The Slow Beginings of a Cheap Kitchen Reno

I am sooooooooo desperate to change up my kitchen it's hard to contain myself. I have already picked out new counter tops, I know what color I what the cabinets, back splash is tied between 2 choices and I have the perfect layout all planned in my head. The problem with this dream is funds and time. Since I'm now a working girl the funds will be coming in but my time gets shorter and shorter each day with kids homework, after school clubs and of course my new job now. I have decided that I am going to go ahead and start the reno process though and just take it slow, like one baby step every other week kind of slow. Here's some shots of the kitchen before any work begins.

Our cabinets are in great condition but the builder's grade honey oak has got to go so they will be getting a coat of paint. I also can't stand that we have NO hardware of any doors or drawers, there is a small lip in the bottom edge of each door and drawer to act as a "handle". I break my nails all the time of that stupid lip because the cabinet doors are to heavy to just pull from that. I NEED hardware on them STAT!!!!

 I LOVE the look of having some open cabinets but wasn't sure if this would look good since we don't have the best "show" pieces of dinnerware. As you can see our uppers are a little...um messy and in their current state nothing in them belongs on "display". PLEASE ignore my dirty pots and pans I was just to excited to start the process that I wasn't wasting precious time doing dishes lol.

So for my first baby step I reorganized all the cabinets and took off a pair of doors for a trial run. It only made sense that the cups should be by the fridge anyway, thanks to pinterest I save every glass jar possible so those needed to be organized and my top shelves were full of unnecessary junk so I was just wasting that space.

 I have always stored my prized polish pottery collection on my hutch but when stored there it rarely got used and just seemed to become a catch all for junk and paperwork. It looks so pretty on there (when it's all decluttered like in the picture) but what's the point of having spent the money on it if I can't ever get to it to use it soooooo I think this should go in my now open cabinet.

Ok so this doesn't really qualify as part of a reno but more of just a clean up an reorganization project but hey the jobs gotta start somewhere, right? I like the open cabinet right now and I am pretty sure once the cabinets are painted that like will turn into love.

 

 

What's on the agenda for the actual reno job you ask? Well like I said earlier I will be painting the cabinets, hopefully getting new quartz counter tops, putting in a tile or stone back splash and replacing the pantry door with something more fun. I also want to move the fridge, knock down the hated half wall and either add an island or extend the cabinets and counter into a peninsula. I always say I have $60,000 dreams with an empty bank account and that is a very true statement but I plan on doing this entire kitchen renovation for about $1,500 ($1,100 of that is just for the counter tops). So one baby step down and I promise on my next kitchen reno post the project I do will be a much bigger change. P.S. I need ideas on a color to paint that hutch so bring on the suggestions.