Kitchen Makeover

The after doesn't even look like it could be the same space!

The tiled floors, though!

This 100-year-old home made for an amazing fixer-upper.

The DIY blue-and-white tile backsplash is a must-see.

The countertops only *look* like marble.

It's so sophisticated now!

The original countertops stayed intact!

And it “loosely” falls within rental-friendly guidelines.

This smart cabinet trick makes a world of difference!

That matte black tile, though!

It helped them overcome decision fatigue!

They saved on a sink and splurged on a faucet!

And they did it all for around $18,000!

It feels so much bigger now ... even though it's the exact same size.

The DIY project called for zero demo or construction.

IKEA cabinets! A classic backsplash with a twist! All that English charm!

The counters and backsplash look like marble but they're actually concrete, which is way less expensive.

It looks like it would have cost so much more!

You'd think we meant to type $21,000. But we did not!

Wait until you see the brilliant backsplash and the salvaged kitchen island!

Most of these were fairly inexpensive, too!

We can't wait for you to see the cabinets!

The cabinets! The natural light! The island!

The initial budget was $30,000, so the homeowners were thrilled that they came in under that!

It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it.

The homeowners didn't need to knock down any walls for this renovation. They actually put one up!

You've gotta check out the wallpaper mural!

Who doesn’t love a good before and after kitchen makeover? But if you think those projects are reserved for, well, adult-sized kitchens, you’d be mistaken. Even play kitchens get super stylin’ sometimes. Just wait till you see what this little setup looks like now… Ta-da! Cream, black, and gold all the way. Brenda Bird of From Me, With Love found this play kitchen on Craigslist for $15.

All those dark, wood cabinets had to go!

We tackled about 10 cabinets in around three hours, which I think is pretty quick considering it’ll hopefully have a long-lasting effect on my parent’s everyday routines.

We have before and after photos of the entire house.

The appliances alone cost $30,000.

This homeowner built her own cabinets!

The counters now look like marble!

The after definitely packs a lot of personality!

The homeowner used shiplap in the smartest way!

The kitchen feels so much bigger now.

There's even a smart idea for dealing with ugly pipes that you can't move!

The countertop transformation!

Everything looks so different!

It looks so fancy now!

This kitchen looks like it cost SO much more.

They kept those original lights! And they look great!

The kitchen is SO GOOD.

It was exactly what the couple had been looking for: a "version of our grandparents' houses."

There's a cool cabinet JUST for the KitchenAid stand mixer!

This RV kitchen is seriously making us want to buy a tiny home and head out on the road.

Bye bye, ugly wallpaper, grimy carpet, and dated everything! Such a satisfying transformation.

The after shot is a million times better!

It is hard to believe all these changes were made in a rental.

And it's a rental, to boot!

Our sister site, Apartment Therapy, boasts more than its fair share of gorgeous, quirky, and otherwise inspiring House Tours — but what we really love to see are the kitchen makeovers! From hard-to-believe-it’s-only-paint jobs, to full-on renovations, to the tricks homeowners use to make their old space work for their needs (and within their budgets), we’re always inspired by these stylish and savvy homeowners.

This kitchen is great on paper — granite countertops! Stainless steel appliances! — but in reality, it didn’t suit the homeowner at all. In just weeks, the kitchen went from black, tan, yellow, and brown to, well, you’ll just have to see! We see so many all-white renovations — which I always love, to commenters’ chagrin — so it’s fun to see a room that’s been redone in bright white and a fun color. Look at how bright the space is now!

In the hunt for the perfect apartment — one that’s located where you want and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg — you sometimes have to make sacrifices. For Kimberly’s search in Philadelphia, she was willing to settle for a small “kitchen” because she doesn’t cook all that often. But she wasn’t going to settle on it being boring and beige.

Marble is as pricey as it is gorgeous, but there’s no real substitute for it, right? If you want the look of marble, you’ll just have to save up forever, or make do with something totally temporary like … contact paper, I guess? Prepare to have your mind blown. Lovely! It must be a clever laminate, or stone faux marble, you’d guess? Wrong! Reader Megan Neugebauer created these stunning counters out of thin air, witchcraft, and something called Stone Coat Countertops.

Elizabeth lives with her husband and 3-year-old daughter in a 1923 California bungalow that came with orange kitchen cabinets, bumpy yellow walls, and splintering wood floors. “Our kitchen remodel was long overdue,” she tells us. Take a look at how they updated it — it’s a good one! So much better! Here’s what Elizabeth tells us about the renovation: Our kitchen remodel was long overdue.

If there’s one thing we all know for sure when it comes to updating a kitchen, it’s that a little bit of paint goes a long way. Specifically, crisp white paint. While some of the kitchens you may be pinning or gawking at on Insta may be all shades of, say, greens and blues, white kitchens are bright, cheery, clean, and oh-so-timeless.

We just received this simply lovely budget kitchen makeover from reader Leea in central Mexico. She has a rental kitchen, so she couldn’t change much, and yet she made a stunning difference — on a budget too! Read on for dramatic before and after photos, as well as Leea’s budget makeover tips for rental kitchens.Kitchen location: Central MexicoRent or own? RentTotal cost of makeover: $150 Leea says: The kitchen was dark and depressing, not to mention cumbersome.

We love a good budget remodel, and that’s exactly what Kaitlin and her husband sent us. The newlyweds bought their home about a month after they tied the knot and, like many of our readers, the first project they tackled was the kitchen and the attached breakfast nook. Check out how they took it from dark and drab to bright and clean without spending more than $200. The biggest change to the space is obviously the paint job on the cabinets.

Richard and Lili have been living in the second floor apartment of their Montreal duplex for about six months, and one of their biggest projects was tackling a kitchen that was in desperate need of some modern touches. They write that the whole apartment needed some TLC, but that the kitchen called for some smart updates to maximize put the small space to the best use. We definitely think their stellar remodel achieved that goal.

Like many new homeowners, the only concern Sarah of Little House Pantry had about her new home, a 1916 bungalow in Seattle, was the kitchen. It had been the victim of a remodel in the 1970s, and wasn’t quite Sarah’s style. A few quick upgrades gave Sarah’s kitchen a fresh new look and feel. While there wasn’t any major renovation — the cabinets are all the same, as are the appliances and the flooring — the kitchen has shed its aura of 1970s remodel.

When we recently spotted this DIY kitchen renovation by Ashley, the blogger behind Cherished Bliss, on Hometalk, we couldn’t believe our eyes. The room underwent a dramatic transformation, thanks to a DIY cabinet upgrade that saved Ashley and her family a lot of money. Take a look at Ashley’s farmhouse kitchen makeover. What an update! We love how bright and cheerful this kitchen is now. And the cabinet makeover is a big part of it.

After 10 years of living in their house, Cristina decided it was time for a change in the kitchen, which she documented on her blog, Remodelando la Casa. An avid DIY-er (with a somewhat reluctant husband), Cristina decided to tackle the upgrade on her own. Her goal was to give the space a fresher, more contemporary look and feel. Mission accomplished! Take a look at Cristina’s kitchen now. Can you believe this was all DIY?

Today’s kitchen remodel comes to us from Joel. After moving into their new home, Joel and his wife immediately knew they wanted to redo the kitchen. While it had plenty of space, it didn’t fit the layout they wanted. Plus, it was too dark with too much laminate and some funky cabinet doors. Because Joel had worked on other remodeling projects in previous homes, he decided to take on the bulk of the work himself. Take a look at what Joel’s kitchen looks like now.

Petra and her husband, Patrick, bought their condo in 2012, knowing they had their work cut out for them. The kitchen in particular needed a major update. The couple knew they wanted to stay true to maintain the light in their top-floor condo without disrupting the character of the 1920s home. Take a look at what their condo kitchen looks like now. This kitchen might be in the running for our most-improved list of 2015.

When Karen and John moved into an Eichler home (a mid-century modern home in California built by real estate developer Joseph Eichler), they found a kitchen that had been overlaid with more traditional architecture instead of maintaining the mid-century look. Karen and John set out to update the kitchen and restore it to a more era-appropriate style. Take a look at how it turned out. Now that looks more like it!

When Christina, of the blog Christina’s Adventures, wrote in to us about her kitchen remodel in a 1902 Victorian home, she called the before kitchen a “pit of despair.” While it might not be quite that desperate, we do agree it was in need of a serious makeover. Fortunately, Christina and her husband are old pros at kitchen remodels after completing their first remodel in 2014. Take a look at how the kitchen looks now.

When we first came across Debbie’s kitchen, we thought it looked pretty good for a before kitchen. Yes, the border at the top and the diamond tile backsplash felt a little dated, but there was plenty of counter and cabinet space, and the double oven was an excellent detail. But once we saw the renovation (and learned that Debbie’s husband kept accidentally bumping his head into the vent), we realized just what a good idea this remodel was. Talk about a kitchen shuffle!

It seems to me that I’m always one or two steps behind my peers in the general scheme of things. My friends have beautiful homes with expansive kitchens and adorable children and handsome, hard-working husbands, and I’m over here in my tiny house that I rent, single, and I can’t even keep a plant alive.

Here's how one California couple transformed their "dark and ruddy" kitchen into the bright and airy space of their dreams.

When Kitchn reader Linn emailed us photos of her bungalow kitchen makeover, we immediately wanted to know more. Before the renovation, this 90-square-foot kitchen was “very green,” as she tells us, with mint green linoleum, walls, and ceiling — perfect for the 1940s perhaps, but not so great for the 21st century. To save on costs, Linn and her husband did the remodel themselves, and on a very tight budget: Beautiful, and impressive!