Blue IKEA Cabinet Kitchen Reno

If you purchase a home with out attending to see it in individual, you would possibly discover some surprises. Laura Mattox and her husband AJ certain did once they moved into their house, a cute 1932 Dutch Colonial that they signed the papers for whereas stationed abroad with the navy. “I noticed the images of the kitchen and figured that with wood cupboards, I might merely paint them or in some way spruce them up with out a lot bother,” Laura says of the kitchen. However as soon as they bought to test it out in actual life? Nicely, that was a distinct story. “It was such a disappointment—the cupboards weren’t wooden, however some sort of plastic formica that was peeling off plywood fronts,” says Laura. “Each one of many drawers was damaged, so that they wouldn’t keep closed and once you tried to open them, they’d fall proper out of the cupboard field.” Plus, the 1970s-style kitchen’s brown carpet (sure, carpet) continued to the bottom of the cupboards, and the tiny window’s crank was damaged, “so the window actually was of no use,” says Laura.

With six children, a functioning kitchen was a should for the household. Laura knew she wished to take out the soffits to make the ceiling look increased, and assist the kitchen really feel bigger than it actually was. And, in fact, she wished it to be vivid, cheery, and cheap.

Laura used IKEA’s kitchen planning software to construct her dream structure—however on realizing it was far more than she hoped to spend, scrapped higher cupboards in favor of open shelving. That meant they’d solely want to exchange the bottom cupboards. Happily, their rework was timed with IKEA’s semi-annual kitchen sale, which saved them much more.

With the assistance of their two oldest sons—ages 15 and 16—Laura and AJ started working taking out the soffits and drop ceiling. That was when a shock hit: “We discovered that {the electrical} was truly simply lamp wire within the ceiling that was twisted collectively, no electrical tape, nuts, or something,” Laura says. “It was a fireplace hazard to say the least. Redoing your complete electrical was not in our wheel home, so we employed an electrician who was capable of get us again on monitor pretty rapidly however blew our price range by $1000, since we had not anticipated hiring an electrician in any respect.”

Fortunately, assembling the IKEA cupboards was a lot simpler. “The primary few cupboards have been a little bit of a problem as a result of we had not accomplished it earlier than, however a couple of Youtube movies later and we have been now ‘execs,’” Laura says. As a part of the brand new structure, additionally they moved the fridge to open up line of sight to the eating room and front room. “Earlier than it had been proper subsequent to the doorway to the opposite a part of the home, and it was so massive and ponderous that I couldn’t see round it and watch the little children whereas I used to be within the kitchen,” Laura says. “Shifting the fridge to the opposite aspect of the kitchen was an excellent opener of the area!”

Changing the small previous window with new image window—put in by Laura and her dad—majorly brightened up the entire kitchen. One other big win? Swapping out the previous carpet for wood-look vinyl planks, put in in a herringbone sample.

Laura had at all times wished butcherblock counters, so the couple bought these from IKEA, too. She coated them in a marine-grade spar end to assist shield them from spills. The longest challenge, Laura says, was the backsplash: “It’s really not troublesome to tile, however AJ and I had by no means accomplished it on our personal earlier than, and truthfully, we have been afraid that we have been going to mess up,” Laura says. “I wished to make use of a enjoyable mosaic for your complete backsplash, however after 20 years of marriage, AJ is aware of that I like change… and talked me into utilizing one thing conventional—white subway tile—for almost all of the backsplash after which the mosaic for simply behind the slide-in range.”

The top result’s brighter, extra open, and extra character-filled, too, because of distinctive touches just like the blue colour of the cupboards and the mosaic behind the “I feel my favourite a part of the kitchen is the way it makes me really feel,” Laura says. “I don’t love doing dishes, however now every little thing appears bearable as a result of I’ve a stunning room to work in.”

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