Back in 2006 I had posted some pictures of our quick kitchen facelift.

We had bought a nice newer house in Nov 2005 in Northern NJ but the kitchen had old oak cabinets they brought from another house and a very old cooktop and ovens. The walls were a dark green and the stripped curtains clashed with the marble backsplash and porcelain tile floor.

After getting many MANY quotes to gut the kitchen and redo it for $50k-$100k+ I decided to give it a cheap facelift. So I spent about $100 dollars and I painted the cabinets, walls, hardware and chandelier and posted pics of it.

Later that summer I bought a new Fisher Paykel dishwasher, Kitchen Aid side by side fridge and Jenn Air gas cooktop as floor samples ($3300) and added a pot rack ($35) that I sprayed copper and a makeshift pantry closet ($455).

Our plan was if we stayed in the house to fully redo the kitchen eventually. However when my husband got a job out of state this May we decided at the urge of our realtor to finish our makeover with new two toned granite counters, new sink, faucet, double oven, and molding oven the cabinets and island.

From the beginning of our changes in 2006 till the end it cost us about $10,500 which included $1000 for a handyman who helped me rip out the old counters and prep for granite, put up the crown molding, cut the island sides and added corbels and molding and installing the double ovens. The granite for the perimeter of our cabinets and the honed black for the island were a remnant slabs at $3700, the sink at $300 was a sample from the granite place (I could have probably save $150 dollars on ebay but needed it asap). The faucet (Price Pfister Rustic Bronze Marielle) was $80 from thefaucetdiscounters on ebay. The crown molding for above the cabinets was from Kuiken Lumber and the corbels for the island were from Outwater products. The double Thermador convection oven was an awesome deal from Appliances Builders Wholesalers in MD at a clearance price of $1200 as the model was discontinued.

I posted some of the new pictures of the kitchen for those of you who want to see it:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/551388568GlKVRv

In any case we were very lucky - our house sold the first weekend we listed it (this was in early June). We are now in our new house in Durham NC and planning a renovation that includes a whole new kitchen redo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Facelift