October 27, 2007
Small Kitchen Remodeling Problem?
redroze777 asked:
My Husband and I just bought our first home. We set aside plenty of money for upgrades. At this point after paint/ Appliances / Fixtures / Furniture we are at 2000$ left over.
Problem 1: Our Kitchen is super small. We have a total of 8 Cabinets. After much inspection of the current cabinets we’ve learned the pervious owner must have had custom cabinets because it looks like only the Cabinet face (Door and trim) are actual cabinets the rest is stained ply wood. Problem 2: Home depot and Loews both said they couldn’t work with us because their cabinets will not fit in the current lay out. Problem 3: We have two bi-fold (Fake) Closet doors that hold the washer and dryer and Water heater and furnace. I know if we take those out that would allow for much more space to work with. There is no other place to put the Water heater, Washer, dryer besides the garage. Our kitchen is in desperate need of a remodel! What can we do? We can’t afford to hire a contractor to do this. HELP!
Besides IKEA. We’ve tried there and just like their picture frames Their cabients come in THEIR sizes! That was a complete waste of time trying to go through them!
We’ve thought about replacing the doors but the cabinets are such ODD sizes we can’t find doors to fit. Custom doors are very expensive
Question posted courtesy of: Erica
My Husband and I just bought our first home. We set aside plenty of money for upgrades. At this point after paint/ Appliances / Fixtures / Furniture we are at 2000$ left over.
Problem 1: Our Kitchen is super small. We have a total of 8 Cabinets. After much inspection of the current cabinets we’ve learned the pervious owner must have had custom cabinets because it looks like only the Cabinet face (Door and trim) are actual cabinets the rest is stained ply wood. Problem 2: Home depot and Loews both said they couldn’t work with us because their cabinets will not fit in the current lay out. Problem 3: We have two bi-fold (Fake) Closet doors that hold the washer and dryer and Water heater and furnace. I know if we take those out that would allow for much more space to work with. There is no other place to put the Water heater, Washer, dryer besides the garage. Our kitchen is in desperate need of a remodel! What can we do? We can’t afford to hire a contractor to do this. HELP!
Besides IKEA. We’ve tried there and just like their picture frames Their cabients come in THEIR sizes! That was a complete waste of time trying to go through them!
We’ve thought about replacing the doors but the cabinets are such ODD sizes we can’t find doors to fit. Custom doors are very expensive
Question posted courtesy of: Erica
Ikea baby! Seriously, it is probably your best option when you want something nice on a tight budget.
We moved our water heater out to the garage along with out washer and dryer, I dont know how far your kitchen is from the garage but if it near the pipes are the biggest expense and the plumber/gas fitter. good luck
Put an Island in the dining room and in it put a sink, stove, and small refer.
If you’ve got $2000 left; you could have a carpenter or cabinetmaker build you a pantry style cabinet. Those are 7′ tall and vary in width. You can see a typical pantry cabinet at Lowe’s or Home Depot and it will give you some idea of what it will hold. If you have the unit built, it can be whatever size you wish to fill a space. You might remove a base and wall cabinet and slip this new unit in that space. You might only have a problem matching the doors and trim. In a lot of kitchens we do, people ask for one accent piece or we work in an antique or other piece that they may have into the layout. Rather than attempt a match to what you have; have an interesting piece made. You’ll still have money left over and a custom cabinet. Don’t get rid of the old cabinets as you may wish to reinstall them and keep your new “heirloom” when you eventually sell. Congratulations on your new home!
Have you thought about just replacing the doors and refinishing the built ins and adding new hardware? I know that doesnt solve your “Small” problem but its a fairly inexpensive way to “Freshen” up a kitchen. You can buy new countertops that are “DIY” at Home Depot fairly cheap. Then I would suggest saving up the money to have a contractor come in and move your plumbing to move the waterheater, washer and dryer and then you can start thinking about replacing the actual cabinets.
The poster that mentioned Ikea is correct, you can get great prices on cabinets there and most of them are fairly easy to install yourself. They also have the doors “Fronts” for replacing the ones on your cabinets now. They also have at Lowes or Home Depot the cabinets that are unfinished that you can do yourself if you can get them to fit properly in your new space.
Edit: If you cant find doors to replace the existing doors then just refinish what you have now until you can save up the money to have the plumbing moved and a redo on the kitchen.
Im in the process of doing the same exact thing you are. I have a very small kitchen and we want to remove 2 walls, move our water heater and washer and dryer to make our Family room and kitchen one room. Since we do not have the funds currently to do that I have started pulling all the doors off. Our doors have this little trim design on them and we are cutting out the middle on that design (sorta like a big square) and putting in glass behind the door on the upper cabinets. We are repainting the existing cabinets, adding new hardware and putting in a new tiled backsplash and new countertops. Right now we have spent about 400 dollars on supplies and that should be it until we can save the money to do what we want to do. That 400 also included us putting down new tile in the kitchen and dining area.
I don’t know anything about the layout of your kitchen or it’s relation to other rooms, but since you say it’s very small, I’m assuming it’s “closed” off and not open to another room like the living room or dining room. My suggestion is to remove a wall between the kitchen and adjacent room if you can. I would them put in overhead cabinets and a bar with cabinets underneath! This will not only make your kitchen look bigger by opening it up, but it will give you a whole wall of additional cabinet AND counter space with the bar. You should be able to do this for $2000.
I think I can help with your cabinets. I know of a very simple and inexpensive way to reface them quickly and for very little money. You don’t have to take off the doors or hinges, and depending on the finish you have now, you might not have to sand or prime. It’s too much to explain here, but you can read about it on my blog at http:www.uglykitchencabinets.blogspot.com
Hope it helps, and good luck with your kitchen!
May I suggest a custom builder. If you live in Florida, these guys are pretty good.