I kind of liked the original. I would have just changed the open shelf and the cabinet knobs. But the new one is nice too.

again, the magic of paint. =) much brighter, love it!

Is there a rule of thumb on how much space is required for door swing, etc.to have a small island like the one pictured. I'm renovating (on the cheap) my small square kitchen which suffers from dooritis; a door in the middle of each wall. Any ideas?

@patfm- you usually want at least 3' clear walkway space from doors and cabinetry, and that should give you plenty of room for your door swings, unless you have some super wide doors. Maybe consider removing doors that aren't necessary.

this is fresh
and
beautiful

Hard to tell if it was in rough condition - but I rather preferred the before...
...only thing I would have done if they were in decent shape would have been to do new linoleum, tile or cork flooring and take down those curtains.

Terrific job. Looks 100x better.

I agree with bepsf. Just needed new curtains and flooring. Maybe the cabinets needed restaining?

The "before" image coding doesn't seem to be working.

They started with with a pretty nice kitchen to begin with, just new flooring and knobs would have made it seem current. That said, I love the results.

Very pretty. Reminds me a little of my own kitchen.

I'm getting really bored of all these kitchen makeovers where they just paint the cabinets white. Sure, it looks good now, but wait until those pristine white cabinets are smeared with dirt & grime.

$875 of the cost was for flooring. That definitely changed my perspective on the after photo. Definitely looks bigger, brighter, and more pleasant to be in.

it's a shame that they painted over the exposed brick, but love the floors & paint. Wonder why they got rid of the recessed light?

The new flooring was definitely worth it, the cabinets have new life (keeping all those knobs a good money saver) but painting over the brick! That would have been the highlight of the kitchen. Just me. It looks great painted white but the original was so much better. It really feels fresh, bright and bigger. Nice redo.

Almost all of the changes made sense to me. Following the link, a lot of the cabinetry was slightly damaged (vinyl, so they couldn't stain it differently), so they repaired and painted.

The floor got an update - they went with thin laminate (wood-looking) to keep the floor height consistent. That was more than half their budget - $750. The subfloor (the previous flooring was uneven) was another $125... so just the floors was a great deal of the budget.

Considering the flooring was uneven and the cabinetry was damaged in places, those changes made sense. Though I think I would have kept the brick wall.

I find the big "MANGE" sign very unappetizing. If they hadn't painted the brick maybe they could have bought a diacritic.

7 potted plants may have busted the budget!

following the link, I asked myself, do they have a persistant skin condition? MANGE?

Im gonna bet that 'mange' means something delicious in a foreign language NOT some animal skin disease.

Yes, just checked "Mange" is Italian for "Eat." Does everyone feel better now?

bravo!!

"Mange" in Italian = "Eat." (Or so says the trusty internet...)

It's ok, but I'd like to see some color in accessories or something. A bit stark feeling...

I think it should be Mangia?

Yeah, in French, mange is a conjugation of manger (to eat). Je mange = I eat. It's just like having a sign that says "eat" in your kitchen. :)

Just to clarify, "mange" is definitely French, not Italian. "Mangia" is the Italian word for eat.

Now, as for the kitchen: the white update looks great, but I am curious as to what the natural brick would have looked like. Regardless, great job!

I usually balk at the idea of painting brick, but I think it works well here.

i think they did such an awesome job, especially when you take the time to click through and read about the work that went into the room. so fresh and inviting!

also, i am a little surprised that AT commenters aren't falling all over themselves about the "before" picture. this one is PERFECT in its exactness...

Mange is not Italian for eat. Italian for "eat" is "mangia" (familiar). Or "mangi" (formal). It must be some other language, or non-language.

@kgrote: I have two young sons, a husband, and two cats, and we have managed to keep our painted white cabinets clean. It's not difficult. You just have to use glossy paint. It cleans well. Grimy cabinets are from lack of cleaning, not the color of the paint.

I am also a bit sad when I see brick painted. It's so lovely before. Oh, well. It does look brighter, which is nice for a kitchen.

patfm - you should also have 42" in front of an oven. And that's pretty tight.

It's the imperative

Mange: Eat!
Mangeons: Let’s eat!
Mangez: Eat! (formal, plural)

There is an exception for the final “s”:

Manges-en

I agree, however, that in an English-speaking context, it is unfortunate. Also, I am not French, but it sounds sort of unidiomatic. Maybe a native speaker will chime in.

I have an island cart in the middle of my kitchen and it's far too tight - probably two feet on all sides. I plan to change the layout someday but in the meantime, it's totally fine.

I don't like the trend of stark white on everything, sorry. I liked the wood and earth tones of the original. I personally love the style of the 1970s. I think we really lost something when the decade ended, style-wise.

I love the new flooring and the glossy white cabinets. But there's TOO much white now. I'd like to see some contrast in there.

Too late to suggest different countertops or suggest leaving the brick wall/s alone, but if the "eat" sign could be in a bright color and the clock switched out or painted a colorful shade (or exchanged for a retro neon clock!) that would be terrific to me. The cute little plants in their terra-cotta pots help, but there needs to be some more splashes of color in that room, I think.

I get really bored with all-white makeovers but in this case I think it's beautiful. The gray backsplash and wood (-like) flooring are plenty of color, IMO.

As for the brick, I looked closely and it seemed to be that fake-distressed paint common in the 70's that looks tacky at best, so though I love true exposed brick like in a NYC loft, the white paint here seems a vast improvement.

Ugh. I hate when they paint over brick. Honestly, I don't like either kitchen and I am really tired of white kitchen cabinets.

I'm curious why the comments about painted over brick and white cabinets? I ask because our kitchen is very similar to the before and we are looking to paint the brick and cabinets white. These older type of cabinets may be wood fronts but the rest are cheap laminate and simply do not look nice after a while. I hate the brick...hate it. I don't understand why at some point in the 50's someone decided exposed z brick in the kitchen was a good idea. Stuff sticks to it and it has YEARS of grime that is very difficult to get off.

I think short of gutting the kitchen the best way to lighten it is paint. We don't have the funds to do a huge reno at the moment. If you're just looking at a picture then sure the first one looks a bit warmer but in our situation the combination of the dark cabinets and brick day after day is dark and depressing, especially in the Winter. It feels claustrophobic too. What are some other cost saving suggestions? We will be doing the walls in a pale yellow though, not white and the floors will be darker.

I like both kitchens! Personally I think I would have left the brick unpainted, but the flooring was a great choice.

looks fantastic! Can't wait to re-do my kitchen cabinets!

Beautiful! I personally love an all white kitchen. Love the new flooring too.

But do enjoy pops of color throughout, would love to see mange in a bright color or a colored clock. CB2 used to have a huge yellow clock that would've been so nice in an all white kitchen. I also miss the floating shelf you had in the before shot.

42" - 48" min in front of any appliance is the norm.

hahaha, I thought the "before" was the "after!" I prefer the warm and earthy before. The all-white redo is good in it's own way, but I wouldn't think of it as an improvement. It reminds me of the movies where the "ugly" girl is made over into the popular girl by taking off her glasses.

They were lucky their cabinet style lent itself well to painting. I had to replace the 70's doors and drawers on my cabinets which really added to the remodel costs. However, I did find doors/drawers in a wood color close to my originals so my remodel stayed wood but in an updated frame style.

I also liked the original wood and also liked the new style.

I like the "old" kitchen. I would have merely changed the knobs to black and hung curtains of wide b/w stripes or just a valance of something in black and white. I would have kept the floors unless they were dangerous, replacing them at a later date.

The before was not universally aweful.