Bungalow Kitchen Remodel Below $8,000

Ever since Scott Coulthard and his wife Sandy bought their 1932 cottage in the Brookwood neighborhood about nine years ago, they have been working on small remodel projects themselves to update the house. But when they embarked on remodeling the kitchen, they knew they needed to bring in some local experts.

“The kitchen is in a different category from all of the other things we’ve done because it’s so comprehensive,” Coulthard said. He enjoys cooking, but the configuration of the original kitchen was not conducive for it.

The kitchen door sat between the stove and the sink, which made cooking precarious, especially with the Coulthard’s 3-year-old twins.

“If you were carrying pasta water, we got used to calling out, ‘Hot stuff coming through!’ so no one would get boiling water dumped on them. Our kitchen was a bit of a mess,” he said.

From the get-go he brought in Markraft kitchen designer Suzanne Reid, who advised them on how to reconfigure their kitchen including how far they needed to move a window to maximize the 12 by 15-foot space. She also measured the space several times, which is essential in older homes that are not always level or square.

The Coulthards knew they wanted to install cabinets up to the ceiling to increase storage space. Because their older home is not level or square, they needed customized cabinetry. They selected the semi-custom Starmark stack cabinets with maple doors finished with a butter cream paint that complemented the traditional style of the rest of the house. Reid from Markraft brought a Starmark representative to the house to show him the unique kitchen space so he knew exactly what was needed.

The installation of the stack cabinets, pull-out drawers and hardware took two days.

“The installer did a really good job getting everything to look square and level while working with surfaces that weren’t square and level. That was one of the reasons why we ultimately decided to go with Markraft, because we could really trust their installation,” Coulthard said.

The result has been transformational.

“People have been pretty amazed. They think that we made the room bigger. We didn’t make the room bigger, we just got rid of everything that made it look smaller,” he said.

Markraft Cabinets specializes in cabinet and countertop design and installation in both new residential and commercial construction as well as custom remodeling projects. For more information, visit www.markraft.com or call (910) 793-2002.