The kitchen is one of the most important rooms of your house. It’s the gathering place for friends and family. It’s where you prepare healthy foods that nourish the bodies of your loved ones. Since it is used and seen on a daily basis, it should be attractive, inviting and functional. It should be a room you love to be in no matter what time of day.
If that’s not how you feel about your kitchen or you’re just looking for a change, you may want to consider a makeover. Sure, many makeovers cost thousands of dollars, but not the ones we’re talking about. These kitchen improvements won’t cost you much, and the results will blow you away. You will love your kitchen when you get through with it.
Let’s Start with Paint
You can drastically change the way your kitchen looks with a fresh coat of paint on your walls. Think about what color or colors would inspire you to cook healthy, delicious foods. According to HGTV, warmer colors can make you hungry, which is perfect for the kitchen. Cooler colors such as white can energize you, which is nice for the morning when you walk into the kitchen for your first cup of coffee.
Consider painting your walls a different color from your baseboards. The contrast can really make the room pop.
Don’t forget that your cabinets can be painted as well. You can always go with a neutral color such as beige, white or brown. However, if you want to spice things up a bit, yellow, light blue and mint green can be great colors for cabinets. Dark colors such as cranberry red and navy blue can be beautiful in a kitchen, but are usually best for large areas since they can make the room look smaller. Since cabinets are the focal point of the kitchen, select a color you love and goes well with your wall color.
Paint can cost approximately $15 to $30 a gallon depending on the brand you choose. You’ll need about two or three gallons for an average-sized room. Lowe’s has a paint calculator to help you determine how much you’ll need, so you can budget accordingly.
Change Cabinet Knobs
You wouldn’t believe how much of a difference hardware can make in the look of your kitchen. Start with the cabinet knobs. They are easily unscrewed and then replaced with brand new ones. Go crazy and choose a different style. Something as small as swapping a matte finish for something shiny can have a huge impact on your kitchen’s atmosphere.
Each knob, depending on the style and brand, can cost $1 to $10 each. The total cost will be determined by how many you need.
Change Light Switch Covers
This is another thing that most people don’t think about, but it does make a difference. The light switch covers you may have now might be solid, plain ones. You can find fancier ones at your home improvement store.
Each light switch plate can be as inexpensive as $3 or as expensive as $30. Most of them are about $6 to $9.
Install New Kitchen Flooring
Don’t be intimidated by the job of tearing up flooring and installing a new one. It’s really not too bad if you have laminate on there now. It will easily pull off, and then you can just place new laminate down.
Laminate flooring tiles cost about $1.50 per square foot. If you don’t have a large kitchen, you can see how this can be a very inexpensive project. Before choosing the style you like best, look for ones that say “glue-less installation,” because they are so much easier to use.
Switch up Your Décor
You may want to do a facelift in your kitchen. Take down all of the decorations you have now and put in some new pieces of décor. If you have a theme right now, consider changing it to a new one.
Pinterest has a lot of great ideas such as:
- Cabin
- Vineyard/Winery
- Chefs
- Café
- Country
- Farm
The cost depends on how much you buy and where you buy it. Kirkland’s, Kohl’s and other home décor stores often have sales and discounts sent to customers’ email inboxes and homes.
Select Different Drapes
If you have window treatments in your kitchen, consider changing them. You can choose a different color or a different pattern. It’s just a small change that will give your kitchen a new look that you may love.
Curtain prices vary significantly. Depending on the size, style and brand you choose, you could end up spending as little as $20 or as much as $200. Shop around to find drapes you like the best.
Buy New Pots
You may not have considered this, but your pots are an important part of your kitchen. Think about it: As you are cooking in your kitchen, what do you have out the most? Your pots! They are on the stove, counter and/or in the sink pretty much at all times.
There’s something about having new pots to cook in that just makes you feel giddy inside. So consider replenishing your pots with new ones that are safer to cook with compared to the ones you bought ages ago.
A new set of pots can cost anywhere from $100 to $1,000. It depends on how many pieces you want as well as the quality, brand and style. Again, shop around to get the best price for what you want.
Replace Utensils
Just like your pots, utensils are part of your kitchen. Some people display their utensils such as spatulas, large serving spoons, etc. underneath their cabinets. Make them part of your décor by buying ones that match your kitchen’s colors and theme.
Depending on the brand you purchase, new utensils could cost $50 to $100.
Install Under Cabinet Lighting
There’s nothing like ending the day with dim lighting underneath your cabinets. These are easily purchased at a home improvement store and installed within minutes. Some simply stick underneath the cabinets, while others will need to be screwed. It depends on the type you purchase.
One 18- to 24-inch under cabinet LED light bar can cost anywhere from $50 to $80 depending on the brand and style you desire. I like the style of the ones from IKEA.
Get Started on Your Kitchen Makeover
Now that you have some ideas on how to make over your kitchen, get started. All you need to do is make some decisions on colors and style, come up with a small budget and find a free day. Before you know it, you’ll be entertaining in your nice, new kitchen.
Adrienne Erin is a healthy-living and budget-conscious freelance writer and designer. You can see more of her work on her blog, Foodie Fitness, or by following @foodierx on Twitter.
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