Good bye 1980's kitchen and rest of house!
Last summer I posted looking for advice on remodeling on a budget for a dated 1980's house my son had just purchased with his girlfriend. For the life of me I can't find that thread.. but wanted to give an update. My husband and I helped coordinate most of the remodel because we are both semi- retired, so have a lot more time than they do! We have also built three homes and enjoy the process!
In that post.. many said for them to live with the kitchen the way it was for a while since I said this probably isn't their forever house( but it might be now!) , others suggested to paint the cabinets.. but that really was not an option. In the before picture, which was a realtor picture.. it looks much better ( and bigger!) than it did in person!
At first they were going to go with IKEA.. long story short, paid for the 199 design visit that was less than useless.. got a list of 10 pages of parts and prices.. some that were needed and others not! I made a rant on FB about the whole ordeal, heard from an acquaintance in our town who had just started selling Wellborn Cabinets. We went with her. Cost was about 500 more than IKEA. but we didn't have to put them together!!!! The IKEA quote for assembly and install was 2200. We weren't going to have them do it, but asked for the cost. ( if anyone wants to read the whole IKEA story, I posted a Yelp review - IKEA Bolingbrook, Il)
The cost of this kitchen completed was just less than 8500, not including the new floor, which they did on the whole lower lever or appliances, the existing were acceptable. Roughly 5K for cabinets, 3k for quartz counter & sink including waterfall edge on peninsula, 300 for new range hood, 100 for hardware. And we sold the existing granite for 750$. The old cabinets we could have sold, but kept for garage and basement.
We actually did the whole house (2100sf) remodel for 35K. This included almost all new windows, (2K on sale from Lowes + additional 15% off ) all new flooring, hardwood on first floor,(3500) carpet on 2nd,(2K) new kitchen,(8500) new master bath,(4K), new powder room, all new trim 1st floor, some 2nd floor all new interior doors, new light fixtures, plumbing, new front door and whole interior painted. Half of the labor was DIY ( gutting the house, all the painting, all tile work, We paid about 5K to local handymen to help with some items, drywall, enlarging wall openings, electrician, and had custom built ins around the FR fireplace done, We bought the windows at Lowes, but paid another handyman to install them.
The original budget was 25K, but that did not include new windows, after closing we found most were way worse than we thought, and did not include hardwood floors. Part of the downstairs was already hardwood, we were going to refinish and match, but found the existing hardwood was installed over 2 layers of laminate, that was warping.. all the old hardwood had to go. Then we were going to DIY wood laminate for a cost of 1800, but my husband hated the way it looked.. even though its not his house! And pitched in the extra(3k) to get the real wood and have it installed.
This was a short sale house, they got a great deal on in a great neighborhood, so even with the 35K investment, the total investment is still 40-50K less than what other homes are selling for, and without doubt this is the most updated!
Didn't get the pictures in order, obviously the middle is before!
I know this is a kitchen board, but here is the before and after of the family room as well. Took out the doors to the LR and made the opening larger. Cabinet bottoms are same as in the kitchen, then we paid to have the uppers built along with a new fireplace surround.
Comments (19)
weezel
7 years ago
Wendy
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Painted 1980's veneer kitchen cabs... before & after photos
Comments (26)WE painted our cherry veneer 20 year old cabinets in our old house. We also replaced appliances, counter, backsplash, fixtures and found the old floor. I think you are on the right track removing the overhang, but also removing the soffit will make a huge differnce. Do it if there is nothing in it that is too difficult to relocate. If you do not replace doors, definitely fill in the groove and sand flat. You also be able to add glass to a few uppers to really make an impact. The fun thing about painting old cabinets is that you are not destroying anything and making an improvement. You could try different colors. We pained ours about every 3 years, first white, blue, then yellow. I wanted to try gray but we sold the house. We also cut out some of the uppers for glass, but ended up cheaping out and using wire. We also used Soapstone remnants, since we did not want to tear out anything too great because we wanted to eventually replace cabinets (moved first). We were able to them for $2500. Before: First remodel in progress (no finished photos): Yellow:...See MoreIf you've redone a 1980s/1990s kitchen please share!
Comments (2)Our Southern California home was built in 1980. We waited 27 years to do our kitchen remodel. - We opted to leave the soffit because of cost but improved the look and feel of the lighting. - Replaced the slide-in range/microwave with a cooktop and OTR microwave. Lengthened and deepened the peninsula. - Replaced oak cabinets with cherrywood frameless cabs and added a cab with glass to the end of the run. - Replaced 4"x4" tile countertops with Impala Black granite. - Replaced the tile floors with Chilian Cherry wood. - Replaced 4" high tile backsplash with Fire & Ice quartz brick. - Bumped out the cupboard over the fridge and added a side panel to the fridge. - Closed up a useless little window. - Added pendant lighting over peninsula. Here is a before and after photo: Jodi-...See MoreStarting Over 1930s - 1980s kitchen
Comments (23)I'll be contrary and say I'm against keeping that cabinet. The "old" cabinet is a hybrid from the (I'd say 50's-60's) previous renovation and the original cabinet. The bottom is original and the top has clutzy replacement doors instead of the (probably) of inset doors, the new doors were probably an attempt to blend the new cabinets with the old. The kitchen probably had one of those long wall sinks with integral drainboards in that area and the photos show the newly improved arrangement with only one small full depth base cabinet - the sink base. If you keep it, I think you can't place the dishwasher where you've drawn it - I don't think you have even 18" for a dw between where a farm sink cabinet would be and the edge of the antique base cabinet. You already know that its height from the countertop prevents you from using that counter space for anything but storage. If you keep it, you might look for new doors for it and a better companion cabinet for the other side of the sink window. The wall cabinet there looks like a replacement ir later addition anyway. Doing the return (making the little "L" on the dining room side) doesn't actually get you much - you lose more of the easy storage in the corner, the upper becomes more difficult to use and you don't really gain USEFUL counterspace because you can't use the counter in the corner. A lot of this will have different charateristics than it does now because you're much further away from that upper when you use standard size cabinets. The "L" prevents changing the dw to the left side of the sink - again I think that's necessary if you want to save the antique cabinet. In what I drew, You can have the ref where drawn free standing or with a small pantry that opens towards the bathroom. If you choose to do a range in that location, the suggestion above for an antique range is a good one - craig's list sometimes has chambers and others listed for baltimore that work and are reasonable. The issue with an unrestored antique range is SAFTEY. They sometimes have problems with gas leaks, rust or ovens that don't work right. You could also maybe do the 40" Frigidaire for something that feels more like an older style. Lots more cash than that gets you a restored antique range. Some more cash gets you something really stylish like this bert. At about that level of pricing, you can just reach a pro style range like an american or blue star. In any event, What you can't do is keep that partly old cabinet and "recounter" it deeper, put a counter in front of the window and expect to be able to reach inside it on either the uppers or the lowers (without crawling). By increasing the depth of the counter, you're increasing your distance from the upper and you won't be able to reach as well as you could before. You also won't be able to use either of the drawers because of the extended depth of the counter. I had to laugh about the wall fan (I have one). Isn't your kitchen greasy? Don't you spend time cleaning the grease off those pipes and the exhaust fan itself? Don't you find kinda gory dust on the ceiling fan - dust that clumps up because of the grease? Little flecks of greasy stuff on the walls and cabinets that are nearly impossible to clean off? Here is a link that might be useful: Frigidaire range...See More1949 Austin home - extreme exterior update help (good-bye old vinyl!)
Comments (1)Cute house. I like lighter colors in hot sunny climates, since they do a better job of reflecting the suns heat. Dark gray just sound hot, even with the shading that you have. How do you feel about pastels? Given the vintage of your house, it wouldn't have been unlikely for it to have originally been pink, or yellow, or mint green. Are you familiar with the imaging tools offered by paint manufacturers? You can upload a photo of your house and use tools to define areas for painting ("wall", "trim", "door") and then try out different colors. They are pretty easy to use. Here's a link to Benjamin Moore's but most brands have something similar....See More
suzanne_sl
7 years ago
Marcia B
7 years ago
amykath
7 years agoamykath
7 years ago
cat_mom
7 years agonosoccermom
7 years ago
cluelessincolorado
7 years agoMarcia B
7 years agoAll of the design and decorating kudos go to the GF! My son just went along and paid the bills..lol..she bought some stuff too.. and my DH and I just helped with the free labor!!! She really has decorated the house beautifully and on a budget.. in all areas except the floor they stayed in the budget we worked out prior to the purchase! Here are a few more b/4 and after.. dining room before.. I still have to get a new pic from that angle.. but next two you can get the idea
after
living room before
once again.. different angle.. but LR after - no more french doors, and wider opening
master bath before.. REALLY UGLY!!!
This is after.. but before the vanity and mirror were put in.. one wall of all subway tile, my husband did!! And crummy acrylic shower was replaced with tiled with frameless door.
blfenton
7 years agojolu5
7 years agoMarcia B
7 years agojolu5
7 years agoMarcia B
7 years agomynovahome
5 years agonewproject858
5 years agocrcollins1_gw
5 years ago
Marcia BOriginal Author