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Guest Post: Kitchen Update Tips for Any Budget

Shane Inman is an interior designer located in New York,  New York. Today, he’s sharing his tips to help you update your kitchen with any budget.

shane25If your kitchen is in need of an update, it’s well worth the time, trouble and money to spruce it up. A full kitchen renovation can of course be very costly, depending on one’s taste and the extent of updating necessary. But even if you don’t have the budget to gut the entire room and start from scratch, there are many cost-effective ways to make it more pleasant for you as well as more desirable to others.

Paint cabinets. Your cabinets are the most expensive item in your kitchen to replace. If your cabinets are in relatively good shape – meaning that the interior shelves are still holding up and the doors are not falling off – you can paint them. To end up with a great paint job, you must remove all hardware (hinges and door handles), give the cabinets a good cleaning with a degreaser, and prime them. Then, finally, you are ready for paint.

shane24Replace hardware. Updating your hinges and hardware is a very easy way to update your kitchen. But remember this rule: use materials that have the same dimensions as what you had previously. Should you want to go from a pull to a knob, you will need to fill the screw holes, sand and paint the cabinets before installing the new hardware.

Update backsplash. If there is currently nothing but paint on your backsplash, adding tile will give your kitchen a much more finished look. Put up your favorite color to accentuate your style. Using the smallest possible grout line and placing the tile on the diagonal will help you achieve a more custom look.

Flooring. Replacing your flooring with a material that is more up-to-date will single-handedly transform your current kitchen from old to brand new! Tile is always more practical than linoleum and more resistant to wear and tear. Porcelain tile is gaining in popularity over ceramic tile because of its through-body composition, which gives it superior durability and beauty. As with the backsplash, a diagonal layout and the smallest possible grout line will create a more special look – and will make a small kitchen appear larger. Smaller grout lines are also easier to keep clean.

shane21Remove cabinet doors. Taking an ordinary cabinet and removing the door(s) will allow you to have display space. Display cabinets are very popular for cookbooks and other items that you would enjoy seeing on an everyday basis rather than having tucked away behind closed doors.

Lighting. Installing under-cabinet lighting (task lighting) in your kitchen will help you see better while prepping food on your counter. In-cabinet lighting (accent lighting) will draw attention to attractive decorative items on the shelves (this only works with open cabinets or those with glass doors).

Paint walls. Applying a fresh coat of paint is the most inexpensive way to update any space. It is important to use one of the new paints specially formulated for kitchens and bathrooms so that you can wash and scrub the surfaces without causing damaging side effects over time.

shane23Organize. Less is more when it comes to countertops! More visible countertop linear footage will give the illusion of having more surface area than you actually do. Give your whole kitchen a once over and get rid of everything sitting on the countertop that you don’t use every day. It may be a hassle, but keeping your blender and toaster out of sight will actually make your kitchen appear cleaner and larger. Put as much as you can in your pantry. If you don’t have a pantry and think you have very limited cabinet space, you probably just need a good lesson in organizing.

And when it’s all done? You’ll feel like you’re in a new home – in fact, even if you were planning to put your house on the market, you may love your updated kitchen so much that you’ll decide to stay!

You might also like: Smart, Professional Organizing Ideas for Your Kitchen

Very helpful post, especially for homeowners who want to carry out kitchen updates without spending a fortune. Indeed, to make the most out of kitchen renovations, it is important that all the essentials are covered, including the time necessary for the installation. To know more, read about it at http://goo.gl/uDECqN.

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