I had a dream…of a new kitchen.  Unfortunately my husband was not a big fan of the idea.  He didn’t especially like our kitchen, but he really didn’t want to go into debt, just to get us the kitchen of our dreams.  We had been saving up money in an effort to avoid going into debt and had saved up about $10,000, so we made that our budget.  

Our plan was to keep the footprint of the kitchen the same to save money.  Unfortunately the cabinets had to go.  The configuration was just bad and they were poor quality, so we were unable to salvage any of them.  My plan was to rework the cabinet layout to maximize the space in our small kitchen, keeping the appliances and sink where they were to save costs.  We also eliminated the dust catching space above the cabinets and took them all the way to the ceiling, this way we gained tons of storage in the same amount of space.  I need a step ladder to reach the items on the top shelves, but I reserved those shelves for things I use infrequently like platters.  Our house is rustic Montana style so we opted for knotty Alder cabinets, at just over seven thousand dollars, it was our biggest purchase, but I love them and they are top of the line. I made sure I had plenty of drawers, including the large pot drawers that I had been eyeing for so long.

We also needed flooring, our kitchen is part of a great room so we wanted wood flooring throughout.  We saved money by buying our tongue and groove flooring from a mill and installing, staining and finishing it ourselves.  It was quite an undertaking but we estimated that we saved about $10,000 by doing it this way.  Unfortunately, when we ripped out the ceramic tile we found out that our patio door had been leaking and needed to be replaced.  We bought a new energy efficient french door set and had a friend install it.  This fortunately, only set us back about $900.00.

We weren’t sure what to do for countertops, we wanted granite, but really didn’t want to pay the $3,000-3,200 that was estimated to give us the granite we wanted.  We looked at other options but nothing really caught our eye till our cabinet stylist suggested that we look at live edge slab counters.  I had seen them used as desktops, but never in a kitchen.  We went to visit another client who had recently installed these types of countertops and we were hooked, they were completely gorgeous and the price was right, about $550.  We didn’t put the clear coat  finish on them as many people do.  We used food safe, organic walnut oil and finished them like a butcher block and we have found this method beautiful and easy to care for.

My big splurge was my hammered copper sink, I looked around a lot and finally found one for $550.  More than I had wanted to pay for a sink, but it’s pretty unique and I love it.  The matching faucet was about $225.

I still wanted my island to have a stone surface of some sort.  I like to make pasta, so a marble or granite counter was preferable for that surface.  It wasn’t a huge surface so it was suggested to me that we go to a granite fabricator and find out if they had any remnants for sale.  This is also a great idea for a bathroom.  Make sure you go to an actual granite fabricator.  Lots of places sell granite, not everyone is a fabricator.  We got to look through the remnants to find a workable size and thickness and the fabricator cut it to our size and gave us the edge we wanted, all for just $450.00.  I know, such a deal!

As for light fixtures, we were lucky, we already had pot lights in our kitchen so I merely had to replace the light over our sink and our dining table light.  This turned out to be the cheapest part of my project.  I found an old copper colander at an antique store for $15 and I made that into a light for over my sink.  The light for my dining table was a little more difficult.  I wanted something classic looking, but stylish that would fit in with the rustic style of my house.  I searched everywhere and my main stumbling block was everything was made in China.  I forgot to mention this part, but my husband will not buy anything that is made in China.  Try finding a light fixture that’s made in the US, I dare you.

Eventually I found what I was looking for.  At our local Restore, you know the resale shop that sells things to make money for Habitat for Humanity, I found an old brass light fixture with a cute frosted glass shade.  I brought that for $15 and took it home, took it apart, spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze spray paint and  voila, I had the light fixture I had been looking for!

In the end, we went slightly over our $10,000 budget, but keep in mind, we replaced the floor in our entire great room and we had the unexpected expense of having to replace our patio door.  We did all the work ourselves except for the patio door and we also had a craftsman install the crown molding above our cabinets.  

We are proud to say we used local products and craftsmen as much as possible with the exception of my copper sink, which was imported from India and our granite which came from India as well.  You can have the kitchen of your dreams on a small budget, you just have to be willing to think outside the box, and be willing to compromise.

You can see more by Jean Stanberry on her website jeanstanberry.com or follow her on twitter @jeanstanberry

Jean is author of “Laying Low In Hollywood”, “One World United”, and “The Illusion Of Order”.