MY Old Country House: MONDAY MAKEOVER

IT IS A

QUANDRY

"HOW MUCH should we invest in a kitchen that we Neither OWN Nor

DO OWN and would GUT renovate, if our ship came in...???."

This is in fact the position we are in with our kitchen.

The LAYOUT is fine...unless we can take down a wall...

And taking DOWN a wall will only happen if we GUT renovate....

...and so we will do what I call the :

SPIT RENOVATION

1. CABINETS -

IF YOUR CABINETS are in decent shape,

JUST UGLY, or dated, or both

and you like THE footprint of your kitchen...

then you can paint them.

(awesome tutorial here from revolution of style blog)

We painted ours, inside and out and lived with them just painted for 7 years.

our original kitchen is here

WE also replaced the hardware...at that time, I went with all copper handles and faucet to

work with the existing copper hinges that I was not in the position to replace...

-work with what you have-

....and then last summer we did OPTION # 2

....we had NEW doors made and I invested in my DREAM hardware (above).

(POSTS HERE)

It made a world of difference and was a fraction of the cost of getting all new cabinets.

design sponge

Another affordable and creative solution to nasty cabinets is to just take them out and do shelves.

We considered this option and may still try it, but for now, we felt it best to just leave the cabinets as is, with the new doors and hardware.

2. APPLIANCES-

My rule of thumb with appliances is INVEST iN THE BEST quality appliances YOU CAN AFFORD, because appliances can be transferred to a NEW kitchen...you know, should YOUR ship come in...and it happen to be a ship full of money.

I say AFFORD because, there are different budgets and there are kitchen suites

for under $3000 and individual pieces for over $10,000.

BE SMART. Read reviews. Take your time on this one.

Word of mouth and OTHER blogs is where I found my best advice .

When we originally outfitted this house with appliances

on the landlords budget we bought inexpensive Fridgidare

appliances. They lasted fine. ANd now we are ready to upgrade.

But I tend not to be an appliance afficianado...I am not a BIG cook, but I do NOT

like things that break. So, shop wisely. No No No.

3. SINK - I HAVE A DREAM SINK....

THIS IS MY DREAM SINK. BUT IT IS NOT PRACTICAL TO GET THIS SINK
AT THIS JUNCTURE, AND IT WOULD REQUIRE CARPENTRY TO FIT
SO - THIS WILL WAIT.

INSTEAD, WE WILL GET THIS SINK, NICE AND BIG, STAINLESS.
..I NEED A BREAK FROM OUR WHITE PORCELAIN SINK

4. COUNTERS:

I have probably spent the largest portion of my kitchen renovation energy on countertop choices. You name it, at some point I WAS getting it. Granite, Butcher Block, Marble, Silestone, Formica, concrete...all of it appeals to be on some level and some budget. What I finally resolved is that with THIS kitchen which is 40 years old and I really want to ultimately GUT, it makes NO SENSE to spend more than $1000 TOPS on the countertops. So I am going with......PSYCH....you will have to come back and see....I am so excited!!!!

HABITUALLY CHIC

5. FLOORS -

I am not going to say much about floors. I need to do more research. We are limited by layers of vinyl and faced with a few choices - 1. rip it all out and see if there is wood floor underneath

2. put yet another layer of vinyl on, but it is already getting too close to the cabinets so probably wont do this or. 3 lay down new sub floor and tile. This would be my first choice but again....$$$$ The floor as it is an entity unto its own....may just have to wait a bit. I would be so excited to just have the wood.

BIRCH AND BIRD

6. LGHTING -

I LOVE LIGHTING...this is such a fun way to give your Kitchen your SPIN on things, make a statement. Like a really great necklace! Again $$$ count and you can go high or low, but the great news is that there is GREAT lighting to be had for little $$$. we got these two chandeliers at Lowes from $99/each and love them.

Very Jonathan Adler don't ya think???

7. FAUCETS...Again, this may be a "no brainer" but faucets can make of break a look, and a great looking faucet can be had for a fraction of the cost of another....identical one.
I am all about..."if it LOOKS great, and it looks like the real deal, but costs less and THAT is what I can afford...then GET the more affordable one!!!" Now conversely, is it looks cheap and IS cheap...save for a better deal. Especially if what you already have is GROSS...don't replace GROSS with more GROSS.

this faucet was around $115 at Home depot and looks like one which cost hundreds more.
Works for me.

8. Accessories - TILE, WALLPAPER PAINT

We can talk paint colors for the wall another time. At this juncture my plan is, once the NEW countertops are in, to cover as much wall as possible with subway tile. I love it behind the stove and it will brighten up a potentially dark kitchen. Our kitchen is a 4 wall kitchen which these days is pretty rare, but it is what it is...the wall will not come out easily...so for now...as TIM GUNN says...we "Make it work!"