Budget Kitchen Renovation - Layout ideas?

[Corey_Olivia]

Hi there,

My partner and I are renovating our investment property following a tenant who vacated unexpectedly and left a hefty cosmetic mess to fix up.

We are looking at upgrading the kitchen, and need some suggestions on how to plan for where a fridge might go. I have attached photos of the kitchen and a basic line drawing of the layout/some measurements.

As you can see we are impeded by the old stove in the corner. It's not functional but I don't believe we have the funds to get it removed and fix up the cavity. Its a sandstone home so anything structural is not really on the cards for us.

Our basic plan is:

- Re-paint walls

- Laminate floorboards

- Re-tile splashback

- Replace cabinets to left of entry

- Replace cabinets under sink

- New sink and tapwear

- Remove old freestanding oven

- Install electric oven, cooktop and rangehood/exhaust into cabinets on left hand side

- Remove cabinets on right of entry to create a dining space.

There is a walk -in pantry (3270x1200mm) which would have been ideal to tuck away a fridge, however the doorway is not large enough for most modern fridges. The only powerpoints are on the left hand side cabinets and in the lower right hand corner. We are happy to get rewiring done where needed. Putting the fridge in that corner once we remove the cabinets is a last resort as we did want it to be a dining area.

So hoping some of you might have some ideas on what we might be able to do here!

Thank you,

Corey & Olivia

[MitchellM]

@Corey_Olivia Welcome to the Workshop community, I'm sure you'll get a tonne of advice from our helpful members.

Any budget we are working towards here?

Kitchen design is not my forte, however I thought that I'd stop by and say that oven area esthetically is amazing, can't wait to see how it's incorporated into the finally design.

They may be a dime a dozen in your area, but I like the character it will bring if its used as a feature in the final plan.

Good luck, I'm sure members with more experience will have some input shortly.

[Jason]

Many thanks for the photos and floorplan @Corey_Olivia, they will really help other members to see what you are working with and provide suggestions. 

Let me tag a few of our experienced renovators in @Mathy, @2Belindas and @redracer01 who might like to provide their assistance. Great to see you have already got some encouraging feedback from Mitch, too. 

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. We're really happy you could join us and look forward to seeing how you can transform this kitchen, and perhaps some other exciting projects down the track. Please feel free to post anytime you need a hand or have an update with progress. 

Jason

[Corey_Olivia]

Thanks @MitchellM and @Jason for your encouragement!

Our budget for the kitchen is roughly $3000, we've done some pricing for the big ticket items such as oven/cooktop/exhaust, the flooring and the cabinetry plus sink and taps. We are doing everything we can ourselves. Our budget for the whole house is $10k so we have a little big of wiggle room if we come across unavoidable expenses.

[Jason]

Thanks for the extra detail on your budget @Corey_Olivia. I'm sure that will help other members provide more useful suggestions. 

I would also encourage you to have a look at what the @MakeItYours team achieved with their recent kitchen and dining room renovation. The cost of the update for both rooms was around $5000. I will add the video below. Hope you find it useful.    

Jason

[redracer01]

Hello Corey_Olivia,

Here is a sample of the layout. Will post the rest tomorrow.

However : Please note the following. Your current kitchen is using non standard sizes as it was built in the late 60's. The new cabinets are deeper and wider. I had to move the cabinets back to allow a path to the walk in pantry. A minimum gap of 800 mm was placed from corner edge to corner edge of the bench top to allow people to walk through. Can you please take a photo of the next room once you knock down the wall. A fridge will still fit in that room. You can  also choose to sacrifice the cabinets to the right of the cook top for fridge space, but it would not look as nice. Have a think and tell me if you would like to see a different version, Cheers.