After over a year of planning, designing and building… our dream DIY ‘Modern Mediterranean’ kitchen is complete! This renovation was truly a labor of love—certainly the most hours we’ve ever put into a single project, and one that required the most skill. Now that it’s over, I feel like we can tackle anything!
Please join me for a video tour…
Jump to:
Before
First, let’s go back to the beginning and remember how this room started at the Hacienda Hideaway. It was an awkward, closed off kitchen in the middle of a great room. We promptly tore it out within days of buying the house:
During
After demo:
Building the range hood:
DIY ceiling beams and floor install:
During the custom cabinet installation:
After cabinetry, counter and tile install:
After
And that brings us to the grand finale! I present to you, the new Hacienda Hideaway kitchen:
Don’t look too closely at the background—the rest of the house is still a construction zone (hello, missing baseboards).
I can’t decide which angle is my favorite… so I’m just going to post them all.
Let’s talk about these cabinets. I’m still surprised we were able to pull off that 1/16″ reveal and get everything to fit so well. Shout out to Nieu Cabinet Doors for providing the doors, drawers and hardware that made installation so much easier!
Hidden behind the far right doors you’ll find this Jenn-Air panel-ready fridge. There are surprisingly few options for 36″ panel-ready fridges, so this was by far the biggest splurge of the kitchen (luckily I was able to use an employee friend’s 40% discount, and the price has gone way up since!):
The range, hood insert and dishwasher are all from Z-LINE. They were the most affordable white appliances I could find, with great reviews, and so far they have not disappointed!
I chose the 36″ DuraSnow dual fuel range in white matte, and a matching top-control Energy Star white matte dishwasher.
To the right of the dishwasher, we built an open cubby and found this cute retro microwave (small but it holds full size plates!) A 30″ Elkay farmhouse sink + DIY drip ledge sits in the center of the island:
I had the hardest time finding non-cheap looking brass/gold faucets and hardware that matched, so I went with unlacquered brass across the board. Yes, there will be some maintenance involved, but the patina really is charming and timeless.
I sourced the most reasonably priced raw brass bridge faucet and pot filler I could find on Etsy.
For the cabinet hardware, I landed on these 6″ pulls, appliance pulls, and knobs.
Both the lantern sconces and pendant lights got a quick makeover using Gold Leaf Rub ‘n buff. And check out that ogee edge detail on the Hanstone Quartz countertops—worth every penny!
The hand painted-style backsplash tile is made in Spain, and brings such character to the space. And hallelujah for finding an alternative to drilling outlets into the backsplash!
I made a last minute decision to install a pot rail under the DIY floating shelves, and I’m so glad I did! They’re definitely giving me old world European vibes.
The counter stools were a World Market find, and I think they’re a perfect fit for this space. The natural woven material helps balance out all of the hard and shiny surfaces.
DIY Projects
In case you missed any updates over the last year, here are all the projects you need to know:
- Kitchen Design Plans
- DIY Range Hood
- DIY Ceiling Beams
- Floor installation
- DIY kitchen cabinets with Nieu Cabinet Doors
- How to hide kitchen outlets
- How to make custom toe kicks
- DIY sink drip rail
- Venetian Plaster range hood
- DIY floating shelves
Sources
I’ve added the Hacienda Hideaway to my Sources page, so you can now reference these links at any time! Click below to find all of the paint colors and sources:
Cost Breakdown
As promised, here is a full cost breakdown by category (materials + labor). Note that these line items include the full retail value for the materials used. Some of these items were provided at no cost or a discounted rate for sponsored posts—I’ll also share our actual cost below.
Materials
| Cabinets & hardware | $11,562 |
| Appliances | $14,263 |
| Countertops | $6,400 |
| Tile | $691 |
| Lighting | $678 |
| Electrical | $726 |
| Faucet & pot filler | $1,186 |
| Sink & plumbing | $1,718 |
| Range Hood | $614 |
| Shelves | $165 |
| Counter stools | $1,212 |
Labor
| Plumbing | $2,313 |
| Electrician | *$3,000 |
| Counter installer | $3,677 |
| Tile installer | $2,000 |
| GRAND TOTAL | $50,205 |
*We hired an electrician for multiple jobs throughout the house at once, so this is just a rough estimate of what the kitchen portion may have been.
*I didn’t include the ceiling or floors, as those are part of the great room/entire house and not kitchen specific.
After sponsored and discounted items, our actual total came in closer to $23k. Our original budget estimate was higher than this, so we’re happy with that number! Even if it did take us half a year longer to finish than we thought 😉
We also sold the old cabinets, counters and appliances in the original kitchen for $2,065, so that helped offset our expenses.
Of course, we saved the most by DIYing—building the cabinets and range hood from scratch, along with a lot of the finish work. If we were to hire out those specialized jobs, we’d probably be looking at at least another $25-30k in labor costs.
Thank you to everyone who followed our progress and supported us along the way! It has been a pleasure to document and share these projects with you. Now that this one is over, it’s time to get back to our long overdue laundry room remodel. More on that next week!
faith says
Hi. You did a phenomenal job. How tall are ceilings in kitchen, how long are pendant lights and how many inches from countertop is it? Any info you can give will be greatly appreciated. My kitchen is very similar
Jackie says
I love all your ideas and work you guys do. I’m always inspired. Thank you for sharing!
Jackie
Janelle says
Absolutely beautiful!!
Pam says
Truly stunning, especially when you see the original space. Your vision for space is matched only by your brilliant DIY skills. Well done. Can you come help my kitchen?!? 🙏🏼
Cathy says
You guys did such an amazing job on this one! Love all the care you put into the small details (like those cabinet feet). Well cone!!
Caroline Hill says
Absolutely gorgeous! Your kitchen is certainly not the round of the mill variety. It is thoughtfully designed and beautifully crafted.
Ruth says
You took a typical drab Florida kitchen and made it absolutely stunning. Your design and work is out of this world. Well done. I love it!
Carrie says
Wow! Wow! WOW!!! Not only do I love your vision for this kitchen, but your execution is stunningly gorgeous! Well done Jenna and Lucas! Your guests are in for a real treat 🎉
Alexa G says
I love how upscale and functional it is, yet it has that old world European charm. This is the kitchen of my dreams.. absolutely timeless. You and Lucas make such a talented team!
Gordana says
Jenna, this is stunning! And not just that the kitchen is stunning, it’s the fact that you diy-ed everything and the amount of effort and dedication you put into every single detail… I am in awe 🙌
Judy says
This kitchen is stunning!! Your sense of design and hard work have created such a beautiful change to this space!! Also, thank you for breaking down the cost and sharing with us.
tracy says
As always another superb transformation! It is absolutely beautiful!!
Pat says
Absolutely beautiful! I love all of it but one of my favorite thing is the ceiling. That was so unexpected and it is magnificent. Congrats on the end result. And thanks for inspiring us (as well as your sweet daughter who I am sure will never be calling a handyman to hand a curtain rod). I admire people who build things.
Lena says
Love it! Everything came together so well and the design is beautiful. I would be thrilled to stay there on a vacation. And thanks for sharing the costs.
Amy says
Beautiful. I appreciate your subdued, natural use of color. Everything looks so calm and luxurious. I’m always in awe of your transformations.
Jenna Sue says
Thank you so much, Amy!