Why do the before/after pictures always show the before picture with bad lighting and the after picture with great lighting? I'd like to see a comparison where both pictures had the SAME lighting.

Excellent!

It's amazing what a new countertop and appliances can do for a kitchen. Good job

Agreed, mstinawu! My first thought was "they didn't change anything, just turned the lights on at a more romantic time of day!"

Once I looked closer I saw the changes though, and I really liked them! Beautiful counters :)

Very Nice!

I'm pretty sure we saw this fairly recently; I remember the desk in the kitchen. Looks nice, again.

The only ones that I really liked is the 3rd pair.

Did they change the lighting? I see the same pendants and track lighting in the first before picture?

This is a great redo where only certain elements were changed. I love the new countertops and appliances! I'm really thinking I need subway tile on my backsplash too, ain't nothing there right but drywall. Love the new sink & faucet too, I'm a huge proponent of big deep single sinks now, would never go back to a double sink again.

The added lighting makes a huge impact -- as does actually leveraging that lighting in the photos, as people have noted. What surprised me in terms of just how much impact it has on the overall finished-ness of the room, though is the addition of the crown molding detail at the tops of the cabinets. I already liked the original cabinetry, and it looks like they were clever in doing some small work with re-framing for more open shelving, but my gosh that crown molding just puts it over the top. I honestly would not have been able to tell that there was a back splash change if you hadn't mentioned it, but that may be due to the vignettes on the countertops.

My understanding of "a few simple changes and a very small budget" are worlds apart from AT's. Despite that, the place looks great.

mistinawu, I like the way you think.

the lighting makes a huge impact on the remodel of this lovely kitchen... counter tops are great.. much better than the old formica...and the crown molding is a great finishing detail that adds that polish to the kitchen...
maureen

Yeah, I had a hard time figuring out what was changed without being told. But after I read it, it was like, "duh!" It looks beautiful :-)

Tomgyrll -

Yeah, my first thought was "A few simple changes" means ALL the appliances??? It looks great, but simple changes is the cabinet pulls, the paint, and the crown molding. Once you're in the multi-thousand-dollar expense zone it stops being "simple."

Great job.

But, I am tired of the recent string of AT Before and after photos in which the lights are turned off for the before and turned on for the after, or the lighting is just better in the after photo. Specifically the first set of pictures has a new counter, dishwasher, and sink set, but the lights are exactly the same. Why are they turned off in the first photo. They only added one table lamp! It reminds me of before and after diet pill photos in which the first photo the person is slumped over under fluorescent lighting shot with a 3mp camera and the after the persons posture is fixed and they are under studio lights with a better camera.

Can anyone provide details on where to locate the blinds on the French doors? Thx.

Great job, it is amazing what a few changes can make! I really love how the new drawer pulls , wood countertop and new lighting really do warm up that kitchen. That new sink is very sleek. Also, I totally understand the impulse to go from electric to gas cooking!

I'm curious why people use light colored grout on dark tile and visa versa.

Considering how expensive a total makeover costs. this is definitley qualifies as an inexpensive one. This kitchen went from drab and old fashioned to fresh and up-to-date and it looks fabulous. Kudos to Amy and Chad!

Very cute kitchen! I have very similar cabinets and am planning to do some of the same updates myself. It's nice to see proof that they will look good!

I feel the same way about the lighting, but then I thought about it and it makes sense. I always forget to take before shots when I'm doing something. When I do remember I'm rushed to do it because I'm excited to get on with making the changes - I'm not thinking about how to make the place look its best, so it's less polished and poorly lit. But when I've made the changes, I'm really focused on making it look its best for the picture.

I do love it, but they need to declutter the countertops. I barely noticed the changes, especially the new tile backsplash.

This definitely makes me want to add molding to the top of my cabinets. And I adore the countertops.

I have to agree with Tomgyrll - Changing out the appliances, replacing the countertop, and tiling does not say "a few simple changes" or "small budget" to me at all.

small budget is a can of paint and a new tablecloth - i'm just saying.

I love the countertops and the molding. I can't really see the backsplash though.

Ditto Shadlyn and tomgyrll.
Despite that, the kitchen does look great (as I'd hope it would with that kind of investment). I love the butcher block countertop to warm it all up.

I don't like either one, frankly. Seems the changes are more related to the lighting in the photo.

i'm growing to love this steel finish plus wood look. very nice. how does the lighting matter? we can all look past that at the changes and choose to appreciate or not.

Re: the lighting. I do want to point out that replacing the lighting in the kitchen was part of the makeover.

Point well taken about the lighting, but what I really appreciate is that the photos are taken from the same angle in both the before and after photos.

But the kitchen looks great.

ha, I love that all new appliances, countertop, backsplash, sink, hardware, paint, molding, window coverings and lighting are "small" and "subtle" changes. Looks great!

half the time i forget to take a before picture at all! let alone turn on the lights and wait for the perfect time of day.

love this makeover. way to go guys! ;)

I love the desk, that is a perfect location, and the red color pops are really pretty, but where did the dog bowls go that used to be in front of the little cabinet in the "before" shot? I really want to see befores and afters with all the same features and difficulties left in.

results looks nice but they basically updated their appliances..and got a new butcher block...nothing so inspiring...haha, but still, money well spent!
oh, i love that they put a desk there.

this kitchen is identical to my own. I have been struggling with what to do because the cabinets aren't in bad shape but they are old. I like the idea of painting the lower ones a darker color and you confirmed for me that the butcher block I was thinking of can look great and that subway tile won't look too old fashioned. Really enjoyed seeing someone update an older kitchen

i'm not sure that a 'small budget' for me would afford all brand new stainless steel appliances, but maybe AT and i have a different opinion on 'small budget'.

the new countertop looks great, but it really wasn't a bad kitchen before.

Believe it or not, people don't typically renovate their homes JUST so they can post wonderful pictures of the before and after on AT. Often, "before" pictures are shots of a room that just happened to be taken before the room was renovated, with no forethought as to how the pics will compare to the "after" shots. So quitcherbitchin.

This is a lovely, subtle makeover. Great inspiration for others looking to make small, simple changes that have impact..

It really is the "little" things that count! Great changes!

I liked Therese Z's comment about the dogfood bowls. Most of us do feed our pets in the kitchen, yet I almost never see that planned into the kitchen (there was once a clever pull-out lower cabinet that held the food and water bowls - but then you'd have to keep it pulled out so the animal could at least get water any time of day). All I can come up with for my some-day-maybe kitchen plan is to leave an open space in the line up of base cabinets. Anyone else have ideas?

And ditto on the comments about cost. How about making more price gradations? Super-cheap for the paint/tablecloth miracles, cheap for that plus a few structural or appliance changes; this kitchen would be mid-range (and I'd like to see how much everything including labor actually did cost); new cabinet doors & countertops kick the level up to expensive; and the whole shebang could be categorized as Boy Did You Buy Into the Corporate Marketing Propaganda. If you did the latter AND have the gigantic-grill-on-expensive-hardscaping-just-a-few-feet-from-your-kitchen, you'd belong in the "what a joke" category.

Sorry Amy, Chad (and Jason); I meant to say I actually was impressed with the effectiveness of the changes you made, and feel I learned a lot. For example, opening the cabinet over the fridge makes an enormous difference in feel!

Small budget = all new applances, brand new counterops? In my dreams, maybe.

Maybe before people whine that this isn't simple enough, isn't cheap enough, not enough details shots et cetera et cetera (the list goes on) they could take the effort to visit the website where the makeover is detailed and answer the questions for themselves.

Re price: "A contractor’s quote just for removing the old countertops was $250."
"Our new butcher block beauties came from IKEA and we paid less than $350 for two 8 foot pieces."
"We were able to stick to a budget for everything which included a new refrigerator, range, microwave and dishwasher all from the Frigidaire Professional line."

Re lighting: "That was so early in our plans that you can already see them in the before shots."

And I don't understand the argument that replacing key pieces negates any subtlety. They didn't knock out walls, gut the cabinetry or even paint it, change the layout in any form. Don't get me wrong, I really like apartment therapy, but all the nitpicking on before/after posts is really getting old. Like jmill9584 said, people aren't taking pictures to satisfy the general public's itch to examine and pick apart every inch of their kitchen, it's to show the awesome job they did in freshening up their kitchen with just a few swaps.

If they had left the dog bowls in the "after" photos, someone would have complained that they should have removed them.

@maddiemazing: I agree
@Amy & Chad: Thanks for sharing your home with us. I loved the transformation enough to visit your blog. Your witty writing style and graphics are icing on the cake. The kitchen utensil storage is genious ... clever & beautiful! Now you've got me ready to rummage through my stuff to replicate it my way. ;-)

What was wrong with the "before" appliances? I have the exact same range, dishwasher, and microwave in my kitchen and they still work well and look nice.

on budgeting and (my perceived) small budget considerations for AT:

The average kitchen remodel in the United States is $50,000.

With buy-back programs and donations for old appliances, these appliances may have been purchased for as little as $500.
Subway tile backsplash for the amount of square footage was probably around $100, same with the molding.
Since they don't have a ton of counter space, the countertops most likely did not cost more than $200.
So if you figure the new hardware is less than $100, their total would be around $1,000 for the kitchen redo.

Comparing $1,000 to the national average of $50,000, that is 1/50. I can see why that would be considered "small budget." Since AT mostly features small spaces, even comparing $1,000 to half the national average ($25,000), that is still a small budget.

@Amy and Chad: I hope my guesstimations are close, and I absolutely adore the changes you made. The repurposed desk works very well, and I love the touches that were already there as well.

@ElectricKatie. I'd like to know where I can get a Frigidaire range, refrigerator, dishwasher, and microwave for $500! :)

There was an article on kitchen remodels in Consumer Reports recently. In the discussion on cost, they noted "We took top-performing products from our extensive tests and created three design schemes. The first is for a $5,000, do-it-yourself makeover. The next one ups the budget to $15,000, which is roughly the average spent on a kitchen remodel this year, according to the National Kitchen & Bath Association. The third, for $50,000, targets a full-scale gut renovation." Maybe future posts could use these figures as a guideline to define what's a budget makeover.

Lighting is so important, and should always be considered in any update. From the photos, I see where lighting was changed or added - that naturally effects the appearance in the space and in the after shots! I see new under cabinet lighting, lamps, and celing fixtures. Of course the after photo looks better, and applause to the homeowners for remembering that lighting is such an easy way to improve a space!

Shouldn't there be a hood vent above the oven instead of a microwave? Is a hood vent necessary and is it not a fire hazard to have a microwave right above the oven?

oh! my kitchen needs this kind of update. i love it! will use these shots as inspiration. thank you, thank you, thank you!

I agree with mstinawu also. I have noticed in the past that photographs of the 'before' look tend to have none to poor lighting going on while the 'after' look has bright lighting throughout. Its a trick and it works but we all noticed!

I also agree with jenawithonen and noticed that a cheaper upgrade for this kitchen was all new appliances. That doesn't seem so cheap to me but, we don't know what deals went down when the owners hopefully, traded their old appliances in or recycled them.

Overall, its a great upgrade without tearing the whole kitchen out but there were some major changes made that make it look THAT much better. Great kitchen and thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love this kitchen... and it's just proven to me that a few smart Ikea buys (even on major components such as the counter tops) are possible without the space becoming too Ikea. Amy and Chad, you have great taste and really pulled this together perfectly. I love it!

mstinawu: "Why do the before/after pictures always show the before picture with bad lighting and the after picture with great lighting?"

Oh, oh, I know, I know! It's because people take these before photos for their own documentation, right before starting the job, rather than waiting for the perfect time of day like a professional photographer with the idea in mind of publishing it. From my own experience taking , when during the day you take the photos makes a huge difference in what kind of lighting you use. When I started, I certainly wasn't going to wait for the best time of day to photograph before clearing out the room and putting the painter's tape up. I just did my best to get the best results I could at the moment. Frankly, my "after" photos were the same -- I wasn't trying to get full professional results, here. At the time of day when I took the first photos, the room actually looked better with the lights off, especially with the old stained glass fixture that we had originally. My after photos used the lights, partly because they were taken at a time of day that didn't get as good daylighting.

Even ignoring the appliance changes, the new sink, countertop and hardware made a huge difference.

Oops, sorry about that. It was supposed to say "my own experience taking before and after photos of repainting my kitchen". Only the "before and after photos of repainting my kitchen" part was supposed to be a link.

some microwaves have vents built into them with the idea of going above the stove.