After eight months of prep work, including sourcing, building, and staining new cabinets, Theresa and her husband were ready to gut their old kitchen and transform it. They removed everything from the kitchen, right down to the studs and subfloor, and put it back together in 11 days. See what it looks like now:
Theresa tells us about the process in her own words:
It wasn't our first "gutting," so we knew things could get a bit... exciting. First, let me start by telling you about the "before" kitchen...All of the cabinetry was original, not to mention hideous. The glue that held the cabinets together was not aging well, the odor gave that away. I had previously removed the doors so I could see what was inside the uppers because the lighting was so awful and the way the doors opened blocked the light any way. The sink was weak, the faucet weaker, and the plumbing was a nightmare. The previous owners attempted to "update" the kitchen by giving it a tile back splash. Not only did they manage to screw that up with grout all over the tiles, but they also managed to get grout all over the cheap counter tops and trim around the window and door way. Ah, and the exterior door was another issue. It wasn't hung properly, so the cold air/warm air could be felt blowing through a foot away. It also opened the wrong direction.The doorway into the front room was in an awkward spot, too. That had to be remedied. The flooring was laminate wood planks, poorly installed.
So, our graph paper came out, our needs had to be met (more storage, more counter space, move the doorway to the front room, move the stove, replace the exterior door, more lighting, etc), and we decided the most economical way to get it all accomplished on a tight budget was to build it ourselves. We tallied up the costs, made some adjustments, and immediately started by making the cabinets in the workshop above the garage. My woodsman (husband) had worked out the cutting layout on paper and we ordered all the lumber from a local lumber yard. We chose a simple Shaker style cabinet door, bought the finest maple, and found a bangin' deal on stainless steel hardware. The drawers were made out of birch, dovetailed and fitted with slides. All the drawer faces were also maple. We chose a nice cherry stain that complimented the flooring well. Actually, we had everything picked out before the construction began, which makes all the difference in the world! (I wrote a little bit about it here.)
Once the cabinets were built, it was time to gut the kitchen. We removed the cabinets and let the kids smash them to bits. The wallpaper was removed fairly easily... took out the drywall. We removed four floor coverings and my entire brood went at the metric ton of nails leftover with hammers and pry bars. A few puzzled moments (like...why would anyone put tile over a formica back splash, or, what do all these wires go to?) and buckets of sweat later, the odoriferous offenders were out of my house and made way for the fresh and new options we had waiting. Once we had the room down to the studs and sub floor, it was time to begin the reconstruction process.
We put in six recessed lights, one recessed light over the sink, built bulkheads, moved the front room entry doorway, re-drywalled, painted, laid the floor, set the cabinets, built the counter top, re-plumbed the new sink and faucet, moved the stove, and had the entire kitchen functioning by day 11. It wasn't complete, but I could finally cook again.
As the weekends went by, the cabinet doors and drawers were installed. A new exterior door and storm door were also installed. Just a few short weeks later, the house went up for sale. And, although completely unnecessary, we even managed to sneak in a new stove (Part 1 and Part 2). We're still waiting for that lucky buyer to show up and enjoy the new kitchen, but for now, I can't complain. I have a custom kitchen...not too shabby.
Thanks, Theresa!
Related: Kitchen Before & After: Cheryl's 'Very Tight Budget' DIY Redo
(Images: Theresa for The Kitchn)
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Wow, that is really nice! I love the tile.
The cabinets look great, but the entire makeover seems a little drab to me. I think it's the tile -- it makes for a few too many warm brown tones, which takes me back to the kitchens of my 80s childhood. They were a rainbow of browns and beiges.
I like the "before" better.
Impressive, but yeah...I kind of like the before better too. Everything in the remodel is so....brown.
The walls are actually mint green, it doesn't show up very well in the pictures. But thanks for the input. :)
hahaha whoever likes the before is off their rocker! Anything is better than that before!
I agree with others that it's a lot of brown between the cabinets and floors. These sorts of things are so tough because we obviously know it's a ton of work to do a renovation like this one, and yet it's hard to keep completely quiet when the end product seems a bit drab.
This is an absolutely spectacular remodel. What a classy kitchen :)
I had assumed that the pictures had been mislabeled. The blue kitchen was so cute and fun. Maybe the wood would have looked nicer, and more modern, with a much lighter or much darker stain.
I think the after cabinets look nice.
I get the feeling the before benefited from a blurry photo. When I read the description of the before, I see exactly why they did what they did.
The cabinets look great but I agree that your kitchen seems to be lacking some color pizzaz. It is great that you have neutral colors as a base but that means you can go funky with the accessories and linens.
Precisely, Kathy! However, that will be up to the new homeowners to jazz it up a bit when the house sells. For now, I have a red tea towel I bring out for just such a jazzy occasion. :)
That "before" wallpaper was hideous and the blue cabinets- yikes. Love Love Love the remodel.
Brilliant work! I've lived through 2 kitchen renovations so I can only applaud this. I'm not a huge fan of brown tones & natural wood but then, it's not my kitchen, and this one obviously works for them so well done, you both deserve a pat on the back.
It's a bit brown for me, but this is probably a good choice for a house on the market. It's nothing you can't fix with a big red or orange rug, though. Maybe a red shade, too.
Wait, you MADE all the cabinets yourselves?! That's amazing!! While it's not a flashy kitchen reno with new stainless everything and a marble countertop, I think you did a fantastic job making right what the previous owners had done so totally wrong, and vastly improving the value of your home in the process!
so some ppl don't like the style, bah.
what a project! i totally admire the hard work and teamwork hat went into making a functional, comfortable, friendly kitchen!
i have a 70's 'time capsule' kitchen waiting to be gutted and redone. the thought of it scares me. i love that this couple totally reinvented that side of their house. even the rooms beyond look great :)
Are the people who like the before seeing the same pictures as I am? Terrible wallpaper, lack of storage, crummy laminate floors, blue cabinets that may look ok in a blurry photo but are falling apart--why is that better?
The new cabinets are amazing (I'm pretty sure the photos are actually doing them a disservice). Stainless appliances and a splash of color would be nice, but for a house on the market, it's perfect.
How in the world did you pull this off in 11 days and will you please come over to my house?!?
Job well done! Those cabinets look amazing! I can too say that it looks all brown to me & I did read your comment on the actual color of the walls. Will you add a backsplash? I think a valance or area rug could liven it up too.
I read this through with great interest because I am toying with the idea of building new cabinets myself too - doing a completely custom kitchen. We have the woodshop space, tools, and basic know-how, so it could be a reality. I have to say, though, I would never consider making my own cabinets from scratch if I knew I was going to be selling the house! Was this something you hadn't planned on? I hope you find buyers that appreciate all that work and aren't going to turn around and gut it themselves with the design-du-jour. I think in your position, I would have salvaged the existing cabinets by painting them, spent most of the money on stainless steel appliances to entice buyers, and then redone things that were actually sub-par: the poorly installed tiles and perhaps countertop, wallpaper border, etc.
The cabinets are gorgeous. I can't believe your husband built them from scratch! So envious of all that storage space too.
To those who say this is drab, I call it neutral. And you have so many options to decorate - think curtains, rugs, small appliances,..... I'm glad they didn't go with anything trendy that would look outdated in 5 years.
Natural maple is one of my favorite woods, so I wouldn't have stained the cabinets (and then I would have picked a different tile & counter to go with the lighter cabinets), but the stain they picked works really well with their dining room and it came out really nice.
I think it's lovely, and I agree that the photos probably don't do justice to the grossness of the old kitchen. Once you mentioned the smell, I was 100% on your side.
You've also greatly improved the kitchen as a workspace, by changing the doorway, adding countertops and storage. I think that folks are responding to the style, which may not match their own. It is a very traditional, neutral look, and that's fine.
Good luck with the sale! I hope you get your money (and sweat equity) back and then some!
LOVE the cabinets and warm wood tones in general, but brown tiles are a bit too much. Also, no wow factor on the walls. I'd make it more cosy with plants/herbs and colourful fabrics.
So this wasn't an 11 day project, it was an 8 months and 11 days project.
I gotta respect anyone who can do that much quality work in just 11 days!
But... there's one thing that's driving me bonkers... all the things on your counters. You have all that storage space - put some of that stuff away. It'll look better.
Thanks for the input everyone! We did know the house was going on the market, we wanted to use this kitchen as our "guinea pig" for making cabinets. As for the flooring, we live in NC...red clay anyone? With a Great Dane and 3 kids, it was an excellent choice for us. As for the counter "clutter," our cupboards are full and these are items I use everyday, it doesn't bother me. The 11 day time frame was from the first moment of tearing into the old cabinets and walls to the moment it was a functioning kitchen. It was our "vacation" time, we had to use every minute of it. I really do appreciate all the input. @Home Body, the former cabinets wreaked of urine...the old glue was beginning to degrade and the cabinets themselves were built with whatever Farmer Joe had. Totally not salvageable. @KayceeParker, no more money will be invested in this home. I'm sure the new homeowners will have fun making this kitchen their own. @Nonimouse, I wish we could, haha! :) Thanks for all the compliments and critiques...
I ditto NOMIMOUSE.
The before, even though I really dug the blue cabinets, the storage and layout was bad. GREAT JOB and thank you, thank you, thank you for not going white. I'm so over white kitchens.
@HHRI,
I have to agree with others though that brown on brown on olivey green is quite drab. If either the floors were lighter or the cabinets were, then I think it would have looked neutral. As it is, it reminds me of how my dad "matches" his outfits: by wearing khaki pants with a khaki polo. What?, he says, they match!
It is probably too late for this advice but as a recent homebuyer, remodelled kitchens were a total turnoff. I was drawn to the houses with "before" kitchens so that I could do the kitchen the way I wanted. No one wants to remodel a kitchen that isn't your thing if it was just remodelled a couple years ago.
In this economy, remodelling a kitchen to sell a house is a bad idea. Use the money that you spent on the remodel and take that price off your house and it will sell faster.
I am so impressed with your hub's cabinetry and your vision for your kitchen. Fantastic job and it goes to show that prep work pays off. I also like your earthy color tones. How much do you think you saved by doing it yourself?
Beautiful cabinets! Is there a reason, though, why you didn't build them to the ceiling? That's what I would have done, and perhaps left some of the upper ones doorless. Still, it is a great improvement - good luck with the sale.
You must be so relieved to have extra cabinetry for storage now! It would have drove me crazy to see those racks every morning.
Great work!!! I'd personally go w/ a darker color cabinet. The hard wares are really nice!
I don't think the after kitchen is drab at all - I'd love to hang out there. Beautiful job!
I also like the before picture better - except for the wallpaper. The after is just so generic and brown brown brown.
Oh wow! Thanks again for the input! :) As with any remodel, budget plays a big role in what you end up with. Yes, cabinets to the ceiling would have been nice, but that would have blown the budget...maple isn't cheap! All in all, by building the cabinets ourselves and doing all of the framing, drywall, electrical, plumbing, and everything else that went into this project, we saved an *enormous* amount of money. The materials for the cabinets alone were about $2K, the rest of the kitchen sucked up another $4K...if we had hired this out and bought the cabinets, I'm not really sure if we could have done all of this for under $12K. If you have the skills, doing the work yourself is the way to go. I'm lucky enough to have my talented Woodsman, we would never be able to pay the trades to do what we did. Again, many thanks for your critiques...helps when planning the next place!
Nobody's mentioning the new work triangle -- the stove is in a completely new place. The main benefits of this, for me, would be that you could have your range hood vent to the outside. In the "before," the stove backs up to an interior wall, which means you either run a venting tube through tons of cabinet space, or (more likely) you have a nearly useless range hood that just "cleans" the air and blows it right back into the room. The "after" looks to have put the stove against an outside wall, where, if they haven't already, the owners can have someone vent the hood to the outside. I agree with the subjective many who find the "after" colors too drab, but the objective mechanicals of this makeover are impressive.
I agree with some other posters, the blue cabinets were kind of fun. But overall it looks like hat old kitchen just had to go. Yes, maybe the new one is a little blah, but it's a blank canvas for the new buyer - they can add some different lighting and accessories and they'll have a pretty kickass kitchen. AWESOME job on the cabinets, if I do say so.
I am used to seeing remodels where they remove the soffit, so I wonder why one was added here. It seems like there was a missed opportunity to take the cupboards all the way up to the ceiling.
But the new kitchen is definitely more practical and will provide a great "blank slate" for the new owner. I am so impressed that they did this work themselves!
I like the change in the work triangle: long expanse of counter top on one side, stove and fridge near each other but separated on the other side. I placed my fridge and stove exactly like that and it is so handy when you're cooking up a storm to be able to open up the fridge and grab what you need.
@miss charlotte - thanks for clarifying. I do totally understand the idea of using this as a first try to get your cabinets making skills ready for another house (or not!) My own cabinets which I plan to replace (you have definitely gotten me leaning more towards DIY) would also look decent in a photo but are really decrepit, and they don't even stink! And I appreciate your sharing the basic costs - DIY is certainly the way to go if you can.
Definitely a very well executed plan. The quality of the worksmanship definitely looks professional. And building the cabinets yourself = huge amount of work, bravo!
Have to agree that the style does seem a bit dated and overwhelmed by one colour. Just redoing the floor in a lighter colour would soften it a lot.
I think you could have just taken down that old wallpaper and left the previous cabinets.
I'm sure this re-do is way nicer in person. Camera not doing it justice I think. The floor though...has to go. Unless camera not picking it up either.
Anyway...round of applause for you.I mean that. Takes a lot of patience and smarts to do that. Looks so much better than mine.
@ House Voyeur: Read the comments. The owner says they smelled like urine and were not salvageable.
They did a good job - but honestly it just looks like a home depot standard .... nothing too creative .. not hating, its definitely a big improvement.
Given that the owners were remodeling to sell - this 'look' makes sense since it's quite generic. I lament the inclusion of bulkheads as it eliminates all that fun space over the cabinets...but I know how dusty that can get so I can understand the change. I am really impressed that the actual gut + rebuild took only 11 days since it included ripping up lots of others poorly constructed handiwork. I wish the tile or cabinets had been lighter...matching them makes it so brown - good for buyers looking for something generic pictured in magazines though.