Before & After: A “Too Brown” Kitchen Gets a $1,900 Upgrade

Sarah Everett
Sarah EverettAssistant Editor of Home Projects at Apartment Therapy
I organize the Before & After series and cover DIY and design. I joined AT in October 2020 as a production assistant. I have an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a BA in Journalism from Belmont University. Past editorial stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and local magazines in my hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
published Apr 10, 2022
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Wooden kitchen
Credit: Mariko Russell

Sometimes, it’s not until after you spend tons of time in a space that you have ideas for how to make it better — and until you can pinpoint exactly what’s wrong with it.

When Mariko Russell and her husband, Ernest, were using this 1980s mountain home primarily as a vacation home, they lived happily with the brown cabinets, floors, and counters. It wasn’t until they fully moved into the space and made it their permanent home base that they wanted to make a change.

Credit: Mariko Russell

“While we used the cabin as a vacation home, things didn’t bother us as much,” Mariko says. But when Mariko and Ernest have retired and live in the home full-time, they added several things to their to-change list: First, “the overall feel was too dark and not as peppy as we wanted,” Mariko says. The overhead light was dark and flickering, and the color scheme wasn’t helping matters.

“The kitchen was too brown for our taste,” Mariko says. “The oak cabinets were brown, faux-wood countertop was brown, the wallpaper was brown, and the floor was (and still is) brown. The problem was they were all in different hues of brown, which was not creating an integrated feeling.”

Credit: Mariko Russell

Second, the old sink setup wasn’t functional. As Mariko puts it, “it was shallow and beaten up.” One of her pet peeves was that the shallowness of the sink made it hard to wash large pots and pans.

Third, the kitchen didn’t have great ventilation. “The kitchen did not have a real vent where air really goes outside rather than circulating,” Mariko explains.

Fourth, it was majorly lacking in storage. “We did not have enough storage space for all the kitchen stuff plus the food,” she says.

Fifth, “to top everything off, there was no backsplash, just drywalls,” Mariko says. She and Ernest spent about six weeks and exactly $1,900 addressing everything on their wishlist. They hired a local plumber to help with installing a new sink, but everything else was DIY.

Credit: Mariko Russell

The couple raised their existing cabinets to allow for installing new brackets and open shelving below to help with their storage problem. Filling in the space above the cabinets so there was no gap between them and the ceiling made the whole setup look more custom. One hiccup during the process? One of the cabinets started to fall apart while they were raising it, so they re-glued some boards and added a reinforcement piece.

For a cosmetic upgrade, the couple also painted the upper cabinets white to give the room a brighter, cheerier feel. “We love the lighter and brighter feel more than anything else,” Mariko says. They painted the lower cabinets a sage-meets-mint green, and then they added new hardware.

“Do not cut corners when you paint cabinets,” Mariko advises. “Remove doors, remove hardware, do enough sanding, use primer, put at least two thin coats of paint, and give them a nice sufficient drying time between coats and before you put them back. Do not be impatient.”

Credit: Mariko Russell

You might have random cabinet doors strewn about your house for a while, but, she says, “give them time. You will not regret it.”

One other cabinetry and shelving tip to steal from Mariko and Ernest’s redo? They installed under-shelf battery-operated puck lights from Amazon to help make the space brighter. In addition to upgrading the cabinetry, Mariko and Ernest added a light above the sink, which required hardwiring through the wall, and they added a white subway tile backsplash.

Credit: Mariko Russell

To address the ventilation problem, they cut a hole that connects to outside above the stove and installed a new microwave that actually vents. And lastly, to modernize the window above think, they painted its frame dark charcoal gray and added a new honeycomb shade on the window.

Mariko says she and Ernest love the “newly refreshed feel” they created, and they’re proud that they addressed both function and style.

“The lighter and brighter feel, real vent, and more storage space makes us very happy,” she says.

This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: Before and After: A “Too Brown” Kitchen Gets a $1,900 Upgrade in Function AND Style