apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm trying to scheme up ideas on what to do with my kitchen, especially the "blank wall" opposite the "functional wall" where the actual kitchen is. I can't build anything permanent against it because the AC vent is right above it, and I need to keep it accessible. I'm also pulling my hair out about what to do with a deep, deep, blind corner cabinet that I basically have to crawl my body into just to reach its furthest corner. A lazy susan isn't practical, and installing a door on the other side of the cabinet would cause some lost space issues. I'm also dreaming up some storage and lighting ideas, since both are lacking ...

I own my house and I want to renovate my kitchen so so much. I can't afford to gut the place, though, so I need to find a cost effective way to spruce up the cabinets. And no, just getting new knobs isn't enough. The cabinet surfaces need to be cleaned up (refinished maybe). Obviously, I'm not sure where to begin. And frankly, articles like this one in the NYT don't help because all they do is regurgitate the obvious.

Last summer I pulled all the kitchen cabinets apart cleaned and sanded them, then primed and painted them. It was a much bigger job than I thought it would be but I did have a friend to help. The cabinets are now a crisp white with new black hardware and it was totally worth the effort. Now I want to replace the countertops but have no idea where to start or what to replace them with. I am of course limited by budget and would like to do the work myself but it is intimidating.

I own a four bedroom Cape Cod and the smallest room in the house next to the bathroom is the kitchen. It's located in the back of the house so I want to gut it and add on so badddddd...but with baby#2 on the way that isn't feasible. I try to keep the counters clutter free, most of my appliances are stored in my china hutch. My next plan is to re do the cabinets much like what acushla did and get myself a new stove. I wanted to wait until I gutted the kitchen but since I don't see that happening any time soon I'm gonna just go ahead and get a new stove now with a new hood.

I updated my kitchen a bit last summer, too. :) I rent and am a student, so my options were limited quite a bit. I ended up painting the walls a nice cheerful yellow. I also bought from Craigslist a Norden Occasional Table to serve as a wall length counter and added some open shelving above that for additional storage. You gotta store those 7 different types of flour somewhere, you know!

Some before and after photos are here.

There's still a lot I want to tinker with in the kitchen, but it's all a matter of what I can afford to do.

@laetitiae, that's totally a workhorse kitchen! Thanks for sharing your photos! I like that buttery yellow paint. I really like your Norden occassional table solution, particularly because I have the Norden gateleg table in my front room! I just wish it weren't so long--I need one that's only about 4 feet long. I'd go for a butcher block or small island, but they're too wide and would jut out too far into the kitchen.

I own a condo with a galley kitchen and there isn't much I can do to change the layout. The basics work, though the appliances are 11 yrs old and we just replaced the dishwasher. I would LOVE to have a freezer on the bottom fridge (seems so much more practical) but the one we have is still humming away. I don't have the counter space but I would also love to have a stand mixer since I do a lot of baking and break making (and if I visit your house and you have a stand mixer please don't tell me you never use it because I will dislike you very very very much).

I just added custom rolling drawers in my two under counter cabinets and it has made things much easier to find. I got the drawers here and love them http://www.shelvesthatslide.com/

I have a tiny kitchen in my rental, and although I do quite a bit of cooking, it has the potential to be much better. I don't have any counter space and no room to add it!

I'm so limited by size and layout...I can't figure out a way to move the only free-standing items (fridge and stove) and make more room.

Although my brother changed the way the fridge opens and that was pretty much the best thing that has ever happened in the apartment!

Our kitchen is very small and we rent. The one thing that we really, really need is more storage. We have 5 shelf wire rack next to the fridge where we sort of just pile everything up that doesn't fit in the one cabinet we have. We're thinking about getting a pantry custom built, but are still trying to figure out what it should look like.

Onewallkitchen - How about a bookshelf for your blank wall? It would be narrow enough and provide extra storage, and if you wanted you might be able to put a butcherblock counter on top - like a section of countertop from IKEA or something. You could use it to store cookbooks and/or canisters. Or what about putting up a pegboard or some other sort of wall-thingy that you could put hooks into and hang things from (they have this sort of set up at the container store, among other places). I don't see any pictures of your kitchen on your blog (maybe I'm just not looking hard enough), so I don't know if these suggestions actually make sense for your space, but I thought I'd try!

Well, there are plenty of things I'd love to change, but I live in a rental so most of them are not in the cards - for instance, I'd love a new stove because the one in my apartment is pretty ancient and heats very unevenly, so using the oven requires careful placement and attention. It's also pretty tiny, but that is not so bad - I'm usually the only one using it and there is enough room for me.

I'd also love to replace the basic cabinets with something gorgeous (in an ideal world, something like these: http://www.3luxe.com/best_ofs/Kitchen_Cabinets/Wm_Ohs), but I'll settle for adding a new spice rack and some gorgeous stemware and bottles on display. At least my kitchen is mostly white with a black and white tile floor, so it is really easy to add colorful touches and change things up!

ps. Acushla - I'm so impressed you redid your cabinets yourself!

Thanks for the advice, Rosie!

At the moment, I have a little bookshelf and an IKEA cart against the wall--both functional, but not the most efficient or attractive. You can see that setup here and here. There are additional photos of the kitchen throughout my condo set here.

I've seriously been considering pegboard. There was a post about stainless steel pegboard on the main AT page, and someone told me I could find a good-sized length of it at Home Depot or Lowes. I'd just have to work out the design and mechanics.

Thanks jazspin! It totally helped that my friend spent every summer of her childhood on her Dad's paint crew, I really had no idea of all the prep work involved in something like that.

You can also look into gel stain and do less prep work. It's a cross between stain and paint--sits on top of wood and still lets grain show through. The getting rid of clutter will make a huge difference, though. We had an Ugly Kitchen Contest and 100 entries. About 20 of them were truly ugly, but 80 or so were just clutter hell. Scared me, in fact. My kitchen is pretty tidy, but that contest taught me to keep it CLEAN. No magnets on the fridge, etc.