One of the very first things both myself, and Glenn (my husband), wanted to tackle in our new house was the kitchen. With a baby on the way (May 2015), we knew it had to be a priority. Unfortunately there were other bumps in the road that needed to be taken care of immediately because of the house sitting vacant for two years in cold, northern Minnesota. After fixing what was necessary and immediate, we officially ordered new kitchen cabinets in November of 2015. Our budget without appliances was $5,000, however we knew it was going to go over and sure enough it ended up doubling. It is possible to do a kitchen for $5,000, and here is one I came across of a family doing their kitchen on this budget.

The style we are ultimately aiming for is a blend of modern, rustic, and industrial. The rustic will blend in from the dining room, as our hopes are to purchase a nice rustic dining table down the road. I can’t wait to do mini posts with updates on furniture purchases and decorating. My great friend Molly has been an amazing help with advice for this entire process, as our unofficial interior decorator. She’s quite creative and we are glad to have her input.

To give you an idea of what our kitchen looked like:

The flooring is an engineered hardwood that we tore out and reused in our guest bedroom and office (posts to follow). The floor was in pretty good shape but we really wanted a new floor made of real wood, and in a different stain.

Most of the cabinets were in good shape, which meant we could donate them to a local organization. We decided to go with Menards for our new cabinets, and chose a shaker style from the Schrock brand. It was a pretty simple process working with the employees to design the layout. There was a 14-21 day wait time after the order was placed. It felt like forever, but I had to remind myself that I already made it 10+ months without the new kitchen and I could easily wait this short amount of time.

A few photos from the cabinet install:

This is only part one of the new kitchen, the complete list of everything to be done includes:

• New cabinets
• Hardware install
• New window above sink
• Backsplash
• Quartz counter top install
• Sink and faucet install
• Trim out new window
• Light fixtures
• I believe that’s it? 🙂 I’m sure something will get added to this list in the coming weeks

The quartz counter tops we ordered from a local company arrive in January 2016. We are so pleased with their work. The black that we chose has a nice sparkle throughout.

Here are a few photos of the kitchen after the counter top was installed:

It’s currently February of 2016 and we are just finishing up the lighting fixture install, in addition to the hardware install. Will post a ‘part two’ soon with those updates.