Here's a great example of how paint and new cabinet hardware can easily and inexpensively upgrade a kitchen. The family over at Keeping It Cozy made over their kitchen with these upgrades, and a few other finishing touches to make the space look bright and brand new — with a budget of only $1000!
Of their remodel, Keeping It Cozy makes a great statement:
I always feel like paint is the most affordable way to completely make over a room and painting kitchen cabinets are a perfect example. The other ways to affect a remodel on a budget are to be resourceful, use existing elements if possible, prioritize those things you feel are worth the extra money and finally, do the work yourself!
They painted the existing cabinets, wall and ceiling all the same white color to brighten up the space and make the kitchen feel larger than its actual small size. The countertops were replaced with counters made from beautiful reclaimed barn wood, handmade by a family member. The dated ceiling tiles were removed to reveal a wonderful original bead board finish and an extra four inches of ceiling height! The awesome original farmhouse sink remained, while a new dishwasher and new faucet, cabinet hardware, and light fixtures were installed. There is a breakdown of their budget, many more great before, after and process shots of the space, and images of their great vintage furniture scores that were used in the kitchen on their blog.
Read More: The Story of a Country Kitchen at Keeping It Cozy
(Images: Keeping It Cozy)
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I have a dark narrow galley kitchen in my apartment & I'm not supposed to paint. Is there any special prep or paint that would let me paint Formica cabinets and get the paint back off easily?
Nice work!
gorgeous!
this looks wonderful!
I never get tired of white cabinets with wood counters. Nice!
LOVE that beadboard ceiling, and what a boon that must have felt like, to discover how much more height it gave you!!! And the reclaimed-wood countertops are simply amazing!
They also added crown molding to make up the added ceiling height and top of cabinet gap. But very nice reno on a tight budget. Cottage cozy.
It definitely brings in more light, but it looks a little too stark to me. I think it would do well with a longish curtain mounted near the ceiling, and perhaps tied to the side, to soften it up.
WOW! I really fancy a white kitchen.
oops! computer trouble.
I was going to say.... HUGE improvement. I love the white. A few pops of color here and there and it will be perfect!
That huge sink really helps to protect the wood countertops by keeping the water away. I love it - and I wonder if you can still find really wide sinks like that!
The POWER of white paint. Love white kitchens!
Love it.
Gorgeous... what a transformation! I agree that a few pops of colour would complete it. Thanks for sharing!
I love white kitchens. Mine have always been white. This one is gorgeous.
To the first poster, if your cabinets are flat, you can remove the doors and hardware, and use one of those new temporary wallpaper products out there to give your galley a new look, keeping in mind you will have to remove it all before you move. If the doors have insets etc., forget it.Too much work. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/temporary-peel-and-stick-wallp-153453
Beautiful--very much improved kitchen. I can't believe someone covered up that bead board ceiling with those ugly ceiling tiles.
Beautiful! The only thing I'd add is hanging prisms to the kitchen window to have refracted light playfully bouncing around the room.
Lovely job! I'm so glad you were able to keep that beautiful farmhouse sink.
Great job on a budget remodel. Its amazing how you can make what you have into a whole new look with paint.
Gorgeous! I love the ceiling and the sink. All their hardwork has totally paid off.
@willow789 - agree!! That would really add something extra to the room, but keep the clean look they've got going on.
I must have been holding my breath when scrolling down to the *after* picture because when I saw it I let out a sigh of relief. I love, love, love it. :)
Really nice update, looks like your work paid off!
OHHHHH!!! I really love that sink. Great job! SO much better and it now looks like a really enjoyable space.
Nice!
Looks like a beach cottage kitchen....I love the look!
LOVELY! I wish they would have used warm toned hardware to coordinate with the wood. Like ORB or brass. But with a $1000 budget, they really stretched it :)
The post says they put on new cabinet hardware, but isn't it the same in before and after? Cabinet hardware can eat up a tiny buget.
Beautiful job on the makeover, and I have to disagree about it needing pops of color. It's perfect as it is. Except that I would have kept the cute piggie (over that cool sink in the befor shot). I hope you put him up somewhere else.
I think by removing the curtains along made a significant change!
Well done! I love that ceiling. It's so wonderful to see an example of character being saved and revealed and accentuated rather than removed or destroyed.
Perfect. As for 'softening it up', I would just move the little cup with flowers onto the windowsill. Beautiful job!
amazing! i'd just add some burts of color, maybe a colorful painting on the wall. some ceramics on the counter.
Just awesome! So glad no one has screamed, "You painted the woooooooood!!!!!"
Those 4 inches make a huge difference!
@RURAL AND RUEFUL - it is actually new hardware for only $85 - different style and material. If you click over to the project's website they give more details.
For $2 they could of carefully caulked the trim to ceiling paneling to fill in the distracting the gaps. But those $2 could of taken them over budget.
I really like it. THat was pay dirt when you found that wooden ceiling.
I love the ceiling beams- this addition really makes the room! Beautiful renovation!
This is a major improvement, congrats! I'd also hang some artwork or try to introduce a bit of color somehow..
Country is not my style, but considering that, this looks fantastic!
I think I'd paint the ceiling a very light sky blue or celadon green, though. That much white is a bit snowy looking, and light blue has commonly been used on porch ceilings, so it's kind of traditional... (And I just think celadon would be pretty!!)
Paint question!! I have a very similar "before" kitchen and desperately need a quick fix before I can gut the whole thing, bring down a wall and make my dreams come true! What kind of paint would you use on a formica/laminate sort of cabinet and on a varnished wood? Was there a lot of sanding involved? That terrifies me most...
Love that they kept the original cabinets! Great overall re-do
Nice! I love the warmth the wood counter tops bring to the space. Very bright and nice. This kitchen totally did not need to be demolished - great what some paint and adds can make.
I love these AP Before/After posts when people actually work with what they have and make it fabulous...way more interesting than a gut remodel.
Love love love it!
going to show this post to my sister- her kitchen has the dark, old cabinets of the before picture, but she holds to her claim 'I am NOT going to PAINT WOOD!!!'
Love it! Though I agree with Sherry -- a pale color on the ceiling would take away the starkness while keeping the fresh, clean feeling.
It's nice, but my Type-A perfectionism is preventing me from truly enjoying it---the gaps in between the cabinets and panelling are so distracting. As @Abel De La Torre said above, €2 worth of caulk would easily fix that.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Especially since they decided to keep the original elements of the kitchen and make it all look fabulous.
About the caulk—we just moved our cabinets 4" up, and put molding on top to connect them with the ceiling. My husband said not to worry too much about caulking it, because wood shifts around (shrinks and expands) and the caulk would end up gapping anyway.
Ugh!
I think it looks great! And I bet the gaps at the top are not as noticeable in real life.
I think that's a GREAT idea to paint the ceiling a light blue or similar, SHERRYBINNH!
So much nicer! Not just the white paint, but the removal of clutter...makes for the huge impact.
@paddypaws: what about contact paper? I've done that on gross rental metal kitchen cabinets and it looked great. I was going to peel it off before I moved but the landlord thought it was an improvement so I didn't have to.
AdaChamoun, I followed a link on AT to Centsationalgirl's blog. Then I followed her instructions (sanding, 2 coats primer, paint/primer, and I'm about to do varnish) on my laminate kitchen cabinets. They look awesome with new hardware. The key is to buy the right type of primer and do not take shortcuts with the sanding. The sanding I did manually, you just have to take off the gloss coat. Bought an 8 pack of block sanders and just used those. Total cost of materials, under $100 (the good stuff is almost $40 a gallon, but you don't need more than one gallon of each). This is the end stage of my kitchen remodel so I plan to live with this for a long time.
@EVEYLMENM - Constructive!
Personally, I think this came out great. It's nicely done and not too complicated. I'm partial to white or neutral kitchens even tho I like color in other parts of the house. I like the colors of the food to really be the one standout against the white and I think a kitchen can look cluttered and small pretty fast, but a neutral background makes things seem cleaner and larger.
What a difference! Nice work! I wish we could do that simple but dramatic change with our kitchen, but we are renters and it's a big no no from the LL.
You can paint over almost anything with one-part epoxy. DuraPoxy made by Kelly Moore is one example. You can have it tinted to order. Because it is epoxy it drys very fast and you have to work in smaller sections, but the results are terrific. That stuff covers ALL kinds of paints and surfaces so long as they are squeaky clean. Rustoleum makes a similar product, but I believe it is only in spray cans and cannot be custom mixed. Magical stuff - very durable.
I, too, would like to get my caulking gun out for that bead work. It's shifted all it's going to by this time. And caulk is now elastic/plastic, so it will shift with the project unless you have a major earthquake (and then that will be the least of your problems). He's just tired of working on the project :-).
Instant feng shui improvement, too! Brava!
What a transformation! Kudos on pulling it off. I like the choices of fixtures, and hardware
More than "a few finishing touches"; they installed a new ceiling! As well as new hardware, faucet, appliance & lighting.
No small matter. The re-do is nice, the text rather misleading.
Love the budget, but the chose of white seems rather stark. Maybe it's just the lighting for the camera or something? Is it like that in person? What colour did you use? I'm about to venture down this road in a new old house and I think I'm going to hire a professional to give me colour advice. Yes, more money, but I have made too many mistakes painting white and then having an awesome blue/violet vibe coming at me!
I love this but keep thinking - what if the ceiling was a pale blue? But that's my own little obsession at the moment. This looks great. Nice job!
Great re-make. Especially nice to see when I've been looking at a lot of houses with similiar issues. . . particularly love that you got rid of those horrible ceiling tiles (pet peeve).
Looks nice. I think two big reasons are the beadboard and removing all the 'before' clutter.
Well, I preferred the before. KIDDING!! This looks awesome--it feels classic and comfortable, and the lovely wood counters and imperfect beadboard ceiling warm it up just enough--an authentic farmhouse feel. And the new faucet makes such a nice difference. Love it!
This is a great makeover. I think I would have added a white chiffon sash over thee window, used white and glass hardware, and extended the window seal and put flowers or herbs on it. I think I would have went with a lighter wood for the countertop... maybe cutting board style. Good job! This is a great kitchen for a boater or a bachelor!
I think I would have taken the cabinet doors off of the top cabinets and shown off some cool china or dishes too. It makes a small kitchen look more open.
@PADDYPAWS - I think there's something called "renter's paint". You might want to look into it.
AWESOME!! I can't believe you did it so cheaply! The beadboard ceiling and the counter tops are devine
That sink is amazing! Love the after.
Add me to the camp of "paint your ceiling a color" people. It would be so fun to paint it yellow, or lavender, and get a couple of accessories in the same color.
another white kitchen?? the only improvement, imho, is the ceiling and fixtures. those old cabinets are ugly, yes, but whhhyyyyy make EVERYTHING white? its terrible and boring. and extremely unimaginative! gimmeh color!