We are getting ready to buy our cabinetry from Ikea tomorrow, so I thought I would show a quick sketchup rendering of what our design is going to be. Unfortunately since we are mac users at our house, we don’t have the nice Ikea kitchen planner, so some imagination is required. The basic layout goes like this. From left to right: 24″ 1 drawer 2 door, 36″ sink cab, 24″ dishwasher, 15″ 3 drawer, 36″ cooktop 3 drawer. Around the corner is a 36″ cab that will have 1 door 1 drawer, and a Lee Valley hardware blind corner unit. Lastly will be the oven cab with a oven micro combo. Everything will be abstrakt white, with white floors and white caesarstone counters. We’re still a little sketchy on the uppers and how to get them to fit best. There is 44″ between the wall and the oven cabinet, and then 8″ on the right side of the fridge. Any suggestions or input?

Read more

Sometimes the hardest part about doing a big remodel is being able to visualize what it is actually going to look like when it’s done. Luckily for Ryan, he happens to be a pro at photoshop, so he was able to whip up a digital version of his kitchen before the hammers ever started swinging.

Our blog is full of pretty extensive info. We had no idea what we’re doing. I’m an artist, love modern design and know Photoshop…and that’s how we pretty much figured it out. We really shopped around for deals on cabinets, faucets, drawer pulls, tile and flooring. Even if a reader of your blog didn’t want to do EVERYthing we did, I think they could find bits and pieces of what we did quite helpful.

Our project extended a bit outside of the kitchen (entry door, stairs, etc) which added to the cost. But we completely gutted it and did every piece brand new.

I’ve been lazy about posting good finished pics of the kitchen. If you guys dig it, let me know and I’ll make sure to get them up. You can see everything on our site though in much more detail.

Approx price: $26,000

For more info make sure you check out underdover.blogspot.com.
Read more

Just a quick reminder out there for everyone thinking about entering our Affordable Modern Kitchen Contest. You officially have one more week to enter. If you’re like me and right in the middle of a project, don’t worry. There is always next year….

The next entry in our Affordable Modern Kitchen Contest comes from San Francisco, were with a little elbow grease and some skill Sam was able to update his kitchen to a clean new look for under 10K.

We bought an old (1913) house in San Francisco last year. It was in terrible shape, so I basically had to gut the kitchen and start from scratch. I used pros for cabinets, plumbing, electrical and floors, but did most of the remaining work myself. I kept costs down by ordering supplies myself. Also, we found a great handyman and I was able to work with him on several projects (built in bench, custom table). I did all of the finishing wok myself (paint, trim install, plaster, doors). We’re still working on the house, but I think the kitchen has come together very nicely! You can see before and after pics on flickr. The pics are pretty recent-ish, but since I took them we’ve made a few more improvements…I wonder if we’ll EVER be done with this house!

Approx cost: Under 10K

Read more

I have a thing for funky clocks and watches, especially analogue ones. It’s something about putting a twist on an age old way of telling time that makes it interesting to me. When it comes to telling time with at twist, the Decode Clock by Arthur Yung and Clement Cheung just happens to fit the bill perfect. Based on a traditional wall clock the hours are only readable when the hour hand passes over the coded word. Combined with a clean white design and a fairly reasonable $50 price tag, the Decode Clock is a winner.
Available from Generate for $49.

It’s been a while since I have looked at Amenity’s collection, mostly because we are pretty pleased with our budget Ikea duvet. This week however I was browsing the Amenity line over at Design Public, and I was surprised to see that Amenity is a lot more than bedding these days. Sure they still have their gorgeous (and somewhat expensive) duvets and sheets, but they also have a whole slew of other cloth goodies. The line includes everything from bedding, to wall hangings and prints to table runners, place mats, and even modern Christmas decorations. Pricing ranges from $9 for modern ornaments to $400 for a duvet.
Available from Design Public.

For our kitchen we are doing a zero radius undermount sink like the one in the picture. We are looking for a white countertop material, but are having troubles finding one that can be square cut like the picture above. We had planned on doing a Silestone in zeus white, but were told by our installer that the smallest inside corner radius they can do is 1/2 inch or else it will crack. According to them the same goes for any stone and even Corian. We are finding the same problem with our flush mount induction cooktop. So the question….

Does anyone know a good white countertop that can be zero radius like the picture above?

While I don’t really expect everyone wants a house full of cardboard furniture, there is a certain appeal to creating furniture out of something that is otherwise thrown away or recycled. Foldschool is a website that offers up a collection of patterns for folded cardboard furniture. Just like the cardboard you’ll be using, the templates are all free, all you need is printer to be able to print out the template. It seems that the furniture is specifically designed around kids, and each template has the age that it would be appropriate for.
Foldschool Website

Via Elle Decor blog

Those of you that have been following me on Twitter know that last Friday I started on my own kitchen project. We got the entire old kitchen demoed out, as well as the room underneath it (scope creep). We put down new subfloor to get rid of all the squeaks, and got a good start on the plumbing. Today we are ordering our flooring, white rubber tiles, and looking at countertops. I hope to finish up the plumbing and start on the electrical.
Check out my tweets to see how I’m doing!

This entry hits close to home, about a mile away at most. Tristen and his family have been going through a very similar remodel as ours, only their house is cooler, he’s got mad design skills, and their done. Yes I’m a little jealous. They did a great job on the kitchen and the whole house. Check out their blog for more info.

Our kitchen remodel was just a portion of an entire house renovation. The existing kitchen felt tiny and cramped. It was also completely dated. We had the whole house dry-walled, and I put down new Brazilian Koa flooring throughout, so those costs are not included in the approximate cost. I reframed an existing wall so that there is a long pass-thru into the living room. The cabinets, counter top, sink and faucet, and stove backsplash are all Ikea. To gain more space in the kitchen I moved the bar cabinets where the sink is out 6-8″ which makes a significant difference. We kept the stove and sink in the same locations to save the money re-plumbing and re-wiring would have cost us. We originally wanted to do a tile backsplash, but couldn’t find a tile we liked at an affordable price.We ended up using stainless end panels from a different style of Ikea cabinets. Instead of using corner cabinets in the kitchen, we turned the “corner” cabinets so that they face into the dining room and living room and provide storage for those rooms. We used energy star appliances and low-VOC paint to finish out the space.

Approx price $5,000 + appliances

Keep reading for more great pics.
Read more