How to Update a Kitchen Without Renovating

If you’re tired of the way your kitchen feels and looks you can do a few updates to improve your kitchen. Here are some little things you can do to update your kitchen without renovating it. If you’ve got a small kitchen budget let me show you how to update a kitchen on a budget.

We don’t all have the money to update our kitchen to the kitchen of our dreams. However, there are some really inexpensive things you can do to update a kitchen.

In this post, I’m going to share a few things that I have done to update our kitchen on a shoestring budget. These projects are easy to do and pretty inexpensive.

Other ways to improve your home

How to Update a Kitchen

If you don’t have the time or the budget to tear out cabinets, replace countertops, or other expensive renovation projects how about doing an update to your kitchen.

I’m going to cover simple and inexpensive projects you can do to update a kitchen.

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Update the lighting

Lighting is important in all areas of the home, but especially the kitchen. If you can get it right, you’ll be able to create an enjoyable, inviting ambiance that makes spending time in the kitchen all the more enjoyable.

Adding under cabinet lighting is an inexpensive and rewarding addition to any kitchen. If you’ve got a really tight budget this is a great bang for your buck.

Updating overhead lighting a kitchen doesn’t have to cost a lot. There are many options to choose from depending on your budget. If you have a little bit more to spend adding recessed lighting to a kitchen will really update your room. Below are some of my favorite options.

Switch Out Hardware

Switching out the hardware on your cabinets and drawers can quickly update your kitchen for cheap. There are so many options out there that come in all different price points. The first one below is the hardware I used to update our kitchen:

Paint the Cabinets

New cabinets are expensive. If you’ve got old dark wood cabinets that show their age painting the kitchen cabinets is an inexpensive way to transform your kitchen. Believe me, your kitchen won’t look the same when you paint the cabinets.

Add in Shelves

I recently added open shelves to our kitchen to add more storage to our kitchen. This was one of the least expensive project I did in our kitchen that gave us the biggest reward.

I used plywood and sturdy wall brackets for the shelves and then attached pretty finishing wood to the front to cover they plywood so no one will know (don’t tell anyone).

Related: DIY Open Kitchen Shelves

Cover Counters

In a perfect world I’d replace our counters but for now, I can’t. What better way to hide those unsightly counters than cover them!

If you’ve got some unsightly areas of your counters adding an over sized cutting board or a slab of marble will work wonders!

Update the Back Splash

Adding or updating the back splash will give your kitchen an update for sure. Using peel and stick tiles is an inexpensive way to transform your kitchen. You can really modernize your kitchen with this simple project.

They’ve come a long way with peel and stick tiles and you can do this project in a day or less.

Organize Your Cabinets

Sometimes you’re wanting to update your kitchen because there just isn’t enough space for your stuff. Giving your kitchen a good cleaning and reorganize will work wonders. This is actually a zero cost update you can do in stages if organizing overwhelms you.

Accessorize

If you scroll through Pinterest and or Instagram with complete envy with all those amazing kitchen, adding a few accessories will help you update your kitchen on a budget.

Adding a plant or two, a few fun cutting boards, or even a 3 tiered stand will do a lot for the way your kitchen looks. Here are a few accessories I’ve added to my kitchen