This $1,450 Kitchen Makeover Majorly Upgrades “Too Brown” Cabinets

Sarah Everett
·4 min read
Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets and blue tiling
Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets and blue tiling
Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets and blue tiling
Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets and blue tiling
Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets
Kitchen amid renovation with light salmon cabinets and patterned floor tiling
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets and blue tiling
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets, blue tiling backsplash and patterned floor tiling
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets, blue tiling backsplash and patterned floor tiling
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets, blue tiling backsplash and patterned floor tiling

ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER

HOME TYPE: House

PROJECT TYPE: Kitchen

SKILL LEVEL: DIY

RENTAL FRIENDLY: No

It’s important for a kitchen to function effectively; after all, it’s a space you use every day. You don’t want to be bumping into things or unable to find things. Luke Lusk (@twolinedesign) and his parents recently tackled a renovation project in his kitchen to make things more functional.

Luke didn’t like that the placement of the fridge made the kitchen feel crowded, and an unnecessary doorway made half the square footage of the kitchen feel unusable.

Aesthetically, he “didn’t mind a lot of the elements, including the backsplash tile, the white quartz countertops, and the floor tile,” he says, “but the cabinet color was too dark and sucked up all the light.”

Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets and blue tiling

First, the cabinets got a coat of paint.

The kitchen makeover happened in two phases. First, Luke painted the cabinets a “vintage salmon” color, as he describes it (Behr’s Iced Copper). “I think the hardest part was picking the cabinet paint color!” he says. “I really like light and bright and colorful kitchens. The dark cabinets were new, so I didn’t want to rip them out.”

Luke’s best cabinet painting advice is: “Don’t buy the cheap paint!” He spent about $225 on this portion of the project.

Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets, blue tiling backsplash and patterned floor tiling
Home owner working on kitchen amid renovation with light salmon cabinets and patterned floor tiling
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets and blue tiling and shelves

The fridge moved, and the space became more efficient.

Also in phase one was sealing up the old doorway — you can see what’s on the other side of that doorway here — and relocating the fridge to that spot. Luke’s dad, Eric, helped him with that part.

“I’ve never moved a water line,” Luke says. “My dad did most of it, but it was a lot of work figuring out how to run it to the new location.” This step cost about $100 for the wood, drywall, and repair.

Kitchen before renovation with dark brown cabinets
White cabinet installed with new teal countertop
Renovated kitchen with light salmon cabinets, blue tiling backsplash and patterned floor tiling

Added vintage cabinets incorporate more storage.

Lastly, Luke shopped for additional cabinetry to go where the fridge once was and to go on the wall where the fridge is now located. He found the perfect vintage cabinets from an estate sale and painted them in Behr’s Iced Copper (for the fridge wall) and Venus Teal (for the accent wall).

Above the fridge wall, he added floating shelves overhead (painted the same teal) to create a coffee bar setup. Luke’s vintage cabinet finds and countertops for them cost about $1,100.

In total, his kitchen makeover cost about $1,425. “I’m so proud of the vintage-mod style of the kitchen,” Luke says. “More than that, the functionality improved: There’s better flow, more counter space, and a less-cramped feeling.”

Inspired? Submit your own project here.

Further Reading

We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Ashley — Here Are the Best to Suit Your Style and Space

We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need

See How a Stager Used Paint to Transform a 1950s Living Room

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