Kitchen renovation in small flat

[RosieD]

A kitchen renovation with homemade plywood panels, timber benchtops, fresh paint and new appliances.

• The project
• Tools and materials
• Steps
• How to plan a kitchen renovation
• More inspiration for your kitchen renovation project

The project

Our D.I.Y. renovation of a small flat on a budget, using off-the-shelf products and quite a bit of elbow grease.

Tools and materials

Materials used in the project:

• Form plywood for all cabinetry carcasses
  
  
• Merbau timber battens for decorative timber screen 
  
  
• Dulux Wash & Wear Natural White and Harpoon for wall paint 
  
  
• Victorian Ash for timber benchtops
  
  
• Appliances

• Handles 
  
  
• Tiles.

Tools used in the project:

• Triton Workcentre System Series 2000
  
  
• Ryobi plunge router
  
  
• Spirit level
  
  
• Paint brushes
  
  
• Paint roller 
  
  
• Sandpaper.

Steps

Step 1

Demolition. We removed the world's most basic kitchen. 

The rangehood was a timber canopy and a hole in the wall. Enough said. 

The demolition took one afternoon and wasn't difficult. 

Step 2

Making the cabinetry. It took quite a while. Many, many weekends in our friend's shed, as we were renovating a flat so had little space on site to work with. Form plywood was used, as it is easy to work with, strong, termite resistant, readily available and cost effective. The black colour is a nice contrast to the white walls and provides a water-resistant finish. We used an entire pallet of the stuff for the whole apartment (50 x sheets).

Step 3

The installation.

It's such a functional kitchen and we're really happy with the result. The cabinetry on one side is narrower at 450mm deep, as we didn't want the kitchen to feel too cramped. This side works well as a workbench/prep area.

All the services are located on the other side such as oven, sink, cooktop and fridge.  

How to plan a kitchen renovation

Experienced Workshop member Adam has shared the comprehensive guide How to plan a kitchen renovation.

More inspiration for your kitchen renovation project

Community member Jan5 carried out a kitchen renovation using Kaboodle cabinets.

Workshop member Tom completed his kitchen overhaul with new flooring, cabinets, splashback, benchtop, tap and sink.

You can find many more great ideas posted by community members in our Top 10 most popular kitchen projects.