Even though we didn’t love (or even like) this kitchen, it was tolerable. It flowed nicely into the dining room and it had great natural light. We hadn’t budgeted for a major kitchen remodel in this phase, so we figured we could live with it for the time being. A coat of paint, and some new lights and appliances would have gone a long way.

That was until Michael attempted to simply move a cabinet so that the outside door could be relocated. He was able to separate it off the wall easily enough…and then it disintegrated. Suddenly he had everything dismantled. Gone are the laminate counters. Gone are the cheap appliances. Gone, gone, gone are the five melamine cabinets and the horrible layout. I guess we better find a kitchen remodel budget.

If you watch any HGTV program they will tell you an average kitchen remodel is about $55,000. We did the entire thing for $12,000. We scrounged and found new custom cabinets online, and barely used Corian counters on Craigslist. We did all the installations ourselves, expect for the counter cutting and reseaming. Instead of getting the $6000 range we really wanted, we found a similar one for $2000 at IKEA. We had the island made by some crazy guys from South Carolina instead of going retail. All in all, the sacrifices came out great. I think it blends the old historic flavor of the House well with the modern things we love. We are still in need of a backsplash and some minor trim work, but that can wait awhile. I have some cooking to do.