From Dated 80s to Dream Farmhouse: Our Budget-Friendly DIY Kitchen Remodel
Our budget-conscious DIY kitchen remodel transformed our tired 1980s ranch space into a charming farmhouse-style oasis, featuring warm wood counters, classic beadboard, and elegant glass cabinet doors. This comprehensive guide chronicles our journey, offering inspiration and practical tips for your own home renovation projects.
We are absolutely overjoyed to announce that our ambitious kitchen remodel is finally complete, and it’s time for the grand reveal! The feeling of crossing this major project off our list, and no longer living with the challenges of our old kitchen, is truly exhilarating. We believe the collective sigh of relief from do-it-yourself enthusiasts everywhere can be heard loud and clear!
For those new to our journey, let’s briefly recap where we started. Our home, a 1982 ranch house, came with a kitchen that, while boasting good structural bones and solid cabinets, was undeniably stuck in a time warp. Imagine harvest gold tiled countertops – a color that truly defined “disgusting” for us – paired with a wagon-wheel light fixture and an abundance of dark, heavy wood everywhere you looked. It felt cluttered, dim, and entirely uninviting. Our vision was clear: to transform this relic into a bright, functional, and aesthetically pleasing farmhouse kitchen without breaking the bank, primarily through our own DIY efforts.
Our kitchen renovation began with initial, high-impact changes. As part of a larger refresh where we repainted our great room and the rest of the house, we took on the considerable task of painting all the kitchen cabinets. This step alone made a monumental difference, instantly brightening the space. We also replaced the dated light fixtures, setting a new tone for the entire room.
Following these foundational updates, we tackled smaller, yet impactful, projects as our time and finances allowed. We skillfully removed the center panels from several upper cabinet doors, replacing them with clear glass inserts. This simple modification not only added a touch of elegance but also created a wonderful opportunity to display cherished kitchenware, instantly elevating the cabinets’ appearance. To maximize precious counter space, we meticulously retrofitted the cabinet above the stove to seamlessly house a microwave. This clever solution moved a bulky appliance off the countertop, significantly enhancing workflow and aesthetic appeal. No detail was too small; we replaced every hinge and knob, not just in the kitchen, but throughout the entire house, opting for modern, coordinating hardware. I even channeled my inner artisan to create a unique, vintage-looking mercury glass pendant light, adding a personal and charming touch above the sink.
And then, after years of chipping away at these smaller tasks, we finally embarked on the final, intensive stretch of our kitchen remodel. This phase involved repainting all the cabinets (a necessary refresh, as it had been a few years since the initial painting), installing beautiful new countertops, a statement sink, a sleek new faucet, and completely reimagining an area we affectionately refer to as the “butler’s pantry.”
Are you ready to see the stunning transformation? Here’s our kitchen, now in all her new glory:
I am absolutely enamored with every single element of this refreshed space. The rich, inviting wood counters are, of course, a showstopper, but my affection extends equally to the charming new beadboard backsplash, the generously sized single basin sink, and the elegant farmhouse-style faucet. Each component works in harmony to create a cohesive and deeply satisfying aesthetic.
My husband, Brian, recently commented that stepping into our kitchen now feels like being in someone else’s home. He was referencing the stark contrast to our previous reality – a kitchen plagued by a leaky, broken faucet, unsightly, chipped, and uneven tile counters, noticeable holes in the cabinetry, and a stove that simply didn’t fit the space. That era of frustration and functional compromise is thankfully behind us. We are immeasurably glad that the old kitchen no longer exists; every moment spent in this new, beautiful space is a sheer delight.
Oh, on a quick side note, isn’t it fascinating how distinctly tan the “white” paint color we originally used on the walls and ceiling now appears, standing in sharp contrast to the brighter, freshly repainted cabinets? It truly highlights the transformative power of color!
Our DIY Kitchen Remodel Journey: A Farmhouse Transformation
To truly appreciate the remarkable transformation and how far we’ve come over eight years, let’s revisit a rare glimpse of the kitchen from when we first purchased the house. (A valuable lesson learned: always remember to take more “before” pictures!)
Before: A Glimpse into the Past
Can you really say anything but “brown”? It’s astounding that we don’t have a more comprehensive picture from deeper inside the kitchen. We distinctly remember scurrying around taking “before” photos right after moving in, anticipating our immediate plan to spray paint everything white. Despite the limited visual, this image still effectively conveys the dark, monochromatic, and undeniably dated atmosphere that once dominated the space.
And here it is today: A Breath of Fresh Air
It’s truly like a breath of fresh air, isn’t it? The transformation is so complete that the old kitchen feels like a distant memory. The light, airy aesthetic, combined with functional improvements, has completely revitalized the heart of our home.
Of course, we never truly lived in the house exactly as we found it. From day one, our mission was to make it our own. Within the very first week of ownership, we tirelessly removed old wallpaper and painted almost every surface white. This initial wave of “big-impact, low-cost” updating projects helped us immensely, making the kitchen not just tolerable, but even pleasant for several years until we were ready for the full remodel. These early interventions included:
- Hardware Refresh: We painstakingly changed every single “antique” brass hinge to a more contemporary silver finish, a small detail that made a huge difference in modernizing the cabinets’ appearance.
- Knob & Pull Upgrade: The small, rather flimsy white ceramic knobs were replaced with more substantial and visually appealing silver bin pulls and elegant glass knobs, adding both function and style.
- Lighting Transformation: We converted the existing recessed light fixture directly over the sink into a charming pendant light, then installed a beautiful vintage fixture sourced from eBay, creating a focal point.
- Main Lighting Fixture: Another fantastic eBay find became our main kitchen light fixture, adding character and ample illumination to the entire space.
- Glass Cabinet Inserts: We selectively removed the inset panels from six upper cabinet doors – specifically, one on each side of the sink and two on the “butler’s pantry” wall – and replaced them with glass, allowing for display and adding an open, airy feel.
- Under-Sink Skirt: The sink cabinet doors were removed entirely, and in their place, we added a decorative curtain and a practical towel rod, instantly softening the area and providing easy access.
- Appliance Upgrades: Initially, there was no refrigerator, so we invested in a new stainless steel model. Four years later, when the original dishwasher finally gave up, we replaced it with a modern, efficient unit.
These interim projects bought us time and significantly improved our daily living. However, as time wore on, more things inevitably began to break, and those “grody” counters, if possible, managed to get even grodier. Just take a look at these dramatic before-and-after photos, and you’ll immediately understand why we are absolutely relishing our new space:
Gaze upon that wonderfully long expanse of uninterrupted counters… what a relief! The new sink and faucet are not just beautiful but incredibly functional. I personally sewed a new sink skirt using a classic black and cream ticking fabric, designed to harmoniously tie in with the other black accents in the kitchen. Its timeless appeal ensures I won’t grow tired of it anytime soon, providing both style and practical coverage.
Interestingly, this phase of our kitchen remodel actually commenced over a year ago with the installation of the overhead microwave. This crucial step involved extensively retrofitting the cabinet directly above the stove (a full tutorial is available here) to ensure a perfect, custom fit. We recently put the finishing touches on this area by adding a beautifully cut piece of beadboard behind the teapots. This panel is cleverly designed to be removable, providing convenient access to the electrical outlet we installed, blending practicality with a charming aesthetic.
I genuinely believe the “butler’s pantry” area underwent the most dramatic and satisfying transformation of all. It certainly demanded the most ingenuity and “finagling” to address the various challenges left by previous owners. We had to contend with awkward holes in the lower cabinet, remnants of a strangely gigantic and unused breadboard, and a peculiar, uneven cut-out in the upper cabinet skirt. (Again, a strong reminder: take better “before” pictures to truly document the initial state!)
I am incredibly proud of Brian for his innovative thinking and meticulous execution in bringing my vision for the upper cabinet skirt to life. Crafting those intricate scrolls with a jigsaw on already attached cabinets was no simple feat, requiring precision and patience. Yet, the final result is so seamless and perfectly integrated that it appears as if it was always meant to be this way, don’t you agree? To cleverly conceal the unsightly holes in the base cabinet, we applied simple, flat molding, running it both horizontally along the length and vertically down the middle. With a bit of caulk and a fresh coat of paint, these thoughtful additions now look completely original and harmonious with the surrounding cabinetry.
While the new counters were being installed, I took the opportunity to refinish the original wood breakfast bar. My goal was to achieve a coordinated look with the fresh new countertops. Even though the breakfast bar is a wood veneer and the new counters are solid oak, applying a consistent dark stain helped them blend beautifully and coordinate nicely, exceeding my expectations for a cohesive design.
Given that everything was already out and prepared for staining, and the built-in desk was certainly in need of attention, I decided to go ahead and refinish it as well. The transformation is remarkable; it looks 100 times better, and I am so glad I dedicated the time to this extra step. (For a closer look at the desk’s “before” state, you can refer to this organizing post). Um, yes, repainting the desk itself is definitely next on the to-do list to complete its refreshed look!
We’ll be following up this exciting reveal with more detailed articles. One will offer a comprehensive look at the specific steps involved in our DIY kitchen remodel, complete with an itemized cost breakdown. Another article will be dedicated exclusively to the nuances of working with and installing our stunning new wood counters. (UPDATE: Here is the comprehensive Details and Cost Breakdown article for the entire remodel, and here is the dedicated article all about our beautiful wood counters.)
For now, though, can you imagine how giddy I am to be systematically checking off each item from our monumental master kitchen remodel to-do list? It’s an incredibly satisfying feeling to see years of planning and hard work come to fruition!
Sand all cabinet doors and bases (filling holes and sanding as necessary)Demolish remaining tile countersCover openings left in a cabinet from an unused breadboard with molding (and a few other places to finish cabinets) – caulk and paintUse a jigsaw to even up the underside of one cabinet that had been cut out by previous ownersMove small cabinet by fridge over a couple inches to gain space between stove and corner cabinet (?)Paint all cabinets and doorsAdd beadboard as a backsplash – trim all edges, caulk/fill and paint(though there’s still a bit of caulking left to perfect)Measure and cut wood countersStain and finish countersInstall countersInstall new sinkInstall new faucet- Install rod for hanging utensils behind stove (We ultimately decided against this idea after efficiently reorganizing our utensil drawers)
Replace old off-white electrical outlets with crisp new white onesSew a new curtain for sink cabinetAdded 12/1: Cut, stain, and finish quarter-round to beautifully edge all the new countertops
And that’s the entirety of it! I’m officially calling this monumental DIY kitchen remodel project DONE, and I promise not to bore you with this list ever again. So now, it’s your turn – what do you think of our farmhouse kitchen transformation?
Craving more intricate details about this renovation? Head over to this comprehensive post to read all about the kitchen redo, including invaluable links to products we used and a full cost breakdown of our budget-friendly transformation!