Need Low Budget Kitchen Remodel ideas

[savingdogs]

Okay, I've got this ancient little house I live in. We moved in two years ago thinking we'd be here forever, as a fixer upper.
Currently, the local electric company may buy us out in two years as they want to put giant power lines through here and it seems likely they will pick our road. So even if we had major funds to invest in a kitchen remodel it would be foolish.

Unfortunately current kitchen is almost unworkable. Tiny sink, narrow narrow counter, big unworking dishwasher, no where to put things away (except inside the dishwasher), and no work space. I was thinking of ripping everything out, buying a big ol sink somewhere and having my husband make a form for a concrete counter. I could put shelves underneath for putting the pans and such away. Or buy some plastic storage units from Wall mart.

Up above, I thought I'd just remove the hideous doors and paint it all, and just store the prettier items up there and stuff we use alot like plates.

Does anyone have experience in a cheap homemade remodel such as this? I need a big workspace counter as I plan to milk goats, so I need space to make cheese and make soap in this space and can't see how I can do this on the tiny counters/tiny sink.
Any one done anything like this?

 

[Beekissed]

I have! Looked for a double drainboard porcelain sink unit and found it for $40...these are indestructible and make for a good-looking and old-fashioned remodel that you can build around.

I took all upper cabinets down and put 1x4 pine boards on the walls and painted them white. Also mounted open shelving from the boards I took out of the walls. Took some amazing, huge planks of wormy chestnut out of the walls of my house, had them planed and fitted together to form a counter top and butcher block counter by my stove.

The counter top was installed on the older, existing cabinets that I painted a cheery and soft yellow, along with the cabinet under the sink unit. With the white walls and open shelves and the natural wood counter on the yellow cabinets, it sure changed that kitchen from the dark, small circa 70s decor that it had been.

I made an old speckled colander into a light fixture over the sink on a dropped down pipe(the ceilings were very high) and it was just the right lighting for that area.

I also enlarged the kitchen window and used some of the wormy chestnut for the windowsill and made it extra wide for my houseplants and such.

I fitted another section of counter top over some more cabinets on the end of my sink unit to form a bar that had additional storage underneath.

I doubt if the entire renovation costed me even $300 and it made my kitchen into a place of incredible work space, storage and light.

People were amazed that a single woman would just start tearing down walls and taking down nasty dark cabinets and putting in all these circa 30s style cottage items. Most of the work was done by me and my then young teen and grade school boys. The countertops were finished and installed by a friend with woodworking experience.

I loved making over that old kitchen!

 

[savingdogs]

Wow! Sounds like you did it all with wood. How is that holding up? Did you seal it with something?

I need to find a sink like that! Any suggestions as to where to go.

I'd love to see a photo of your kitchen, if you have one. I think the typical kitchen remodels I see in magazines and such are not people into doing the things I want to do, but I need to process animals, make cheese, make soap, can foods, make jam, etc., which is probably much more what your kitchen is set up for than the Sunset magazine ones, which of course say.....what a BARGAIN, only 5,000. Holy cow! I could make a great kitchen for 5,000. I don't have 500! But I'm not fancy, but I want to be clean and tidy which is currently hard where there is no workspace.

 

[Farmfresh]

When my kitchen needed gutting I bought good stuff that I could take with me when we go!

This is MY sink. Commercial sink I will NEVER go back to a dinky old double sink EVER again. Nothing like this brute when you are washing a huge pot or prepping goods for canning.

I also bought some of those commercial wire racks like This. :bun

When we first gutted the kitchen we used these racks exclusively. We have built custom cabinets in about half of the kitchen now, but the shelving units have just been moved to store canning supplies and pantry goods. As for counter top I bought an 8 foot long cream colored counter top for $15 from our local Habitat for Humanity Re-store. All of the proceeds goes to Habitat for Humanity, so it is a win win.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I have! Looked for a double drainboard porcelain sink unit and found it for $40...these are indestructible and make for a good-looking and old-fashioned remodel that you can build around.

I took all upper cabinets down and put 1x4 pine boards on the walls and painted them white. Also mounted open shelving from the boards I took out of the walls. Took some amazing, huge planks of wormy chestnut out of the walls of my house, had them planed and fitted together to form a counter top and butcher block counter by my stove.

The counter top was installed on the older, existing cabinets that I painted a cheery and soft yellow, along with the cabinet under the sink unit. With the white walls and open shelves and the natural wood counter on the yellow cabinets, it sure changed that kitchen from the dark, small circa 70s decor that it had been.

I made an old speckled colander into a light fixture over the sink on a dropped down pipe(the ceilings were very high) and it was just the right lighting for that area.

I also enlarged the kitchen window and used some of the wormy chestnut for the windowsill and made it extra wide for my houseplants and such.

I fitted another section of counter top over some more cabinets on the end of my sink unit to form a bar that had additional storage underneath.

I doubt if the entire renovation costed me even $300 and it made my kitchen into a place of incredible work space, storage and light.

People were amazed that a single woman would just start tearing down walls and taking down nasty dark cabinets and putting in all these circa 30s style cottage items. Most of the work was done by me and my then young teen and grade school boys. The countertops were finished and installed by a friend with woodworking experience.

I loved making over that old kitchen!

That sounds beautiful Bee. You should post pics of it.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't have any pics of the remodel but I sure wish I did now....I moved from that home back in 2005. We had lived there for about 8 years and had done quite a bit to remodel the place.

We sealed the big countertop with Formsby's and the butcher block with olive oil.

The porcelain sink units can often be found for a song, for free, for real cheap depending on who is remodeling their kitchens. I found mine in the local free ads and it was a quality unit. Some are not so good....a good porcelain is not too porous and has a nice, shiny finish. The metal cabinets underneath need to be of good, quality metal that has a good finish that hasn't rusted too badly.

I currently have one in the house I am living in and I love, love, love it! They are just classic.

Last spring I drove by a house that had two large "L-shaped" sections of blue formica countertop out in the front yard with a FREE sign on them. They had no obvious wear or damage to them...someone just needed a new look apparently.

I took them home without a clue as to where I would use them...but I finally mounted them in my outbuilding to be used as a work bench. I mounted shelving above them and placed storage tubs beneath them.

Keep your eyes peeled and inquire at your local dump...in the next county from me they have one free day per month. They place large dumpsters out front and people can come and dump anything and as much as they wish. People who are doing remodels come and dump off the best stuff!!! You should have seen some of the new looking shower units, commodes, counter tops, etc.

Right next to the dumpsters were guys with pickup trucks, gleaning all the free, lightly used stuff.

 

[savingdogs]

Well my hubby was just mentioning he knows where a habitat for humanity store like that is. We bought some leftover paint there once that served us well, a big vat of it that painted all of our outbuildings the same color. That was a great remnder!

I was thinking of just prying off what is up there and even sliding my dining table into that spot. At least then I'd have a usable surface for doing things on and could even put a chair there.

I also have an unused tiny bedroom behind this kitchen I'm thinking of turning into a giant pantry. I don't think I could push the wall out unfortunately, wish I could.

I like the butcher block idea, that is an excellent one, I need one of those! maybe if the big ol' dishwasher was gone, one could fit in that space. I'd just have to have storage underneath it. Maybe I should look for something like that, a used butcherblock with undershelves.

 

[lorihadams]

Do you have any pics of the current space....that might help us with some ideas....

 

[Javamama]

I would absolutely make use of that bedroom! You could put a spare freezer in it in addition to the storage.

 

[sufficientforme]

What about piecing together an IKEA kitchen, you can buy the components as you go and IKEA cabinets are usually designed to be moved with the tenant (as Europeans often do) They have nice big sinks with drain boards etc and the shelving has lots of options.
I personally would be on the lookout for commercial items, I have seen viking ranges for 2500.00 on craigslist and commercial sinks in the 125.00 range. I guess it really comes down to how much you want to spend. I am rearranging my kitchen now with existing cabinets and making it more user friendly. Slowly achieving my cooks kitchen.