If your backsplash is that weird plastic stuff, you can easily cover it with contact paper in your color choice. It'll come off with a little effort later. It's not bad as it is, though. in such a small space, red and yellow might come out seeming kind of fast food-ey if you're not careful.

I would recommend a nice rug for in front of your stove and your sink, and colored accessories.

Since you like red I would go for it. Find a tomato red and use a semi gloss. Yellow is too much because there is too much yellow already in the cabinets.

But any color paint in the world is not going to do anything until you change the lighting. Either change the bulbs, get a dimmer or change the overhead lighting all together. A small lamp on the counter would help.

The problem is that I can't paint! And there's no backspash at all-it's just the ugly colored wall. Sorry I wasn't that specific in the initial email.

You can apply cotton fabric to the wall using starch. When you leave, it peels right off. Search this site; the technique has been discussed several times. I agree about the lighting. Is there room for a floor lamp? I'd go with red or yellow, but not a balanced portion of both. It can start looking fast-foodish. You could also take a cue from Julia Child and hang art on your cabinet doors. Use 3M picture hanging strips and they'll leave no trace. Good luck.

I strongly suggest adding a third color (aqua or apple green, maybe) to keep your kitchen from looking like a McDonald's! If you can't paint, think about functional accessories. Start by buying some tea towels or a rug that incorporates your three colors. Maybe find a way to hang colorful trays or serving plates against the backsplash, so they don't take up valuable cabinet real estate.

Or here's an idea: pick one pot/pan that you use often, like your favorite frying pan. Center it on a big-enough piece of pegboard, trace around it, and paint the silhouette yellow and the background aqua. Hang the pegboard on the wall opposite your fridge, put the frying pan on it, and voila! Color plus function. You could even frame the pegboard if you want to go classy, or do multiples for greater impact.

If you cut masonite (or have the home improvement store cut it) to fit between your upper and lower cabinets, you could paint it, decoupage it....If you had a firmer board, like cement board or hardibacker, you could do a mosaic. To adhere them to the wall temporarily, you could do a combination of velcro and/or poster putty and/or sneakily hidden, tiny nails. Instead of all that, you might find some fun placemats to stick to the wall.

I'm not sure what masonite is but do you think it's something that would stay up with a lot of heavy duty 3M tape?

-Lexi

Masonite is relatively light weight (and inexpensive). If you've seen inexpensive drawers with flimsy bottoms, the manufacturer probably used masonite. Check it out at stores like Home Depot and Lowe's. As far as looking like a fast-food restaurant goes, some people like that look. Experiment. It's O.K. to miss the mark the first few times. It's only fair for the rest of us!

I really like the idea of some sort of pot rack or shelf with your colorful pots displayed on the wall to the right. A colorful rug by the sink and maybe one of those rail systems from ikea on the wall by the sink with utensils, a pair of red or yellow mitts and that might be enough to start without going overboard. Good luck and enjoy your first apartment!

Masonite can get really heavy and unwieldy when you've got a long section of it, even if it does come as shallow as 1/8". Tape's not going to hold it. You'd need to wedge it in there, instead. Use cardboard from the moving boxes to make a pattern, and have your local hardware store cut to that.

I'd go with the masonite if you're planning on being here for awhile, just remember that masonite is a dark material, so you'll need to prime it nicely before you paint. These pictures make it look brighter, but most masonite I've ever bought is a dark brown, about the darkness of walnut, not oak: http://www.congdonlumber.com/plywood/images/masonite.jpg

For cheap-but-works decoration on cabinets, I take favorite pictures from last year's calendar, trim, and put on each cabinet door. (I also tend to get calendars that are taller more than wide, which works for cabinet doors.) Basically you're treating the cabinet's door as the "frame" around the picture. Add a backing sheet of white behind the pictures (which you can put up with tape), cut to size of the door less, say, 2" all the way around: now you have mat frame and picture in center. Well, enough to fool the eye from across the room at least!

I loved this idea: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/kitchen/kitchen-inspiration-diy-rentalfriendly-backsplash-081036

That's the perfect solution, IMO.....from lisao.

The white wall is begging for some artwork. Personally, I used funky plastic plates from Target, with picture hangers super glued on the back. Cheap easy way to get some kitchen-themed color into the room.

Farmhousemoderne's idea about pictures on the cabinets is great! I might try that next!

Ikea has this new stuff called Fastbo wall panels that I think are meant to be used as backsplashes, but installed with a removable bar. I haven't seen them in person, but they seem like they would be ideal for rental kitchens. AND they come in a deep red as one option.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/range/10379/16304/

You could also get some new pulls (red?) for the bottom cabinets. Just keep the originals and put them back in when you move out.

I agree with a lot of what's been said here:
a pot rack and some art on the wall on the right and some different lighting would really help, and neither would break what sounds like a pretty strict renters agreement. You can check out Target or Jo-Ann Fabrics for something I saw last week to put on your cabinet: vinyl wall covers that come in black board material in lots of colors. You can cut and shape them to any size you want to cover your cabinets, and not only would it add some needed pop but your friends can leave notes to you with chalk (and you can keep track of your grocery list!) Last but not least, get yourself a plant that doesn't need a lot of light or attention. Greek Oregano grows fast and (bonus) can be used in a lot of dishes.

If I were you I'd forget about red and yellow - they're too McDonaldsy and they won't match the mustard and cream colours of your cabinetry. The idea in lisao's link is probably the best one. Another similar option is to buy some small prestretched canvases from an art supply shop, paint them in a range of colours that complement the room, and hang them along the backsplash.

Just remember that anything you hang behind the stove WILL be ruined by grease and oil spatter, so don't put anything precious there.

I always take "you can't paint" to mean "when you move out, it needs to look like you didn't paint." I say if you're going to be living somewhere for a year or more, it's worth making it someplace worth living. Painting and repainting is a small investment for a great return, in my opinion.

Although some commenters reject the red and yellow theme, I understand that it's a given--with your pots, pans, dishes, and silverware. I think it sounds lovely and cheery! I also really like the ideas mentioned of the painted pegboard, Ikea Fastbo wall panels for the backsplash, colored cabinet pulls, the Ikea rail system with bright accessories, and large art on the blank wall. First decide on what kind of look you want, and that might help with the additional third color choice. For instance, for the Provencal look (roosters and colorful prints from Williams-Sonoma or any art prints from this region), you might choose blue. For a retro or mod look, choose aqua or robin's egg blue (Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters might have cool accessories). For a botanical look, you might choose a leaf green (Ikea has a large photo on canvas of red poppies--PJÄTTERYD, wall decals of red poppies--SLÄTTHULT--that might work on the cabinets, and TRILLING small posters of tulips, coneflowers, and sunflowers--perhaps for the cabinet faces or wall). For a fruit bowl look, you might choose apple green. Whatever you do, remove all the small clutter from the counter, fridge, and oven door--and keep off--and use large, bright accessories: dishtowels, pot holders, teakettle or large pot, large bowl of fruit and/or large vase of flowers, or some of your large plates. Target and World Market might have accessories for you, too. If you were to remove your purse, umbrella, fridge list, and stuff on the toaster oven, and then put a bright dishtowel on the oven door, a bright rug on the floor, a large red pot and lid on the stove/a bowl of colorful fruit/a vase of yellow or red flowers/large bright ceramic canisters--choose two, red cabinet pulls, and a large colorful poster on the blank wall---you could be done. Enjoy your new place!

Hmm. To go in a different direction, I'd lose the cupboard doors (provided that the shelving underneath is in good shape, the doors are removable, and you can put them back on when you move). Instead of having paint in my kitchen, I've put up hooks for my brightly coloured oven mitts and tea towels. It gives some colour without lots of paint.

A friend of mine also framed a long piece of pretty fabric (in a very minimal frame) and put that up instead of a backsplash... maybe that would work? You could just putty over the hole when you move.

I was actually able to paint my kitchen, but before I did so - everything was just white, white, white. And I love color. So here's some things I did before painting my kitchen orange:

- I have kitchen towels in every color. Bright red, yellow, blue, etc.
- Inspired by the beach glass kitchen knobs posted on apttherapy - I bought brightly colored square knobs in red, orange, blue, green and white to replace the white knobs I have now. I can always put those back on when I'm done. I got mine from myknobs.com - but Anthropologie has some great kitchen and bedroom knobs and pulls right now.
- I have some space above my cabinets so I've been starting a collection of water pitchers and jugs in cool colors and patterns.

I live in a rental, too. I ended up applying a woodgrain contact paper I read about on Apartment Therapy (Design Your Wall . com) to the surface of the cabinets. I also bought new pulls for the cabinet. Both together totalled under $100 and gives the kitchen a completely new look. When I move out I will remove the contact paper and put the original pulls back on.

When I mentioned placemats-as-backsplash, this was the site I had in mind: http://casapinka.typepad.com/casapinka/2009/03/target-placemats-that-i-had-and-love-stuck-to-the-oh-so-gray-read-depressing-backsplash-removable---before-photo-yo.html

I bought a few sheets of beautiful scrapbooking paper and a package of the plastic sheets you put scrapbooking pages in. I put the individual sheets into the plastic holders and then put 3M adhesive tape on the backs of the holders, which was enough to hold them to the wall. For less than $10, I made an arrangement that I think looks pretty cool and is extremely temporary. It's basically like having 12"x12" shiny 'tiles' on your wall. If you find a colored or patterned contact paper that you like, those are good too.

...and if they get food/grease/etc on them, you can just wipe them down or switch out the plastic holders. Easy cleanup!