It’s finally time to share my most anticipated DIY project since becoming a new homeowner – our kitchen remodel! In case you missed it, I have officially moved to the Philadelphia area and we are DONE with long distance. We purchased our home almost six months ago and it is an incredible relief to finally be living in it. Now that I am here, I am ready to share new and exciting home content that I’ve been hinting at within my stories, starting with our affordable kitchen remodel.

So, let’s back track a bit. We officially purchased our first home in January 2020. I was living in Florida and Eddie was living 1000 miles away in Pennsylvania. We actually bought our home without me ever seeing it in person! (Not ideal). Simultaneously, we booked a beautiful summer wedding in June. ICYMI; COVID-19 happened. Fortunately we started looking for houses immediately following our October Engagement. We both envisioned our first few months together spent wearing a tool belt (him) and carrying a clipboard (me). Eddie is a handy man and we share a love for home improvement (check out his YouTube channel here).

Finding our Home

After a few heartbreaks, (I’m confident every home buyer has experienced), we stumbled upon our perfect starter home. We both fell in love. Of course my love for our home was a long distance love but by this point we were pros at that. Eddie was confident that I would love it. Imagine if he was wrong and spent our life savings on a home that I hated! Spoiler alert; I love it! We FaceTimed on the home tour and Eddie sent many videos. I was instantly sold. As most new home buyers do, we were committed to a kitchen make-over long before settlement. A kitchen is the heart of every home and this place needed a real upgrade in the love-pump.

Eddie did ALL of the kitchen remodel work himself. Although, he tells me he could have never finished our kitchen without the helpful hand from a few of our amazing friends. I’m so proud of him (and equally thankful for them). In this blog post I am going to share photos, tips, and links to all of the items that we used. If you have any questions, shoot me an email or leave a comment below! You can see more from our kitchen on my Instagram page.

Kitchen Remodel

BEFORE

Below is a picture of the kitchen when we purchased the home. There was nothing discernibly wrong with it, but we had a vision for it that we shared. We knew we could make the kitchen remodel happen while staying well within our budget and our skillset.

Tip #1 : The best way to lower the cost of a kitchen remodel is learning to do it yourself, or even part of it by yourself. (duh!) But seriously, half of the battle (maybe even 3/4 of the battle) with lowering the cost of renovation is paying for labor. Tip #2 – Before sketching drastic changes, work with what you already have. For example, we knew we didn’t want to spend money on new cabinets (MAJOR $), so we decided to paint the cabinets that were already there (MAJOR ELBOW GREASE) as they were in acceptable condition.

DURING

The entire kitchen process took around 2 months to complete. Neither one of us lived in the house while the kitchen was under construction. We had a hard time committing to a repeatable schedule. That meant 2-4 hours on certain days during the week with occasional marathon-weekends. Overall, it wasn’t too time consuming…lol.

We decided to remove the cabinet doors from the storage above the refrigerator. This converted a closed, unreachable space into a decorative area for large pots, fancier dishes and other decor. Because of how distant this space is from the floor, we added small cabinet lights to make it cozier. We also decided to remove the cabinets over the sink and instead added floating shelves. Is there anything more 2020 than rustic floating shelves? If there is, we probably did it below. I’m so glad we did this!

We removed all of the cabinet doors, frames and shelves and painted them on a tarp in the living room. Reason #500 to renovate while your house is still empty. You could also do this outside or in the garage but the January weather in Pennsylvania makes outdoor projects yucky. I tried using the garage but Eddie had an epoxy floor project going on.

Pot Organizers

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The paint we used was Behr Ultra Pure White 7750 with a hint of Linen. Paint was supplied by Home Depot. It was exactly what we were looking for in terms of color, texture, and durability. I highly recommend it! The can will claim that you only need one coat. It’s a scam. Or we don’t know how to paint (likely). We applied 3-4 coats before coverage was adequate. This was only after all pieces were had a thorough degreasing followed by 220 grit sanding. Paint rollers (4″ is ideal) work best and leave the most delicate finish.

Next, Eddie removed the counters and custom-fit a new farmhouse sink! The sink was a must for us (along with 10-15 other ‘musts’) and although it was extremely heavy (100 lbs) installing it with 2 people is totally reasonable. We found ours at Home Depot, but you can also find them on Amazon. After much debate, we went with the 30″. I don’t think you can ever go too big with your sink.

The Counter Tops

Choosing the counter top was our most challenging decision. Countertops are EXPENSIVE. There are endless options, but most of the timeless staples have associated high price tags. We looked at all of the stones available (granite, quartz, etc..) You can’t deny the look and functionality but they just weren’t in our income bracket right now, so we looked into alternative options.

The counter tops that came out of our kitchen were laminate. There are literally hundreds of options when discussing laminate and I won’t go into them here because we weren’t interested in going that route. We consulted a kitchen installer during our renovation who flat out told us that laminate will make for a great photograph but up close, it just doesn’t carry the handsome qualities of other options. This isn’t a bash on laminate. Sort of.

Butcher Block

Timeless. Durable. Affordable. These 12 foot lengths of butcher block came from lumber liquidators. Per online reviews, they don’t have the greatest reputation for delivering quality butcher block. We purchased a few of these for our main counter and the smaller counters next to the oven. Each piece that we picked up had a bad side (chips nicks, and dings) and a less bad side (smaller chips, nicks, and dings). Fortunately, my opinion with wood is that quality is delivered by the finishing carpenter, not the lumber yard. Reminder: Eddie is not a carpenter by trade. (Insert one of his SUPER helpful friends). Above, you can see where we sectioned out the bottom side of the counter with painters tape. This method was helpful in deciding which finish we preferred. Each small square was finished uniquely from the next using various Verithane stains and Waterlox sealants.

Above Left: 3 different stains that we tested
Above Right: The square closest to the camera is what we chose. 2 coats of stain + 5 coats of Waterlox Sealer

Waterlox Sealer

If you speak with a kitchen professional, like we did, you’ll quickly learn that a butcher block countertop next to a sink is a definite no no. You’ll be warned of the likelihood of water stains and recurrent maintenance that’ll deter even the most desperate butcher-blocker-blogger. That is, until someone recommends Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish. Waterlox penetrates wood to leave a permanent medium sheen finish. We applied two coats of our favorite stain and then finished the block off with 5 coats of Waterlox. Yep, 5 coats!

By the time the counters were ready to be installed, the cabinets were finished! We added this black hardware from Home Depot.

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Backsplash

While making all decisions regarding renovations in our home, the underlying goal is to always choose something timeless. As for a backsplash, there is nothing more timeless than subway tile. Its cheap, DIY-friendly, and (most importantly) timeless. We went with a 3×6 inch tile in white. They go on really quick. As for grout, we started with a darker color but shortly realized our backsplash started looking like the walls of a bathroom shower. We immediately removed all of the wet grout and replaced it with white. White grout hides imperfections and made the space feel larger. Downside; it shows stains. Also, don’t forget your spacers and tile adhesive!

Sink

I know we already talked about it, but it’s really worth a second mention. Its THAT important to make the right choice. Does your back yard have a shed? If it doesn’t, and you’re planning on getting one, there is only one rule. Go BIGGER than you think you’ll need! The same goes for your kitchen sink. The ceramic coated cast iron sink is super popular right now. Remember what I said earlier about wanting a timeless look? The farmhouse sink tiptoes past that rule. I wouldn’t be surprised if farmhouse sinks become the scrunchie of 2020. Ultimately, though, the farmhouse sink is the face of our kitchen, and it’s BIG. As convenient as it is to be able to fit large kitchenware in the sink, its equally satisfying to show it off empty; there’s something about the ceramic white against the butcher block.

Faucet

According to our kitchen-specialist-friend, installing butcher block adjacent to the kitchen sink was a faux pas. Not because of the way it looks but because of longevity (or lack thereof). Even if you seal the butcherblock top, its been historically difficult to seal the end grain (the wood that’s exposed around the sink opening). Although we wanted a stout, tall faucet, we decided to get creative in making every attempt to limit the amount of water exposure to the butcher block. Next time you wash your hands at the kitchen sink, notice how much water you drip all over the countertop while turning the faucet on or off with your hand. The pooling water beneath the faucet handle was a total no-go for us. Instead, we found this motion sensor faucet that allows us to turn the water on and off without ever leaving the sink basin.

AFTER

We are thrilled to have finished our kitchen as the first true renovation in the house. We finished it before moving in. This way we always had a place to sit, cook, clean up, (and find the wine!) while tackling projects and decor throughout the remainder of our home. The kitchen is, without a doubt, the heart of our home. We hope yours is too!

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I’ll be sharing with you all of the kitchen decor so be sure you follow along on Instagram. Read about How to Decorate Floating Shelves here.

Did you enjoy the kitchen remodel? I’d love to hear about your tips, tricks and favorite products in the comments below!