Here are the somewhat finished kitchen pics. As I said, we still have to put a new floor down so please pardon the torn, stained, you can see where walls used to be floor that is there now. We are covering the downstairs with reclaimed maple flooring but my husband is still working on tearing that out of the old Grange Hall it's in and then once we install it here we will get it all refinished.

And as I also said, this was a small budget redo. We live in a low cost of living area so there would never be a $30k+ reno happening here. The cabinets are all wood, plywood boxes, RTAs by GHI. The counter is black galaxy granite tile with black epoxy grout. The sink is obviously Silgranite (thank you GW for introducing me to this!), the faucet is a Delta, Kate is the model I believe. The bar pulls are from a surplus/discount building supply store called Grossman's and the giant twenty something inch ones on the drawer stacks (thank you GW!) were only $6 each. The backsplash is white subways set vertically with my husband's little artistic accent (I was 9 months pregnant at this point and just wanted everything DONE.). The hood vent is a Valore and is from Costco. Totally beats the pants of our old micro vent--which anything probably would though. The butcherblock is from Ikea. We drove 5 hours each way from upstate NY to Brooklyn on the 4th of July weekend with I was 7 months pregnant to get it. The ceiling lights aren't can lights, but rather LED retrofits with HD sold that could either be installed in existing cans or in regular light junction boxes. We had shallow joists so recessed lights would have gotten pricey with special cans. I am very happy with these. It's like a runway in here. Under cabinet lights are from some place online that escapes me now (they were so helpful though and custom designed what we needed based on a cabinet layout) but they're LED bars.

Pardon my little photo bomb in these pictures. Our reno "surprise" turned 7 months today. :D His big brother who is almost 9 was a huge help during all this.

Wow! What a transformation! Congrats on a beautiful kitchen and an adorable little baby!!

Great job!! Looks like a great space to work in.
The layouts perfect and you chose really nice materials. Looks like you spent 3x as much! So wish we were handy and could diy!
Your model is the best accessory too :-). Congrats!

Congratulations on your finished (or almost finished) kitchen. You guys have such great DIY skills! What a change from the original space. Opening up that wall made a big difference.

I love it! Such a great job, especially with that budget. You'd never know (and I like the white appliances!)

Especially love that reno addition! You guys clearly had more time than my DH and I have during our reno. :) We're lucky to speaking to one another and we didn't even tear down walls.

Did you buy a bar stool for your little one while having counter stools for the grown ups? If so, great idea.

I love your new kitchen! It looks beautiful and little one seems to be enjoying it too : )) Your cabinets are beautiful and look great.

Very impressed you accomplished that with your budget! Definitely makes me consider adding a bit more DIY for my project so I can get the extras I am drooling over....

Wow- what a transformation! Looks great.

Wow! That's just amazing!!! It looks like such a beautiful space now!

You did a wonderful job. Smart choices with the granite tile and epoxy grout. Everything looks great. I really like everything you did. Often people here are looking for photos of low cost kitchen remodels. Yours is a great example.

Enjoy!

Congrats on a job very well done. I especially need to draw attention to the way you ended the backsplash.
That needs to go in the GW archives for future reference.
All this and a baby on the way. Adorable children.

That turned out sooo well! Congratulations! Don't we wish we could all have such lovable, kissable, snuggle-able kitchen additions, too. : ) So sweet. Our kitchen sported the same bouncy seat for months last year, but now our baby is walking and climbing on everything.

Did you get the granite tiles at Grossman's too? (Our super single SS sink is from there.) They look wonderful. We've talked about doing tiles like that, but I wasn't sure how to make it look "right". You've achieved it beautifully.

Enjoy!

Thank you all! Yes, the baby boy was

lovetodream: That taller counter stool is actually our 8 year old's. It's up on a Kaboost because he likes to be high up still. I told my husband the baby was out of luck since we did the layout (with room for 3 stools) before we knew about him! LOL We do have a 4th stool so I guess we could squeeze him in there if we *have* to. ;-D My husband frequently works out of town all week long so on the rare occasion we all eat together, we use the dining room now that it isn't cut off from everything else.

meyersdvm: If you can DIY anything to save $$, go for it! My father was a union carpenter and my husband worked in carpentry for almost 20 years so I've never known anything other than DIY.

laughable: Yes, we got the granite at Grossman's too. They actually also sold the cabinets we went with but they were cheaper online. We had marble tiles for so long (at the time it was cheaper to do that then get two sheets of laminate to cover the old, worn laminate) and the grout lines and it being tile never bothered me and it's not the west coast ceramic tile counter thing where the tiles have rounded edges. Sure, I would love solid slabs of granite (actually I'd want soapstone even more!), but that could have taken the entire budget. In the 10+ years with the marble, I chipped one spot when I dropped a coffee mug and it hit the edge but other than some etches, which marble does, it withstood everything. We went with a super tiny spacer that gave just enough room to squeeze the grout into. The epoxy was a pain to clean off and it wasn't until I broke out some microfiber towels that we were finally able to easily get the haze off the tiles.

That is beautiful! Sure doesn't look like a budget renovation! You have created a wonderful center to your home -- and the baby is adorable, too!

Amazing! You changed more than I did and at 1/4 the cost. I'm so impressed with people who can DIY. Your original spruce up was really good. This kitchen is just lovely, and your kids are beautiful, too. Great job! Congratulations!

(I see those Grossmans inserts in the Sunday paper. Next project - I'm checking out Grossmans!)

It looks beautiful--I wouldn't have guessed it was all DIY in a million years, and I certainly wouldn't have thought it could be done under $10k. Fantastic!

Love this! It's beautiful!

Your kitchen is gorgeous!!! I so wish that hubby and I were handy DIY people but we just aren't. Your kitchen looks like a high end kitchen! Blessings to you and your beautiful family!

Lovely. Definitely looks very professional. Lucky that DH is so capable! Your new kitchen is huge!

One question: how far over the countertop does your microwave extend? (This is a vexing problem for me--your setup may be a solution!)

That looks really great and Yay! for under 10K! It can be done (beautifully) and you proved it. I have hope renewed now 'cause more than 10K makes me want to throw up a little....

Looks like you have a wonderful little family, too... :)

You are absolutely lying to us. There is NO WAY you did that kitchen for 8K including appliances! No way! It's far too awesome. :)

Amazing job and keeping the costs down! I will have to look into those cabs for our bathroom!
Your little one is cute as a button and it will make it easy to remember when you did the remodel!
Congratulations!!!

Amazing transformation, congratulations!

Your little reno surprise is adorable. All over the place, obviously. And I love your kitchen, all that wonderful work space you have now! Your kitchen is obviously going to be a great inspiration for others. Congrats.

Your little reno surprise is adorable. All over the place, obviously. And I love your kitchen, all that wonderful work space you have now. Your kitchen is obviously going to be a great inspiration for others. Congrats!

Thank you again to everyone that has said such nice things! I know our budget was closer to some of your appliance budgets and was a little hesitant to post, but I got so many ideas and inspiration from here I wanted to share what we were able to do on a shoestring. If we hadn't changed the layout, removed walls, gutted everything, reddid all the electrical and plumbing, etc. we could have done it for about half that.

socalsister: The microwave shelf extends about 18.5" from the wall.

Love everything about it but especially love the really long cabinet handles. I've been looking for something super cool like that for my master bath and I'm going to try that.

That's going to be so easy to use and clean and keep looking good through all the cooking and other projects you and your guys are going to be doing.

Really great work; your husband deserves a big round of applause, but it's pretty clear also that you thought things through well before beginning. Hope the flooring goes just as well; it's so great to be able to re-use good wood.

My favorite touch is the red bread box, a great echo of your old kitchen and a beautiful complement to the black and white.

Really really nice. And baby is SWEET ~ ~You have an abundance of talent in your home. What a great use of your ingenuity and money. You have a million dollar kitchen for sure. c

It's wonderful! Big smile on this end. Your cabinets look beautiful. Congrats!

Oh, yes, ellabee, I had to keep my red bread box! I traded in my old red bar mop towels for some in bright orange, lime, and yellow to throw some color in there. I need to find some accessories for the 3 little black floating shelves on the end but i haven't come across anything yet that called to me. I have a green fiestaware platter that was an original inspiration color but it's too large to put there.

Wonderful BRIGHT kitchen! No really I love the LED lights I'm planning on using them too so its good to see they are bright.
I really like the subways vertical in the BS. The kitchen looks great and that you did all with a little one brewing well that's just amazing.

Congratulations! I am so impressed that you were able to open up the space and cope with your little blessing on the way. I'm sure you enjoy it all the more because of it. Love the cabinetry and bs. Enjoy your new kitchen and family time.

Wow, Awesome, great job!
I love seeing the amazing work people can do with DIY on a budget. I find these so much more inspiring than the budget-busters. And it's beautiful. I love the way you did the accent tiles and flipped the subways. Taking something tried-and-true (dare I say - overdone!) and putting a twist on it.