Before & After: Striking Green Cabinets (and Pink Tiles!) Add Instant Drama to a Dated “Awkward” Kitchen
When illustrator Salma Chatto moved into her four-bedroom home in Billingham, U.K., the kitchen had an “awkward” layout. There was a utility room, which, at first glance, might’ve seemed beneficial because of extra storage, but for Chatto, it felt “odd in the space.” The room also wasn’t connected to the playroom, so it was hard for her to watch her two kids while cooking. She had big plans for what she wanted to do to the space.
“I wanted to take the wall down to open it up,” Chatto says. “I then wanted to make the whole back of the house one big open space, so the playroom was connected to the kitchen and, therefore, connected to the garden more.”
The first step of the renovation was demolishing the existing kitchen. Chatto worked with a team to gut the kitchen and playroom (removing the utility wall!), and built an opening between the two spaces for flow — but it was mostly DIY projects from there on out. A new IKEA unit was moved to where the utility wall originally was, and they added a DIY kitchen island (which sometimes doubles as a dining area!).
During the renovation, Chatto made a somewhat controversial decision: She decided against upper kitchen cabinets. “I’ve never liked upper cabinets. I think they block light, they are bulky, and a lot of the upper storage I can’t get to as a 5’2” person, so those shelves were obsolete to me,” she shares. “I love open shelving, and I think if you display it correctly and have a system that other people can follow, it’s really easy to keep tidy.”
Chatto has become a pro at organizing her open shelving — she has high-use sections next to low-traffic ones (think: plants, ornaments, cookbooks, trays, and artwork), and the separation helps her keep each space contained and tidy. “I have everything I need up there and it looks pretty,” she says.
But it wasn’t just the disjointed layout and cabinets that needed fixing; she wanted the kitchen to look more modern. “I love green and pink kitchens; I think that color combination is beautiful,” she explains. “So, that’s where I started, but I also needed to pick colors that complemented the playroom, with it being one big space now.”
The existing cabinets and new IKEA unit were painted in Rust-Oleum’s “All Green” while the walls got a coat of Dulux’s “Mellow Mocha.” To add a bright pop of color in the center of the room, Lick’s “Pink 10” was added to the kitchen island. The pops of color didn’t stop there, though — a pink backsplash complements the soft hues in the room and two-toned flooring (using Amstel anthracite and Amstel gray tiles) adds a retro vibe.
Lastly, the family changed the lighting, and Chatto’s father-in-law hung a set of new pendants above the kitchen island. Upcycled furniture was added to the room to complete the kitchen. She calls the space “definitely modern but eclectic.”
It took around four months and $10,000 or around £8,000 (which includes labor and new appliances) to complete the kitchen renovation, and it instantly became one of the most loved rooms in the house. “It’s the hub of the home, connects to the playroom and garden, and I love how colorful it is,” Chatto says. If you’d like to see more of this vibrant space, visit the full home tour on Apartment Therapy.