Kitchen Renovation: Before Pictures

I love a good before and after transformation for any home upgrade. Before I do a reveal of what my final kitchen updates look like, I wanted to share the kitchen before pictures from my townhouse with you before I started my renovation.

Before Pictures

I’ve lived in my Houston townhouse for over 5 years now and I actually super love my the layout of my kitchen. It’s served me well over the last few years and is great for entertaining. However, my house was built in 2007, so the design decisions somewhat reflects that mid-2000s aesthetic– chocolate countertops and maple colored cabinets.

I live in an area where there’s a zillion identical townhomes. I figure that my home will be more competitive in the market when I sell in a few years if the kitchen space is more welcoming and less dated.

Click here to read the blog post with my design ideas and inspiration.

What do you think of my kitchen before pictures?

Finding a Houston Kitchen Contractor

I used Angie’s List to source a few contractors to come to my house and provide estimates. I also had the Home Depot contractor team come out and a personal recommendation from my mom.

Ahead of each meeting, I prepared a list of questions to ask them. I like this list as a starting place. Key things I wanted to know were:

• Have you done remodels like this before? How many?
• How long will it take? Will multiple trades (e.g., plumber and tile guy) be able to work concurrently?
• Who’s the point of contact? How does communication occur?
• How are your teams handling COVID?

During the process, the 6 teams came to my house and I walked them through my desired design. Some took measurements, some didn’t. Some asked questions, some didn’t.

The process was very telling to determine what kind of person I wanted to work with. Some pointed out interesting design things that the original builders made. Some people were better listeners. Others were reeeaaally slow.

When they provided the estimate, I asked for a detailed breakdown of what each item would cost (in case I needed to take something out for my budget) as well as their proposed schedules. Some people were detail oriented and transparent and some people were less so.

Also, I wanted to know how they were planning procuring materials–tile, countertop, etc. What I was accountable for and what they were going to purchase?

I planned on managing this renovation the same way I manage projects at work. A good contractor is good at communicating and not waiting days between emails or texts to respond. I’ve had some crazy clients at work that ask for annoying things. And I was totally prepared to be that high maintenance customer to ensure I get good results.

Receiving the estimate was also important because there was a range of responses that were several thousands of dollars apart. I’m glad I got so many quotes. It ensured I was comfortable with the contractor and I knew I was getting a fair price.

Home Remedy Houston

I ended up going with Home Remedy Houston. I am very happy with the selection and wouldn’t have shared the name, unless I was satisfied with the quality of work at the end. Their prices were in the mid-high range. The project manager, Dennis, gave me good piece of mind in the quality work I’d get. (They also had like 900 positive reviews on Angie’s List with similar work done).

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of my kitchen before pictures!