All about my new counters and backsplash
Eagle-eyed readers have been noticing that my kitchen counters and backsplash have changed in the last 6 months or so, and more than one has written me to ask about our thought process behind the upgrades.
So, I'm here to talk about that!
Here's what the kitchen looked like the day we bought the house.
And here's what it looked like with new floors, no wallpaper, a neutral wall color, painted cabinets, and new appliances. Definitely better!
Obviously, the cheapest option would have been to stop there and keep our old formica countertops and the jade green backsplash.
And we did go with that option for over 12 years.
But here's the thing:
Mr. FG and I do not see ourselves living in this house for the rest of our lives, so at some point, we plan to sell it and buy something else that we like better.
(We bought this house because we'd outgrown our townhouse, and at the time, this was all we could afford. It's pretty far from our dream house, but you can afford what you can afford, right?)
Anyway, when we talked to a realtor, she told us that unfortunately, it's really, really hard to sell a house in this area without some kind of upgraded countertops.
And our old countertops were decidedly not upgraded.
Since we want to sell this house one day, we figured that we'd need to upgrade at some point, and we might as well upgrade now so we can enjoy the nicer kitchen during the years we still live here.
An upside of a small-ish kitchen is that there are only so many feet of countertop to replace. That helps keep costs down in a serious way.
We visited a granite shop that several family members recommended and we chose a fairly inexpensive type of granite. Granite varies widely in price, but I'm just not picky enough to feel like a super expensive type is worth it.
We tried to pick something fairly classic, neutral, and non-trendy so that the counters will look good for years.
The backsplash had to be replaced along with the countertops since it wouldn't line up with (or match!) the new ones.
I'd been wanting under-cabinet lighting for ages, and we figured this was a really good time to add that, since the walls under the cabinets would be accessible.
So. Mr. FG removed all the old tiles and then we hired our electrician friend to install lighting under the cabinets.
(notice the lovely ripped-up drywall backsplash!)
He's an electrician by trade, and he does side jobs on the weekends. Since he gets to keep all the side job money, he's able to charge less...so it's a good deal for him and for us!
(This is the point at which we discovered the leaking septic vent in the kitchen. It was very frustrating at the time, but it's a mercy that we were able to fix it while the wall was open.)
Once the lighting was in and the plumbing problems were fixed, we picked out some backsplash tile. Glass tile is pretty popular right now, but it's a lot more expensive than ceramic tile, and Mr. FG and I didn't feel like the look was that different.
So, we opted for ceramic.
For installation, we asked our electrician friend if he could recommend a tile guy who does side work, and luckily, he could!
The guy we hired did a fantastic job, and he only charged $250 to do the install, some minor drywall repair, and the grouting.
Man, I love people who do side work on the weekends. They are my favorite.
These three changes (counters, backsplash, and lighting) did a lot to update the look of my kitchen. In fact, one of my readers thought we'd remodeled!
In my dream world that's what would happen...I'd knock down a wall to switch to an open design, but that's a lot more money than I want to pour into a house I don't plan to spend 30 years in.
So, this is a good compromise. The kitchen is updated and modern, it'll work just fine when we sell our house, and it didn't cost nearly what an entire remodel would.
Besides, when you look at what we started with.... 
..it does almost feel like a complete remodel.
I hope this inspires some of you who would love a kitchen remodel but can't afford it.
If that's you, think about what you could do that's a little less expensive. Maybe there are ways you can upgrade bit by bit like we did, and maybe you'll discover you don't actually need to gut your kitchen in order to update it.
P.S. Dose of reality: I cleaned up my kitchen before I took the pictures in this post. If you visited my house on a random day, the kitchen would be looking much more like this.
Or this:
Don't let my outrageously clean photos fool you. We live here. And as a result, our kitchen pretty much never looks as clean as it does in the earlier photos.
Very nice upgrades. I bought my forever home last year, and had to repair/upgrade as well as do some cosmetic remodeling (all known ahead of purchase). The kitchen got only the essentials: new applicances including switching to a gas range by running a new gas line from the existing large Propane tank outside, new wood floor, new baseboard and door trim, cut out between living room and kitchen, wall paint, new water and waste lines, new electrical, ceiling fan with light kit, pot lights, under cabinet lights, Decora light switches, new outlets. I am making do with darker than I care for in a Northern exposure room, cabinets (plan is to paint them white to brighten the room), a tile back splash, and a new counter to replace the existing faux granite Formica one, a deep porcelain sink . A subsequent need to repair the faucet let me to upgrade to a gooseneck all in one with integrated touch on/off. Really at this point, it's the painting of the cabinets, new countertop and tiled backsplash left to do. Looking at your photos, I wonder if you have GFI outlets by the sink. They are required by code. My taxes have gone up twice and I only bought my home in April 2017, so I know that the home value, in this highly desireable neighborhood, has gone up. No plans to move, as I've retired, but you never know!
Hi Frugal Girl!
Love your upgrade of kitchen!
3 Points'
1) Looks like you have a Summer kitchen outside the door of your inner kitchen. How 1950s! The foster family that raised me -- had us all take meals' in the summer kitchen, circa 1950s, at Hamilton, Ont. (near Toronto, Ont. 🙂
2) My island kitchen counter looks similar to yours'. For the moment, I no longer feel oh, so, lower class. 🙂
3) Drywall as backsplash, eh? Why, I have some blue coloured drywall left-over from my insulating under 14 ft length of windows. The apartment (studio) is quite a degree warmer now. 🙂
4) We (the Royal We) are hopefully awaiting Spring as 'we' have flu symptoms'. Have an appointment Friday with nurse practitioner at medical clinic I usually am seen at. The NP came summon the MD if needed...We are appreciative. 🙂
Your kitchen looks great! We need new counters too as pieces of ours fall off randomly. So far we’ve just glued them back on but you make a really good point about resale value and enjoying the change while you still live there!
When DH and I talk about doing a remodel, this is what we mean, with the addition of replacing the ice maker with a cupboard and swapping the electric stovetop with gas. Some day.
Thank you so much for the last two photos. I mean it.
So much home inspo, right?? 😉
I am also greatful for the “in use” photos of the kitchen. We live in our house too! Lol
Your kitchen is absolutely beautiful and very tidy.
Our kitchen was upgraded before we bought our house. But i think it was a DIY project, so we can definitely do some work to it. However , we are pretty simple people and honestly just want a functional kitchen.
I'm so interested in remodeling/refacing/re-whatevering that I would have had a hard time holding off the blog post for six months. 😉
You know why I held off? Because I needed to touch up the paint around the backsplash (the drywall got messed up/discolored during the demo, and it needed spackling and painting.) Aaaaand I didn't get around to finishing that until a few weeks ago!
I did spackle it all this winter, and then the day after that, I got sick with the first of my flu things, then I was out of town, then I got sick again...so for a variety of reasons, it took me a long time to get a small project done.
Mm. I understand things taking time. I attempted to prod myself into doing something about the wallpaper in the bathroom by taping it up with duct tape featuring wide-eyed owls. Didn't work yet.
Kristen, I love this whole post and all your great information.
My favorite part is the two pictures at the end! 🙂
I love the upgrades. I think there are lots of things that can be done to make a kitchen appear more modern that don't cost a lot. I have talked about this before, but we painted then epoxied, over my existing formica countertops ourselves. They look a lot like granite and I am honestly still astonished every time I walk into my kitchen. It made such a huge difference for around $200. That's two containers of epoxy at around $65 each and the paint which is pretty cheap. We also painted the cabinets and installed a tile back splash. We did it all ourselves so that saved us a lot. Our formica was in bad shape. The board beneath had practically turned to powder in some spots and there were cracks in it that we had to repair. Our sink was barely being held up!! This would have cost a fortune when it eventually came loose. Paint can make such a dramatic difference. It took me a very long time, a few months, to get them painted. I took extra time to sand and clean them well. I only painted two at a time. It's hard to do stuff like that and have a job. The tile was also inexpensive and only took a weekend to do. We did have to get a new sink because mine had a large cracked spot in it. We did all this for right at $1000. There are a few pictures on my blog of other things but you can see a little of our upgrades in the background. I have considered doing a post on it, but since I am new to blogging, I didn't think to do any 'before' pics. You just don't think about stuff like that, sometimes. I think your kitchen looks great!
I'd love to see pictures of your counters! Do you have a link to a photo of those?
I wished I did. I haven't done a 'counter tops' post. I just have several posts that have snippets of my countertops in them, ugh. If you scroll through, you don't have to read it all, you can see some, especially on the chicken prep post. I will make a point to post one in the future that shows them because I do get a lot of questions about them. Thanks for asking!
Looks great. My refrigerator went in a power surge last year so we had to replace it and decided to get a new oven and microwave on black friday. I love it and it will help to sell my house someday. I have a lot more room in the fridge and the oven cooks food more evenly. I polished my cabinets and my kitchen looks like new.
For sure, watch those power surges. During the summer or when I have space heater-on for temporary heat, i unplug microwave, and switch-off stove breaker. 🙂
Richard Zorniak
Vancouver BC Canada
One of my mechanical upgrades to my recently purchased home was to have an electrician install a whole house surge protector. Just over $400, it is well worth it to protect my mechanicals, even though I have an instant on, stand by whole house generator. My home energy company (oil, propane) recommended it. I have an expensive, Navien on demand water heater. Protecting that alone . .
Gorgeous. We are currently living with a 1972 original kitchen. Minus a glass flat top range that we installed. (The four button push range was AWFUL)...with that being said, we are living with what we have and will someday remodel.
My question is: how do you keep your glass top range clean? What do you use for those stubborn dried on messes?
Jenelle, I have a glass top range, and there are a number of "cream cleaners" that will do a good job (I know I've seen them at Lowe's and elsewhere). I also use a paste of baking soda and a little Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds and water every weekend as well as after a spillover during the week, with no problem. For really bad messes, I've carefully used plastic scrapers, like a plastic putty knife. Such as the time I let the jelly I was making boil over -- that was bad.
I have a ceramic stovetop cleaner that I use when things get burnt on. I spread it on, let it sit for a little while, and then scrub it off.
My house cleaners, when I had them, used Magic erasers.
Hi JD/Kristen
I joke with my 1 1/2 friends' to turn the stove ON (I turn the breaker switch OFF when stove is not in use.) This advice is handy when I wonder shy pot of water is NOT boiling... sigh 🙂
2) I set timers' even if I only have the element ON. (No Mr. Richard: 'you do not have Alzheimer's'; just the flu, opined the medical doctor in ER @ Vancouver General Hospital this past Tuesday late afternoon. "We" visit medical clinic Friday morning for follow-up. 🙂
The kitchen looks 100% better now! Kudos to you and Mr. FG for recognizing that the "before" kitchen still had potential when you purchased. So many people seem to be unable to see beyond the surface issues.
My kitchen is approaching 20 years old, and my Formica, which was not really applied well, is needing replacement. I'm also thinking about my wooden cabinets, the finish of which is getting darker and more orange every year. Orange is not my color, folks. Paint, or trying to refinish them, is going to be a challenge, because they go all the way up to my 10 foot ceiling. I'm inspired to make a plan though, because your's looks so nice now -- it would be great to have one that pretty.
I think painting my cabinets was possibly the improvement with the single most impact. They just cover so much visual space in the kitchen!
First of all, I love your real-ness about what a lived-in kitchen looks like lol!!
And that “before” picture?! It makes
me feel waaaay better about what we’re working with! I think the new kitchen is gorgeous - very neutral and modern. I’d buy a house with a kitchen like that!
Wasn't it awful? The stripy wallpaper plus the rooster wallpaper border up top, plus the patterned floor? So much going on!
That's a really beautiful little kitchen! Love the colors and the simplicity!
I love you backsplash choice!! Your hard work in the kitchen over the years (I remember those abinet painting posts) has definitely paid off!!
Also thanks for the reality pictures at the end. Glad to see we're not the only ones with door perpetually opened. 😉
How beautiful! I'm tempted to put installing a new backsplash on my to-do list. 🙂
I always think it's sad when people wait until just before they put a house on the market to fix it up. Why not do that when they can enjoy it. The buyers might not even like the updates. Along those lines. I am amused or bewildered the way potential buyers on those house hunters shows usually say the kitchen or bathroom or both need to be "updated'. Well sometimes they obviously do, but often they ok to me.
Add me to the love-fest for the Keeping It Real photos of your kitchen. Also the admiration fest for your realization that if you're going to need to upgrade, you should do it now so you can use it, too.
My kitchen, when I first looked at my house, was - believe it or not - much worse than yours. Narrow and dark, it had all the finest from the 1950s: yellow metal cabinets, now battered with doors that didn't all quite line up; one cabinet canting out over the sink; brown linoleum floor; fridge hanging out in the eat-in area (no idea where it was supposed to go); ... you get the idea. Hideous and inconvenient hardly began to describe it. My solution? I mentally added the cost of a new kitchen to the purchase price of the house.
Very nice! What is the little doohickey at the tip of the peninsula, under the phone and vase of forsithia? Is it a plastic bag holder?
Yep, it sure is! I mostly use reusable cloth bags for grocery shopping, but somehow, we do still end up with some random plastic bags, and we store them there for reuse.
I love what you've done with your kitchen! This post was timed perfectly for me; we're getting ready to have some work done on our kitchen. Our plans include replacing our dishwasher (it's about a million years old, wasn't cleaning well, and started leaking), repairing the sub-floor (from the leaky dishwasher) and replacing the awful peel and stick tiles with some decent flooring, as well as finally painting over the awful neutral beige that was there when we moved in (almost eight years ago!). So, I have lots of questions for you! (Assuming you don't mind. 🙂
It looks like you replaced your dishwasher. May I ask the brand, and if you've been happy with it?
What type of flooring did you go with? What are the pros and cons?
It sounds like you're pretty happy with having done your kitchen upgrades in stages. Is there anything you would have changed about the order? We're not planning to replace our counters as part of this round of kitchen work. We're both kind of indifferent to them, so it seems kind of wasteful to replace them when there are other things we need/want to do more. Do you feel like it cost you more or made things harder by holding off on your counters?
Finally, what are your thoughts on colors, etc that wouldn't help your house sell if you have NO intentions of selling? I love pastel colors, and have toyed with the idea of painting the cabinets in a nice pastel color when we do the rest of the kitchen work. I'm not sure that would be the best plan if we were looking to sell, but we're not. Hubby is colorblind, so the color choices are pretty much up to me.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I enjoy your blog and your levelheaded approach to things.
The dishwasher is actually the one from our townhouse! We bought it shortly before we moved and wanted to keep it...so we bought a cheaper dishwasher, put it in the townhouse, and stored this one at my parents' house while we listed our townhouse. This one is a Kitchen-Aid and we've had it for about 14 years now. It's needed a few repairs here and there, but it's a great model!
We have solid oak hardwood flooring. We bought it from a discount supplier here, and I'm happy with it. I like that it has very narrow grooves between the planks, which means you can't really get food stuck in the cracks!
Waiting to do the counters was no problem at all. I think the main thing is that you just have to do the backsplash and counters at the same time...otherwise you could end up doing your backsplash twice.
If we had no intentions of selling...hmm. We probably would have still gone fairly neutral, just because that's what we like! If you love pastel for your cabinets, then go for it. Make the kitchen the way YOU like it.
Love!
My husband and I are talking through ideas for the same types of updates... Less expensive and some DIY things we can do a bit at a time to have impact without the expense of a full scale remodel.
Your painted cabinets started my brain on this ride!
Your kitchen looks beautiful! I appreciate that you decided to do the work now while you can still enjoy it. Such a nice idea. Shortly after I got married my parents sold the house I grew up in and did a number of updates right before they listed it - I remember thinking how nice it would have been to have a couple of those while we were still living in it!
My husband is quite handy and enjoys house projects, so we are upgrading our house little by little. Among other things, he has turned a closet upstairs into a bathroom, moved the washer and dryer, and is currently working on creating a storage closet in the basement and adding a shelf above the washer and dryer. On some frugal-awesomeness... The other weekend he was at Lowe's and discovered that they were doing both 11% rebates AND 10% off with your Lowe's card instead of the normal 5%. He went and purchased everything we need for our current project and the one we have next on the list. So exciting to get it all for so much less!!!
Wow, that's an amazing bargain!
I loved the "dose of reality" photos! I had to laugh, because we have those Peeps on our counter too. It made me smile.
It looks fabulous! Hubby and I are looking to move up in house within a few years. Our kitchen cabinets are looking pretty worn, and we can't decide whether to keep them as is or spend a bit of money now so we can enjoy them. Same decision issue with window coverings on certain windows. Replace the blinds / curtains or just live with it?
Ooh, I'd be inclined to replace the window coverings. Those tend to be quite affordable, and they'd make a big difference.
Can you paint your cabinets?
Wowza, what a transformation!!! I think your upgrades look amazing!
And here's the thing: I could have lived in my house with floor-to-ceiling lime green paint (yes LIME green). There are just some things that we spend money on to feel a little fancier. It's okay to spend money upgrading your home if it's important to you.
We're going to put awesome new flooring in the house next year. Does it need it? Nah, but it's something we really would like. We want to pay off the house and maintain it either as a rent house or as something to pass on. And plus, it does increase the resale value.
But there's nothing wrong with upgrading because you want it to look nicer. 🙂 It's about balance.
I am a long time reader of your blog. I have always enjoyed your take on frugality. I was concerned about your comments that you used tradesmen who are working on the weekend because they can charge less due “being able to keep all the money.” My mind interpreted that as “paying someone under the table,” which surprised me, after reading your blog since 2010. Are these tradesmen moonlighting yet paying taxes? Did I misunderstand? Thanks
Nope, here's what I meant by that. Hypothetically, let's say that an electrician working through a company charges me $100/hour. The electrician doesn't actually get paid $100 an hour...a lot of that goes to the company, not to him.
If he's working a side job on the weekend, though, he gets to keep what I pay him, without having to share the pay with a company.
So, it wasn't a comment about their tax situations, but rather about the difference between being an entrepreneur vs. working for someone else's company.
I appreciate your time to clarify.
I did a multi-phase budget kitchen remodel in my last house. I saved the granite countertops and glass backsplash for last. They looked so marvy-fab, I kinda wished I'd done it sooner. By waiting, granite prices had dropped considerably and the company I worked for also had a tile division, so I was able to get employee pricing on the backsplash. It really did pay off though. My house went for $61k(!) over asking price, so it was money well spent. It sold so fast, I only got to enjoy the final version of my kitchen for a month or two. Fortunately, the new young family loves it, too!
Womp-womp warning: It's probably because of the topic, but the ads on this post are very um, non-FG. Both in the size/volume/obtrusiveness and the featured products. Has something changed? If it has to, that's cool, but I kind of hope it's temporary.
I should do a heads-up post about this, but I just started with a company that is managing all of my ads for me all in one spot. So, I'm still tweaking how the ads show up and when and trying to find the sweet spot between how many they require and how many I want and how they display.
The upside is that I should have way fewer problems with rogue ads appearing where they shouldn't, and if a bad one comes through (like those ones that pop up on iphones), I know exactly where to go to get that turned off or cleared out.
Thanks for the patience with me as I work through this!
Thank you for the "real" pictures. I was really feeling like a worse slob than I am (with three cats and three dogs)! Your kitchen is beautiful!
Lovely kitchen! We re-did our kitchen 4 years ago (kept the appliances since 2 out of 3 were relatively new) and I feel SO much happier with my home now. I know you think your original kitchen was horrible ... trust me, mine was much worse, and painting the cabinets wasn't an option. Replacing them was the only solution (lest you be horrified, we kept many of the cabinets to use in the basement/garage for storage--they didn't end up in a landfill). Something I don't think you mentioned but also has a big impact on your kitchen is your flooring--obviously that has been replaced at some point! I hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of your kitchen upgrades--under-cabinet lighting is da bomb!!!
The under cabinet task lighting is AMAZING. So great.