What do you do if you have an "awful" old kitchen with a low popcorn ceiling and no surface space? If you're Kitchn reader Faith, you knock out a wall between the bedroom and dining room and build a new kitchen! In this budget $6,000 kitchen renovation, the bedroom became the kitchen and the old kitchen became a sitting room. (We assume another room in the house became the new bedroom!) Read more about the project below:
Faith of the blog Gracefulfitness tells us:
We kept our stove, sink, and refrigerator from the old kitchen. The countertops and cabinets are all IKEA and the open shelves, windowbox seat, and front of the bar is White Oak from my husband's childhood farm in West Virginia.
We removed the drop ceiling, placed bead-board between the beams, and painted it all white. This was a bigger headache than expected! The existing beams weren't even so each strip of bead-board had to be custom cut and the whole thing took over 12 hours. We kept the old closet from the bedroom and turned it into the pantry, leaving the door off for easy access.The floor ended up being a huge hassle! When it was a bedroom it was a little step down to a carpeted floor. It took a lot of plywood to raise the floor and then some sanding down of the old floor to match them up.
The hardest decision was about what countertop to use. I was always in favor of butcherblock because of price and look but had concerns about using it around the sink. It hasn't been an issue and I absolutely love the warm look and ease of care!
Thanks for sharing, Faith!
Related: Kitchen Before & After: Julie's Outdated Kitchen Gets a Modern Makeover
(Images: Faith of Gracefulfitness)
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Very lovely.
I just sent this to my husband as helpful instructions on our kitchen that desperately needs to be redone/updated/BETTER.
That is really beautiful. We, too, are struggling with the question of butcherblock vs ?? for the counter, and also worry about around the sink. But my mother has had butcher block for more than 30 yrs, and though there is a bit of black around the sink, it still looks great.
So nice and open without the upper cabinets. Do you miss the space?
It's gorgeous!
Can you post a budget breakdown? Does that $6K including plumbing and electrical?
We put in butcher block counters in our kitchen about 6 months ago, and I too was worried about around the sink. I just make sure to wipe up any spills and water splashes promptly--it's a little bit annoying, but kind of suits my OCD self anyway. ; ) If you're not inclined to be so conscientious, you might want to finish yours with a polyurethane or other waterproof finish. We didn't seal ours that way--we just treat it every month or two with bees oil (blend of beeswax and mineral oil)--which frankly is kind of a pain. In retrospect I wish we had done a watertight seal, but my husband prefers the look of the oiled finish.
I don't miss the space at all! An old closet turned into a small but useful pantry and we keep most of the pots and pans in a large drawer under the counter.
My husband, Tate, did nearly all the work himself, including the plumbing and electrical. This is the reason we were able to stay within such a budget. We hired a professional to hang the drywall and install the header (where the wall was removed) and had some friends with experience pitch in for the plumbing and electrical, but Tate did most of it.
I have not had such great luck with wood around the sink, especially if the sink is not undermounted so I wish these folks the best. I would have used something else on that part of the kitchen and used the butcher block on just the back.
I have all maple countertops and they're beautiful but the area around the sink already appears a little dark (2 years later). I too used mineral oil and not the waterproof seal. If I had it to do over again this is what I'd do:
I would choose quartz or granite for any areas around the sink.
I would definitely have an undermount sink.
I would have the wood only on the island.
Wow! I love it! Great job.
I put butcher block counters in my apartment kitchen. The area around the sink definitely needs more attention than if it were some other material. I end up oiling around the sink every few weeks and the rest of the counter top gets a coat every few months. I love it though. If I had the chance to re-do it, I would put stone or stainless around the sink, but keep butcher block everywhere else. As it is though, it's totally fine, just not ideal.
I forgot to mention that I love the storage for cookbooks and wine! Although, I would probably fill the wine spot with cookbooks (my partner has waaay too many cookbooks and keeping bottles of wine around is difficult to do with friends like ours!).
I love your new kitchen! The wine and cookbook storage, and the wood used to build it, are stunning. Great job!
Beautiful! They are the countertops I would do if I wasn't renting. And I love the wood under the breakfast bar!!
Just lovely.
For others, countertops don't need to be either/or. You can use different materials on different areas of the countertops!
Impressive!
It looks pretty and bright. love the colors. I like the butcher block, and I have yet to encounter the truly maintenance free countertop material., so I doubt if they are much worse than anything else you might use. But the placement of the stove and sink seem less than optimal. I need counter space on both sides of each. Why not center them opposite each other?
The kitchen looks great! Beautifully done on a tight budget :)
What kind of wood is that on the backside of the island?
Can you post pictures of the previous intact kitchen? A great deal of money was saved by not installing upper cabinetry and using the closet as a pantry.
The wooden countertops concern me for a several reasons: hygiene, fire, rot, VOC's and maintenance. I wonder how one cleans them and keeps them free of bacteria since you can't use traditional products containing bleach on them? Sure you can oil them so they look good but are they really clean?
Also, the use of wood right next to the range concerns me because of the potential for catching on fire. I don't know about you but I have set a few frying pans on fire. The use of wood right next to the range seems like a big fire hazard.
Wood rotting around the sink area concerns me not just for aesthetic reasons but financial reason because if I spend money on my kitchen I want it to last and not need replacing in a few years.
While mineral oil can be used to oil the wood and slow down the water damage it contains petroleum based VOCs that can negatively effect your health. Also oiling the wood just seems like another repetitive chore to do. I hate chores. It may look good when originally fully oiled but the constant maintenance would quickly grow to make me hate this type of countertop material.
The range placement next to the window also is a concern because of the potential for fire. If the range is an induction model their is less concern because only the pan can be heated up. However, for gas or electric I would be wary of having the range right next to the window where flames could be fanned or curtains or clothing could catch fire by being blown into the flame. You don't want to increase the possibility of a fire by your appliance location or the use of certain materials.
A better set up for your kitchen would be to install your range on the wall where the magnetic knife holder is located giving yourself landing space on each side of the range. Removing the shelving and tiling that wall with original white subway tile up to the height of the window trim if not taller along with the blue wall to the right where the range currently is located. This would enable the installing a pot rack or two where the range is currently located.The magnetic knife holder could be moved to the left of its present location and a small movable stainless steel prep table could be located in between the range and sink for food preparation space.
Installing a ceramic backsplash behind the stove and countertop would prevent hours of scrubbing spaghetti sauce and splatters off the walls. It would also provide a fire resistant surface if your frying pan catches on fire giving you a few more seconds to grab the lid and slap it on top of your frying pan. Another good reason for installing a ceramic backsplash is that it means less painting or if you install it all the way up the wall to the ceiling no painting the kitchen wall ever again. A quick swipe of a damp sponge with dish soap and your wall is clean. For more ideas on creating a safe, attractive and timeless kitchen check out my blog Tenant Proof.
This is very similar to my Ikea kitchen. I have butcher block counters as well, and I love them. The contractor who did my kitchen is very experienced in Ikea installations and said all I would need to do is have him lightly sand the counters about once a year, and then re-oil them.
It has been two years and I have yet to have him come back. The counters still look great. Water beads up on the surface, though not as quickly as they did initially, and I just dry it off. The counters have almost no stains and absolutely no damage other than knife marks on the one section I actually use as a cutting surface.
Keep in mind too that Ikea butcher block is VERY affordable. Mine was $300 for the whole kitchen (about the size of this one) with several decent-sized pieces left over for other projects. So--worse comes to worst, I could replace it in a few years if I had to. Although I don't think I will.
Impressive! Well done, especially on that budget.
I love the look of butcher block but ultimately decided against it. I cook a lot and need my counters to be durable without much fuss. Our whole kitchen is granite and I love it. I love being able to roll dough right on the counter without worrying about stains and water damage.
nice job gives me ideas for my project
Nice advice Tenant Proof. Am looking into renovating my kitchen now. Would like to get more ideas. Where's the link to your blog?
To seal wood worktops you can use Danish Oil - a couple of coats (or more like 3-4 the first time you do it) and you can watch as water pearls on top of it. However, it smells very strong and there have been discussions over how appropriate it is to use in kitchens. IKEA sells a treatment oil for their worktops called BEHANDLA (meaning 'treat' as in treatment, in Swedish) which is approved for use in kitchens, and works exactly the same way. You can use a diluted bleach cleaner on it, but I would recommend retreating it 2-3 times a year, and one of those times to give it a bit of a sand to keep it looking fresh.
I thought that I'd miss the counter space on the right side of the stove but I wanted to be able to stand at the stove without having my back to the dining room/bar. I haven't missed the space although I do need to get some nice trivets to be able to move things from the stove to the counter top more easily.
White Oak timbered from my husband's childhood home. His mom cleared a new house-site and we got some of the wood from it!
http://gracefulfitnessblog.com/2012/04/24/demolition/ This post has some pictures of our old kitchen.
Fantastic renovation!