09
This post is written in collaboration with Legrand. All opinions are my own.
So, our kitchen remodel is has been basically done for a month and I haven't posted a thing! No Instagram Stories, nothing. I'm officially a bad blogger. I'll blame it on being pregnant and low on energy, which is true...but I do wish I would've documented more of the process. Oh well, yesterday I FINALLY took pictures so I can share a sneak peek with you!!! We are not totally done, as we still need to move lighting and add a fixture above the island. But this is preeetty much our new kitchen! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and we've been putting it to good use already. Wrapping up the remodel in September was perfect timing--just in time for cooking soups, making bread, and baking cookies. We were getting sick of grilling and ordering pizza!
With this remodel, we really tried to make smart choices that would give us the biggest bang for our buck. We had originally planned to split the project into two phases, so when we fast-forwarded our timeline and decided to do the full remodel all at once, we didn't have the savings to splurge a whole lot. Rather than choosing our dream finishes, we had to be creative and find ways to get a similar look for less. We thought long and hard about each and every line item, and carefully allocated our budget where we thought it would pay off. In the end, I think that limitation actually benefited us! If we'd saved for longer and had a bigger budget, we definitely might have overimproved our kitchen beyond our house's resale potential. It was soooo tempting to say "well, as long as we're spending this much, we might as well add (insert luxury item)." But with a tight budget, we really couldn't justify those extras. Sure, they would've been nice...but by sticking to the basics, we still got a beautiful kitchen and the open layout I wanted, without going into debt.
Another benefit of doing a budget-friendly remodel? I'm confident that we raised our house's value by at least as much as we spent. Zillow says that you can expect a return of $17,193 on a minor kitchen remodel, $37,637 on a midrange remodel, and $67,212 on an upscale remodel. With knocking down the wall and adding all new cabinets, I'm pretty sure ours counts as midrange. I also saw a rule of thumb to spend 10% of your house's value on the kitchen. We came in well under both those guidelines, which feels really good. It was still a lot of money, so it helps to know that it isn't just spent--we should get it back (and then some) when we decide to sell!
Plus, I mean, I lived in rentals up until this house...so this is by far the nicest kitchen I've ever had! Honestly, the white Shaker cabinets, the marble-look quartz counters, the big single basin sink, the polished nickel hardware, and the blue-grey island, all are things I would have wanted even if our budget was unlimited. And with the old wall gone, the whole house feels bigger and brighter, and has a much better flow for entertaining.
And while we did stick to a tight budget, we also did squeeze in a few nice extras, like upgraded outlets (with USB chargers!) from the radiant Collection by Legrand. I love how these outlets are screwless for a clean, elevated, modern look. The Ultra-Fast USB outlets are especially nice. They free up space and charge devices up to 40% faster than average!
Another nice thing is that the outlets are tamper-resistant, which our old ones were not. These are up on our counters where (hopefully!) the kids aren't playing with them anyways...but we plan to upgrade the whole house eventually. Greater peace of mind and these outlets just look better! Plus, they were easy to install...Ben had never changed light switches and he was able to install them in less than 15 minutes.
I hope you guys enjoyed this quick sneak peek of our remodeled kitchen! Once we are 100% finished, I will share way more photos and do an official "reveal" with the sources and budget breakdown. I'll also show how the kitchen flows with the rest of the house. For now, I only had a few minutes to take photos during naptime so there's a big mess riiiight outside the frame. Making your house look clean online is all about cropping in, right? Ha!
Oh, also I plan to write a few more blog posts about the specific decisions we made and why. Let me know if there's anything in particular that you're curious about!
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Beautiful! We are looking to use these cabinets in our kitchen remodel! I LOVE putting the island on casters! I would love to see your cabinet plans when you share the extended kitchen post!
Thanks Danielle! Funnily enough, the casters were actually a practical choice. We have our crawl space access under the island (it used to be in the pantry and there was no logical place to move it after we took down the wall). The wheels were my husband's idea and it first I didn't think they would look good...but I love them now too!
I will do my best to share more about the cabinets in my kitchen reveal post. We're really happy with them!
I LOVE your kitchen remodel. It is very eerily similar to the ideas we have for our kitchen remodel. I am looking forward to your reveal post. Congrats on your third baby :)
Aww thank you so much! I'm so happy with all of our choices so if you're considering doing something similar, I say go for it! Hoping to get that reveal post up before baby girl comes, but...not gonna lie my energy level is next to zero right now. :D
How beautiful the kitchen is! Natural light, bright, white, and airy! Just Amazing!
I love your island. Where did you get it or did you build it? either way I’d love to know.
Thanks,
Wendy