Kitchen Renovation & Sources

Our kitchen was the very first thing in the house we renovated out of sheer necessity. Two days after we moved in, I started to unpack our dishware and discovered that our cabinets were quite literally rotting through. Apparently, home inspectors don't check inside cabinets. We could see right through to the black and moldy drywall behind the cabinets. Here is the full renovation story!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Kitchen Sources

Paint color: custom mix to match our dining room wallpaper

Trim Color

Floor Paint

Cabinets

Wonder Oven

Sink

Faucet (it turns on by touch!)

Knife rack

Shelves

Shades

Butcher Block

Butcher Block Stain

Drawer Pulls

The Day We Moved In

Kyle and I bought our house in May of 2020. It sat empty for several months while the flipping company we bought it from did some renovations and then tried to sell it. They did many, many repairs incorrectly, and they hid a significant amount of damage from us. Unfortunately, neither we nor the inspector looked inside the kitchen cabinets to see that they were rotted and moldy. And boy was it moldy!

Kyle and his dad removed the cabinetry, and we could see the damage went further than just the cabinet backs. They repaired the drywall in the places that needed it, but then we discovered that the sill plate was rotted on the right wall that had no cabinetry. The repaired that, and then we decided to add one more row of cabinets to create a U shape and create more storage and counterspace.

The sill plate that held up the wall was rotted from water damage

Once the drywall was in and primed, we were ready to add the cabinetry! We used prefab cabinets from Home Depot and although they are not the most sturdy cabinets, they have held up perfectly 4 years later.

The kitchen was the first room I ever designed and to be honest, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. There are several things I would do differently if I were to do it again, but I still love how it turned out. We decided to reuse the butcher block countertops, so we just bought one more board to finish out the room.

The pot rack is actually an antique cast iron gate!

I found a company that makes custom bamboo shades on Amazon for a fraction of the price of most companies, and got one for the 6 x 3 ft windows for under $130!

Probably my favorite additions though, are the magnetic knife strip and wine bottle cabinet! It was actually an upper cabinet that Kyle built a base for and we used as a lower. I believe it was discontinued, unfortunately.

Here is the kitchen after painting the tile. If you have watched this reel, you know that the paint has not held up well in my kitchen! I plan on repainting in the next few months!

The latest update in our kitchen was removing the corner cabinet and adding in open shelving just in time to decorate for fall.

Do let me know what your favorite (or least favorite!) part of our kitchen reno is.

xoxo,

Melissa