Our house was built in 1975. When we moved in almost 8 years ago, almost everything was still original 1975, inside and out! Over the last 8 years we've been gradually updating and remodeling the entire thing, as time and finances would allow. The last room to be updated was the kitchen. Besides the appliances and floor, everything in the kitchen was original 1975. The cupboards were in good shape, but the counter tops were getting pretty dinged up. (I should have taken a close up of the counters, besides being dinged up they were more yellow than the picture shows). While we have done most of the updates ourselves, we thought the kitchen was more than we could handle on our own. We had someone come give us an estimate on new counter tops and cabinets. The labor was WAY more expensive than the materials, and we knew there was no way we could afford that! (Over $10,000!) So we decided the only way to go was to do it ourselves. I refinished the cabinets, and Monte did everything else (installed new counter tops, sink, faucet, etc.). I am so happy with how it turned out!
Here is the before shot. (Notice the handles in the MIDDLE of the cabinet doors. Why would they DO that? Apparently that was very popular in the 70's!)
And the after! It was a pain to move the handles, but so worth it! This was by far the biggest project we have ever taken on ourselves! Refinishing the cabinets was a huge pain. It took three straight very long days of non stop working on them. Degloss, then sand, then paint, then sand, then paint, then sand again, then paint! I was wondering what in the world I got myself into!
Another view of before.
And after!
We extended the counter top a little to add a very mini breakfast bar. It gets used a lot, and is the perfect place for Isabella to do homework, or read to me, since I'm usually in the kitchen. That way I can be right there to help her out.
Because of Jaymes' special diet we had been wanting a fridge out in our garage. For example, our local grocery store charges $5.88 for a HALF gallon of his milk, where as Wal-Mart (not in our town) charges $3.88. The date is always far out on it, and in the winter I can't always get to the "city" to get his food because of blizzards, bad roads, etc. So a fridge in the garage would come in very handy to be able to stock up on some things! We ended up moving our old fridge out to the garage, and getting a new one for our new kitchen. And added bonus, the kids are drinking more water, because that water and ice dispenser is just too cool! :) So... cost of hiring someone to remodel our kitchen - over $10,000 (not including new fridge). Total cost of doing everything ourselves (INCLUDING new fridge) - right around $2,000!
