A Bold Paint Makeover Transforms This Bland Kitchen into a “Statement” Space
Colorful kitchens certainly make a bold, creative statement and can perhaps prompt some bold, creative (hopefully delicious) cooking. But whether you’re an at-home cook or a food-delivery aficionado, you might be inspired by some of Apartment Therapy’s most colorful kitchen transformations of all time, including this one by interior designer Sam Sakalaki (@livingspace_to).
“My aesthetics are inspired by colorful ’50s and ’60s modernist interiors,” Sam says, and his 20-year-old black and tan kitchen that he shares with his partner, Phil, and dog, Pesto, wasn’t quite scratching that itch.
“After a year-and-a-half of living in our new place, the kitchen always stuck out like a sore thumb,” Sam adds. “We didn’t have the budget to buy a new kitchen with new appliances, so I started thinking about ways to elevate the kitchen on a budget. The appliances are black, so I thought a darker cabinet color would help make them disappear a little.”
Sam says his kitchen transformation “was actually pretty straightforward,” and the two main steps were painting the cabinets and the countertops.
The makeover embraces a blue monochromatic look.
“I’m proud that we went with bold colors,” Sam says. “People are really scared of colors … I don’t get it, to be honest.” Sam and Phil selected a dark blue (Benjamin Moore’s Patriot Blue) for the cabinetry, and they made the backsplash exactly match the paint color.
“I even got matching blue knobs from Etsy!” It became so much cleaner, and the appliances completely disappeared.
The counters and backsplash got colored cement upgrades.
Sam used Microcement (a surface coating that creates the look of cement without the cost or the weight) for the new backsplash and countertops. Upgrading the tan speckled “dated” countertops was definitely high on his to-do list, and he didn’t want to spend a ton of money doing it. “Instead of buying new countertops plus new tiles for backsplash plus hiring trade to install them, we just went with Microcement — one person, one product, quick and easy!” he explains.
Sam and Phil color-matched the countertops and island to a lighter blue-gray, Benjamin Moore’s Mineral Ice.
The kitchen island has added storage.
Because the couple didn’t have seating underneath their island before and because the island-plus-credenza combo was getting a little “bulky” as Sam describes, they hired a woodworker to build cabinets to add on to the island. “We got lucky with the millworker,” Sam says. “He was exacting and honest and delivered the custom cabinets for the island on time.”
There were no major hiccups with the project — except for some blue spray paint dust ending up in the small space — and Sam says if he had all the money in the world, he would replace his old appliances, but for now he’s proud of the way he made them look new again.
“The whole kitchen is now a statement piece that is also fun and very functional,” he says. “It’s just a lovely space that can be styled in so many different ways. I really love it. Making your space personal to you is honestly incredibly impactful.”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.