Our kitchen remodel is finally finished. Here are the before and after pictures:
If you’re thinking about remodeling your kitchen, there are a few things you need to be sure of before you whip out the sledge hammer:
- Do you have enough money to finish your remodel?
If you run out of money half way through, you’ll likely end up in an unfinished room for a very long time. It’s hard to get back into a project after you’ve put up all the tools. After a while, the half-finished look becomes as normal to you as the wallpaper. You’ll end up like those people on TV who spend a fortune on their houses just to sell them.
- Do you have enough experience to tackle all aspects of the project?
The internet is great for learning the finer points of some projects, but others require real experience. Some steps have to be done in a certain order, and each step takes a different amount of time. You only learn how to account and plan for those kinds of things with experience. If you don’t have a clue what you’re doing, then lean on someone who does or hire it out.
- Do you have the fortitude and patience necessary to do it right?
Everyone likes the demo phase; it’s fun and you have a real sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. But after a few weeks, you’re at the point where you work all day and have nothing really to show for it. At that point, there’s a strong temptation to cut corners just to feel like you’re finishing up. It’s fine to do that with arts and crafts, but not with your biggest investment. Bad work, whether due to laziness or incompetence, will only erode your house’s value.
If you answered yes to all three of those questions, then you’re in a good position to start your remodel.
We started our kitchen remodel with the intent of taking the biggest drawback in our house and making it the biggest selling feature. With the building industry in such a slump, and some retailers/wholesalers just trying to cover overhead, we decided the time was right. We had enough money saved up and our calendar was pretty clear. We decided to do almost all of the work ourselves because, well, we couldn’t afford to remodel otherwise. I used to work construction in summers during college, so I’m not entirely useless when it comes to work around the house. I should add that carpentry is a hobby of mine, so I didn’t have to buy or rent too many new tools. I’m not suggesting that someone with no tools or experience can’t do what we did, only that experience helps save you time and money.
To see the phases of a real remodel, and to learn from our many mistakes, browse through the following posts:
- Kitchen Remodel 1: The Plan
- Kitchen Remodel 2: It Begins
- Kitchen Remodel 3: Making Progress
- Kitchen Remodel 4: The Transformation
- Kitchen Remodel 5: Almost Finished
- Kitchen Remodel 6: Cabinets
- Kitchen Remodel 7: Counters & Appliances
- Kitchen Remodel 8: Dishwasher
- Kitchen Remodel 9: The X Factor Strikes
- Kitchen Remodel 10: Finished
- Kitchen Remodel 11: Really Finished
We moved the appliances out of the kitchen in mid-May and they were back in the room by mid-June. Work trickled on for a few more weeks, mainly because we had so much else to do with work and family. You could say we were truly without a kitchen for about a month, and completely finished in two. We stuck pretty close to our plan and our budget, and we think the room turned out great. We did it so (relatively) inexpensively that I’m pretty confident we’ll get at least $1.50 back for every dollar we put into it. More importantly, we enjoy spending time in the kitchen now. You can expect more food blogging as a result.
