New Kitchens

Does your kitchen have outdated features? Here are some of the most common features of outdated kitchens, along with some cost-conscious solutions to get a high-end look on a low-end budget.

1. Dirty, dingy walls date a kitchen like nothing else. Give your walls a fresh coat of paint and choose a colour that will pull it all together.

Paint is cheap and the walls are generally confined to smaller areas above, between and next to the cabinets. You’ll have to mask off cabinets and countertops with painter’s tape and sheets of plastic so drips and painting mistakes won’t be an issue. Use washable paint in a satin or semi-gloss finish.

Don’t let your kitchen linger in the ‘50’s!

2. Those super-cheap fluorescent light boxes have got to go-you deserve better light and more style. Remove the light box and repair any holes in the ceiling, repainting if needed. Install track lighting with enough fixture heads so you can light each work surface from above.

3. Older kitchens generally have long streches of boxy wall cabinets. Buying new cabinets can be a budget buster, so vary the look of your existing cabinets to add more interest to your kitchen. Select one upper cabinet with doors, remove the doors and pop out or cut out the central panel insert. If there is no central insert in your doors, cut out a center portion, leaving a three to four inch frame around the edges. Sand, then paint or stain the cut edges if needed, or finish bare edges with strips of molding. Take the doors to a glass store where they can cut and fit glass and insert it into the center of each door.

4. Many older kitchens lack storage space. One of the best way to remedy this is to add a kitchen island. You can purchase a ready-made island if you can find one that will fit your kitchen’s dimensions, or build your own.

Great kitchens sell houses!

5. Give your cabinets an instant face-lift with new handles and knobs. You should be able to find replacement hardware to fit into the same openings, so take an old handle with you or draw a template using a piece of paper and a punch.

6. Dusty cafe curtains, broken metal mini-blinds or frou frou valances should be retired permanently. Remove the offending outdated window fashions and fill any holes left in the wall or woodwork from the hardware. Replace with sleek wood blinds, stylish shutters or Roman shades.

You can have a whole new kitchen by making these few inexpensive changes! So what are you waiting for?

Source: New Home Showcase, Sept. 3 2006