Hold on to your jaws people because otherwise they’ll be on the floor in a few moments. Jordan and her husband have totally flipped their kitchen for just over a thousand dollars. And the result is nothing short of spectacular. Here’s Jordan’s letter:
I’ve been obsessed with y’alls blog for a while now. I check it every day! Me and the hubs finally bought a house this spring and just like you guys, we’re in love with it. We’re full time photographers (as opposed to designers or renovators) but I could paint and decorate for days without food or drink! I just love making things over!
We transformed the kitchen on a pretty tight budget. $1,207 to be exact!
But we definitely did our best to make our money go a loooong way. Just look at the difference:
Painting the cabinets and switching out the counters made for quite a change. And the stainless steel appliances that we already had definitely popped thanks to the change. Hanging a new light fixture above the sink also really changed the feeling of the room, and the new sink adds so much personality.
Here’s a little breakdown of everything that we used:
- $20 – Paint for the cabinets (Olympic Dogwood Blossom)
- $0 – Primer for the cabinets (we already had it)
- $0 – Paint for the walls (don’t remember the name, but we had it forever)
- $20 – Beadboard for the front of the peninsula (Home Depot)
- $620 – Oak Numerar countertops (Ikea)
- $185 – Sink (Ikea)
- $98 – Faucet (Home Depot)
- $86 – Knobs (Anthropologie)
- $100 – White subway tile backspash (Home Depot)
- $78 – Light fixture over sink (Ikea)
- $0 – Stools (we already had them in another room)
- TOTAL: $1,207
I’m so excited because I finally have a finished room to send y’all. Thanks so much Sherry and John! – Jordan at landonjacob.com
Isn’t it amazing? It’s just another example of how Ikea can come to the rescue when it comes to creating affordable room transformations – that and doing the work yourself to save some serious loot. We’re totally in love with what Jordan and her husband did that we’re just about ready to invite ourselves over for breakfast. Nice work guys! And what do you people at home think? Does it have you looking at your kitchen in a whole new way? What’s your favorite part?
jordan thompson says
well as far as the sterilizing goes… we don’t eat meat… so thats a pretty easy way to get around germy countertops! :) We do eat fish, and we just prepare it on our cutting board! But I do use 7th generation all purpose cleaner- its an natural botanic cleaner that kills 99% of germs naturally! You can pick it up at any grocery store, and you can ALWAYS print a coupon online! Great stuff! Sometimes after we clean them they look a little dry.. that just means its oil time!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for dropping in with that info Jordan! So glad everyone’s still loving your transformation as much as we are- 162 comments later!
xo,
s
Rob O. says
I love the zing that the little dab of beadboard makes! I dig the new sink – but I dunno if I could live without my double kitchen sinks since I still hand wash a lot of our dirty cookare & dishes. Lastly, I’m stunned that those countertops were so cheap! Wow!
Charise says
Love the changes – I am a BIG fan of farmhouse sinks and beadboard. Also a fan of the butcher block counters, but my husband is a germaphobe and won’t let us get them.
We also did an overhaul of our tiny kitchen using lots of IKEA and Home Depot/Lowe’s sale stuff. It’s the best!
Kathy says
I’d love to hear about your process on painting your cabinets. I’m hoping to paint mine this fall. Taking a week off from work to get the job done. We’re going from basic construction grade oak wood cabinets to hopefully, a white cabinets. any suggestions, directions, paint color suggestions?
thanks!
Kathy
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kathy,
Check out this link for a full tutorial. As for colors, we love Benjamin Moore’s Decorators White!
xo,
s
Kathy says
I will, thanks!
lisa says
Amazing! I am inspired and want to see more pics! I got a quote for $600 to do that same exact backsplash, in pretty much the same size kitchen. I am so tempted to just try it ourselves.
Stefanie says
Ooooh, this is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing! My husband and I recently bought a piece of property with a big ol’ garage on it that we plan to renovate into a small cabin, and this kitchen is very similar to the look I’ll be going for. Amazing that so much of it came from Ikea! They’ve really come a long way in the few years since I’ve been there.
Audrey says
Wowza! Imagine the “after” with just the paint and beadboard changes…to the tune of $40, that is a HUGE transformation! Great for people like us who can’t afford new counter tops, etc. yet!
Jen says
Please help! I *hate* my double stainless steel sink and a farmhouse sink for under $200 had me on IKEA’s website faster than you can pronounce any of their product names. But there was no farmhouse sink to be found! What was the name of the sink? Was it in-store only? Please help, I hate washing my 24 qt stockpot so much its actually limiting my cooking. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Might be in store only- but we definitely think it’s still available. It’s one of their top selling items!
xo,
s
Jess says
Hmm… I’m kind of torn on my opinion. Their kitchen looked amazing to begin with, so I can see how the transformation didn’t cost much! I do think that painting everything white did lighten things up and I love that part of the transformation, but I really dislike the wood countertop. It just seems so impractical. It reminds me of carpets in the bathroom… I can just see it getting stains and cut marks from daily use (I know I’m on a forum where a girl accidentally spilled wine on a wood countertop of a rental and freaked out!)… I don’t understand why they decided to get rid of the gorgeous granite(?)/corian(?).
Tracey says
Beautiful! I love how airy it is. I really, really, really wish we had an Ikea in St. Louis :( Or at least that they sold more stuff online. I have the same fears about butcher block counter tops, but I don’t know anyone who has had them for more than a few months so I’m no help.
To Jess- I’m pretty sure the old ones were laminate, but I could be wrong.
Liz says
gorgeous – did you install the countertops yourself?
if so – was it difficult?
Kristi says
Do you know what color the grout on the subway tile is? We’re using the same tile but are torn over the grout color. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping they stop in with that info!
xo,
s
larae says
I LOVE this!! I really want to remodel our kitchen, but it’s SO expensive! We have great cabinets, but the countertops are horrible! Do you know if the $620 they have written down for the Ikea countertops includes installation or did they install the counters themselves??
YoungHouseLove says
We’re thinking they DIYed it. Here’s hoping they drop in to clarify!
xo,
s
Kimberly says
The IKEA sink is the DOMSJO sink. You can buy it in single basin or double basin. I just spoke with our local IKEA and they have both in stock. Not sure why they are not on the website/catalog.
We installed the Numerar oak countertop in our home using a circular saw with a new blade..
For one of you wondering about chicken juice + wood countertop combination: Here is a cutting board that fits the above DOMSJO sink. Errant chicken blood stays off the countertops altogether. :)
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70117921
Kim says
Need advice:
We are doing a major full-house remodel including the kitchen. It will be completely open to the living room (one big room really). We are putting wood floor down in the entire space to make it seemless, but just realized a potential snag: we were planning on light birch cabinets in the kitchen. Will that be too much wood tone on wood tone? I like the look of your white cabinets, but we just took out some horrible white melamine cabinets (I know, different story) that showed all kinds of dirt. We swore we would NOT have white cabinets again. Any ideas? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Any ideas for Kim? We love white cabs with wood floors ourselves, but we also have seen wood cabinets and wood floors that look great as long as they’re not too matchy matchy!
xo,
s
Amanda says
Kim –
I think you can definitely do wood floors with wood cabinets. My in-laws have light wood floors (maybe pine or oak?) and super-dark wood cabinets in sort of an espresso finish, which looks great. In our house we have pretty light bamboo floors and light oak cabinets. I think it works since the floors are a little richer than the cabinets, but we plan on painting the cabinets white at some point anyway. I think that you’ll be fine as long as the cabinets and the floors coordinate, but aren’t too close in color. Just my two cents! Hope that’s helpful!
Amanda
Kim says
Thanks a million Amanda! We really like the warmth of wood, just didn’t want a sea of brown. Maybe we can go for a little darker stain on the floor to contrast with the birch cabinets we want. Maybe a rug in the kitchen would help break it up as well.
Kandace says
Did they DIY the backsplash? We just did white cabinets with wood floors and honed granite counters. I’m thinking we could do tile backsplash ourselves but my bf is scared. Thoughts?
YoungHouseLove says
I think they did DIY the backsplash, it’s actually not hard at all! You can find great tutorials on youtube.com!
xo,
s
Berrin says
BEAUTIFUL kitchen! I have old floors in my kitchen & am interested in the “check” look this kitchen has… originally I was going to do black/white tile; now I’m thinking I would like the darker look & possibly be able to get more wear out of it. If you know the type of tile/color I would love to know. Thank you & great job :)
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping they stop in with that info for ya!
xo,
s
shannon says
Beautiful transformation! I got quoted by $9K for a re-facing of my cabinets. What a rip off.
I have been looking ALL OVER for the Domsjo sink here in the US. None of the IKEAs here carry it anymore. Only in Canada. Where did you get your Domsjo???? I want one!
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping she drops in with that info! Maybe try eBay in the meantime?
xo,
s
Becca says
Wow, this is incredible! I can’t believe how much bigger the kitchen looks. Gorgeous job!
Kim says
The butcher block on the island…that doesn’t look like the stock/standard size that IKEA carries. If it’s not, how did they do that? I have the SAME KITCHEN!!! This island thingy is handy, but wider than regular counters. Here’s hoping they stop by for that information for me! ;)
YoungHouseLove says
I think Ikea sells that butcher block in a standard length and they just cut it to fit (probably with a table saw). Hope they stop in to clarify for you though!
xo,
s
Kim says
Yeah, but I am looking at the width of it – not the length. Standard counters are around 2ft deep, right? For the bar, I am wondering if they had to join two pieces or….??? But, alas…only they can answer that question.
YoungHouseLove says
Gotcha! Here’s hoping they stop in for ya! You might also want to try following the link over to their site to see if you can post your question there. Good luck!
xo,
s
Kayla says
I am obsessed with this kitchen makeover, and want my kitchen to look exactly like this! FANTASTIC job!
Qaseh Gifts says
Absolutely stunning considering the cost effective spending :-)
Jaime says
Okay I know I’m late to this party, but they manage to get ikea counter tops to fit the bar top? I really must know! Doing a less than 3k kitchen redesign and my almost 50 square feet of counter tops is going to totally do me be!
Jaime says
and… my question was already asked and answered :)
Kim W Rily says
I have to say, our kitchen looks very much like the before, but I LOVE the before. We have red and yellow walls (red in living room and yellow in the kitchen.)
Either way, they’re BOTH beautiful! And I love the Ikea wood countertops, but how are they to clean up after?
kirsten says
hey, i found your post searching for ikea butcher block counters – we are looking at doing that possibly, but i was wondering how it would work on a peninsula – did you put two sections in their? just wondering how you got it so wide?
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping she drops in with that info for ya!
xo
s
Callie Bruen says
I love what you did with the white cabinets, butcher block counter tops and IKEA farmhouse sink!! It’s funny because my husband and I just bought a house and I am planning on doing the exact same thing in our new house! I have a question about your sink…On the IKEA website, the sink is shown with just a single hole for faucet and yours clearly has 3 things on the sink. Did you drill holes yourself? Please let me know!
YoungHouseLove says
Hope she drops in with that info for ya!
xo
s
Molly says
How are your countertops holding up after a few years? Thinking of getting the same ones but I’m worried about the wear of them. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hope she drops by with that info for ya!
xo
s