CABIN KITCHEN – BEFORE AND AFTER

allie • Jan 27, 2020

How the kitchen all started! Yikes!

Its no surprise that this kitchen has changed drastically, but it is a surprise that we actually moved the whole location of the kitchen. When we were trying to plan out our new layout, we kept coming up short on space in the old kitchen..

It’s hard to tell, but this little tiny box kitchen is what we now turned into the bunk room, and youll see that in a blog post soon! There was no way to fit all the appliances in this area and have enough room for everything else as well. We were banging our heads on the wall trying to figure out a solution, when my sister actually mentioned moving it! Since we were running all new plumbing and electrical anyway, we realized in a hurry that it would be by far the best solution!

We had this living room that was very large compared to the rest of the cabin, and on top of that we had a huge amount of dead space in front of the wood burning fireplace that sits just opposite of this picture, so we decided since most of our time at the lake would be spent either outside or in the kitchen, we took the largest area for the kitchen. 



Now ---- Wait for it!

Just a tiny change:) Alright, down to the details. Since we knew we wanted to pay for all the remodels in cash, we had to be super conscious of budget. Ryan obviously saves us so much money by being able to do everything himself, I’m guessing over a 50% saving from hiring it out, but lets be real, everything still costs real dollars! And the kitchen can usually eat a whole budget before you even start.  So we were absolutely beyond ecstatic when our neighbors told us that they had their old cabinets in their garage that they wanted to just get rid of!

And amazingly we had the exact amount of cabinets we needed minus the corner lazy susan. I call that a God wink:) The cabinets were cream when we got them, so I painted them my favorite Simply White by Benjamin Moore and added new hardware. I had found hardware for 80% off from rejuvenation but of course it’s since gone out of stock. But I have found this option  to be similar. 

Another great budget saver was being able to use the appliances that were there. They actually were newer appliance, and I’m grateful they were white. The only appliance I bought was this cute little microwave that I didn’t mind sitting out on the counters. 

And while we are talking counters, that was another budget friendly option. We went with a birch butcher block from Menards and they ended up only costing us $300. I stained them with Minwax’s Special Walnut and used the Ikea butcher block oil to condition them. I have to oil them about once a month and theyve been holding up great!

And now we need to talk about this gorgeous sink. Sinkology reached out at the perfect time and offered us this sink for a collaboration. I know I would have never been able to talk Ryan into an apron sink in the cabin:) But, I will say that this is one of the most reasonable prices I’ve seen on a gorgeous farmhouse sink. We actually were given the all in one complete sink set that you can find here

We also chose a super budget friendly option for upper cabinets and went with one single shelf that we made out of a pine 2×12 board from menards and brackets from Cascade Iron Co. I added these fun modern sconces and these black dishes and bowls it gave it such a fun and modern twist. I loved these canisters  to have out on the counter for baking necessities, aka pancakes for breakfast:) 

This kitchen table was a freebie from my sister-in-law. It came out of their basement and I fell in love with the patina. I had to cut it down by a foot and then sealed the top with a polycrilic so no paint would chip off, but I love a bit of old with the modern twists. I added 4 chairs and a fun basket pendant from Pottery Barn Teen that is no longer available, but this one is super similar. We also ended up replacing the kitchen window, along with 4 other windows. To keep costs down we bought stock windows from Menards at about $100/piece. 

I added the same grids I had gotten from new panes  from my house to give them more of a custom feel and to also make all of the windows (old and new) blend together. Alright, so lets do the before and after again.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Lets add a few more fun pics shall we? 

I’m also going to add that we took off all of the pine tongue and groove so that we could insulate behind it since there was no insulation in any part of the cabin before. When Ryan put it back up he hung it horizontal instead of vertical because it was easier to nail that way and he didn’t need to add backer boards. I did love the look of the vertical tongue and groove, made it a little more modern, but I added in some more modern twists since the horizontal backing is more traditional. 

Also, when painting knotty pine it can be tricky because of the knots bleeding through. I researched as much as possible and came upon the conclusion to cover the knots with an oil based primer. I covered the knots by hand 2 coats, so I would take a paint brush and just cover the knots so basically the cabin looked polka dotted. It really didn’t take as long as you’d think and I’m so glad I did it. Then after the two coats of paint on just the knots, we took our paint sprayer and sprayed all of the pine with a coat of oil based primer.  This is the kind we used!  Then after the primer was dry we sprayed it all with our favorite color, Benjamin Moores simply white. I always have it color matched to my favorite Menards paint, Pittsburgh Paramount, and it’s about 1/4 of the cost! We bought both the primer and the paint in a 5 gallon bucket and invested about $225 into painting the cabin white. For sure the best bang for our buck!

So lets break down the kitchen budget. 

Lazy Susan cabinet = trade for boat storage

Countertops = $350

Hardware = $30

Open Shelving = $150

Sink = Collab

Lighting = $300

Chairs = $100 

Plumbing = $300

Paint and Primer (for whole cabin) = $250

New Window = $100

Total = $1580!

Under $1600 for a whole new kitchen! I know that we had luck on our side with free cabinets and a sink collaboration, but I do want to show you that even if you had to buy stock cabinets or find a kitchen set on craigslist, it is so easy to achieve a higher end look on a major budget! Open shelves are a great way to cut costs and not sacrifice style, and so is butcher block counter tops! Just a few of the tips I’ve learned! 

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