The kitchen is without a doubt one of the most important rooms in your home. Even if you don’t love to cook and spend more time reheating food than cooking from scratch, it’s still a crucial part of your day-to-day life. The kitchen might be where you enjoy your morning coffee, cut important birthday cakes, or spend time with friends and family members. The kitchen is where you refuel and sustain your body, whatever form that sustenance takes. If, or when you have a family, the kitchen becomes even more critical, and many families describe it as the heart of their homes.
The kitchen is also a great space when it comes to showing off. When we visit someone else’s home, most of us are keen for a look in the kitchen, to see what gadgets they’ve got, have a snoop on how tidy they are, and check out their décor.
Unfortunately, as much as we might want a trendy and modern kitchen space, normal wear and tear mean that these well-loved rooms start to become tired and dated fairly quickly. The good news is you don’t need to commit to the time and expense of a full remodel to bring your kitchen up to date. There are plenty of small changes and improvements that you can make to turn your tired kitchen into a modern and sophisticated area, where you are keen to show off and spend time. Here’s a look at some of them.
Deep Clean
Our kitchens can quickly become dirty. The walls and cupboards can become yellow with grease, seals can become dirty, and fixtures and fittings can start to look worn. Even appliances can become dusty, greasy, or covered in mildew and grime. If yours is looking dull and worn, spend some time on a thorough deep clean before you assume the worst. You might find that just cleaning appliances, wiping down walls and cupboards, and resealing edges make a massive difference. Another great idea is cleaning the windows and frames to let in more natural light.
Add a Fresh Coat of Paint
If things are still looking duller than you’d like, a quick coat of paint on your main walls and the ceiling can brighten and refresh, even if it’s the same color as it was before.
Replace Doors and Handles
A fantastic way to really change the appearance of your kitchen without the expense of a remodel is replacing cupboard doors or sanding existing doors down and painting them a different color. If you want to make a bigger change, invest in new handles and knobs to replace the ones that came with your cupboards, drawers, and doors. To add some personality, shop around antique stores and charity shops for some retro or quirky options, and don’t be scared to mismatch.
Invest in Appliances
Large appliances like your dishwasher, fridge, and oven take up space in your kitchen and contribute to the décor. But they are expensive, and you won’t want to replace them until you need to. However, smaller appliances like kettles, toasters, and anything else that you keep out on your countertops are often overlooked.
If you want to add some personality, color, and sophistication to your worktops, these appliances are a great way to make an impression. Modern kettles from Fellow look fantastic and will certainly catch the eye on your countertops. Adding a Fellow kettle is an easy way to modernize without making any huge changes, and other designer homeware from SSENSE can easily add new life to a tired space too.
Include Houseplants
Houseplants are fantastic. They add color and style, they improve the air quality, and they can lift your mood. Adding easy-to-look-after plants in bold, colorful pots to your kitchen will cheer the space up, and make it look vastly different, without too much effort on your part.
Add Lighting Options
Under the cupboard lighting is cheap and easy to add, but it’s a very effective way to brighten your kitchen and draws attention to different areas. Lights inside your cupboards, lamps, and even visible string lights can also look good in kitchen spaces, especially if the room is large and you’d like to create a cozier atmosphere.
Fill Blank Spaces
If your kitchen is large, you might have big areas of empty wall space. Adding open shelving is a wonderful way to fill the space while giving yourself storage options for things like cookbooks, plants, and kitchenware. Having these items on display will also give you a chance to add color and personality to your décor.
Focus on Sustainability
If you want a truly modern kitchen, you should make the effort to focus on sustainability. Invest in reusable produce bags, bamboo cleaning products, and try your best to reduce any single-use products.
A full remodel is fantastic. But it’s expensive, it takes time, and it can make life difficult. Fortunately, there are some much easier and more convenient ways to revamp your space.