Rental Kitchen Renovation with IKEA Cabinets and Formica Counters

We fell in enjoy with our condominium for its roomy, pre-war format and for the light on a sunny fall working day, the 6th-ground residence was flooded with sun and difficult to say no to. What we didn’t appreciate so substantially was the galley kitchen. It was roomy sufficient, absolutely sure, but the confined cabinets and counter room left a good deal to be wished-for for two avid house cooks. Still, the move-by means of window from the kitchen to the dining room got us contemplating — ahead of we understood it we were being signing the lease, arranging for movers, and organizing our extremely own rental kitchen renovation.

As unwell-encouraged as a rental kitchen area renovation seems, we made a decision it was worth it for a handful of motives. First, the math labored. By moving in with each other, my spouse and I would be preserving $900 per thirty day period. We reasoned that was dollars we could earmark for home enhancements — which includes an current kitchen area.

Simply because we conferred with our landlord prior to generating any improvements, we also felt confident that we would not have to undo our renovations when we ultimately moved out. Quite possibly most importantly, however, we realized that cooking was these kinds of an significant component of our household life that we could not picture not upgrading our kitchen area.

So, we started out looking into our solutions.

We understood straight absent that we required IKEA cupboards. Reasonably priced, flexible, and easy-to-install, IKEA cabinets are the way to go for so numerous kitchen area remodels. We selected the SEKTION line and, for the reason that our existing storage was mostly cupboards, we went with all drawers, a determination I would make about and over (and around) yet again.

We also knew that we needed to generate a breakfast bar on the other side of the move-by means of window. There was a little countertop already there, but we wanted one thing additional sizeable.

What we didn’t know was what form of countertop we needed. We considered about butcher block, we appeared at marble and quartz remnants, and then we made the decision to go with formica. If it hadn’t been a rental kitchen, we wouldn’t have even thought of formica. But it had a number of points likely for it.

For starters, it was more cost-effective and more quickly than the other possibilities out there — by a ton. For a former kitchen, I had rescued a rectangular piece of marble for around $600, slicing and set up involved, so I imagined we may be ready to locate a salvage yard in Brooklyn that would do it all for close to $1000. I was incorrect. Our estimates were in the $1500 to $2500 variety for remnants and butcher block, and the wait around, though not offensively extended, wasn’t insignificant.

Our formica countertops price tag $700 all in and we could get them set up in a 7 days. Of course, formica is a less expensive substance, but one more cause the formica counter tops were being affordable and rapid was because our landlord experienced a completely ready provide of formica on hand and a go-to crew completely ready to measure and set up.

We also liked the strategy of our countertops matching, even if they would not have been our 1st preference, and we favored that our landlord was aspect of the method.

The closing contact was including knobs and pulls (to match the new knobs and pulls) to the outdated cabinets to check out to tie anything together even far more.

In the long run, we doubled our counter house and our cabinet place for about $1500 (a tiny little bit considerably less if my calculations are appropriate). A calendar year afterwards, after many breakfasts eaten, cocktails served, foods prepped, and kitchen area essentials stored, we would 100% do it all over again.