appliances, it will be much harder to do so on that budget.

If you're willing to do any of the labor yourself that will save you significantly.

amother

Amethyst

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 3:33 pm

Are you willing and able to do the carpentry yourself?

Are you moving plumbing or electricity?

Do you care if it looks like a budget kitchen? The cheapest kitchen that is usually recommended for a rental is cabinet door that don't cover the frame (they are much cheaper), fomica counter tops and non-stainless appliances. You can definitely get a kitchen like that for under 30k. Obviously it also depends on the size, a small brooklyn kitchen will be cheaper than a huge lakewood one.

If you want it to look more expensive, decide what you want to splurge on.

We just redid our kitchen and needed to keep our costs down so we didn't run out of money.

We had to move electric and plumbing so that cost over 10k, but we were very economical about the rest. We did the layout ourselves, ordered ready to assemble high end looking cabinets and put them together ourselves (it comes like a kit, really not hard. If you can put together a regular piece of furniture that needs assembly, you can do this) we saved over 5k by assembling it ourselves. We also hung them - that took a lot of time, effort and calculations but they are nice and tight on the wall now. Another 2k saved.

We had to get someone to lay the tile because I thought it was beyond me, but you can do a different type of floor that you can lay (vinyl or sticky tile)

Then appliances is the biggest cost. If you can reuse from your existing kitchen, you can save money there too. You can always upgrade it when the appliance dies. So use the existing fridge and save to buy a nicer looking one when it dies. The only thing you can't really do that with is the sinks. Once they cut the hole and install, you are pretty much stuck with that exactly shaped sink.

amother

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 3:57 pm

Just to answer some things quickly.

We need to redo the cabinets, counters and the floors under the cabinets are unfinished.

there is some plumbing and electrical work that needs to be done (add an electrical line and move some plumbing further down a wall).

There is wall that we may look into breaking down to gain a bit more space but thats not for sure possible and can be cut from the budget (although, if we are doing the kitchen, nows the time).

My husband is very handy. He is willing to do whatever work he can.

We cannot afford to do this again in 10 years. We want a quality kitchen but not a fancy one.

What are things we can skip/do ourselves/spend less on to keep it lower budget?

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 3:58 pm

Walk-in pantries are cheaper than cabinet pantries and can take care of much of your storage needs.

Laminate counters are less expensive than granite. Post-form laminate comes with an integral backsplash.

Drop-in sinks

Framed partial overlay stained cabinets (cheaper than painted) in a decent line. Avoid builders grade cabinets.

Cabinet pulls or knobs can often be purchased in packages of 25 or 50.

Re-use appliances if possible. Standard size appliances: 30" ranges, 24" dishwashers, 30", 33" or 36" fridge in standard depth. White appliances are less expensive than stainless.

Moving and adding plumbing and electric gets expensive, but saving money to end up with a lousy layout is almost always a bad idea.

rachel6543

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 4:10 pm

I’d recommend looking into IKEA kitchen cabinets. Several local families I know have redone their kitchens and were very happy with the IKEA cabinets.

Also, make sure to get multiple quotes for work.

For countertops I’d recommend getting a quote from Home Depot. I redid my countertops a few years ago & to my surprise Home Depot was 1/2 the cost of everywhere we got quotes. And they did an amazing job & warranty the work.

amother

Aquamarine

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 4:39 pm

If dh is confident and hand he can finish floors under the cabinets - it needs to be level but the grouting doesn't need to look perfect.

I would invest more in counter tops granite last way longer then laminate - and can be easly kashered if it gets treifed up at some point.

Also recomend RTA cabinets and install yourself- shop around
Someone I trust was very happy with https://www.thertastore.com/ki......html

If dh is really handy and has done tile work you can probably find white subway tile from different sellers who have leftover from jobs and do the back splash yourself for pennies (or skip its not crucail and then add)

If you are really handy, have high levels of stress tolerance and have power tools you can do what we did - buy a second hand (that looked brand new) higher quality then I can afford cabinets, dh did carpentry work to make them fit, and we just got new granite to fit...

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Jun 07 2020, 4:56 pm

amother [ Aquamarine ] wrote:

...If you are really handy, have high levels of stress tolerance and have power tools you can do what we did - buy a second hand (that looked brand new) higher quality then I can afford cabinets, dh did carpentry work to make them fit, and we just got new granite to fit...

Be careful with that. I've been called in to lay out a kitchen where the homeowner had purchased almost new cabinets from an expensive home, but the quality was poor. Many McMansions come with bulder's grade cabinets.