Alaskan kitchen stuck in 1994

12 years ago

I just moved into a house on a wonderful piece of property. Even though I only live ten minutes from where I work in a major hospital, I hear chickens and horses out of my window -- not to mention the moose and bears wandering the neighborhood.

I knew when I moved in that the kitchen was my least favorite part. The color of the cabinets with the dark backsplash gives the kitchen a very closed in feel. The fake brick wall has to go... Should I knock it out? Over the long haul I will put in larger windows and plan on extending the bar out as a large functional butcher block table to create a "modern cabin feel."

What can I do to spruce the kitchen up and give it more of a rustic personality in the short term? What can I do with the funky cabinets near the smaller bar? I'm hesitant to paint the cabinets but could be convinced!

Featured Answer

nwduck

12 years ago

If I were you, my first priority would be to improve the lighting in the kitchen area, like one large central disk shape that could throw as much light as possible. The spots above the bar could be upgraded, or do a central rail with light shaded pendants on it. I would ditch the dark backsplash, for sure, and maybe do a light tile with some feature tiles in a pattern pleasing to you. A friend of mine has some feature tiles that have an impressed needled evergreen shape, and some that are cones (almost like fossils). Even a lighter laminate top with some personality in the pattern would be easy to do. There are tons of great laminates out there now. I'd take out weird small bar, as it looks like the flooring goes underneath it, and do a cute painted prep cart on wheels with butcher block top in that area. Some ideas for the 4 cabinet fronts: chalkboard paint on the inside panel....add cork on the inside panel to make bulletin boards...decoupage 4 art posters into the panels (pretty easy to undo later). The faux-brick thing isn't THAT bad, but if it was painted a more stone-like color, not green (?), I think it might not bug you as much.

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Comments (11)

Tera Lambert
12 years ago
DO NOT PAINT your cabinets, you will regret it, and stripping cabinets is hard time consuming work. I'm doing that right now because I made the horrible mistake of painting ours white. They always look nasty. Your stain is light, you can easily go with a darker stain, or strip them and pick any color stain you like. I'm currently going rustic myself ( in Mississippi) and plan to use minwax verdigris on the bar, and possibly provincial or something else on the cabinets...
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rocketjcat
12 years ago
There are quite a few things you could do very cheaply to update the kitchen. I agree with duck that the first thing I would do is work on your lighting with a central ceiling fixture and pendants over the counter. Also install under cabinet lights if you don't already have them. I keep mine on during the day just for some extra sparkle against my backsplash. On that note, I would change the backsplash to a lighter subway type tile with a glossy finish (not stone) that will help bounce the light. Add cabinet hardware knobs and pulls. I would remove completely the little bar. Take the quarter round molding off the base and you should be able to tell if it was added over the floors. If so, just remove it. I don't see any faux brick, so I'm not sure where that is. I would not paint your cabinets. Save your money for a big redo in the future if you're still not 100% in love with the kitchen.
rocketjcat
12 years ago
^^ Oh, forgot to mention I would update the counter stools, maybe upholstered, maybe coordinating with a new backsplash and pendants. Your wooden ones match the cabinets that you don't like. Too much of the same color.
katherynepowers
Original Author
12 years ago
Wow! These are such good ideas. First priority is better lighting with some fun light fixtures. Then I will replace the bar chairs with something more angular and substantial, definitely a different shade of wood.

If you wanted to incorporate some open shelving --- where would you put it? Could I knock out the cabinets to the right for some substantial open shelving for colorful bowls and plates? Or would that look too chaotic?
rocketjcat
12 years ago
I might think about open shelving in place of the cabinets to the left of the window. They look very hard to access anyway, so shelves with decorative pottery that you only have to get down occasionally might be a good spot for them. I don't think it would be chaotic at all... You need to spice the place up a bit!
nwduck
12 years ago
You might consider just taking the doors/hinges off those two cabinets by the short bar. That would make a nice spot for pretty serving pieces, mugs, etc. You could do some painting in the interior that would then looked framed out (for example, paint the back and shelves a neutral color instead of the wood, or add some wallpaper to the backside of the cabinet.) If you can't take the bar out, maybe you could make that your "coffee" bar...move the coffee maker over there, add a bowl for keys, etc. Do mugs/etc. in the cabinets by it and a bulletin board/chalkboard for your family's "info" in between. I'd paint the one non-matching bar stool and move it over there to disguise the stuff plugged into the existing outlet.
Giovanna
12 years ago
Better light fixtures that provide more light will go a long way. The kitchen is fine the way it is DO NOT paint your cupboards.
DO add some counter lighting under the upper cabinets if you can, this will brighten your workspace.
katherynepowers
Original Author
10 years ago
katherynepowers
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is our updated kitchen about two years later. Because we didn't want to spend money on a entire remodel we chose to "freshen" the kitchen. Here's what we did. 1) pull out the corner lazy Susan upper cabinet and replace with a homemade shelf ($150) 2) rustoleum cabinet transformations ($90) 3) new light fixture from crate and barrel ($210) 4) new cabinet pulls ($120) 5) painted the back splash with white latex paint ($12).

Originally I envisioned having a rustic kitchen that fits in with our property, but this design emerged and lends itself much more to the house. I'm amazed and what we could do on a budget!
katherynepowers
Original Author
9 years ago
Here is our updated kitchen. The lighting made a huge difference and all of this was completed for less than 800 dollars.