How To Remodel A Small Kitchen

This post is in partnership with Lowe’s. All opinions are 100% my own.

If you’ve been following my Instagram stories since last Fall, then you would have realized I’ve been remodeling my kitchen. This was a decision we made, to remodel our kitchen, ever since we bought our small city condo. Our kitchen is on the small side, our condo is barely 900 sq ft to put things into perspective. We had three must haves on our remodel wishlist:

1. Open concept kitchen

2. Bright and airy

3. Modern and functional

From the BEFORE pictures, you will notice the kitchen was completely blocked off from the living room. We couldn’t do a full open bar, due to our gas line that runs in the area. We also live on the first floor, so we opted for a window instead. It made a huge difference. We also opened up the doorway about 10 inches and it made such a difference, too.

We had a pantry that just wasn’t functional at all. We discussed the idea of installing functional shelves inside the pantry, but realized it would be better if we created more space, by doing away with it and adding storage with cabinets and open shelves. An idea sparked, that if we couldn’t get a full open bar to the living room, we should at least be able to create a breakfast/sitting nook in the new space from the old pantry. I worked hard on the cabinet design with a Lowe’s associate, and it came out just like I wanted it. At Lowe’s I sat with a cabinet designer for about one hour where we went over the details of cabinet selection, sizes, and functions. They had a lot of options for me to choose from. It is why I went to them in the first place. We also looked at the countertops samples in store. The associate even went above and beyond to find examples of the countertop on the suppliers websites, so that I can get multiple visuals to make my decision. Once I decided on the cabinets and countertop, I then figured out the flooring. I just loved that everything I needed to remodel my kitchen was available at Lowe’s.

In essence, to create a modern functional kitchen, we incorporated contemporary cabinets, countertop and flooring. These three areas were the base that would set the tone for the kitchen. Everything else we designed around them.

Here’s a budget breakdown I suggest when remodeling a small kitchen (or any kitchen for that matter):

Cabinets -40 %

Countertop- 20 %

Accessories & lighting-25%

Floor-10%

Paint- 5%

*Please note that I did not include appliances on the budget. This is strictly for kitchen remodel.