DIY kitchen renovation in 1930s house

lydkrit

We renovated our kitchen in an a 1930s house. The previous renovation was done in the 1970s.

Lee built everything himself, using materials from Bunnings and IKEA. He spent about $5000.
The previous kitchen had no space for preparing food, the double sink took up all of the bench space. There was only enough room for one person at a time. We wanted to plan for a dishwasher and a bigger stove. We built a storage unit in the living room (as seen on the right on the photos) that now stores all of the food, allowing for more space in the kitchen.

We are very happy with the result. Now the kitchen is much more spacious, bright, and functional. There are still elements we’d like to improve, as always, but Lee has done an amazing job so far!

Lee and Lydia, Melbourne.

The original kitchen:

EricL

Hello @lydkrit

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your beautiful kitchen renovation.

What an awesome makeover. The new kitchen has definitely opened up the space and does not look so crowded anymore. The white feature walls and the subdued flooring really enhance the overall look of the kitchen. It is much more relaxing and feels a lot bigger. I see you've turned that gap near the oven into chopping board storage, a very good idea to make use of the available space. The open shelves take away that bulky look without taking away functionality.

How long did the entire renovation take? Any other tips or information you can share about your kitchen renovation would be much appreciated.

We look forward to seeing your next project.

Eric

lydkrit

Hey Eric,

Thank you so much. Very pleased to hear that.

There were three active days of pulling out the old kitchen, painting, installing the new kitchen, linking up the sink & the dishwasher, installing the bench top.

It took a few days prior to that to assemble the new kitchen, Lee did that in another room and just brought the parts in when they were all ready.

the planning and the sourcing took about 2 months, doing it all in our spare time.

We actually consulted with Bunnings staff a lot for this! They helped pick the paint to paint over the old tiles, they helped us picking out the bench and the material for a protective layer for it. I read the Bunnings magazine a lot too, honestly, there were features on space saving and bench tops that were helpful to us.

Lee was very conscious of needing to create a lot of storage, without it looking bulky. He kept that in mind while designing the kitchen.

hope we did a good job! It’s much more enjoyable to cook in the kitchen now.

thank you!

MitchellMc

Congratulations on a fantastic makeover, @lydkrit. I love the layout and styling you've gone for, and those open wall shelves are fabulous.

I look forward to hearing more about the projects you have going on around the home and garden.

Mitchell

Noyade

Hi @lydkrit

Love the new kitchen. I particularly like your shelves and the utensil rail - what sort of hooks are you using?

Cheers.

Graeme.

lydkrit

Thank you so much Mitchell!

lydkrit

Hey Graeme,

thank you so much!

m the rail and the hooks are from Bunnings, not sure about the name but here’s a close up

thank you!

Noyade

Thank you for that @lydkrit

I would love to replicate the rail and hook method for the utensils.

Cheers

Graeme.

lydkrit

Oh amazing, hope you find the same kind!

it’s very handy to have.

best of luck !

lydkrit

just adding two photos in the daytime