Sunday Favorites - Mini Kitchen Remodel

Today I am joining Chari @ Happy To Design for Sunday Favorites. This is a fun party where we show one of our posts from the past.

This post was originally posted on 2/7/09. I know you've seen my kitchen a hundred times, but maybe don't remember what it looked like when we moved in.

The most bland and builder basic thing about our home when we moved in was the kitchen. The cabinets were a very light almost blonde maple, white walls, white appliances, counters and sink. The first thing I did the week after we moved in was to paint the walls chocolate brown. (Sorry, I don't have a before pictue.) At least you could see the cabinets afterwards, they didn't fade into the walls.

I talked to a cabinet refinisher and he told me about "Dark Paste Wax". There are several brands out there, the one I bought is called Brie and the shade is a dark walnut. After two coats of the wax, the cabinets had a really nice warm brown tone. One that I could live with. Be sure to try it on the inside of a door first and make sure you go with the grain of the wood. This stuff works wonders to bring cabinets to life.

I ordered some nice hardware off the internet at a very reasonable price and installed undercabinet lighting. Now the cabinets were looking a whole lot better.

The best feature of the kitchen was the pretty travertine tile floors.

Then the very best part came. I received a remant piece of granite as a gift, it would work perfectly for the island. You can see all the tools, this is immediately after they installed it. Most all stone yards sell remnant pieces at 1/3 to 1/2 the sq. ft. price of a full sheet. These are small pieces only suitable for small jobs.

With the gift of the beautiful granite I needed a new sink and faucet. Again I found some great buys on the internet. This really changed the look of the island and the entire kitchen.

I found some corbels to support the granite overhang, and painted the island wall a soft camel color and aged the detail on the corbels a little. Just this small piece of granite gives the kitchen a much more updated and custom look.

This is what the kitchen looks like today. I've been really happy with the results of such a small remodel. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to make a big difference. Not counting the gift of the granite, the entire project came to a little under $400.00 for sink, faucet, under counter lights, corbels and hardware. Huge improvement for a small investment.