Kitchen Remodel

I started back to school last week and I am so happy I pre-wrote several posts because life is crazy hectic right now and this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down at the computer to write anything in almost two weeks!

Something I haven't written much about since I started this blog is the fact that we are completely remodeling our kitchen.  Over the last 5 years, we have renovated every room in our house, (except the bathroom, which we remodeled 8 years ago). We have taken each room down to the studs and started from scratch, now it's the kitchen's turn.

We ripped out the majority of our kitchen about 2 weeks ago.  We are going to rewire the whole kitchen, re-plumb it, and move almost everything. We are moving our fridge, our dishwasher, and our stove and are putting in a hood microwave.  We had laminate counter tops and are getting granite. We had linoleum flooring and are putting in tile. We took out a doorjamb and are getting "custom" cabinets made. It's going to be spectacular! And expensive!

As we have remodeled our house, we have cash flowed it all! We haven't carried a balance over on our credit card, (though we do use our credit card for points) and we've never borrowed or taken out a loan to pay for the improvements. We plan to do the same thing as we remodel our kitchen.

I have a huge family and this is one of those cases when it comes in handy. I have a brother who owns a plumbing company and who is going to move all the plumbing and gas lines for us as well as order all our plumbing supplies and fixtures at cost.  I also have a brother-in-law who lays flooring for a living so he's going to help us lay the tile for the floor. My dad was an electrician for 35 years and taught my husband all he would need to know about residential rewiring. Lastly, I have another brother-in-law who does woodworking on the side, and he is making our cabinets for us. (He's already made kitchen cabinets for his mother and my mother, plus a host of other products!)

Even with all this help, we know our kitchen is going to be expensive. We are hoping to keep the total under $15000. We have nowhere near that saved up so far, but we are hoping that by spreading the remodel out over several months, we will be able to pay cash for the whole thing. As of right now, we only have $2000 saved in cash, (we have another $1300 in an account for yearly expenses that we could use if we have to, and almost $3000 in our kids' accounts that we could use if needed, too).

We have already paid about $1500-$2000 for our kitchen. We have bought 4 new windows, a lot of "electrical" stuff, some odds and ends, and we've paid for about half of our cabinets so far.  It's not much, but it's a start. Our goal is to not carry a balance and not take out a loan, even if that makes the process last longer.

Our kitchen is going to be expensive, but I also think it's going to be worth it.  Our house is from 1948 and although the kitchen has been updated, the last update was from 1981. It is dated and old and I can't wait to see the finished product!