Last week's post on 10 kitchen improvements for renters was a hit; lots of you are in rental kitchens! But that was just a start: there are plenty of other good ideas on brightening a rental kitchen. Here are three more ideas we noticed in at Domino.- Storage with style: In kitchens that lack storage, hide shelves with a colorful curtain, and be playful with other storage. For instance, here they use a vintage Champagne bucket for cooking utensils, sort of like this bucket in David Lebovitz's kitchen.
- Cover the backsplash: Here Domino suggests a polyurethane boa material to cover the backsplash with style. That's a little too much wildlife for our tastes, but it might look great in a more glam kitchen. Our tips also suggest covering the backsplash; it's great if you can use something magnetic and then use it for magnets, notes, and recipes.
- Change the flooring: We also mentioned this, but we never thought of wall-to-wall carpet! Domino demonstrates how it can work: FLOR tiles are easy to clean, and they are fully removable.
Related: How To Paint Ugly Laminate Kitchen Countertops
(Images: Paul Costello for Domino)
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Barf at the carpet in the kitchen idea. I lived in a small studio that had carpet even in the kitchenette area, and it was gross. Dish water gets absorbed into the carpet; food bits & crumbs fall onto it and get embedded if you step on it. As careful as you try to not get anything on the carpet--it's a kitchen. Mess happens. It's a very gross, unsanitary feeling when you can't easily mop your kitchen area. Yeah vacuums suck up the crumbs, but it's not easy or practical at all washing a carpet. I give that idea a HUGE thumbs down.
Flor carpet tiles are different from regular carpeting, though. You can pick the things up and wash them in the sink, if you feel like it.
I wouldn't do it myself because I somehow manage to be the messiest cook in the world, but I can see how someone might be tempted in a place with dreadfully cold floors or if they spent a lot of time standing in the kitchen.
I'm really tempted to throw something up in the backsplash area, but the whole kitchen is so blandly boring that I'm worried about overpowering the place.
I would LOVE it if there was a feature on how to decorate a kitchen with unpainted oak cabinets. This cabinet style is ubiquitous in rental units wherever I've lived. Most of us are not allowed to paint them, so I'd really really appreciate some ideas - wall colors especially - to help us overcome this apparent obstacle.
Carpeting in the kitchen (even they are Flor tile things) seem horrible, right behind carpeting in the bathroom.
Can someone explain the trend I'm seeing of table lamps on kitchen counters? Is it useful? Is it safe? Is it just a kitschy decorative vignette thing just for magazine photos?
I love the fabric curtain hiding the shelves. We had built-ins and painted the back chocolate brown, and what a difference. I love this pic!
AMLitt, it's funny-- my mother in law has always had a little (brass) lamp like this on her kitchen counter, and I thought it was weird. I guess she was ahead of her time! HA!