One other thing Thanks for all your help on here we found some great resources and inspiration.

One last picture I forgot here is what the kitchen looked like before the wall was taken down.

Wonderful transformation and for under $10K--amazing!! I especially love your floor and cabs. Everything harmonizes so well--backsplash, paint, counter, floor, cabs. Your lighting solution is great. I hope I can do my remodel as economically as you managed yours! Now, relax & enjoy! :)

Thanks, I sure yours will turn out great!

Thanks for noticing the matching we spent weeks searching for the perfect things to match. Then we had to be aware of price which made the search very hard. We were in Home Depot, Lowes, and other places every extra minute we could!

We are happy we could match as well as we did.

Very nice! Hard to believe that you spent under 10K for that new kitchen. A huge improvement over what was there.

WOW - what an improvement. The cabinets are sooo much better and I really like your floor and backsplash. What a wonderful job for under $10K. Enjoy.

You have done such a marvelous job of transforming the same space -- it looks so much more open -- you've really gottena bang for your buck. I really like everything -- but the backsplash is fab -- I really like the detail behind the sink.

Your floor is great as well. EXCELLENT! Please add your kitchen to the "wood kitchen" inspirations thread that eastbaymom started. I think that it's really important for people to see that even small kitchens deserve to be beautiful.

Thanks for sharing, and good luck to you and your wife!

Great job! I love your lights and how they accent your counter and backsplash.

Thanks everyone.

@jr Thanks, we were really going for open! The breakfast bar opening of the wall was really an after thought. We had already bought the Cabs and Counters by then. So bcause we could add more counter we thought what would look good.

We really liked to look of butcher block islands so we thought what about a butcher block breakfast bar! It turned out great and the butcher block from Ikea was only like $80 such a deal for a nice design impact.

You should be very proud of yourselves! It's beautiful!!

How wonderful to see a young couple starting off marriage with some wisdom. :) Not many young people are too wise these days.

I love your track light, can I ask where you bought it?

We got the light track once again on clearance at Lowes. It matched our knobs and pulls perfectly so it was a great find!

Thanks for the comment about having wisdom.

We decided to buy a Condo because of how the market was and the 8K first time home buyer credit. We pay less in mortgage + utilities then we would if we rented!

We could not afford much on the Southshore MA but this made sense for us. We got the condo for 125K but its valued at 170K. We think the dated kitchen and bath scared people off and the sellers were very motivated so we got a amazing deal.

It's hard with my wife still in school but luckily I have my degree in Computer Networking and have a good job in IT so it all works out.

I think you made some great choices both in buying a diamond in the rough and now polishing that gem.
It all is so pretty and the floor pattern is really nice!

Nice makeover and on a budget too!! How smart to realize that buying will be a good investment for you down the road.

Cabinets, floor, counters, and backsplash all compliment each other. Enjoy your kitchen and many years of happiness to you both!!

Great make-over...it looks wonderful. Nice matching of materials and that floor is really beautiful. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Congrats. It is warm, light, pretty, cohesive, and should function very nicely. Enjoy your lovely kitchen and cook up a storm. Make good food at home and recoup your expenditure by dining well at home. Westsider40

Thanks for all the positive remarks everyone!

Don't worry we will be eating at home I am always on the food network website looking for new recipes to try out I enjoy cooking and making new things!

Wow, amazing transformation!! Enjoy!!

You all are an inspiration!! Congratulations! Enjoy your new kitchen and all that new counter space!

Great job, every coordinates beautifully! Hope you're enjoying it! Congrats!

What a great job! Love your choices and better yet the price. It's hard to believe you got both the counter and cabs for less than 6K. Quite a steal. Love those bargains.

The 'low budget' remodels are always some of my favorite kitchens on this forum and proves you don't have to have a big budget to end up with a very nice looking and usable kitchen. You two ended up with something very nice. May you cook many tasty dinners! Grats and I really hope you add your kitchen to the finished kitchen blog. :)

Thanks, I will be sure to add it to the blog! One thing I can't believe is now that our kitchen is done my Wife and I are already talking about when we can get to our avocado green bathroom.