New kitchen for $10k? Yep
In fact, with some creative thinking and bargain hunting skills, you can do it for less,
When I asked my colleagues – most who’ve been in the interiors game for many years - if it was possible to renovate a kitchen for under $10,000, their answer was a resounding ‘‘no’’.
It’s about the amount we’ve budgeted to update our rundown, lemon-yellow 90s space. Surely something could be done for this? The good news is that yes, it is absolutely possible to create a distinctive, modern, functional and attractive kitchen for even less. However it will take creative thinking, bargain hunting and doing at least some of the work yourself.
One of the best examples of a fantastic kitchen renovation on a minuscule budget is photographer Florence Charvin’s who spent less than $2000 updating hers shortly after she moved into her cottage in Clyde.
‘‘Everything was grey. It had a grey Formica top – there’s nothing wrong with that – but it’s not what I like – and it had twirly metal handles,’’ says the creative single mum of three. ‘‘The whole house had lovely wooden windows, except for the kitchen where a black aluminum one was installed. There was an enormous fridge on one wall and not enough space to have furniture. I live in the kitchen and this was very important,’’ she says.
With the three cupboards on one walls, Florence simply removed the doors to make open shelving.
‘‘It lightened the whole room and I could see my nice vintage things,’’ she says.
Florence then painted one wall black to give the rather long space the illusion of being square. It also helped to blend in the black aluminum window frame.
The remaining cupboard doors, drawers and bench tops were replaced with plywood, which she stained with Danish oil over a few days for a modern, warm touch. On another wall she placed plywood shelves. ‘‘Big expenses were the dishwasher and gas stove and hiring a kitchen installer to place the new bench top, cupboards and drawers,’’ she says.
The whole process took just a few weeks and cost her just under $2000.
Lyttelton’s Kris and Alex Herbert redesigned their kitchen for just $4000 – and that included the plumbing and installation. The pair had just converted the former Lyttelton Rugby Club, when the Christchurch earthquake hit. Underinsured, they had to rebuild on a very tight budget.
‘‘We made a timber version of a commercial stainless steel kitchen using 100-year-old Jarrah timber that we had to remove from the ski factory below [the house],’’ Kris says. The large posts were milled and a heritage joiner put it together.
Kris bought a bulk-lot of 50 x 50mm tiles from an earthquake damaged public swimming pool from Trade Me for $800. The four different tile colours used throughout the house included a green shower room, a white bathroom floor and shower and the blue wall in the kitchen.
‘‘The island (also jarrah) has old stools around it. I just painted these with leftover paint... to update them,’’ Kris says.
Her splurge item was a stove they salvaged from the kitchen when they first renovated the rugby club - a 900mm double oven with gas cooktop.
‘‘I got it off Trade Me for a third of the price new, but I still love it nine years later,’’ Kris says.
‘‘Trade Me and demolition yards are my secret weapon. But you need to invest some time. Or have a good network. I spotted a designer kitchen joinery set-up that probably would have cost at least $20,000 at Southern Demolition and a friend scored it for $500,’’ she says. ‘‘Even if I did have a huge budget, I think I would still operate this way.’’
Architects Jane and Hamish Peddie almost managed to come under the $10,000-mark when they designed their new kitchen in their Christchurch home. What tipped the kitchen over were the appliances - a Miele oven, a Smeg hob and an Award extractor.
The couple were drawn to the skip on their building site. ‘‘There’s so much wastage in construction,’’ says Jane. ‘‘We were always retrieving things and seeing if we could reuse them.’’
Hence the kitchen’s cedar feature panel which was made from exterior cladding offcuts. Their joinery, which cost $8000, was hoopline pine plywood and they used cost-effective Plytech Futura high-pressure laminate for the benchtop. Spotlights and LED strip lighting was standard and inexpensive.