Before and After: Two Months and $6000 Later, This Kitchen’s Unrecognizable

Little fixes go a long way, but sometimes you just have to start from scratch. Just ask Timisha Porcher, whose kitchen was definitely past its prime. “I bought the house over eight years ago and the kitchen walls, ceiling, and tile backsplash were all blue,” Timisha says. “The cabinets were laminate and seriously dated.”

Timisha did what she could with small fixes, but nothing did the trick. “I tried so many different low cost bandaids from painting the cabinets to tiling over the countertop with marble tile,” Timisha says (see results above). “But there is only so much you can do with paint. The kitchen was falling apart and in disrepair.”

So out it all came—cabinets, counters, and all. Over two months, and with $6,000, Timisha and her contractors created an entirely new, fresh cook space. (Luckily, she’d already sprung for new floors and appliances previously, so those weren’t part of this reno.)

To save money, Timisha chose to keep the same layout of her kitchen; that meant she wouldn’t have to move any walls and she’d have an easy time picking cabinets, since she’d know exactly how many she needed. The new cabinets extend all the way to the ceiling—bye, soffits!—and are solid wood. Tamisha bought them unfinished and painted them soft green (Behr’s Nature’s Gift). Sleek new gold hardware ups the game. “The gold hardware definitely took it to the next level in luxe,” Timisha says.

The new countertops are solid surface in a sophisticated cream-colored finish. To make the cook space feel brighter and bigger, Timisha swapped in open shelving for the cabinets to the right of the sink; the gold brackets tie into the cabinet hardware. (Ditto the gold pull-down faucet.)

“I love how open and airy the kitchen feels,” Timisha says. Her advice to fellow renovators? “If you’re renovating the kitchen, have a plan for cooking and cleaning,” she says. “You might be without running water upwards to 60 days in the kitchen!”

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