Our Small Kitchen's Renovation: Before and After

This post has been a long time coming. This kitchen took the most time and effort out of any of our home remodel projects. But I love how it turned out and I’m so proud of it.

Let’s take a peek at the “before.”

Yet another "before" picture — Before picture of the kitchen

Yikes. It was rough, y’all. One of the first things we did was tear out that wall behind the stove to make the kitchen a bit larger.

A Small Home: Before Pictures: Kitchen Sink — Another “before.” This is what the sink are looked like when we first moved in.

We bought the floor tile from a local salvage store. My husband George built the cabinets out of barnwood we bought off Craigslist and from a local antique store. And we hired a local company to install quartz countertops for us.

We updated all the appliances during a Black Friday sale. And one of our last projects was adding the backsplash. We had a bad experience with our tile contractors. Originally we had planned for a tile backsplash, but we were kind of over working with contractors by that point. So we painted rough sawn plywood panel siding and put it up in place of a traditional backsplash. Rough plywood is usually used on the side of barns! It was an inexpensive, a fairly easy addition, and I’m so glad we thought of it. Lastly, we added some open shelving for a bit extra storage.

Although our kitchen is small and has to serve as a laundry room too, I feel like it’s so much bigger than before.

And one of our last minute additions turned out to be my favorite: this coffee bar! This area was kind of a dead spot. There’s an air return below the bar, so we couldn’t cover it up. This coffee area allows for more counterspace and a little extra storage for my daily caffeine habit.

I’m so happy to finally share this AND to finally have a completed kitchen. It’s a good feeling.

If you have any questions about the process, I’m happy to answer them below!
Melanie

21 thoughts on “Our Small Kitchen’s Renovation: Before and After”

Lindsay February 24, 2020 at 9:14 pm

This kitchen renovation is incredible! My husband and I are buying our first home and it is in need of some work. The kitchen makes your “before” shot look pretty good. :/ But seeing this post gives me hope, haha. We are planning to do most of the work ourselves and are on a budget so it’s nice to see what others in a similar situation were able to pull off! You and your husband are miracle workers, your home is so lovely!

melanie Post authorFebruary 26, 2020 at 2:36 pm

Oh thank you so much! I agree, the before shot really doesn’t show how bad it was. You can’t really see the mice holes, the old electric and the carpenter ants that were hiding behind the walls. haha! Good luck with your reno. I’m sure you’ll do a great job.

usvintagewood March 18, 2020 at 9:20 am

Wow! Amazing style. Your article inspire me to buy a house. I just married last month and we don’t have house yet and we are still renting an apartment. Me and my wife are searching designs to our house so we can organize the designs. Luckily I found out your article and this is the best one. Thank you so much for sharing this!

melanie Post authorMarch 18, 2020 at 4:24 pm

You’re so welcome! Good luck on your house buying journey!

Aishwarya April 22, 2020 at 8:41 am

Beautiful make over of the kitchen space!! Good job Melanie

melanie Post authorApril 26, 2020 at 3:02 pm

thank you!

Brenda (Mighty Maus) April 25, 2020 at 4:19 pm

This is my first time on your website! I love your IG though 🙂 I also have a small house (1100 sq ft with 3 tiny rooms and 1 bathroom). I noticed there’s no picture of a microwave and until this home, I never had one. Now this one hangs above the stove and takes up SO much room. Do you have one or opted not to? Any insight would be great!

melanie Post authorApril 26, 2020 at 3:04 pm

Hi Brenda! I didn’t have a microwave for many years, but for this home, we chose to have one. Our microwave is located in the cabinet. You can see it here in this post: https://asmalllife.com/2017/09/13/little-projects/

Jessica April 30, 2020 at 1:32 am

So fun renovating! We are renovating our kitchen now. love this!

melanie Post authorApril 30, 2020 at 6:54 pm

Thank you and good luck!

alexr May 24, 2020 at 12:16 pm

As a result, the renovation of the kitchen turned out quite well. Good fellows!

Pich Muebles August 19, 2020 at 10:09 am

wow wow and wow! It looks amazing after renovation!!! Great to see this kind of home transformations. You gave me a lot of ideas! Thanks.

melanie Post authorAugust 19, 2020 at 4:50 pm

Thanks so much!!

Kathleen August 26, 2020 at 1:04 am

The renovation was a success! I love how you combined dark brown wood and black together. It gives of an industrial vibe and is amazing! It’s so elegant!

melanie Post authorAugust 27, 2020 at 3:53 pm

That means a lot, thank you!

Adele September 1, 2020 at 9:36 am

Wow I love this post!!

melanie Post authorSeptember 7, 2020 at 2:02 pm

Thank you Adele!

BellissimoColors October 5, 2020 at 4:48 am

I love the black and wood combination.

melanie Post authorOctober 11, 2020 at 3:45 pm

Thank you!

Lia Turk January 16, 2021 at 6:36 pm

This is fabulous!

I also bought a small rental home with a gorgeous yard space. You are NOT kidding with the level of work & muscle ache necessary to take care of just the basics! “Drywall” is a swear word in my house now!

You & your husband have created a beautiful home, & given me a giant carrot of inspiration. Thank you for sharing your journey!