Kitchen Home Projects

Is this the worst kitchen you’ve ever seen? Well, it may not look like it. But behind its benign, if somewhat bland, appearance lurked a dirty secret… a really dirty one. Mouse poop. Rob and Liz, the homeowners, were only using about 25% of their cabinet space, thanks to these uninvited guests. Additionally, the kitchen was freezing in the winter — standing in the right place, you could actually feel a breeze blowing across your feet. Lovely.

Kim, a lifestyle blogger who loves spending time in her kitchen trying out recipes with her two young daughters, always wanted to redo this space to be more open, bright and inspiring. Without a huge budget, the family decided to tackle the project themselves — a scary thought for folks who had never tried anything like it before!

This kitchen was originally built in 1989, and after 20 plus years of daily use, it was falling apart. While it may not look too bad on the surface, behind the before photograph were broken cabinets, a cooktop that barely worked, and granite countertop edges that were falling off. The kitchen had a contemporary feel for 1989, but for 2013 the owner was hoping for a softer, more family friendly feel.

We bet plenty of folks would have passed up this heavy laminate dresser, even if found in the “free” section of Craigslist. But not Breanna. She saw some creative potential for this forgotten furniture piece, instead transforming it into attractive and useful storage for a friend’s kitchen! From Breanna: This laminate dresser came from the FREE category on Craigslist and got a well deserved makeover for my friend, Abby.

When Meghann bought her first house last year, she didn’t have enough money to do a complete remodel of her kitchen, but the home’s original “orange-y” wood cabinets just weren’t working for her. With dark appliances and only one window, her main goal was to brighten her space up, as affordably as she could. She didn’t do a lot, but the $90 she did spend over a weekend made a surprising impact!

A lot of people remodel their homes right after (or right before) moving in, but by the time Kyle and Angela decided to take the plunge and redo their kitchen, they had been living in their Clinton Hill apartment for 11 years. They had a lot of time to save, and scheme, and they knew exactly what they wanted: more counter space, a more open floor plan, and a kitchen with a little bit of midcentury style.

Kristi recently remodeled her kitchen and didn’t give her toe kicks a second glance. Then she got a glimpse of Oh Joy’s recently remodeled studio kitchen, and was inspired to try something new… Switching up the white to black is a subtle but significant change. Rather than painting the actual toe kicks again, Kristi came up with a temporary solution that lets her try out a color, and change it up again down the road. Renters, take note!

Before her renovation, the kitchen in Sanaya’s Clinton Hill co-op wasn’t much to look at. But the issues with the kitchen went far beyond appearances: the cabinets were falling apart, and cans of food were holding up shelves in some places. A well separating the kitchen and pantry made both spaces seem small and cramped. It was time for a change — time to tear everything out and start anew.

After 10 months of searching, Alison and Jovito purchased the home of their dreams: a charming 100-year-old brownstone in Brooklyn’s Ocean Park. There were lots of things that needed updating all over the house, but they decided to focus first on the most egregious spots: the upstairs bathroom and the very, very, brown kitchen. We’ll leave it to Allison to describe the extent of the former kitchen’s ickiness: The kitchen needed a gut renovation.

This kitchen before and after is a little different from our usual fare because it doesn’t involve a change in style: it involves a change in function. Blaise, Kristin, and their three kids had just made the move from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Their new home was almost twice as big as their previous one, but the kitchen, they found, was prohibitively small. They loved the way it looked, but they didn’t love storing kitchen basics in the basement and pots and pans in the oven.

I’m so excited to share with you today a before & after of my very own kitchen! I live in a converted hard loft in the eclectic neighbourhood of Kensington Market in Toronto. It was converted to lofts in 1999 — which you can see by this before photo. There was nothing absolutely terrible with this kitchen (well maybe those countertops), but it just felt dated and didn’t match my colorful and eclectic personality and the rest of my space. I decided to give it a major makeover.

Kitchen trends will come and go, but some things never go out of style. If you want a kitchen that will stand the test of time and still look as beautiful twenty years from now as it does today, consider incorporating one of these seven elements. Just for fun, here’s a gallery of 1920s kitchens. Even though these kitchens are nearly 100 years old, you’ll spot some of the same features in the modern kitchens below — proof that these elements are truly timeless.

For those amongst us who have a strong urge to stick with “perfectly good” spaces that have “nothing wrong” with them, either look away or be inspired. Becky’s kitchen was fine, but she didn’t love it. So she and her husband ditched what they didn’t like and made it a room they truly love: From Becky: Right from the start we kept the upper cabinets empty, just to see if we could live without them.

Kari’s cottage used to be a rental. The kitchen had been “updated” with the cheapest options available, so she set out to give it a bit more style and functionality, while sticking to a first-home budget. From Kari: I purchased my home in 2012. It is a 1950 post war cottage with 2 bedrooms and 770 sqft. Prior to closing, it had sat vacant for 8 months and prior to that it had been a rental.

Lana’s home was built in the 1930s, and the separate rooms made it tough to entertain. She was also lacking counter space on either side of the stove. See how she opened up the space while keeping the same layout: From Lana: Our old kitchen was a great size and decent layout, but was difficult to entertain in— I always felt like I had my back to the conversation and only had 12 inches of counter on either side of the stove.

Our eat-in nook is in the shape of half a hexagon. And our “temporary” table was a hand-me-down Craigslist loaner from some friends — in the shape of an octagon. I should have known we were destined for each other.

With Erica and her husband hoping to sell their home, they wanted to differentiate their builder-grade kitchen from their neighbors’— without spending a ton of money. See how they transformed the space: From Erica: With the knowledge that kitchens sell homes and our goal being to move out to the country, we needed to upgrade our builder-grade ’90s time warp.

Claire and Mike loved everything about their co-op in a converted Brooklyn industrial building, except for the kitchen. In appearance it was rather inoffensive — not nearly as terrible as some of the ‘before’ kitchens we’ve seen on this site — but in storage ad counter space it was seriously lacking. Also, with its standard-height cabinets, the kitchen looked awkward and squatty in such a tall space.

Jill purchased a foreclosure last year, and her first project was fixing up the kitchen which had seen better days. This casita said adios to laminate, honey cabinets, and fire-starting stove! From Jill: I bought this casita in August of last year. It was a foreclosure and a fixer-upper – and it had apparently not been cleaned, much less updated, in what appeared to be a long time. My first priority was improving the horrible kitchen.

Paige’s ’80s kitchen needed to time travel a few decades forward. Now, hardly any wisp of the past remains; say goodbye to the cabinets, appliances, floors, counters, and even a wall. This kitchen transformation is truly stunning! From Paige: Last August we set out to destroy our ’80s nightmare of a kitchen and replace it with something fresh and unique.

Shelby’s new cute Craftsman style home had a lot of old charm….except for the bland builder-grade kitchen.

Dan and Mike made a great purchase that they’ve since gone on to make even greater: a one-bedroom condo in an old converted piano factory, in one of Manhattan’s most coveted neighborhoods. Although their apartment had a lot of things going for it, one thing that they didn’t love was the kitchen, hidden away from the rest of the apartment by a wall with an awkward passthrough.

Saving money on a remodel is easier said than done. There’s a delicate balance between time, money, and quality, and you rarely get all three. But over the years, my husband and I have developed a few tried and true methods for reducing the budget while not sacrificing on quality. Here are seven money-saving strategies to implement on your next remodel. 1. Update existing materials instead of replacing them.

Lisa’s kitchen was in need of an update. Realizing the faux terracotta tile wasn’t working, but not wanting to commit to a full retiling of the whole space just yet, she came up with this graphic Greek solution. From Lisa: We changed out the damaged bullnose laminate bench tops for Caesarstone Frosty Carinna with square edge, and changed the overhang of the breakfast bar so that it was no longer in a walk way and can seat four now.

When interior designer Melissa Miranda moved into the bachelor pad of her now-husband, builder-by-trade Ulises Serret, she wasted no time adding her own signature touch to the space. The open layout kitchen was the first project she undertook, and while the original renovation that Ulises completed prior to Melissa living in the space functioned, it wasn’t the right fit aesthetically for the couple, and so the kitchen underwent a third facelift.

This cottage kitchen had a lot to overcome: a less-than-functional layout, old cabinets, dated floors, and popcorn ceilings. Sarah from The Estate of Things gave it a whole new look (and usefulness, too): From Sarah: As is customary for this historic renovation and interior design blog, readers of The Estate of Things joined along in the design process throughout. The designer gathered input on a banquette build, readers weighed in on lighting choices, paint colors and appliances.

Erin and her husband were taking steps to lighten up their Colorado home. Their kitchen had good bones, so smaller projects done over time helped transform it from lovely and not their style, to the light and bright space they now love. From Erin: The kitchen was a place that we did small projects over a few years to bring a lighter feel to the space.

Ashley describes her lake house’s kitchen as a “Knotty Pine Convention” fit only for lumberjacks. The ’70s yellow counters weren’t helping the cause. What she really wanted was an open farmhouse vibe, without replacing the existing cabinets entirely. Here’s what it looks like now: The upper cabinets and island came out, and the walls got the beadboard treatment, customized open shelving, and a few coats of Behr Snow Fall to brighten it up.

A lot of the kitchen Before & Afters we share here on Apartment Therapy feature dramatic changes: new cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, walls torn down. But in this Fort Greene kitchen, the changes are much more subtle. They’re so subtle, in fact, that flipping back and forth between the before and after photos is a little bit like one of those puzzles where you try to spot the differences between the two pictures. Can you spot the changes?

When Brian and Greg purchased a 1,500 sq. ft., 1960’s-era ranch house that had been on the market for over 500 days, they knew they could turn it into something special. A first priority was turning an 11 x 12 kitchen that comfortably fit one person into a bright, open space that met their needs as a growing family and frequent hosts. I would say they achieved their goal…a thousand times over.

Run–don’t walk–to your nearest contractor, cabinet maker or handy family member and ask–nay, beg–to have one of these seriously smart solutions built into the storage around your home.

Shopping for real estate in New York can be a bit heartbreaking. Corey found this out the hard way when he and his partner put in an offer on their dream apartment, only to be completely outbid. They wound up instead with a perfectly decent Williamsburg two-bedroom, with lots of space and beautiful views. But the good-enough apartment lacked character, and they couldn’t stop thinking about the one that got away.

You do you.

We purchased our townhouse about 4 years ago. We wanted to purchase a home that needed a kitchen remodel because we didn’t like what we saw when we toured houses with remodeled kitchens. Also, we wanted to get used to our place before we embarked on a remodel so we knew what we wanted as far as layout, finishes, and appliances. We were glad we waited because we made many decisions that were different from our initial thoughts on what we wanted.

Some people like to live in their homes a little while before renovating them, to get a feel for the space and figure out what they want. Before embarking on his kitchen renovation, Barrin took plenty of time; he’s lived in his Carroll Gardens condo for 18 years. The appliances had been slowly replaced over the years, but the almost 30-year-old cabinets had definitely seen better days.

Here’s a kitchen transformation where I think we can confidently say that no one will like the ‘before’ better. When Robyn and Alejandro bought their two-bedroom condo in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront District, the kitchen was in distinctly sad shape (and had, apparently, a basketball in place of a refrigerator). I’m sure it was tough to imagine this space as anything near livable, but Robyn and Alejandro had a vision for what their apartment could be.

When Lee Hoffman, the CEO and founder of photo-sharing app Memoir, bought his co-op in Midtown East last year, he immediately knew that the kitchen had to go. The small, cramped space was cut off by a wall from the rest of the apartment, and to make things worse, the apartment’s previous tenant was a smoker, which meant that everything in the kitchen was covered in a thin layer of smoky residue. After months of research, Lee was finally ready to embark on the project.

The kitchen in Megha’s Midtown West condo had a problem common to lots of older kitchens: it was tiny, and awkwardly walled off from the rest of the living spaces in her apartment. After living with a less than ideal floorplan (and a falling-apartment bathroom) for nine years, Megha decided it was time for a change — and embarked on a renovation that would dramatically change the look and feel of her apartment.

When Henry purchased his one-bedroom co-op in a former tenement building in Manhattan’s East Village, it was in bad shape. Really, really, really bad shape. The entire apartment was falling apart, and the kitchen was, in a word, ‘destroyed’. Never had a space been more ripe for a makeover. Luckily, Sweeten was there to help Henry revitalize his space, and he didn’t just stop at the kitchen.

Cabinet hardware is a little detail that can have a big impact on the look of your kitchen or bathroom. The good news is that these days there are quite a few retailers offering modern, minimally styled pieces in a variety of budgets. Here are seven of our favorites. Superfront makes a line of pulls and knobs designed for IKEA cabinets, but they would be equally nice on other cabinets as well. (Blogger Maiju Saw used them in her kitchen.

This is an ugly kitchen. But its ugliness might seem a bit innocuous to you, if you didn’t know the extent of the fire damage hiding behind its walls. The unit’s owners, Colin and Orli, originally intended a fairly simple renovation, before they realized the extent of the unseen damage their kitchen was hiding. Their renovation was more involved than they originally planned.

We tend to think of tiled countertops as a cheap and imperfect solution, when marble or quartz just isn’t in your remodeling budget. Instead of approaching the update with mixed feelings, look to these surfaces as reassurance that your kitchen or bath will still fresh and clean — they just won’t break the bank. Using longer rectangular shapes automatically makes this surface seem more special and unlike most square tile countertops.

What’s the perfect place for microwaves in the kitchen? They are must-have appliances for many, but they sure do have large, ugly footprints. So, do you prioritize saving space over aesthetics? Put them where you can easily reach? Or, is there that one sweet spot that let’s you have it all? Installing the microwave above your cooktop is a classic space saver, freeing up your countertops to use as workspace — especially when microwave and hood-fan combos do double duty.

When Cara and Jared moved into their Chelsea apartment, they weren’t too excited about the kitchen’s inefficient layout and dated finishes. But the last straw was when the mosaic tiles (the result of a former homeowner’s DIY project) started falling off the wall.

When Lisa moved into her Upper East Side one-bedroom, she loved everything about it but the kitchen. Besides not being very pretty, Lisa’s kitchen had a lot of problems. The upper cabinets were too shallow for dishes, and the lower cabinets were too narrow for pretty much anything, meaning Lisa had to store her pots and pans in the coat closet. The whole kitchen had only one outlet, and there was a large and suspicious stain on the laminate countertop.

I can’t even look at a picture of this kitchen without feeling claustrophobic, so I can’t imagine how Anne lived with it (and cooked in it, even) for almost a decade. I think it goes without saying that after cooking for ten years in a kitchen that measured only 27 square feet (no, really) she was ready for a change. The biggest change, by far, was the removal of the wall separating the (previously teeny tiny) kitchen from the living room.

The kitchen in John and Kaija’s Brooklyn co-op began life as a narrow galley kitchen, but a previous owner had the smart idea to tear down the separating wall to half-height, and top the remaining wall with a countertop. This made the kitchen a lot more spacious, but the new countertop, inconveniently located at bar height, wasn’t particularly useful for prep work, and storage was still an issue.

Nathan Rittgarn doesn’t list the square footage in his professional project submission of this kitchen, located in a pre-war Brooklyn Heights one-bedroom apartment. But you can see from the before photos above, it’s not particularly expansive. Coupled with the fact that the apartment’s “entryway” dumps you right in front of this small space, and it’s clear this room needed an update not just for aesthetics, but for function, too.

Unless you’re incredibly wealthy, finding a dream home in New York City can be a real challenge. That’s the position Holly and Christian found themselves in when they started house hunting: the apartments they could afford fell significantly short of dreamy, but they didn’t want to leave Greenwich Village, a neighborhood where they had lived for many years. So they found the next best thing to a dream home: a fixer-upper that, with a little work, could become their dream home.

I’ve always been a huge fan of 1950s style kitchens, and was lucky enough to score a tiny vintage refrigerator from a few years ago. The small size made it a bit of a challenge (we had to be very cognizant while grocery shopping!) so, when we added a member to the family this year, we also decided it was time to upgrade to a bigger refrigerator.

We moved into our house in summer 2011. The house, built in 1944, was in good shape, in a great neighborhood, and priced very competitively. However, aesthetically it was a bit lacking. The previous owners had owned the home for 50+ years, and the most recent updates to the kitchen and main living area had been made in 1974.

This ‘before’ kitchen wasn’t nearly as dire as some we’ve featured — it was just, well, awkward. A previous renovation left the kitchen floor covered in a dreary ceramic tile, with an awkward curb that guests continually tripped over.

This is the story of a kitchen that was once so small that it could barely be photographed. Having bought a place of her very own in Manhattan, Evelyn was living the dream, but her kitchen left a little something to be desired. Besides being (a bit) on the small side, it also featured a leaky dishwasher, cracked floors, and barely-there workspaces. After living in the apartment for a few years, she knew it was time for a change.

While Joanna Harrison has done a stellar job decorating her family’s small Silver Lake cottage, she’s lucky the preservation-savvy developers at bettershelter got their hands on the decaying structure before their demolition-hungry competitors. The company restored the historic home before renting it to the Harrison trio, making Joanna’s renovation process more about adding functional style and less about, um, not dying.

Betsy and Manny bought this 1920s “Kit House” in Savannah after outgrowing their 400 square foot studio apartment in Brooklyn. They remodeled the whole home (while respecting the home’s architectural charm), but the kitchen’s outdated and dilapidated vibes had to go. They ripped the cabinets out, stripping the the kitchen down to the studs. The result is a gorgeous space that fits their personalities and the architecture of the home!

Hissan and Sophia found their dream home in Brooklyn, but the kitchen was less than ideal. Besides the out of date faux-cherrywood finish, the cabinetry also seemed squatty and inappropriate in the space, adapted to a room with much lower ceilings. In their quest to renovate the kitchen and make it more appropriate for the space, they also wanted to rework a long but awkward hallway, a necessary but not particularly attractive part of the unit’s floorplan.

House hunting in New York often involves a few compromises, and for Brandi that compromise was buying an apartment with a kitchen in need of a serious overhaul. The backsplash tiles were cracked and yellowing, the wall oven didn’t work, and the hinges had so many layers of paint on them that the cabinets wouldn’t close. And to top it all off, everything was painted a particularly unappealing shade of olive green.

One of the hardest parts about room makeovers is envisioning what it all might look like. Before you spring for all the materials, how can you be sure it will look great when it’s finished? When working on Tara’s rental kitchen, we tried out some different design options on Photoshop, playing around with various design options. Mind you, these aren’t digital masterpieces. But they do help you see how different paint colors look, or what pattern would do to the floor.

When Maxine of We Love Home moved into her home she inherited a less than ideal kitchen. Not only was it pretty blah aesthetics wise, it was basically falling apart. Not one to be deterred, she saw this as a golden opportunity to design her dream kitchen. From Maxine: In my old flat, I inherited an almost-new kitchen so could never justify changing it. I hated it though. As it is had been designed by for someone else, by someone else – it never suited my needs.

Sam hated her kitchen, but she and her husband couldn’t afford to make real changes to it. Being on a budget meant they had to prioritize and focus on the floor — her least favorite part of the room. From Sam: I really really hated our kitchen, but we basically couldn’t afford to make real changes to it because each change begets another change and the whole thing really needs more work than were personally willing/able to put into this house and at this time.

Purchasing an apartment in New York is no small feat (financially or otherwise). Rima knew she wanted to renovate as soon as she bought her Brooklyn co-op, but was a bit hesitant about pulling the trigger. After four years of dreaming of a new kitchen, she finally worked up the guts (and the money!) to make a big change. Her previous kitchen had a problem common to a lot of NYC kitchens: lack of space.

Chokers, Tommy Hilfiger, Wynona Rider. The ’90s may be back but Kirsten really wanted them to get out – and stay out – of her kitchen. With a little help from her husband, she was able to create a classically cool galley kitchen that won’t be going out of style anytime soon. From Kirsten: When we first looked at this home to buy, I remember thinking that the biggest transformation needed to be the kitchen. It was dark, too enclosed and feeling very 1990s.

Tara Bellucci, our News & Culture Editor, just moved into a new apartment in Boston’s South End this fall. The space definitely needed updating but, since Tara’s renting, a full on, rip-it-all-out reno just isn’t in the cards. She got permission from her landlord to make a few changes — simple inexpensive updates to make it more livable and inviting. And yes, a whole lot less ugly.

Sarah and Keith knew it was about time to leave their cramped ’90s kitchen behind. While functional, the space was outdated and closed off. They wanted a space that flowed seamlessly with the rest of the vibrant, contemporary house. They opened up the floor plan, and chose design elements like a neutral wall color and tile, white cabinets and light marble countertops.

Sophia’s 400-square-foot apartment on New York’s Upper West Side was the perfect size for one person. After her husband Leon moved in, the apartment seemed a bit cozy, but they made it work. Then came baby. Three people (and all that baby stuff) in 400 square feet was just too much, so they started looking for a place to buy. They looked, and looked, and looked, but none of the two-bedrooms in their price range were even remotely livable.

In the 50s, General Electric made the fabulous Wonder Kitchen—an entire wall unit with all the appliances built right in. The units came in amazing colors: Canary Yellow, Turquoise Green, Petal Pink, Cadet Blue and Woodbine Brown, all under one stainless steel counter surface. Letitia acquired one of these units, along with other matching cabinets, which were salvaged from another kitchen, and she renovated her dark and gloomy kitchen around this gleaming, wondrous wall unit.

I love both blue and black kitchens and all their loveliness and drama, but after seeing 50 million of them over the past couple of years, I start itching for something new to make my eyes happy. So it’s refreshing to see another shade emerge lately as contender for the role of hottest kitchen color. We’re calling it “bruised” green —anything from olive to army to deep forest.

When Matt and Amanda first looked at this house, they were able to instantly imagine fixing up all of the rooms — except for the kitchen. It was a dark, dated galley kitchen with a wall smack dab in the middle. Matt writes: “We went back to look at it one last time and I just sat there trying to visualize what the solution could be. When I realized it could be done, I did my best to explain the mess in my head to Amanda and we went for it!

When Tim Sheehan bought an 1860s Greek Revival home that had been abandoned for six years, the kitchen was crammed into a small room at the end of a hallway. The house was used as a rectory for 80 years, so a full kitchen wasn’t necessary when the home was first constructed. So Tim gutted the back hallway, knocked down a wall that once enclosed the tiny, impractical kitchen and removed sheet rock and a drop ceiling to reveal wood walls painted white.

Chris and Amber had a problem common to a lot of New York City homeowners: a family that kept growing, and an apartment that stubbornly remained the same size. After the birth of their first son they decided to look for a two-bedroom apartment, but were unable to find anything acceptable in their price range. When the impending arrival of a second baby really raised the stakes, they decided that maybe the solution was to renovate the apartment they already had.

First of all, shout out to Tanya’s mom for choosing kitchen elements way back in the ’80s that wouldn’t look totally insane to our modern eyes. As smart as her choices were, time waits for no man and since the kitchen was showing its age, Tanya figured she would jump in and help her mom update her space.

After fifteen years of living in their one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, Deniz and Ramon had plenty of ideas for upgrades they could make to the place. So when they finally embarked on their long dreamed-of renovation, the result was some very dramatic changes indeed. Previously, the apartment, while quite spacious at 1,000 square feet, was broken up into small, choppy spaces. The kitchen, separated from the living and dining areas, had no natural light at all.