I have been obsessing over our new house so much lately that I haven't been giving our current house much love. Even though we won't be selling our home until this time next year, I want to complete all of our half-started projects so that the house is put together when it comes time to sell.
Our current house was also a new-build, which of course meant that I got to pick out all our finishes. We only had $5K budgeted in upgrade money for the entire house so I tried to pick things that were economical and would add the most value for resale.
For our kitchen, we ended up upgrading the cabinets and hardware to a more expensive line (this was the most important upgrade IMO - the standard cabinets had a bumpy texture which looked cheap)! We also upgraded to a package that included fridge gables, extending the cabinets over the fridge, valences for future lighting and pots & pan drawers (so glad we got these; the drawers offer so much storage)! For cost reasons, we decided to go with laminate until we could afford to upgrade. However, siiiince we decided to buy another new-build last November, we scratched that idea.
We debated on installing quartz countertops to add value to our home, but we live in an area where house inventory is low, so I don't think we will have any trouble selling our house (I hope).
With regards to "completing" our kitchen, my husband installed pendant lights over the island the Christmas before last. And we recently decided to install a backsplash on a whim I found a marble backsplash at Rona today and got an amaaazing deal on it (all the tiles and supplies for under $100!). My husband wasn't super enthused when I came home with backsplash supplies since we're moving next year, but I think it will look great!! And who knows, maybe it will add value to the home. I've also never worked with tiles in any form before, so I think given that the area I'm working with is pretty small, it will be a great opportunity for practice!
Below is the design plan for my kitchen (pretty much all of these items I already own or I have something similar). I will post pictures once the backsplash has been installed! Take care!
