Kitchen Home Projects

Katie’s RV kitchen was functional but cookie-cutter. She wanted something that was unique and warm, and she took a chance on black paint in a small space and it totally paid off! From Katie: When we first purchased our RV the interior was in good condition, it just wasn’t our style. Not to mention every single person that owns the same model has this exact kitchen. We needed a space that felt like ours, ya know?

Sarah and Nick purchased their 1924 traditional island cottage in 2013, and spent the next five months renovating much of their new home. They were working with a very tight budget and a very real deadline; baby number two was on the way and the couple had made a pact that the kitchen be completed before his birth. Naturally, this made tackling the project a particular challenge.

Prior to their renovation, Laura and Matthew’s kitchen had a few problems common to lots of NYC apartments: a tiny footprint, not enough storage space, and cabinets caked with years’ and years’ worth of paint. As you can see, the cabinets in their galley kitchen had taken on an unusual texture, and the oven was positioned about 18 inches from the opposite countertop. Definitely time for a change.

Kylie’s kitchen is also her office, so while the original was livable, it wasn’t really blog-worthy. After about six months of hard DIY work, she got a gorgeous, open and photo-worthy space. From Kylie: Our house is 1,500 square feet and was built in the 1950s. We love our location and want to stay here for a while, but the kitchen had to go.

Kate (from Centsational Girl) recently saw her friend’s kitchen remodel for the first time. Although this family originally had grand visions for a new kitchen, they ultimately pulled back, skipped the architect, and decided to save money instead. They kept the current layout and put their time and budget towards making their kitchen reflect their own tastes and lifestyle. From Kate: Over the weekend I popped in to visit some good friends, Dino and Heidi.

An incredible, temporary floor makeover.

About a year ago, my partner and I purchased our very first home. It’s a darling 1920s house with tons of curb appeal, but it still needs a lot of renovation work on the inside. And, while much of the house retains its original charm, the kitchen leaves a lot to be desired. After a bit of sleuthing, we learned from past building permits that the previous owners did a complete kitchen overhaul in 1970.

Erin’s old kitchen looked straight out of Stranger Things and she knew before she moved in that she’d be going to battle with the demigorgon of outdated design (end of reference, I promise). By knocking down the cabinets and updating the kitchen with crisp, modern design she was able to make her galley kitchen functional and beautiful. From Erin: I recently bought a dated condo with hopes to make it my own. The obvious issue in the small galley kitchen was the lack of natural light.

Emma and Matt bought a home in Ipswich for its old world character and its affordability. But most of the time “character” often comes with a huge list of DIYs and needed renovations. This home had a particularly dated living area and kitchen that, despite the big windows letting light in, felt quite dark. The living area and kitchen of their home was very dated with the yellow walls, green trim, not to mention the dark wooden ceiling and kitchen cabinets.

When they bought their co-op apartment in Brooklyn, Casey and Kumar had a particularly ambitious project in mind: transforming a one-bedroom to meet the needs of a family of four people. Doing so involved some pretty clever solutions along with a full-scale overhaul of the unit’s very small, very outdated kitchen. Since space in their small apartment was at a premium, Casey and Kumar wanted the kitchen to flow seamlessly into the rest of the living area.

Danica’s new house came with an old kitchen, and she knew it had to go. With a nice layout and some Craigslist luck on her side she was able to DIY her way to a gorgeous updated kitchen. From Danica: We moved into our home last year and the first project we tackled was the horribly boring builder grade kitchen. The layout was great but the oak cabinets, white laminate and checker backsplash needed some serious updating.

This vintage kitchen had a lot of brown in it. Brown cabinets. Brown counters. A brown floor. Yep, even a brown oven. Thanks to the DIY skills of this couple in Pittsburgh, their kitchen is brighter and a heckuva lot more modern. Lauren writes: “We did most of the kitchen ourselves and a good bit I did all by myself. I was completely terrified to do it but I’m so glad I did.

Christina of the blog Christina’s Adventures had quite the task before her when it came to tackling this historic Victorian home. Though it’s clear Christina is pleased with how the entire home turned out, the kitchen’s makeover—that they took on themselves!—is her proudest DIY. From Christina: “It was the worst room in the house before, and we transformed it into our favorite room in the whole house!

Inspired by the gray skies of the Pacific Northwest, Nila and her husband Henryk, DIYd their way to a charming, English cottage inspired kitchen. From Nila: As newly graduated Florida transplants to the Pacific Northwest, our money didn’t stretch as far as we had hoped. We purchased a small home, which we’ve named Corner Cottage, because it is a corner house in a fun part of the city with many shops, restaurants and farmers market all within walking distance.

Laura had been living in her two-bedroom co-op in Brooklyn’s Windsor Terrace for five years before she finally decided to take the plunge and renovate her kitchen. While her cabinets were still in decent shape, the linoleum floor was not: it “only looked serviceable in the five minutes after it was mopped.” And the original 1960s oven, while charming, was clearly due for an upgrade.

Concrete might seem like an unusual choice for your kitchen, but given the right setting, its rustic, textured look can set just the right tone. Or it can be pink. Alex McCabe, co-founder of beloved Aussie brand Kip&Co, has a kitchen in her Melbourne home that’s as fun as her company’s bedding. Not only does it have glamorous brass cabinets and a standout quartzite backsplash, the island is pink concrete!

After living with the dark, dated kitchen in his Ditmas Park apartment for a while (and spending countless hours watching HGTV), Blane decided it was time for a change. On his wish list: lighter cabinets, to brighten up the space, and an island with a worktop, to turn the kitchen’s less-than-ideal L shape into something more user-friendly.

What sounds like a totally stressful situation, moldy walls and dilapidated cabinets, had a silver lining for Kessie. She was able to transform her kitchen into a space she loves, and live to tell the tale! From Kessie: After purchasing our very first home we realized we had mold in the ceiling and part of a wall of the kitchen. The old cabinets were falling apart when we bought the home and weren’t salvageable.

Séverine Piller and her boyfriend Gianfranco loved this Milan apartment from the start—specifically the loads of natural light and great architectural bones. But Séverine, an interior designer, saw ways to improve the space to fit their modern tastes a little more. And one big change was the kitchen renovation. From Séverine: As [the kitchen] is also the entry of the apartment, it needed to be functional and practical but still give a feeling of being spacious and inviting.

Before: My previous kitchen was outdated and nonfunctional. I had a –very!– red textured backsplash with mahogany cupboards, two different styles of floor (red and black tiles and wood parquet) that visually shrunk the space. Lots of different heights and depths among the cupboards created an overall sense of confusion.

When we bought our little Laramie, Wyoming bungalow, we knew with a little work we could take the bland kitchen up a notch with some imagination, rearranging, and color. Given that the main floor is was so small (642 square feet), revitalizing the kitchen improved the vibe of the whole house.

I often think of custom made cabinets as a luxury, but for Maria, they’re a necessity. There’s no IKEA in Serbia, so Maria had to do all of the measurements and design herself, the result is a cool & sleek European kitchen. From Maria: I bought this one bedroom in July 2015 and had only month to renovate it. All major demolition, plumbing and electric work was done by contractors. By the time they left the place, I was almost broke.

Sometimes, you get caught up in the moment. Nicola started off with a short and manageable to-do list and then kept adding more to it, in the best way possible. Luckily IKEA helped keep her costs low as her to-do list grew.

We didn’t necessarily love this kitchen. My parents built the house in 1999, but the kitchen had a random, generic feeling to it. Oh sure, Mom dressed it up and tried to make it her own, but it just never felt right to her. We just started calling it “the room with the food” since we knew we could do better for her kitchen-wise. After my dad passed away from a long illness, my husband and I wanted to make their home as comfortable as she liked and exactly as she wanted it.

If you’re a color loving renter, contact paper is your best friend. Medina went all out adding color and pattern to her rental kitchen in a security deposit friendly manner. From Medina: I really went all out with the makeover. It is a rented apartment, but that didn’t stop me from decorating and injecting some color into it. The floor is wallpapered which I have a tutorial for on my blog. The cabinets were changed by adding contact racing stripes (all renter friendly).

Oh, Scandinavian design. It truly is a small space inspiration. After Eric saw it first hand he came back revitalized and ready to rennovate. From Eric: I bought a small condo in 2001 when I was a student. I was a single dad and going back to university was a crazy move. But it was cheaper to buy than to rent so I went for it. When I walked into this 1923 building that had just been turned into condominiums, I thought “what is this place…?

This kitchen won’t be for everyone- but I love it to pieces! I decided early on to replace the upper cabinets but to repaint the lower cabinets as they were solid wood. The only problem was which color! I spent a lot of time on pinterest following the ‘OOooooh’ factor. Anything that made me make a noise of desire got pinned and I found myself pinning a lot of dark green kitchens… I’m all for interesting design but that seemed a bit too edgy even for me!

Windows over sinks tend to draw the eye, which means that this small area in your kitchen has a lot of visual responsibility. Taking some time to dress it up — even a little bit — can change the entire look and feel of the room, and reward you tenfold. Erin of Francoise et Moi painted the window frame a pretty blue to make it stand out, and topped it off with brass hardware.

Not all wallpaper is created equal. And while it is having a well deserved moment, some wallpaper can make a room feel instantly dark and outdated. Yasmin found an inexpensive way to banish her bland wallpaper, among other things, and brighten up her whole kitchen. From Yasmin: When we got this home, we definitely loved the original 70s homey feel to it, the original owners were so kind as to even leave us some orchids in the kitchen!

While Emily’s kitchen certainly wasn’t in the worst shape visually of some of our submissions, I became much more invested in this transformation (and wept for the state of her baked goods) when I found out she was using a 50 year old oven. From Emily: Our kitchen was original from 1965, and after living with it for two years we decided it was time to renovate – I’d been using the original stove and oven!

Here’s a thing that’s bound to happen when you’re house shopping: you see a place where the previous owner has replaced the kitchen (or bathroom), ostensibly as a selling point, but the new kitchen or bathroom already looks incredibly dated. It’s especially frustrating if you really like the place otherwise, because then you find yourself in the position of either living with a kitchen that you really don’t like, or ripping out one that’s brand-new.

When you find the perfect apartment, but it doesn’t have a closet, you have two choices: You can either A. throw away all your clothes, or B. get creative. I chose B. Finding an apartment in New York is not easy. In fact, it is damn near impossible.

We renovated our kitchen in June 2015 with a substantial amount of GardenWeb help. The kitchen is sort of an awkward layout. It connects an entrance hallway and the dining room. We were working with a narrow galley kitchen with a swing door on one end and a pocket door on the other. Our home is a mid-century modern that was built in 1952. Structurally, we opened up both ends and wrapped the cabinetry into the dining room.

As a young married couple (and now toddler parents!), we’ve relocated 3 times in five years with Justin’s company. Our last move brought us home to Greenville, South Carolina, where the real estate market in our dream neighborhood was insanely competitive. Since we were relocating from Northern Maine, we couldn’t be on site when a potential home would go on the market so we ended up in multiple bidding wars on properties that we had only seen via FaceTime.

I will never get tired of seeing real life, totally attainable home updates, especially when they’re renter friendly. Kevin’s flawless execution of some classic kitchen updates is absolutely worth a gander and may inspire some updating of your own. From Kevin: When I started thinking about giving our little kitchen a refresh, I immediately thought of what a big impact some color could have in our kitchen.

After buying this foreclosed one-bedroom in a trendy area of Charlotte, North Carolina, new homeowners Katie and Patrick were greeted with a less-than-encouraging scene. As they shared in their House Tour, “The day we officially moved in, this is what we found: a foreclosure notice, a bullet, an inmate identification card, and a dead pigeon.” First on the long list of much-needed home improvements was a renovation of the dated kitchen.

When my husband Mark and I purchased our 1890s brick row home in Frederick, Maryland, we knew the kitchen would eventually need some attention. There was really nothing wrong with the space… it was just utterly lifeless. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen had received some well-intentioned but poorly-executed updates. Everything was off-white: cabinets, countertops, linoleum floor, walls.

We’re big fans of small updates and little tweaks round these parts. But we get equally excited when we see a space that has made some major changes. Taylor’s kitchen went from beige and blah to absolutely stunning, and the best part is you can tell she absolutely loves it! From Taylor: When we bought our house, the kitchen was pretty sad. There was hardly any counter space or storage. Over the years, we slowly replaced appliances until we were ready for a full renovation.

We bought our house a few years ago. Nate had wanted a tree house and I’d hoped for Mid Century modern. I definitely wanted a home we could slowly remodel to fit our needs. We purchased our place from a wonderful man who adored his home. He’d spent many years updating it and left it with us in wonderful condition. The owner before him built it in the 70s and there are lots of little details that we adore. I’m just now learning more about them…from our painter! Small town.

When you look at a lot of kitchens, you see a lot of white cabinets and white marble countertops and subway tile. And of course those things are lovely, but every once in a while it’s nice to see something totally different, a kitchen with colors or details or elements that completely set it apart from the rest. Here are five kitchens that are completely off the beaten path — in the best possible way.

About to welcome their second child, Bernice and Davison were happy to find an apartment with three bedrooms, so that each kid could have their own space (not always a given in New York City). But they were less excited about the kitchen, a dated space whose awkward layout just really wasn’t working. As you can see from the photos above, the refrigerator was immediately to the left upon entering the kitchen: past that was the sink, tucked awkwardly into a corner.

Brooklyn homeowner Ketrina loved her new condo… but as time went by, she became more and more disillusioned with the tiny, cramped kitchen. The cabinets weren’t properly installed, nothing was level, and whenever the refrigerator opened, it would chip away at the kitchen doorway. To make things worse, water leaks from the apartment above were taking their toll on the walls and cabinets. It was time for a change.

John and Jami’s 1925 Craftsman had a kitchen that hadn’t been updated in any significant way since the 1950s. The couple hired local tradespeople to renovate the room and acted as apprentices on the job to keep costs down and acquire some renovation skills… First up: the cabinets. Upon moving into the house, there were mouse droppings in the uppermost cabinets and it was apparent to John and Jami that new cabinets were the way to go.

Maïla’s tiny Paris apartment was lacking both a dining table and counter space. When her woodworker father heard she was thinking of going without a proper place to eat for more prep area, he came up with a genius small space solution: From Maïla: I am a keen cook and I pointed out to my dad (a woodworker by trade, and a very skilled one at that) that I’d rather have more counter space and storage and eat on the sofa.

When Sue De Chiara first saw the butler’s pantry in her (now) new house, this was what it looked like: Storage for miles, dark wood cabinetry, and black countertops. It’s undoubtedly a phenomenal space, but Sue found a way to make it a total showstopper. Leaving the countertops and sink as is, she painted the cabinets a glossy deep blue and switched out the hardware. It just goes to show how dramatic a change can be made with just paint!

Amy Pigliacampo and her husband Corey Szopinski purchased their Echo Park home two years ago. Their house is a very modern prefab design from Sunia Home, which came with a raw material lined kitchen and open floorpan. “We always knew that we would need to redesign the kitchen. It looked cool, but lacked the functionality we needed for our growing family. Our kitchen is the most heavily used area in our home since we cook and eat at home most of the time.

KitchenAid mixers are a beloved small appliance and, at about $300 each, are the one of the most registered-for items on wedding gift lists. Reddit user LifeWithAdd found an old-school Hobart version on Craigslist for cheap and went to town bringing it back to tip top condition. He documented the whole process to show the rest of us how it’s done, and the finished product is impressive.

When Pallavi and Keyur bought their one-bedroom Murray Hill co-op, it had a couple of pretty common NYC apartment problems: a teeny-tiny kitchen, and a bedroom with nearly non-existent clothes storage. The little sliver of the kitchen that you see in the photo above was all that would fit in the picture — it was really that small. But since there was no way to expand the footprint of the apartment, to make their kitchen bigger, they had to get creative.

If Stephanie’s kitchen layout looks a little lacking, that’s because it used to be a laundry room. Thankfully, she had some friends to help her reimagine the space and make it more functional. From Stephanie: This kitchen was a laundry room originally and part of a cozy little apartment. It was difficult to hide things like fuse boxes, verizon hubs, etc. Also layout was a bit of a challenge.

Andrea’s rental kitchen was lacking a backsplash… and personality. Enter Etsy with a colorful (and temporary!) solution that complements her space. From Andrea: I had been looking for an answer to my rental kitchen woes for over a year when I found these removable wall/tile decals by Bleucoin on Etsy. I was instantly inspired to refresh my dark and boring galley kitchen with them.

Jason’s studio apartment lacked sufficient counter space, so when he saw this IKEA dresser on the side of the road, he snagged it. See how he made it work for his kitchen: From Jason: I was driving home from work when I glanced over to see a couple moving out of their house. Three Ikea dressers were sitting on their front lawn with “Free” signs taped to each. 20 minutes later I had all three loaded into my truck. This is the first one I attempted to tackle.

When the last of their kids moved out, Hafeeza and her husband decided to make a big change: they sold their 4,500 square foot house in New Jersey and moved to Manhattan. They were tired of the maintenance a big house requires, and wanted to be close to the city and all it has to offer. After a year in a temporary spot, they found the perfect apartment. The kitchen just needed a little tlc.

The kitchen in Sam’s new house couldn’t have been much worse. There were mice everywhere, the units were filthy, the cooker was condemned by the gasman, the back door could only be opened with a crowbar and worst of all, there was a mysterious smell, which they eventually tracked down to an open waste pipe running straight into the kitchen.

This summer, my husband and I embarked on our first renovation project — a 1950’s terraced house with what we like to call “potential.” It has been a long, hard slog with a tight budget but we are beginning to see progress. You may have seen the results of our efforts in the living room here recently. In the kitchen, the long-term plan is to extend the room to make a big bright kitchen diner with glass doors out onto the garden and a little bit more room to swing a cat.

In 2014, our Before & Afters proved again and again that you don’t need a ton of cash to have a fresh new kitchen. Here are ten of this year’s best budget kitchen remodels. Click on the slideshow to see the projects. To learn more about each project (and see more pictures), click the links in the captions. → Welcome to Apartment Therapy’s Best of 2014 roundup! From December 21 through January 1 we are rounding up our favorite (and your favorite) posts from the past year.

Last week, we witnessed the transformation of Elizabeth’s tiny bathroom, and today we’re taking a look at the rest of her tw0-bedroom co-op. When Elizabeth bought the place, she originally planned to only remodel the bathroom, but her contractor helped her realize that with only a few small changes, she could have a whole apartment that she was really happy with.

If you’ve ever done a kitchen makeover or thought about it and did a little research, you know that things get really pricey, really fast (I can speak from experience). That’s why I was so impressed by Brooklyn Berry’s $500 kitchen makeover. That’s almost like pennies in the kitchen makeover world. The key is being a really savvy shopper, getting creative and getting your hands dirty to do most of the work yourself.

Makeover by: David (check out David’s bathroom makeover, too) Location: Glendale, CA We purchased our mid-century ranch house in 2012. We were only the 3rd owners. The first owners commissioned Robert L Earl architecture to build the house and it was complete in 1962. They lived in it for ten years, the second owners for 40 years.

Kelsey and her husband Heath had their work cut out for them when they moved into their new home with an outdated kitchen. But they worked with the home’s bones for a makeover that both fits the house and their personality! From Kelsey: This project is/was the most time and energy intensive DIY renovation we’ve sunk our teeth into, but it has also been the most gratifying.

We’re all about the affordable makeovers that completely transform a room for not a lot of money. And though this kitchen does get a new floor (the price of which is not reflected in the $500 budget mentioned here), pay attention to the rest of the room where the $500 was spent. Alex got creative and outlines everything done to achieve a fresh new look. From Alex: I’ve wanted to redo my kitchen since I bought the house five years ago.

Six months after moving into their home, Jill and her husband were ready to tackle the kitchen remodel. The plan: IKEA cabinets and appliances, moving the cooktop, and adding bold tile. The result perfectly embodies the “cozy modern” style they love. As with all remodels there were a few bumps in the road—namely the project took about twice as long as they’d anticipated—but they got their dream kitchen when all was said and done.

Sometimes when faced with a very outdated room, say like a kitchen, your first instinct could be to pour a lot of money into it to try to bring it back into the present day. But as Sabrina proves with this simple and subtle redesign, you can make a big impact on the look of a space with very small but potent changes (and only a bit of money). From Sabrina: Believe it or not, I bought this home at an estate auction, and these people were looking at it as well.

Jordan and her growing family were looking for a home, but knew with San Francisco’s high prices they would probably have to settle for a home that didn’t quite match their dreams. Even though friends warned her of the high prices of renovating, discounts were searched for and they did a lot of work themselves. From Jordan: My husband and I recently bought our first home together in San Francisco. We wanted a large home that had space for our growing family.

When you’re faced with a bland, beige rental kitchen in an apartment you otherwise love, what do you do? If you’re Kerry, who has a gorgeous New Orleans apartment, you infuse your rental kitchen with some color! From Kerry: I’ve lived in my 800 square foot French Quarter apartment in New Orleans for five years now. I have the perfect combination of low rent and a hands-off landlord. This summer I decided to make some big changes.

It’s not that Pauline was ungrateful for her kitchen nook — it was a convenient corner with a desktop that could be a great place to do work. It’s just that it didn’t fit her needs (or aesthetics). So she came up with a plan to mold it to be a space she could use, came across some surprises while tearing out the old stuff, and got clever to finish out what turned into a very creative corner! Bonus: There’s inspiration (and a link to instructions) for DIY art inside!

Jenny describes the “before” of her compact kitchen best: it was safe. White walls, white cabinets. Not a lot of color, accessories, style or windows. It gave off about as much charm as a doctor’s office. So she decided to add color — but in a practical way. She’d keep the black floor tiles that hide dirt, but add a cheery pop of color in an unexpected place, and throw in some efficient storage ideas for good measure.

Project by: Lauren N. Sellers/Trust the Vision Decor Location: Yardley, Pennsylvania You know those beige breakfast nooks that sometimes show up in the corners of otherwise lovely homes? Don’t start your day off boring when you can surround yourself with bold. Designer Lauren N. Sellers of Trust the Vision Decor turned this nook into an exciting place to drink morning coffee with only $600 and just over a week of time.

Compared to their last kitchen, the kitchen in Anna’s new home was amazing. Two people could cook at the same time, the appliances were made in her lifetime and it was bug-free. Once with newness wore off though, it was time to tackle all that wood that did not fit their style. The challenge? How to make this dated kitchen look brighter and more modern with the tiny budget of $2000!

Yellow kitchens can be cheerful and sunny or they can leave you feeling kinda queasy. Katrin, who blogs at Taking Notes, found herself with an acid bright kitchen that fell firmly into the latter camp. But armed with a paint brush and various shades of white and grey paint, she has worked a magical transformation.

Tanya and her husband have been slowly updating and decorating their house on a small budget, just completing a remodel of their kitchen. In their previous home, they played it safe with design, concerned about resale. But in this home they did whatever they wanted, making some pretty dramatic changes in the kitchen that brightened and modernized the small space.

Kendra started her own business in 2011, REmix Design, a perfect way to use her interior design skills plus her passion for home design and working with tools. She loves saving furniture that “has seen better days.” She mixes old with new, rusty and shiny and this $10 table turned butcher block island is a perfect example! From Kendra: I took it home and immediately began tearing off the metal top with the help of my dad.

Have you ever hated the outdated look of a room so much that you wanted to paint every single surface? Tasha didn’t love her kitchen, and paint on every nearly single surface (along with some new hardware and furniture) helps transform it into a completely new space! Tasha says: Our kitchen was functional and in good condition, but outdated in style. We totally transformed it into a space that we love for under $700, including new hardware and furniture.