I can’t wait until we get a chance to redo our kitchen. I have no idea what the former home owners were thinking when they renovated. They had only renovated a year or so before we bought the house, but they went the cheap route – new floor and really cheap cabinets.

The fridge between the back door and the basement door all by itself so it basically looks strange where it is and makes it hard to use either door. The fridge is going to move to the other side of the room when we renovate. The stove is an old gas stove and it’s beside the kitchen door so there’s only a little bit of counter space to one side of the stove. I’ve got our big microwave beside the stove so if I’m carrying something hot I have to be sure that I can hold it for a few steps as there’s no place to put anything down quickly!

I won’t even begin to get started on the melamine cupboards and the cabinet hardware! Or the very small double sinks!

Kitchen renos are really expensive though … I’m trying to think if there’s a way I can renovate better than the former home owners, but without spending $30,000 doing it! The best way to do that is of course for us to do the majority of the work ourselves.

We’ve also thought of going to the local Habitat For Humanity Store, there’s one just about five miles from here, to look for used kitchen cabinets. We’ve looked before and you can get some nice wooden ones for great prices. Even if they’re a bit outdated they’re better than the melamine cabinets we’ve got now.

Got any ideas for me as to how else we can do an inexpensive kitchen reno?