This custom kitchen is part of an adventuresome project my wife and I embarked upon to create a complete apartment in the basement of our townhouse. We designed a floor plan that creatively and efficiently used all of the 385-square-foot-space, without sacrificing beauty, comfort or function – and all without breaking the bank! To maximize our budget, we did the work ourselves and added everything from thrift store finds to DIY wall art to bring it all together. Since the basement is below grade, we had resigned ourselves to being unable to use wood flooring, which we love. Then we found this antique hickory laminate at Lowe's which both looks and feels incredibly real. Best of all, we got most of it on clearance for less than $1 per square foot.