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Planning A Budget Kitchen Makeover

    Our Kitchen Remodel – Under $10K Budget

    If you’ve ever tried to plan a kitchen remodel on a budget, then you know it can be tough!  In this post, we will walk you through our planning process.

    From the moment we moved into our house, I’ve been dreaming of the day we would be able to give our kitchen a little makeover. And I’m overjoyed to say that some of the plans to make that happen are already underway!

    Update: our budget remodel is finished! Checkout the full reveal here!

    All along we have been planning on this being a budget kitchen makeover. Since we don’t plan to be in this house forever, we want to make sure that the choices we’re making regarding fixing up our home will be both cost effective and give us the best ROI (return on investment) when we go to sell.

    So here’s a look at the space we’re working working with.

    Budget kitchen with wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances

    Budget kitchen with wood cabinets and laminate counter top

    It’s a little difficult to photograph this space since it’s in a little cubby with the breakfast bar overlooking the dining area – but this at least gives you an idea of our starting place.

    We’ve already done a few things to this space since moving in a little over a year ago including painting the walls white, replacing the range, switching out the light fixture, and adding under/over cabinet lighting.

    We also installed shiplap underneath the breakfast bar using the same tutorial we used for our wood plank accent wall in the master bedroom.

    Related: 10 Surprisingly Awesome Amazon Finds for People Who Want to Upgrade Their Kitchen (on a budget!)

    Budget kitchen breakfast bar with with DIY shiplap and rustic barstools

    I painted the planks the same color of white I used on the walls. (All of the walls were an olive green / beige color when we moved in which made the space feel really dark.)

    Psssstt… Trying to figure out the right white paint color for your space? Grab my free guide!

    (This post contains affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure, here.)

    After going back and forth on whether we wanted to take on the task of painting the existing cabinets (all of those beautiful white kitchens on Pinterest were calling my name), we finally decided to leave the cabinets alone and build a plan around keeping them their existing wood color.

    With that said, here is the design plan we came up with for our budget kitchen makeover:

    Budget kitchen design mood board with wood cabinets and white farmhouse sink

    Refrigerator | Gas Stove | Counter Top | Faucet | Farmhouse Sink | Eucalyptus | Copper Mugs | Bar Stool | Rug

    The biggest most obvious change will be replacing all of the countertops. We have a ton of counter space, so switching out the existing countertops for new white countertops will make a huge difference.

    To keep costs down, we opted to go with LG Hi-Macs Solid Surface countertops in Arctic White. The solid surface options available today give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to planning a budget kitchen remodel.

    As excited as I am about lighter and brighter countertops, the upgrade I’m most looking forward to is our new farmhouse sink from Sinkology! We chose the 30” Bradstreet II Fireclay All-In-One sink kit that includes the Pfister stainless pull-down faucet.

    The large single basin will be so much more functional than the builder grade sink we have now.

    Budget kitchen with stainless steel drop in sink with cheap faucet and wood cabinets below

    We will have to cut into the two cabinet doors that are below our existing sink in order to make room for the apron-front farmhouse sink. We’ll keep you updated on this process as we get further along with the project.

    Fun fact: I’ve had farmhouse sinks saved to my Pinterest boards since before we bought our house and I can barely contain my excitement about finally adding one to our home! Dare I say I might even be looking forward to doing dishes…?! ?

    Finally, we’re planning on rounding out the budget kitchen makeover by adding a subway tile back splash. I think this will really polish off the kitchen and give it a finished look.

    So that’s the plan!

    Like I mentioned above, this isn’t going to be a kitchen overhaul by any means. But with a few upgrades, we plan to give this space a fresh look without breaking the bank!  Checkout the full reveal here!

    See how we lightened up our kitchen by adding under/over cabinet lighting in just 30 minutes with this simple DIY tutorial.