If a true cook’s kitchen has one thing, it’s ample kitchen storage. Taiga Young loves to cook, and the 144-square-foot kitchen she inherited from the previous owner when she bought her house in 2022 had very little storage.
It also had “robin’s-egg blue” walls and a “cold granite countertop,” per Taiga. The things she liked and wanted to keep were the floors and the farmhouse sink. The major mission, though, was to add storage — and she did so in a $7,000 DIY project.
Ready-to-build cabinets were a winner in this kitchen makeover.
“I researched ready-to-assemble cabinets — I figured I could manage putting together cabinets — and worked with NUform cabinets on a design that I liked,” Taiga explains. “Once that was done, it was a matter of ordering.”
She made a sort-of 3D model of her cabinet layout during the process, too, with chalk and cardboard boxes, which helped her figure out where she’d like to keep her most-used items and if she needed to rework any tricky corners she might run into. (She ended up revamping the layout and relocating the fridge.)
“I’d never built the cabinets by myself, and that was new … honestly it wasn’t that bad and I was able to do it at night after work, just one box at a time,” she says.
Getting everything to fit (and evenly) was difficult.
“I’d also never installed cabinets before, much less [known] how to keep them level on a very uneven floor,” Taiga says. “I hadn’t anticipated just how uneven, unlevel, unplumb, and unsquare the entire house is.”
Wooden shims were her project superhero, and she had to trim one cabinet to be a little narrower than it was when she ordered it.
Her power tool tip is to choose tools that all use the same type of battery for easy swapping out and for fast work. “I always had one battery on the charger or ready to go as a backup,” she says.
Butcher-block countertops were the gift that kept on giving.
One part of the kitchen makeover that was easier than expected was taking out the old countertop and installing the birch butcher block countertops with a beeswax finish.
“We used the extra butcher block to make the floating shelves above the sink, which makes for easy storage and showcasing of everyday items and knickknacks,” she says.
Paint warms up the place.
“I love that when anyone comes over they look at the kitchen and just say ‘Wow, this really feels like you,’” Taiga says. “I love to cook and am a single mom, so I needed a kitchen that was going to be able to make dinner and be a focal point in the house. The best conversations with my daughter are in the kitchen while making food.”