The Townhouse: Kitchen Renovation

By far, the kitchen was the number one room I wanted to renovate. It was also the most difficult, which means I needed help. Thankfully, I did have the help of numerous people, and so all of my labor was free. That was a saving grace with this whole project.

As you may have seen in the How it Began post, the kitchen was very yellow with green countertops and oak cabinets. Somehow it didn’t inspire all the baking, fresh cut flowers in the sink, and cooking that I originally pictured myself doing in the kitchen.

This was not what I wanted in a kitchen. I pictured white cabinets, beautiful marble countertops, a marble herringbone backsplash, and modern hardware — also, a huge island. In short, I pictured expensive things and unrealistic ideas for my space.

The first thing to go in terms of compromising my Pinterest dream and the reality of my home was the island. There was definitely not space in my kitchen for an island, and I knew that when I bought the house.  The next thing to go was marble countertops. I didn’t think they were practical, nor could I afford them. Thus started all the research on budget kitchen renovations.

I didn’t really do anything with the white appliances that I got with the house. It didn’t have a microwave, and I need one of those. So I installed a white microwave I purchased on Wayfair above the stove instead of the vent hood that used to be there.

I used the same wall paint and flooring throughout the entire first level: Behr Silver Bullet and TrafficMASTER’s Saratoga Hickory Laminate.

So really, the renovation boiled down to three things: cabinets, countertop, and backsplash.

Painting the Oak Cabinets White

The first thing I did was research the heck out of painting my cabinets. I was going to get my white cabinets, no matter how hard or tedious the task. I couldn’t afford to have someone do them for me, and replacing them entirely was completely out of the question. So I spent a ton of time reading up about the “proper” “right” “most extreme correct” (you get the deal) way to paint my cabinets. There were a ton of tutorials.

I went with the method of sanding, priming with oil based primer, sanding again, and then two coats of paint. 

I took off all the hardware and the doors, packed the doors up in the car, and drove two hours to my mother’s house so that I could use her backyard to spread out and paint (and also use my sister to help — she helped with the first coat only).

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have done that, and I’m lucky it didn’t rain overnight since I was outside doing this. I did have a bird poop on one of the doors so I had to clean that one thoroughly. I packed them all up again, very concerned about them not being dry enough, and drove home. Thankfully, nothing went wrong. The following weekend, I tackled the base of the cabinets, which after doing all the doors, seemed pretty easy to me. 

After all the sanding, priming, painting, the doors looked phenomenal. I am now in year three of my painted cabinets, and they still look great. I’ve had to touch them up twice in the last three years, but they were very minor. I just keep a sample size of the paint color for when I need to touch it up. 

I used Behr’s Maui Mist as my white, and it made a huge difference having those cabinets plus the new floors and wall color.

The Countertops: Marble at a Third of the Price

In all of my budget research, I kept coming back to marble. I even started to tabulate the numbers in my head to see how I could make this work. The all-white kitchen of my dreams was only $3,300 away!

Then I came across what I consider the greatest countertop invention of all time: laminate marble. If you’re picturing the cheap laminate look marble of the 80s, stop it right now. This is special because of the custom edging capabilities.

I ended up ordering the Formica 180FX Calacatta Marble with Etching Finish and a custom IdealEdge ogee for the edging. It turned out beautifully. The best part? I paid $880 for it — less than a third of what I would have paid for real marble.

The Backsplash: Budget Dilemma

Everything so far has been great, so there had to be one thing that’s not so great. Originally, I had budgeted for a herringbone pattern marble tile. But as I was walking around Lowe’s, I found the backsplash I currently have, a gray glass subway tile, and couldn’t resist the price. My budget-friendly personality just wanted to pay half the price for backsplash.

The problem? I didn’t love it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my backsplash. But it turned out looking more greenish than I would have liked, and, in the end, I do wish I had just gotten the herringbone tile.

That being said, I still LOVE my kitchen. It’s clean and beautiful but not too sterile. All in all, it was a project that was 100% worth all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it.

Here is the after picture in 2017 after it was completed:

But maybe, just maybe, I might consider painting my glass tile backsplash — or leave it. Matt is going to give me a look when he reads that part.

Update: Here is the kitchen when we put the townhouse up on the market - not a lot changed apart from adding the coffee bar.