Before and After: A “Glum and Grubby” 1980s Kitchen Gets an Under-$600 Refresh
Revamping akitchen that feels very datedcan be a bit daunting, even ifyour kitchen is on the smaller side．如果你想现代化的东西,特别是if you want to DIY your upgrades, it’s helpful to think about itone project at a time．Perhaps first you’ll address the cabinet hardware, then the backsplash, and then the appliances — or maybe your priorities are in the reverse order. Either way, splitting a large project into pieces can make it more manageable.
Homeowner Nicola McCart’s kitchen redo is a great example of small steps coming together to create a big room transformation. Before, her kitchen was “glum and grubby,” she says, and “very dated.” Its fruit tiles, tan color scheme, andmelamine cabinetswere straight out of the ’80s — 1985, to be specific, which is when the home was built.
With small changes — first to the cabinets and walls, then to the backsplash and counters, then to the furniture and lighting — Nicola created a kitchen that “feels cleaner, bigger, and brighter,” she says.
Nicola used kitchen cabinet paint from a U.K. brand called Wilko for a base over top of her existing melamine cabinets, and then she used a satin brilliant white gloss over that. Painting the cabinets was easier than expected, she says. But she also did a couple of paint projects that she’d skip next time around. For instance, Nicola bought wooden cabinet pulls and painted them black, but that eventually wore off — if she were to do the project over again, she’d just buy black handles, she says — and she also tried to spray paint her sink with enamel paint, which she says wasn’t worth it. Learnings abound!
One upgrade that definitelywasworth it to Nicola was the new breakfast bar. It was a “great low-cost addition” from Amazon, she says. She found abasic bar table with white legsand a plain top and covered it withmarble vinylto match her newly upgraded countertops. Nicola says adding the vinyl to the worktops and the peel-and-stick subway tile backsplash made the biggest difference in the space, and the time spent smoothing out the bubbles underneath the vinyl (the most difficult part of the project) was well spent. Nicola also replaced the ’80s fluorescent light withthree black pendantsfor a more contemporary look.
Nicola owns her place, but for renters, this is certainly an example of a kitchen redo with little additions that are reversible or that you can take with you if you move. In total, Nicola spent £450, or about $578 USD, on the kitchen redo, and she says she loves the big impact of all her mini-changes.
Inspired?Submit your own project here.