old country house blog

BUDGET KITCHEN – DECONSTRUCTED – PART 2

YESTERDAY I broke down the

BUDGET KITCHEN MAKEOVER into all of the different ingredients

1. Cabinet Doors and Drawer Fronts,

 2. Hardware,

3. Lighting

and today we will CONTINUE up with:

4. Sink, Faucet and Strainer,

5. Appliances

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4. FAUCET, SINK AND DRAIN

The kind of good news with the sink was that my choices were limited. Formica counter tops require a top mount sink, and since I knew I wanted at least 18G stainless and I knew I wanted ONE big opening, and needed the sink to measure 33″…my choices were limited. I liked the sleek appearance of the Kohler Vaulted Sink and was able to save over 20% off an already discounted price at Lowes. I will tell you how below…

I got my beautiful ROHL faucet from a GREAT site called VINTAGETUB.com. Don’t let the name fool you, they carry lots more than tubs and their inventory is far from Vintage. And in my experience, their prices cannot be beat. I LOVE my ROHL faucet. YES, It was a splurge BUT well worth every penny. It elevates the look of the top mount sink and the formica countertops.

…and don’t forget the strainer/ drain. I did not realize that sinks often do not come with drains. I found a polished nickel one by KOHLER 4-1/2-in dia Polished Nickel Strainer Basket Only Sink Strainer on Lowes.com and used a coupon, saving saving saving!!!

5. APPLIANCES (reprinted from an earlier post) 

Today I am going to tell you how I saved THOUSANDS on my appliances.

I knew I wanted to get high-end appliances. I have nothing against budget appliances, in fact we had a kitchen full of them, but I was ready to INVEST in higher end appliances, on the off-chance that one day my dream of knocking out the wall between the dining room and kitchen comes true and we can build our DREAM kitchen. I do LOVE my kitchen, but it is what it is, a room with 4 walls, and it gets a bit “cozy” in there. Plus, it is not an eat in kitchen, we eat every meal in the dining room…which has its perks as well. anyway. I wanted KITCHENAID appliances and they cost more than some of the others.

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so..how did I save?

TIP#1 – PRICE SHOP – ALWAYS check out more than one site or store for prices. You would be amazed at the range of prices some things can go for. Enter the name of your item into a search engine and just check out all the websites. AND NOWADAYS most stores will price match any brick and mortar company.

sink2TIP#2 – GET A CREDIT CARD – NOW, I HATE CREDIT CARDS. They have not always been my friend. But I am not talking about getting a card and buying more than you can afford. I am talking about getting a card, GETTING the Immediate 5% discount and the 0% interest for 18 months it entitles you to at checkout, and then immediately or within the subscribed time frame if you are doing a 0% interest deal…PAY IT ALL OFF. 5% is a chunk of change when you are buying appliances.

Kitchenaid Counter Depth Fridge

Kitchenaid Counter Depth Fridge

TIP#3 FOLLOW BLOGS! – This is not-self promotion, but quite often the blog writers are GREAT sources for deals as they are out there scoping them out.

TIP#4 – Fill out Moving cards AND OTHER STORE SPECIFIC PROMOTIONS. At Lowes and Home Depot ,  if you are moving, or in my case, might move, someday, you will be sent a one time use 10% off coupon. My sister-in-law clued me in on this one and I saved tons on my Appliances.

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TIP#5
 – Keep track of promotions. I knew that Lowes does a few promotions throughout the year and so I waited until they did their appliance one and jumped right on it. Combine that with your 10% off moving coupon…that is 20% off!!! then add your 5% off for using your Credit Card that is 25% off!!!

TIP#6 WATCH FOR REBATES – IF you go onto the Lowes  or Home Depot or the other appliance websites, and you look for their REBATE section, there are always running Rebates with appliances. I missed a few of the dates by ONE DAY…which really frosted me, but I saved a ton in other ways…so I can sleep at night. Still, nothing drives me more crazy than knowing “I could have saved MORE!!!”.

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TIP #7 USE the Coupon sites. I like retailmenot.com the best. At Christmas I found a 10% off coupon for Lowes, which I used in conjunction with my 10% off all appliances promotion and the 5% credit card deal and on an online purchase saved 25% on my range hood, cooktop and our dryer.

TIP # 8 – Use Gift cards, Yes this isa  NO brainer, but this year when I was asked “What do you wnat for Christmas” I said “LOWES and HOME DEPOT GIFT CARDS!!!”  and I used those cards and saved a bunch of money and my loved ones helped me create a kitchen!

TIP # 9 – CHECK OUT SCRATH AND DENT SECTIONS –PERSONALLY I could care less if my applaince has a ding where no one can see it. 

TIP#10 – BE PATIENT You really do need to take some time with this process. It will be worth it in the end. I lived with an avocado double oven for 9 years and while I wish we had moved a little faster…Nothing is worse than spending money you don’t need to…but if you are in a hurry…you just might.

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19.7 cu. ft KitchenAid Architect Series II KBFS20EVMS

Let me tell you the story of my refrigerator. I knew I wanted a counter depth refrigerator to maximize the space in our smallish kitchen. As I knew we would be keeping our other HUGE Refrigerator on the back porch, I only needed the new one to give room for day-to-day stuff. So the 19.7 cu. ft KitchenAid Architect Series II was the one I chose. It was $1,999. at Lowes but they had an Appliance rebate running, which would save me around $125.  I found the Fridge on a Discount appliance website for $1549. I took the print out to Lowes, they price matched, I added the 10% off coupon I had and the 5% off for using the card PLUS I had another 10% off coupon and the total cost came to around $1100.

NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!

long counter

ALL OF MY appliances together came to $5,500. That is less than some people pay for 1 appliance and I got nice stuff. It did take time. and Educating myself, asking around, but in the END, worth every penny…I SAVED!!!!

STAY TUNED TOMORROW WE WILL FINISH UP OUR DECONSTRUCTED BUDGET KITCHEN MAKEOVER  WITH

COUNTER TOPS, FLOOR AND ODDS AND ENDS!

AND OCTOBER GIVEAWAY #3….

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8 thoughts on “BUDGET KITCHEN – DECONSTRUCTED – PART 2

  1. Leslie your kitchen make over is so inspiring. I am trying my hardest to redo our kitchen on a budget as well. I have good bones just need to get it to feel like “me” . All your tips are wonderful. Can I ask you if you installed ur hardware yourself? I am so scared to do this step because I am afraid it will destroy the doors. Any advice you can offer would be wonderful….hugs

    1. Hi Tabitha, Thank you for your kind words, this is such a great question and YES, like you I was terrified of messing up my doors and drawer fronts. As they were painted professionally, it would be hard to FIX any mistakes and I knew that. This is such a great question that I am going to add the answer to the post. Thanks for reminding me !!! xo Lesli

  2. I am loving this break-down, Lesli. I have done some of the things you are talking about, and I am learning some new ones. For me, the appliances were a better price on-line from another state. The big box home stores did not carry the Viking line. If anyone has purchased a major appliance, then they know that once you have an issue you deal directly with the manufacturer and not the retailer….in most cases. Your sink it to die for. Have fun at that blogging event. It looks great!

  3. Hi – your kitchen renovation is lovely! What a great job you’ve done! I have a question about the link to your Kohler vault sink, above. It takes me to the medium sink (Model 3822 25″ x 22″). But your sink sure looks like the large one (33″ x 22″). Can you confirm which sink you purchased?
    Thanks!

  4. Dear Lesli,
    I have so enjoyed your website and blog. I found you through Pinterest. I too have an old house that we have been working on in fits and starts for over 14 years. We too have found that doing things over stages, researching prices, getting creative and sharing resources with other old house owners enabled us to stretch our budget and maximize the wow factory with the final results. I also have dreams of taking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. One of the major challenges is the three story brick fireplace in the wall. In order to prepare for the future project we removed the bricks in the two stories above). We removed years of wall paper and did a ton of plaster smoothing. We also removed very old dropped ceiling (we had no ceiling in our kitchen for longer than I care to admit), but now it is higher, lighter and brighter. The walls above the original bead board are painted the loveliest, soft robin egg blue (Sherwin Williams Tradewind). We installed white farm house style IKEA cabinets and formica counter tops and new hardwood floors to match the dining room (again with future connection in mind). I wish I had known about your faux marble counter tops and your sink and faucet would be great upgrades I will consider soon because I know they will transfer. My other wish is for a glass subway tile backsplash, but that might have to wait for the future bigger remodel. I found a creative way to camoflaug the slightly rust marks on our older white fridge for now, but will definitely appreciate your money saving appliance tips as we look to upgrade ours over time as well.
    I ended up learning so much and realizing how much I enjoy doing home design that I started helping friends, family and neighbors. I finally realized that I had a valuable service to offer that I LOVE doing and just recently decided to officially start my own business – it is called Reflections & Connections, LLC (on Facebook). Thanks so much for all your great blogs of inspiration and practical tips!
    Sheri

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