Toward the end of last year, my DH decided to buy a rental condo. It's not ready to rent yet, but the kitchen is pretty much done. The knowledge shared here by all you GW folks and the experience of re-doing our own kitchen the previous year, gave us the confidence to do this. Thanks again to everyone who posts, as there is almost something to be learned from each one.

Kitchen is just under 8 x 8. The upper cabinets did not go all the way up to the soffit, leaving about 9 inches of pretty much wasted space. The small doors on the lower corner cabinets made accessing the space almost impossible. The "breakfast bar" above the sink was about 9" wide, making it useless to use for dining. There was a huge wood-frame fluorescent light looming over the space. It was pretty grimy. The worst was the countertops. I thought it was 2 x 2 tiles, but it was really 4 x 4 tiles with grooves cut in them to hold extra grout so it would look like 2 x 2 tiles! It also had some minor plumbing and electrical issues that needed to be repaired. The microwave didn't work, and the fridge and dishwasher were pretty beat up.

We ripped out everything and installed stock oak cabinets from Home Depot. We figure that oak is an easy finish to repair if it gets damaged. The upper cabinets go all the way up to the soffit, and the corner cabinets have more storage than the old ones. There is a spice pullout just to the left of the microwave. DH built the cubby shelves (still need to install the cabinet door and molding on uppers). The bottom cabinet to the right of the stove has a super-susan in it. We moved the closet door outside the kitchen over and enlarged the breakfast bar to 16" wide so it can actually be used for something now. Counters are pre-fab granite, backsplash tile from Home Depot. Floor tile is clearance tile from a local tile shop. We ripped out the huge light fixture and put in a new, smaller one. The sink is installed with a sink-setter, so it can be replaced if it gets damaged without removing the countertop. We tried to maximize the storage and make it as functional as we could with the small size.

With luck, everything else will be done this month and we can get it rented. Hopefully, that will be a positive experience.

Before:

After: