Virginia Home: $15k Kitchen Reno

We updated our entire #VirginiaHome kitchen (all new cabinets, counters and appliances) for under $15,000. This was by no means a custom kitchen, but we had a few tricks up our sleeve to make these budget friendly materials look like a designer kitchen.

We purchased our cabinets in two phases over the course of one year to help spread out the funds. We were able to do this by using stock cabinets through Home Depot and Lowe's. We started with the perimeter base cabinets, butcher block counters and shiplap back splash.

The exterior of our house was brick, which made installing a smaller window and window patching-in the brick more difficult and costly. We opted to put the cabinets in front of the window in order to stretch the cabinets from wall to wall. We also added a small backsplash in front of the window to prevent food and crumbs from falling between the window and the cabinet. This was the most cost affective solution to gain the most cabinets and counter space.

I originally wanted a dark blue black kitchen, so we painted the cabinets in Benjamin Moore "Wrought Iron". We kept the shiplap and range hood white. We kept it like this for a few months, but something about it felt "choppy" to me and I needed to find some new inspiration.

I was inspired by the look of old english kitchens like DeVOL kitchens and Jean Stoffer Design and the way they paint all the cabinets, walls and beaded backsplashes the same color to create a tone on tone look. I didn't want the whole kitchen to go blue/black, so I decided to repaint the base cabinets, shiplap and trim in the kitchen a mid-tone gray. We went with Benjamin Moore Rockport Gray. After applying one section of paint I knew we were headed in the right direction!

For our second round of cabinet installation, we purchased the upper cabinets and the island cabinets. We were working with unfinished stock cabinets, so we had to get creative with their stock sizes. We built out a 12" deep cabinet for our over the fridge cabinet. We also cut the face frame off two upper cabinets and rebuilt them with new sides to create an 18" deep tower cabinet to house the microwave and small appliances.

In order to maintain the same cabinet height around the room, the cabinets to the left of the fridge were 24" off the counter. We decided to play up the old english kitchen style by creating a small shelf for coffee mugs, etc.

In keeping with the tone on tone look, we decided on a natural quartzite countertop for the island. I fell in love with a remnant of Blue Canyon Quartzite. Because this is a natural stone, the slabs can vary in color and movement. But that meant this slab was unique to our home - which I loved.

We knew we wanted a rectangular table to act as an extension of the kitchen island, while still giving us table height seating to accommodate a baby, a toddler and their high chair and booster seat. We needed an odd size of table to fit the space, so we decided to DIY the table. We went with a sleek leg style both for looks and to start us out with a simple design for us amateurs.

I went with a darker ashy stain to contract the warmth of the floors and the yellow tones in the butcher block. The gray blended nicely with the tone of the cabinets and island counters as well.

Next up was light fixtures! We had planned to center one light over the table and one light over the island. My goal in doing this was to have two matching fixtures to help represent the table and island as one visually. I ordered some shade pendants from home depot in hopes that the multiple bulbs and medium sized shades would carry some visual weight to the room.

We then began final trim out of the kitchen. We wrapped the island in a smooth plywood and then baseboard. We finished the upper cabinets by adding a 5" beaded baseboard as the crown. After wrapping the cabinets in base I got the itch to wrap the hood in shiplap and crown and paint it the cabinet color in keeping with the European style.

After adding black knobs and pulls to tie in with the black sconces, this kitchen was complete!

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Take away:

Budget was the driving factor for this kitchen. We found the biggest savings by using cost affective materials on the big ticket items - "off the shelf" unfinished cabinets from Lowe's & Home Depot, butcher blocker perimeter counters, shiplap backsplash, and a remnant stone for the island. We went for big impact by playing up the tone on tone colors/materials, and mixing metals for a more layered look.

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