Since my kitchen makeover is one of my most pinned projects ever, I get questions all the time about it.  For some reason, a lot of people are still asking about all the details and even though this post is still live from 2017, I am posting it here again so everyone can see how it all came together and the costs.  I hope this answers a lot of questions and helps you with your makeover.  I still love my kitchen and am so proud of it.

THE “BUILDER BASIC” KITCHEN MAKEOVER REVEAL – DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION

I can’t believe how different and how much I love my new kitchen.  We moved in the week before Christmas 2016, then on Jan 6th, 2017 my contractor called and said he had some time open and did I want to start my remodel.  Of course, I said YES.  Well, here we are a month later and IT IS DONE.

 

Now let’s back up and take a look at what this kitchen looked like when we bought the house.  Definitely “Builder Basic” with straight off-the-shelf oak cabinets, laminate counters, 12 yr. old basic appliances that barely worked and badly worn linoleum floors.

No frills – “Builder Basic”.  That is one of the things I liked most about the house, I could do anything I wanted to it and I didn’t have to work around upgrades that I didn’t like.  This kitchen was really shy on cabinet space, so I decided to rearrange a couple of cabinets and add a few more.

We used most of the cabinets here and just rearranged a few of them.  We needed to replace a couple to add more storage.  We bought the matching off-the-shelf cabinets at Lowes to replace the small cabinets on the left side of the range and the small island cabinet.

The old ones out and the new ones in place.

I raised the small cabinet above the microwave, replaced the 12″ cabinets top and base to the left of it with 24″ cabinets to match the right side cabinets.  Then I replaced the 30″ island with a 24″ base and an 18″drawer base.  Next was to add some crown molding and then paint.  We also removed the track lighting, added pot lights, and pendants and enlarged the peninsula.  New floors, granite, and appliances, and we were done.

This is what I wound up with.  I totally love it.

What a difference and I have so much more usable cabinet space.

 

The back of the house is one long room with family area, kitchen and breakfast area.  I love how it is one large open space.

 

 

The marble backsplash has just enough pattern to be interesting, but not enough to compete with the granite.

The island is larger now and much more usable.

 

 

Replacing the small 30″ cabinet with these two new pieces (a 24″ base cabinet and an 18″ drawer unit) gave me more storage and most of all some drawer space that I really needed.  It also gave me a larger work surface.  We extended the granite 4 inches on the backside and – —

 

added the molding detail to cover up where the two cabinets were joined together.  This detail gave the island more presence.

The show stopper has turned out to be the counters.   I adore this granite. The gray, cream, white and brown tie the whole room together.  We added corbels and extended the overhang to 12″.  I also carried it all the way to the wall which creates a huge area and workspace.  (The old Formica counter only had a 6 ” overhang and stopped at the small wall)

The very last detail was just installed on Saturday.  The new base cabinets did not have any shelves, so I had custom shelves made by “Shelves That Slide”.  The island holds all my mixing bowls.

The cabinet next to the oven holds my everyday use pots and pans.  Now everything I need is at my fingertips.

The wonderful walk-in pantry in this house is a bonus for sure.  Now I have a lot of cabinet space, so this is the icing on the cake.

The new floors are a dream.  100% waterproof.  All I have to do is vacuum and mop – and look at how gorgeous they are.  This is a product called NuCore from Floor & Decor.

It is always such a thrill when your vision turns out even better than you hoped.  I absolutely love my new kitchen.

To see all the Behind The Scenes – – – – Kitchen Remodel Update – Picture Timeline #1
Kitchen Remodel Update – Picture Timeline #2

This doesn’t look “Builder Basic” anymore.

Resourse List and Cost

New Kitchen Cabinets – Stock Oak from Lowes
Crown Molding – Lowes
Cabinet Color – Swiss Coffee
Appliances – Samsung from Lowes
Flooring – Floor & Decor – Nucore Gunstock Oak Laminate
Granite – Kashmir White – Aracruz International – Phx,Az.
Cabinet Hardware – Cool Knobs & Pulls
Backsplash – Carrera Marble from Floor & Decor
Pendant Lights – Amazon
Breakfast Area Light – Wayfair
Sliding Shelves – Shelves That Slide
Kitchen sink-faucet-soap dispenser – Overstock

Total Cost Including Labor – $6843

So what do you think?  Amazing simple transformation or what?