Personal Experience: How We Decorated a Kitchen for 50 Thousand Rubles

Renovation is always expensive, and the kitchen usually costs the most. But not always: blogger Kristina Verшинина told us how to save money. Her kitchen cost the girl only 50 thousand rubles (excluding the cost of appliances).

Kristina Verшинина is an expert and blogger who talks about design and renovation on her Instagram @junior.scandi

Where to start?

I began looking for a kitchen even before starting the renovation. And I immediately realized that well-known brands and factories are not for me: I needed a kitchen that I could change when moving and not regret spending money on it. But aesthetics were still important, so I decided to order a custom kitchen.

Where to order?

Definitely not in big cities! I'm from Moscow, but ordering a kitchen here would mean spending a lot of money. Therefore, I started monitoring prices in nearby cities that I could reach by car.

The key is to find a factory that produces everything itself, not resellers. They have huge markups.

What about measurements?

Since I found the factory in another city, we did all the measurements ourselves. We also planned the placement of all appliances and decided that we needed a full-height cabinet. We put the machine inside and closed it with doors, and placed the microwave oven above it. This saved space.

We described our wishes in detail and sent everything to the factory. There they helped us finalize everything and started manufacturing.

How to correctly measure the room?

• Create a plan of the room (preferably on graph paper). Leave enough space around for making changes.
• Mark all utility lines, pipes and electrical outlets immediately.
• Start with the door and move clockwise. Take general measurements.
• Then measure each wall and every detail separately.
• Mark different elements with different colors to avoid confusion later.

Where else can you save money? On materials

We took cabinet doors made of MDF covered with film. This material comes in different qualities, but after half a year everything is fine. So I'm satisfied.

On dampers

We didn't even think about them and didn't install them. Later we realized that dampers significantly increase the cost of items.

On details

We didn't decorate the cabinet doors and overloaded them with extra details. The doors were also made very simple — hinged.

On the stove

We could have installed a built-in model, but since I measured the space myself, I didn't want to take risks. In the end, it also saved quite a bit of money.

On assembly

The kitchen was installed by our acquaintance. It's not a very expensive service, but why not save one more time?