Transform Your Kitchen

Q: What are some common ways to improve a dark, faded or dreary kitchen?

A: Relieving your kitchen from a dark, faded or dreary look can be simple. Here are a few affordable tweaks.

Dark to Dazzling

Your dark kitchen might be a product of another generation or homeowner’s style and simply may just not fit your personality. No need to worry. Here are a few things you can do to brighten things up:

• Use large, neutral-colored ceramic tiles on the floor for airiness and a bright, clean look.
• Choose light colored cabinets in a style that matches your personality.
• Match your cabinets with a ceramic tiled backsplash.
• Use butcher-block countertops. 
• Accompany your rustic countertops with a farmhouse sink.
• Add an antique table and furbish with wicker baskets and barstools for a great finish!

Faded to Finesse

A well-loved kitchen can come with a decided disadvantage—faded walls, cabinets, flooring and more. In your renovation, you can turn faded furnishings to elegance with these quick finesse-building fixes:

• Introduce elegance with a marble backsplash.
• Consider a vintage sink and an antique faucet to match.
• Choose custom-built cabinets. Leave unpainted or choose a light color to accent your old-style fixtures. Think teak, bamboo or other light-colored woods if you won’t be painting the cabinetry for unique grain features.
• Leaf through magazines and browse your hardware stores for unique knobs.
• Choose a ceramic tile with a design, such as a diamond-lace design or other black-lined theme.

Dreary to Daring

Dreary kitchens not only don’t inspire the cook, but could bring down the tone and positive energy you want to keep in this nutrition and conversation-charged room! Take your dreary kitchen to daring levels and make a statement that will soon inspire your neighbors and friends to renovations of their own!

• Reinvent your kitchen with striking appliances. Think gas range stove, new microwave or a refrigerator with nifty storage solutions, the newest water/ice dispensing areas, etc.
• Have a granite bar installed or situated in a central location in the kitchen.
• Buttress your countertops with bright efficient cabinetry. If space is an issue, go for transparent or opaque glass doors. This will add dimension to your kitchen and allow you to showcase some of your dinnerware if you’d like to.
• Daring is enduring. Choose a wood floor that will endure with your home as it ages.  
• Don’t forget light fixtures! A unique and well-thought through lighting solution can really make your kitchen pop.

Whether you’re transforming your kitchen from the dark, faded or dreary, choosing one key piece—flooring, cabinetry or countertops, will always be a winning solution!