We just finished a basement kitchen renovation for a long term client who is also one of my oldest and dearest friends.

Her daughter decided to move home to save money for a house of her own (as so many young people have to do) and she needed a functional kitchen space. We had already done the bathroom for her (post to follow) so this was next on the list.

The basement was already finished and had a wet bar, but that wasn’t really functional as a full time kitchen.

Using IKEA’s kitchen planner (which is fantastic, as are their kitchens) we designed a kitchen which had no upper cabinets due to an overhead bulkhead but included a bank of lower cabinets along one wall with the sink and faucet and an island with a cooktop, microwave oven and a charcoal filtered range hood. We also included an overhang for stools.

Her daughter, along with some friends, removed the existing bar and flooring and our first task was to break up some concrete to dig a trench so her electrician could run power to the island for the cooktop, microwave and 2 outlets.

After running the electrical conduit, we cemented over the trench and installed new LVP flooring. Next came building the island base and installing all of the cabinets.

To keep costs down, she ordered laminate countertops from a local supplier which we installed along with the sink, faucet and cooktop. The range hood was an insert so we built and stained a ‘box’ to hold it and built some custom shelves for dishes and glassware.

The results is a kitchen that is both beautiful and functional.