Cullen Ormond

When Orima Kamalu describes the former kitchen in her colorful, DIY-filled house, it’s hard not to wonder why she wanted to make any changes at all.“The original kitchen was always a lovely, large open space with plenty of storage and room to move around. The units were all gloss-white with chrome-effect bar handles,” she explains. However, while the kitchen (which Orima thinks was last updated in the early 2000s) was functional, it wasn’t exactly their style.

Digital creator, interior decorator, and color-lover Devin Downs quickly realized that the somewhat basic kitchen in his New York City rental wasn’t going to work for him.“The kitchen had no personality — it felt purely functional and uninspiring,” he explains. “I was cooking in a sea of beige and stainless steel.”After painting the adjoining hallway with Behr’s “Young Green,” Devin knew the kitchen needed to mirror that energy.

Writer Sarah Ingle doesn’t hide the fact that her 10-square-foot kitchen, which she once referred to as a “chaotic corner” in her Brooklyn apartment, made her feel a little overwhelmed when she first moved in.Not only was the fridge outside the room, but the kitchen also had mismatched shelving and cabinetry. She shares that it felt more like “an afterthought.” That wasn’t going to work for her.

The thought of building a kitchen from scratch might seem daunting to some (me included!), but to Tim and Kat Moore, it was a no-brainer when it came to their coastal Sicily house.The unfinished room, which essentially served as a walkway to gorgeous sea views, was actually a benefit to them. Instead of having to remove outdated fixtures, they could imagine how the space would work for them.The couple didn’t want to compromise the sea view with a flashy, loud kitchen.

It seems as if more and more people are leaning into darker kitchen cabinets, whether it’s through deeper wood tones or striking paint colors. But sometimes your first try at the dramatic look just isn’t, well, dramatic enough — something Mara Greenwald learned the hard way when she was reimagining the kitchen in her home.Mara’s original kitchen had a 2000s aesthetic, and the wood cabinets contributed to that overall vibe.

When Katherine and Genevieve moved into their Spanish bungalow-style Southern California home (built in 1933), they set out to find a way to honor the space’s past while also looking toward their future. This included the “mismatched but functional” kitchen, as Genevieve described it. Initially, the three countertops and two cabinets were competing against each other for space and the eye. Additionally, a pocket-sized laundry room divided the space.

We’ve seen a lot of interiors inspired by trips around the globe. It makes sense to want to bottle that feeling the adventure left you with and spread it around your home. Take homeowners Caroline and Julien, for example: They wanted the kitchen in their London house to reflect their Miami Beach holiday. The best person for the job? Designer Justine Guillermou. The couple hired the color-forward designer to help revamp their home, which was “a lot of white and gray.

When homeowners Heath and Samantha Mitchell moved into their cottage-style home in Sydney, Australia, they loved the charming historic details. The colors in the kitchen, though? Not so much. “Our ‘before’ kitchen had golden timber-look cabinetry, yellowing tiles and walls, and a dark gray speckled benchtop,” Samantha said. “The handles and knobs were black and gothic-like, and there were even black dragon fixtures at the entry.

In the world of kitchen remodeling, there are entirely DIY projects (like this ‘80s kitchen makeover), while some transformations require professional help (and there’s no shame in that!).However, some unique makeovers are so hands-off, they take place while the homeowner is living in an entirely different country — at least, that was the case for Sonia Blair’s Latin American home. Blair owns a home in Mazatlan, Mexico, but lives in Colorado.

Sometimes a kitchen renovation might modernize a space, but the contemporary changes don’t necessarily fit the home’s aesthetic. That was definitely the case in Yvonne Langen and Michael Rizk’s colorful Canadian home.When they originally bought the house, “the kitchen featured reddish-orange cabinetry, a mottled brown laminate countertop, white appliances, and beige/brown ceramic tiles on both the floor and backsplash,” Langen explains.

While living in Germany a few years ago, Morgan Ford, who’s known for being “sunshine personified” among friends, experienced countless gray skies and gloomy days.So when she moved into her new Colorado rental apartment and wanted to update the kitchen, she vowed to design it to cultivate creativity and good vibes all year round.Luckily, the space was already in decent shape. “The kitchen wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t very inspiring,” Morgan says.

It’s not that Detroit-based interior designer Christie Kristl didn’t like the updated kitchen in her 1963 home, but it didn’t exactly scream fun. The hardware, countertops, and cabinets were all fine, so they stayed put.But thankfully, when the previous owners updated everything in 2018, they didn’t bother with any backsplash — so Christie got to make the call.

When Shardé Marchewski and her husband, Jens, moved into their 1885 Boston home four years ago, the basement was unfinished. And not just incomplete but like a scene out of a scary movie.Luckily, the couple had a vision — as all creatives tend to: a gorgeous in-law suite complete with a fully functional kitchen. (The kitchen, arguably, ended up being the star of the project.) “We wanted the kitchen to feel timeless, striking, and functional.

When Anna Ladd moved into her 100-year-old Philadelphia home, it had everything she was looking for. It still had some of its historical charm but had been renovated enough that it didn’t feel like an overwhelming project (this being her first home, after all). However, the kitchen, which was renovated in 2022 (after being “very 2000s beige,” as Anna describes it), was a bit over-renovated for her taste.

The design idea for this Nova Scotia kitchen renovation was delightfully specific: “Ralph Lauren Polo Club meets Martha Stewart,” says Victoria Armour, cofounder of Stil James.Luckily, she understood the assignment. The client, a mother of three teenagers, wanted a space where the extended family could gather and make memories, and what better room to start with than the kitchen?

Jordan Smith knows most homeowners might raise eyebrows at her choice to remove the upper kitchen cabinets in her tiny kitchen. She and her husband, Luke, live in a 529-square-foot studio apartment in Brooklyn, so storage is at a premium. But to her, it all made sense.The builder-grade cabinets and finishes weren’t the couple’s style, and they knew they wanted to renovate the kitchen before they even moved in.

A vintage-inspired kitchen? We love to see it. But a dated kitchen? Hard pass. Daniela Sanchez, founder of Rose House Talent Agency, had a kitchen that fell into the latter category; in fact, the room (sans appliances) was original to the 1979 home. “‘Dated’ would be an understatement,” Daniela says of the original kitchen.

Without a demolition!

“I love that it feels old, charming, and lived-in — even though it isn’t that old.”

It all stemmed from a single tile.

“I love how much it reflects who I am!”

The space is totally unrecognizable.