The $300 Kitchen Remodel: Progress

I think only one photo is needed to show
the work we had cut out for ourselves.

So it has been a while since I did a remodel update. Frankly, there hasn't been a whole lot to update. We were gone most of August and then Luke started his new job. I had a busy spurt with work and we just pushed home repairs to the back burner. Well, my Aunt is coming to visit this week so we finally did a good fall cleaning/unpacking session last weekend. That means our kitchen, though not complete, looked good enough to share photos.
And since it looks so much better than it did before, I am ready to share a before photo as well.
And ready to see what we've done so far?

Doesn't it look so much better?
Of course, we still have a lot of work to do, like:

1. Fix the bottom shelf under the sink
2. Install the rest of the doors
3. Paint the walls light gray
4. Paint the vent hood and stovetop
5. Install new ceiling light
6. Cut out bar window
7. Acquire a bar cart

If you're keeping track, that means we knocked off 5 things from my last update.
And remember how I said we were only planning on spending $300? Want to know how we are doing with that?
Kitchen Remodel Cost to Date = $361.51
A tad over, but there was definitely some trial and error that accounted for that. Here's a little breakdown:

Counter
We debated for a long time on what we would do for the tile. I initially wanted to just buy the Lagan counter from Ikea for $39. But our old counter was 3" too long for it. And in the end for a bit more, we have something that looks nicer and will last a lot longer.
Tile = $37.42 We save here since my dad had 100 leftover tiles that he gave us to use.
15 lbs White Non-Sanded Grout = $19.96 We lost about $14 here by mixing the first 5 lbs wrong. We have tons leftover now and it was also used on the cabinets to make the chalkboard paint.
Hardibacker Board = $20.50
Other Tiling Supplies = $35.14
Total = $113.02

Sink
Oh, the drama that we had from our sink! The old one was the 70's avocado green cast iron number. It weighed a ton and was a hideous color. I researched and researched and decided we could refinish to look like white enamel with the Rust-Oleum Tub And Tile Refinishing Kit. Huge waste of money! We don't know if it was because of the heat of a Texas summer or what, but that stuff never leveled. It dried all bumpy and when Luke tried to sand it smooth, we ended up with all these pinholes in the enamel. Needless to say in a moment of desperation I turned to Craigslist and found the perfect white enamel sink that we were able to pick up that day. It had been listed for a couple weeks, but I had stopped looking for one by that point. Another live and learn, I guess :-/ The best part about it though, is it is super deep. So we didn't need to upgrade our faucet since we can still fill large pots no problem.

Rust-Oleum 7860519 Tub And Tile Refinishing 2-Part Kit, White = $28.32 Fail!

Craigslist Sink = $40

Sink Drain = $7.70

Total = $76.02

Cabinets
I am in love with our cabinets! We wanted to save money by refinishing the old ones and since they had years of wear, I figured a textured paint would be perfect. You can still see the flaws in the wood, but to me, it adds to the character that these doors are meant to have. We used Martha's recipe for the paint and it works perfectly!
1 Gallon Charcoal Troubled Sky Paint = $11.84
Brass Door Pulls = $0 Huge savings here since my father in law gave us a whole bucket full of pulls to choose from!
Foam Rollers = $11 We had to spend a bit extra on these since Blue ate the first set we bought :(
Chalk = $.48
Total = $23.32

Fridge
We even scored a new fridge since my parents decided to finally upgrade. We got their old one which was a huge step up from the one that was in there. After a few coats of appliance paint, it looked as good as new :)
4 cans appliance paint = $24.50 This is actually something that is cheaper to buy at Home Depot than Walmart
Total = $24.50

Lighting
The existing ceiling fan and light were so gross! My great-grandma cooked with shortening like every day and the blades were caked with the stuff. There was no salvaging it and I actually removed them when we were working on the cabinets. We are replacing it with a diamond plate fluorescent light kit to match the metal details. I also wanted a low profile under cabinet light to make that space seem less crowded.
Diamond Plate Fluorescent Light = $0 Another freebie from Luke's dad! :)

Ledberg Light Strip = $16.23

Total = $16.23

Backsplash

From day 1, I knew I wanted tin ceiling tiles for my backsplash. It was a must-have. But of course, like everything in our life, it wasn't drama-free. Initially, I didn't see anything wrong with just buying cheap tin tiles and installing them. Luke kindly pointed out the rust-factor and suggested we go the PVC route that was easily available at Home Depot and Lowe's. The problem? It would cost close to $100 to get all the supplies. That was unacceptable to me. So I searched and searched and searched. I was determined to find a cheaper option and in fact, I did. I cannot praise Ceiling Tiles by Us more, they were half the price with S&H and their product is excellent! I absolutely love this little touch in our kitchen that totally screams my decor aesthetic :)

4 PVC Ceiling Tiles = $44.96

Liquid Nail = $4.98 

Total = $49.94

Pantry

Our Pantry is the only real quick fix right now. Since the kitchen didn't have one, I decided to pick up the Antonius shelving system from Ikea. Eventually, we would like to actually install a built-in pantry but this works pretty well for us for now.

2 Antonius 27” Frames = $21.63

8 Antonius Wire Basket Drawers = $21.65

Antonius Plastic Divider = $3.25

Total = $46.53

Misc

Our only other expenses so far have been the paint for the walls which I snagged on clearance in the "oops" section at Walmart and a grounded outlet for our microwave.

1 gallon light gray paint = $9.50

Outlet = $2.45

Total = $11.95

I am proud of what we have accomplished on a budget! And when you factor in the $53.36 extra we've spent on "oops" moments, we haven't gone too over budget. Of course, there will be a few more things we need to buy like fluorescent light bulbs but I definitely think we got an awesome bang for our buck! What do you all think? How much would you need to redo your kitchen?