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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

You know you want to know: DIY kitchen reno BUDGET

Creating good design on a realistic budget is one of my primary goals in our home renovation. I love watching designers create beautiful homes and transformations, but I can't imagine ever spending $75k (or more) on a kitchen. No judgment for those who do, it's just not my style.

I am so proud of how our kitchen renovation turned out AND I am proud of how we kept it affordable. Replacing our cabinets meant this was not going to be an under $2,000 DIY kitchen reno like our last one, but still--this project was WAY more budget-friendly than most of those I've seen around the blog/design world lately and I hope it inspires you that you can do so much with your space, even on a budget!

I'm sharing ALL the details in this post!

By the way, you can see the full reveal here and check out other posts on this DIY kitchen reno:

Alright, I'll get right to it. Below are the retail prices of all the sources I can remember in our kitchen reno. I even included the price of renting the tile saw when we didn't have time to borrow one from a friend. I tried to cover everything!

These are the costs you could expect to pay if you did the exact same project (size, etc.). Our kitchen is small, only 31 SF of countertop, I think, but these are realistic estimates for a kitchen of that size. I noted items that I received at a discount or in exchange for blogging with a *, but I listed the price you would pay if you bought it without a blogger partnership. 

DIY kitchen reno budget


Cabinets: Dover/Essex fronts from Walcraft Cabinetry $5,756*
Countertops: Calacatta marble look quartz from Sunset Granite in Hillsboro, OR $1,783
Sheet vinyl: Amalfi Black from Armstrong Flooring $1,440* (about $4/SF at a flooring supplier in my area) (includes the basement stairwell landing/side door area off the kitchen, which I will share later)
Vinyl installation supplies: $50
Range: Kitchenaid from Sears Outlet $1,113*
Dishwasher: panel-ready Bosch from local scratch-and-dent place ($399), panel from Walcraft Cabinetry.
Fridge: Jenn Aire from local scratch-and-dent place $799
Sink: undermount quartz in White by Elkay $293*
Faucet: Explore single handle faucet by Elkay $284*
Garbage disposal: Badger one from HD $99
Range hood insert: Monsoon Mini by Zephyr (30" version but style of the 36"--photography is not updated yet for the 30") $500*
Range hood: DIY. Supplies: $42
Backsplash tile: this one from Lowe's $190
Mortar: Already had
Grout: Snow White unsanded from HD $11
Cabinet Hardware: Charlotte/Laurel line from Sumner Street Hardware (long pullsshort pullsknobs) $132 total*
Pendant light: Farmhouse antique brass from Elk Lighting $58 (I bought a slightly damaged repackaged one)
Semi flush mounts: Portland by Globe Electric $30 each
Shelves: Pine stair treads from HD (36" or 48") $32
Shelf brackets: Amazon $60
Crown molding: Lowes I think, 5-3/4" $136
Quarter round molding: HD $10
Flooring threshold: Lowe's $20
Art: Stay Still from Minted $95*
Switchplates etc.: HD $15
Microwave: Amazon $75
Tile saw rental: HD $23
TOTAL before income: $13,784

Alright, then the stuff I sold. Our home came with nicer quality, but few-years-old (and not my style) stainless steel appliances. I also put up our old oak cabinets for $50 on Facebook Marketplace and got a TON of interest! Apparently there is quite a market, guess I could have asked more. I sold the following, which I deducted from the total:
Cabinets: $50
Dishwasher: $20
Fridge: $650
Range: $500
Microwave: $50

TOTAL net kitchen reno cost: $12,514


Holy cow!! $12,500 is a LOT of money and not a chunk we all just have lying around at any given time... but is VERY low for a kitchen reno.

Some tips for saving money?

  • You will notice there are no labor costs on this list. Hiring this project out would have at least doubled the cost. We did everything ourselves, which was possible because:
  • 1, we mad minimal changes to plumbing and electrical. My dad has a lot of electrical experience and he and Jason were able to make the small changes we made (mostly just moving existing service for the new vent, swapping outlets/switches, etc.).
  • 2, we put in a lot of time on this ourselves. Jason has a couple months off this summer and I was working only 3 days/week during the toughest part of the project so we had more time than money. Also we had several grandparents and my brother-in-law help out watching Otto on a few of the longest work days!
  • DIYing aside, I shopped very carefully and compared prices especially on the bigger items like the cabinets and countertops (saved with prefab pieces). (See my comparison of budget-friendly cabinet options (beyond IKEA!) here.)
  • We didn't change the layout--this would have involved more time and expense with moving around service for the range, fridge icemaker plumbing, etc. We probably would have had to hire an electrician to move the 220 V line for the range. 
  • I originally wanted to do more oak flooring in this room, make it flow evenly from the rest of the house. But we learned there was asbestos glue in one of the layers of flooring, so we removed up to that layer so as not to disturb it and then put a thinner flooring (sheet vinyl) on top. We could have had the asbestos professionally removed and then done oak, but... that would have cost a lot more, and our slate-look soft, easy-to-clean, dramatic flooring is one of my all-time favorite parts of the kitchen!!
  • We made $1,270 selling the old appliances and cabinets. We donated other stuff like the old lighting, but it really helped the budget to take the time to sell those pieces.
  • Shopping scratch-and-dent for the appliances saved us about $4k for these same/similar models (see my post about that and where I recommend hopping here).


I hope this is helpful. I really believe in DIY as the way to get the style you want at a price you can afford. For me at least it's discouraging to see a beautiful room reno and read how much some of the items cost... I know there is another way!

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