We just finished a basic kitchen remodel all DIY. I thought I would share. For a lot of people the $25k+ remodel (which is often the minimum on houzz it seems) is not feasible either financially or just doesn't make sense for the neighborhood they live in. I know $25k would be the very max for the houses in our neighborhood. My purpose here is to show what can be done with a limited budget. I realize that many people on here will also disagree with our aesthetic choices, but this is what we like. Some choices we made were also compromises that we made based on the low budget and/or my limited skill set. I really suck at carpentry and drywall for instance. Some choices were made because function and how we use the kitchen trumped aesthetics.

A few caveats with this $2k budget. First, we got a lot of stuff open box or clearance. Material cost for what we did is more realistically $3k. Second, we already had the appliances (which we had bought piece by piece over the last few years) so if you needed appliances, you could realistically add another $3k-$4k for appliances at this general quality level (or less if you are patient and can wait for the right sales).

Here's the before. The one odd door is from me experimenting with gel stain so not quite an exact before:

And now some after:

The bifold doors belong to a laundry closet, which unfortunately we are unable to easily relocate. The entry door is for the garage. I still need to change the door knob on that.

And some evening mood lighting:

One upgrade we made that doesn't show up in those pictures are the pullouts we installed as part of this process so here a couple of those:

So what did we get for $2k? We repainted existing cabinets with Valspar cabinet enamel, which is an alkyd-acrylic hybrid. The color is Honeymilk. We installed cabinet pullouts. We replaced cabinet hardware. We installed an all new countertop, which is Wilsonart Madura Gold in quarry finish (one of their premium lines). We installed new sink (Elkay) and faucet (Moen Kiran). The new backsplash is honed and filled travertine stone. We redid the lighting, adding additional fixtures and under and above cabinet lights (the two semi-flush fixtures are Murray Feiss Stelle). We added a small island which serves double duty as a laundry table. We repainted the walls (Pittsburgh Bermuda Sand).

We did not change the flooring (which I may do in a couple years as part of redoing that level of the house. I haven't decided on material for that yet). We did not replace appliances as previously mentioned. Obviously, other than the cabinet for the island, we did not buy any new cabinets.

We still need to change the decorating and I am still debating on options for above the kitchen sink. I may just leave it for a while. There are some issues with getting wiring for a can light over to that location without really tearing up the ceiling and I am not ready to do that yet.