Budget

I know that whenever I would check out blogs featuring before and after renovations, I always wondered what they spent. So I'm going to list the prices of everything here. Since the average price of a kitchen remodel is somewhere around $20,000, I'd say I did pretty well considering all the work I had done. This breakdown also includes all the work I had in the whole house, including all new flooring, light fixtures, installation of a bathroom vent, painting, wall sanding, etc.

Cabinets - $3020
Countertops - $750
Cabinet hardware - $50
Rev a Shelf trash system - $80 - best money ever!
New Stove - $450 - this was an open item at Best Buy, regular price was $750
New Microwave - $125 - regular price is $250, but I used Best Buy points that saved me tons.
Flooring - $850 - includes flooring and underlay
Flooring installation - $1000
New carpet for den - $180 - Hoss decided to throw up on every square inch of the den, which had perfectly acceptable carpet. Thanks Hoss.
Under cabinet lighting - $120
Over sink light fixture - $20
Contractor - $3000 - this price included all of their work, start to finish
Random Supplies - $700 - like drywall, a new door to the den, hardware, paint, trim, etc
Disposal - $76
Living room fan/light - $108
Bathroom vent fan - $32 - I should have spent more on this.
Paint - $130
Faucet - $120, regular price $300

=$10,811

The only way I was able to do this for this price was for two reasons. One, my contractors. Darden and Becky's prices were amazing. While I do not recommend this for everyone, I decided to take a calculated risk by having a ton of electrical and plumbing work done by someone who was not a licensed electrician or plumber. He came highly recommended from another general contractor who told me he had absolute confidence in Darden's work and would allow him to work on his own home, so that was good enough for me. The quotes I was getting for electrical alone was running in the $2k range, and the construction work was running over $4k, so I saved many thousands by using Darden and Becky.

Two, I researched the ever loving hell out of everything. I endlessly shopped, compared, drove all over town comparing prices, looked on Craiglist, etc, until I was confident I was getting the best price possible. Everything I bought online used every coupon code I could find. My father had to buy a whole suite of kitchen appliances, so I had him use my best buy membership so I got all the points, which I then applied towards the microwave.