I'm first :) I have this one in my fav kitchen colors. I tagged it in my ideabook. I painted my upper cabinets antique white. bought 4 door frames and installed glass to later light up the cabinets. Replacing the lower cabinets with Walnut, adding 2 cabinets to the ends of the islands for more storage, adding a corner diagonal wall cabinet at the end of a run so that when we add a cabinet on the lower base, the ends of the wall and base will match up. Bought 3 new ceiling lights, painted the kitchen, and just last night picked up a practically new over the oven microwave from a local couple that is replacing with all SS. Their color MW matched the rest of my appliances :)

In fact, it was this kitchen you posted that is giving me an idea to cover the seats of my stools by my island.

This kitchen was also my inspiration to install some beadboard under one of my cabinets that is off by itself, and the back side of my center island.

here is the other inspiration that is leading us to add a cabinet a bit higher on one side of my island. [houzz=] Looks like the kitchen is probably located no more than 1 hour from where we live :D

oops lol. I missed the 5 min part :) not much can be done in 5 mins, even painting a wall or deciding on a new curtain takes longer than 5 mins.

Change out the colour of tea towels and oven mitts if on display. When I do that I make the change at night when no longer in the kitchen. Then in the morning I smile when I see my new colour.

Add fresh greenery and flowers, then spray perfume on fabrics, like cushion covers etc.
Does wonders!

Towels, oven mitts, matching bowl for toms and onions, place mats, chair cushions......farmhouse modern kitchen. $80 and maybe ten minutes. Love it!

I put three simple glas vases (ikea) on my counter top and fill them with season fruits, vegs or natural things from the wood such as pine cones. Exmp. One filled with lemons, one with green apples and one with oranges looks fab, fresh, takes five minutes and the costs are low!

Just like that...

* Keep things clean and organized
* Change bar stools
* Keep flowers, plants and art objects
* Experiment with lights
* Add some colour

dlyher
I wish I could talk you out of that raised cabinet at the end of the island. I really do. I battled with clients over this ten years ago. They finally removed it just a month ago. Just yesterday they said to me " UGH what were we thinking!!? We should have listened. Everyone wanted to stand/sit there and couldn't, this looks soooooo much more open without it, and we love having the additional counter space. Every guest at Christmas said....'Your kitchen looks bigger...why?" That's why.

I agree with jan. The end cabinet on the island breaks up the look of the kitchen and will limit conversation around the island.

I trade out displayed items, like my collection of cookie jars. I removed the doors on little used upper cabinets, papered the inside walls, and use those hard-to-reach shelves for my displays. (Above the range hood, refrigerator, cabinet tops.)

Five minutes isn't much! I'd use them to wipe down the counters, clean out the sink (dishes into the dishwasher, empty catfood pouches into the recycling bin ...), and to thoroughly clean the sink with soft scrub. Tidying up and cleaning always have an instant positive impact.

Considering that your kitchen is clean already and you have a guest coming in 5 minutes, put a clean towel, put a clean runner on the table, light candles and get some orange peels from your freezer, cinnamon stick and water and boil on the stove, 5 minutes later it will smell wonderful. (I save orange, lemon or tangerine peels or I slice the citrus fruits when they are not to pretty to eat and freeze them).

It is a gather round kitchen with plenty of helpers. Changing knobs, painting and adding the touch of an Antique Light would make a difference.

Clean off the counters. That usually helps a bunch to freshen up my kitchen.

Kitchen

Change out accessories and install new cabinet pulls for a quick update...

Before and after Basment kitchen

Well it didn't take 5 minutes to BUILD but we bought and semi-customised a Harbor Freight wood workbench for our new kitchen island--replaces an old bi-level cabinet that was being used not very successfully for storage. At 20x60" it is not as deep as most---which we needed!---and long enough to mirror the existing few cabinets. Now THAT will make a HUGE difference!

If you do this---sand off the finish on the bench top and drawer faces and re-do with poly. Made a HUGE difference in looks and smoothness and will hold up better. Get a dowel and plug up the bench holes before you do that---and a late thought was to stain the ends of the dowels. Looks nice as is but stain would have been killer. Glue all joints after test fit. You don't need to install the wood vise---unless you want to!!!!--install a towel rack or something there instead. And we added a small piece of carved molding to the upper rear edge so things won't get pushed off the top. The drawers are lined in felt already!

The only thing we are going to change is we might swap in full extension drawer slides---we modified them to open further but full or almost full would be better--we are not going to store 100 pounds of wrenches in these so they don't need to not come out all the way to avoid breaking them. You can also add castors to it altho we did not for now.

Just finished it today---can't wait to actually bring it in to kitchen!

I had several phalaenopsis orchids in the bay window above the sink. We had some work done in the kitchen - not a gut job but we replaced some cabinets, refaced others, put in a new countertop and backsplash, and of course new hardware, etc. The orchids were looking sad so I tossed all but one little one that somehow had survived relatively unscathed. I was given another at Christmas and I love how clean the look is now! Just two orchids, not cluttered, it seems to just look so fresh now.

You can easily add bun feet under the cabinets in the toe kick area. It only takes a few feet to make a cabinet look like a piece of furniture. You can accent the sink area, stove (if there is a toe kick in that area or the ends and then the entire string of cabinets looks like it is off the floor. Bun feet can be painted or stained to match the cabinets or a contrasting color to highlight them. There are many combinations. The photo is only a sampling of bun feet we carry. There is also the option of a ogee bracket foot. This elevates the cabinet look to the level of a piece of furniture.

Recently I bought a few new kitchen towels and new valances. I'm planning to buy new hardware for the cabinets too in the near future. I also agree with the other posters that decluttering is always good. Sprucing up a kitchen does not need to cost a fortune.

In 5 minutes: colorful fruit in a bowl &/or flowers in a pitcher cheers up the whole room . I should mention that my kitchen is quite small so a little change makes a big impact.

How about change the art work on the wall to quickly change the whole feel or style of the room. If no wall items change the rug or window treatment for a new look.

Clear off the workbenches of everything except coffee maker, one specimen plant in a cedar planter and the kettle. Polish the sink and taps. Having a clear surface makes the room look bigger, brighter, uncluttered.

We bought inexpensive pendant lights to hang over our large island from Lowe's that are easily interchangeable. So, for $12 each, we have red ones (Christmas/Valentines Day); glass light green (Easter/Spring), etc. When we change the lights, we change little things to that color (fruit bowl, towels, etc.)

Fresh baked goods and a new floral arrangement definitely helps keep things fresh and updated!

After ten years I needed SOMETHING new in the kitchen that didn't involve a contractor. Went to Home Depot on a typical homeowner errand and found new knobs. It took longer than 5 minutes to change them, but the kitchen really looks "new" to us!

I just put 3 new glass rectangular shades on my over the island pendants. It made me happy. Now I am on the hunt for a painter to paint my 5 year old maple stained cabinets white.

5 minutes? Hah.

In an hour: give it a thorough clean. As in all the counters, the fronts of the appliances, everything that died on the rangetop, the works... and make sure to get in front of the range, sink, fridge and major prep surface, the FLOOR where all the drips happen.

Then run a lemon and some icecubes down the disposer; get rid of 'disposer breath' . Put out new towels, clean potmitts, and new dishrag. If you truly only have five minutes, run the cleaning rag over all countertops and hit the major splashup drips on stuff and kill the disposer breath. Take out the trash (aka banish that smell).

In 5 mins I added a window valance for a whole new look.

I love this crisp look. Do you realize how often you could change the color of the window treatments & bar stools!!! You can add splash of colors in different seasons. We are thinking of building, and I think white is the way to go. It never goes out of style!!

5 minutes, free if you have a flower available. I cleared all the accumulated clutter into a box - 4 minutes [make decisions later about destination / keep / give away or donate / trash]. Then a 1 minute rummage through the cupboard, found an empty vanilla bottle, and popped in a bright red faux rose, a new focal point in my resuscitated 6 foot square kitchen.