Eric from Portland knows how to leverage his skills. By doing some freelance webdesign he was able to get this amazing kitchen for the cost of materials only. Not only does the kitchen look great, but it’s jam packed full of unique green products.

Custom cabinetry made of bamboo and Sustainable plywood guts. The backsplash and inner core layer of the counter top are made of Sourghum board covered in not so eco boating epoxy for water resistance. The counter tops are paper pulp top and bottom with the sourghum board core. Built by Bren Reis at www.earthboundindustries.com cost was mostly materials as Bren and I agreed on a trade where i provided him with webdesign and logo and he provided is expertise in cabinetry.

Approx price; $3,500

Read more

If you are in the market for a new dining room table like we are, you may be in luck. As part of Ikea’s continued “seize the days” sales events, there are two tables that are currently on sale. The JOKKMOKK isn’t the best looking table (actually the table is ok, it’s the chairs I don’t love) but for $59 including chairs, it’s a super good deal. I’ve got my eye on the BJURSTA table in the black-brown. It seats 6, 8, or 12 depending on the number of leaves you use. It’s on sale for $199 instead of the normal $399. Plus if you get there before 10:30 you get free breakfast too. The sale is the 8th - 11th, but some items are only available on the 11th.

Even though I tend to be fairly conservative with the use of color in my house, I definitely have an appreciation for those that are more daring. Jon used one of my favorite colors, apple green, combined with stainless steel to make a bold and beautiful kitchen, all for under $4,500.

We installed all new Ikea cabinets, new stainless microwave and stove, new Ikea butcherblock counters and stainless steel double sink. We also bought stainless back splashes from Online Metals and installed those ourselves… finished things off with a bright(!) apple green coat of paint.

Approx cost; $4,500

Read more

With one week to go we are getting some great entries, like this one from Texas. Larry was able to pull off a very nice look for under $8k including appliances. I especially like the double sided upper cabs.

I bought a circa 1955 Mid Century Modern house in 2006, and the kitchen needed replacement. I used my carpenter to demolish the old kitchen, and got the kitchen cabinets from Ikea. Appliances are from Sears. The double-sided upper cabinets are a custom installation of standard Ikea cabinetry.

Approx price $8,000

Read more

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

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

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?

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