I am very impressed. The spice pull out from a drawer. Brilliant!

The spice pullout is something I bought, but it comes without a door. So I re-purposed an unneeded drawer front. On the other side of the kitchen between the upper corner cabinet and the 36" upper cabinet next to the fridge there was another gap that needed filling, so I made a wine rack using PVC drain pipe. I still need to figure out how to hold the wine rack all together.

It's a great re-do especially for a rental. Prospective tenants will be delighted. Can I ask where u got a lot of your used items? Craigslist? I had initially planned on getting a modest kitchen update for a rental done along with my own kitchen re-do, since my kitchen project will have some contractor downtime, but too stressful to plan. There is tenant still there and didn't want to give too many months of cheap rent.

Some from craigslist, (stove, dishwasher, combo washer/dryer, granite, electrical box for ceiling fan) Some from the local Habitat for Humanity retail store (vent fan, ceiling fan for dining room, bathroom sink, toilet. doors for bedrooms and closet, bathroom vanity light, kitchen door, track light fixtures)

Terrific planning! Great layout; I had that same layout in an apartment once (minus the spice pullout!) and would have it again in a heartbeat. And at first I thought you used granite tile, and thought that was very clever but my what big tiles. So just remnants, and your tenant will feel like a king.

The cork floor is a beautiful color, on my screen it looks almost like blond oak. Is it that color IRL?

The floor is a touch more yellow in these pictures than IRL. THe last picture is probably closest to the real color.

Very impressive! The track lighting is cheerful and shows off the kitchen very nicely. Are you going to install a backsplash or keep the paint? The only thing which strikes me as unfinished is the door color - have you considered painting this to match the wall or to contrast (shiny black could be fun). Great job with the budget :)

Way to make it happen!

Very lucky "mistake" that the sink was undermounted. It looks and functions much better.

What a great job on a careful budget! Looks as if you spent way more than you did, and it all works together so well. The white cabs and warm floor just liven up that kitchen! Lucky tenant to come...

Is the cork a floating floor or glue down? Brand? Are you happy with the quality you got? Thanks for any guidance.

That is really impressive and so clever! Someone will be very lucky to live there!

Great job as all others have said. Lucky tenant-nothing like a new kitchen.

Smiling,

The floor is a floating, click together laminate-style cork floor that I bought at Lowes. I don't remember the brand, I'll see whether I can find out. So far I am happy with how it has turned out, but because it has been covered by cardboard since it was installed until yesterday, I don't know how durable it will be. Especially when a tenant is in there. I did have a problem where the tongue end of one entire box of flooring pieces was smashed in shipping, although I could have returned that box and ordered another, I managed to work around the problem by using that box as end-of-run pieces.

Also I thought about the layout along the long axis to make sure there wouldn't be short pieces at the end of the runs, but it never occurred to me to similarly plan the layout along the short axis of the pieces. Fortuitously, the last last row worked out to require a whole piece, minus the width of the tongue part that would click into the next piece. Don't try this at home. :-)

Trebruchet,

The mistake with the sink cutout was doubly lucky, since when I picked up the sink that I had given to the fabricators, the rim was slightly bent, and it wouldn't have been usable as a top-mount sink anymore, and I had no proof that it wasn't damaged when I delivered it to them, so I might have ended up eating it.

oldbat2be
The old kitchen had a single ceiling-mount ceiling fixture that could only hold a single 75 watt max bulb. The light was woefully inadequate. I like the track lights for several reasons: they allowed me to defer the exact placement of the lights until later in the process, they didn't require holes into the ceiling that would have dropped dirt and old insulation in my face, and the fixtures were only $1 each.

We are planning on leaving the backsplash as it is. It doesn't show well in the pictures, but the walls are a linen white, and the backsplash area is a semi-gloss sagey-green. We had the green paint as a sample color from when we were painting our dining room.

There still are tasks remaining that aren't obvious. The granite backsplash pieces are just set in place, as are some of the trim boards, and the cabinets are missing toe kick boards in places. I am planning on painting the door, but haven't decided on the color. Maybe I should post the colors I have available here and let gardenweb vote.

Thanks to all for the kind comments, part of the layout was thanks to posts and comments from gardenweb So you all get partial credit for the result.

Wow, now that is an impressive remodel for that budget! A perfect example of why it is great to have some basic DIY skills and ingenuity! Not sure about the Lowes cork specifically, but we put in glue down cork and love it!

I love the modifications you made, everything looks like you designed it that way. Wonderful shopping skills too. Not only is it a nice upgraded look, but also a very green remodel. Your renters are very lucky!

I'm going to show this to my mom, who is also looking to remodel with a limited budget. She has great problem solving abilities and imagination, so I've been sending her links to awesome budget remodels like this for inspiration.

That's an awesome transformation with less money than most spend on a new fridge! What ingenuity and skill went into that project. What an inspiration for others. I hope you get top dollars from your next tenants.

I am impressed! Your next renter will hopefully be so grateful, that they will treat the kitchen with tender, loving care!

Any renter should be thrilled with that kitchen!!! Nice job!

Wow. I'd have been thrilled to have such a functional, nice kitchen in my apartment -- great job! Love the single bowl sink--every apartment I ever lived in had an evil, stupid, shallow double bowl sink. That would have been awesome.

Wow, that is amazing what you did with your budget! Great creativity to make used items work so well! I wish I had the ability to be so thrifty & creative! Great job!

I would have been happy to have anything as nice as that in any rental I've ever lived in. Actually, it's way nicer than in the 2 homes that I've bought, ha.

Looks great, nice job. Very bright and cheery and functional.

Wow! That is so beautiful! Wonderful job!

That is an awesome display of what ingenuity can do ... it's functional and very pretty.

My wife found some pictures of how it looked before. It has been so long I forgot how really awful it was.

and a view from the kitchen into the dining room.

Amazing changes with your budget, congrats!

Could you post details on how you undernounted the overmount sink? Did that sink fit within the 24" (?) cabinet without having to sit on the frame?
thanks!

The sink did fit within the 24" wide cabinet without sitting on the frame. The sinks rim was about 1" wide, and there was maybe 1/8" gap between the sink and the cabinet on one side, and about 3/8" gap on the other.

To mount it under the counter, I made a frame from oak boards, cut small slots in the boards for the mounting brackets the were already on the sink. I then mounted the frame tightly to the bottom of the sink through the sides of the cabinet. Once I had it mounted tightly, I lowered it down, used a clear silicone-like sealant around the rim, and pressed it back tightly into place and reinstalled the screws through the cabinet sides.

thanks Bob, it looks awesome, this mistake really became a silk purse!