7 Best Cheap Kitchen Makeover Ideas

Have you lived in your home for a while, and are just fed up with how your kitchen looks, and need a kitchen makeover ASAP?

Did you just buy a new (to you) house, but it’s got a kitchen from the previous decade (or century)?

This post is for you, my friend. We will give you seven of the best cheap kitchen makeover ideas to help you create a modern and contemporary space to cook, eat, and entertain.

By the end of this post, you will have 7 amazing design ideas to reface or replace most of your kitchen, while staying on a shoestring budget. Let’s get cookin’!

Paint the walls for a fast kitchen makeover

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This one seems like a no brainer, right? Well a lot of times you buy a home and the kitchen is just awful, and you just want to gut it. Before you pick up the sledgehammer – try picking up a paintbrush instead.

Paint can completely transform a space, taking it from dark and dingy to bright and light. Check out the paint transformation on our first kitchen makeover:

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Smaller kitchens especially can use light paint to make them seem larger – think white, grey, beige, or even a light green or aqua. Make sure you pick your whole house color scheme first so you don’t have every room a different color.

Paint the cabinets

This is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” cheap kitchen makeover ideas, especially if you do it yourself. New cabinets can run from $5k to $20k, but painting your kitchen cabinets yourself can cost as little as $200!

This one isn’t super quick if you DIY, but it’s certainly faster than a full down-to-the-studs remodel. I painted all my cabinets myself in less than a month in my “spare time.” End result below.

I used Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit in Espresso. The only thing I would change is the top coat (it was too sticky when I applied so was hard to get perfectly smooth), just use a different polyeurethane top coat and you should be set.

Rustoleum Cabinet paint held up great – we lived there 2 years after I painted the cabinets. It comes in several colors, from Espresso to White, click on the image below to take you to HomeDepot.com to check it out.

In terms of picking out a color, white is always timeless, and an off white would go with beige or warm wood floors.

Replace hardware

Hardware can make your kitchen feel WAY more modern, and it’s quick and easy to change. The easiest way is to find something that “fits” in the existing holes in your cabinets. So pulls and handles the same approximate shape as the existing ones.

Amazon has a HUGE selection of modern and affordable knobs, pulls, and handles. Here are a couple of my faves (the first is nearly identical to my own kitchen cabinet hardware, above):

Replace or reface the countertops

Old countertops can be ugly, let’s face it. There are a bunch of options to improve countertops for your kitchen makeover.

Option 1: Replace countertops and sink. You could DIY, but we decided to hire a local contractor for this job in our old place. We replaced old tile countertops with really affordable (but nice) laminate ones from Lowes: VT Dimensions Formica Lapidus Brown Laminate Kitchen Countertop. They replicated a granite countertop and looked great, this project was less than $1000.

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Option 2: Reface your countertops. You can do this by painting or applying a contact paper cover up. This will likely be more of a short term fix, so don’t expect it to last more than a couple of years. Don’t place anything hot on the countertops if you do this (get yourself a nice trivet).

Some modern light colored countertop painting kits from Home Depot (both highly rated):

Marble countertop contact paper from Amazon (affiliate link), with over 12,000 ratings and 4 stars (as of October 2020):

Update kitchen lighting

A lot of kitchens have lighting that makes them look dated. Luckily, this is an easy fix, especially if you just replace versus reconfigure. Lighting is an easy and cheap kitchen makeover idea, especially if you buy an inexpensive option.

Our old kitchen had one of these babies in the dining area:

We actually replaced this vintage beauty with an LED track lighting fixture for less than $50, similar to this one from Amazon: Modern LED Track Lighting Kit. What a dramatic change right?

The key to updating lighting is to find something with a similar base to the existing fixture. That tends to be easy to swap out yourself. Anything else, like installing recessed lights, may require hiring an electrician.

Pendant lights can be swapped out too, if you have them. Here are a few of my favorite affordable and modern pendant lights from Amazon. Each is around $50 or less:

Update backsplash

Add or replace tile backsplash

Oh backsplash, how do I love thee? A lot of older homes don’t have any backsplash at all, so adding one is pretty easy, and you can DIY if you keep it to a simple tile pattern or mosaic.

For our kitchen makeover below, we ripped out the cabinet and small hood above the stove, and replaced it with a modern vent hood. Then, we put up a mosaic tile backsplash ourselves, all the way to the ceiling.

This DIY backsplash project was really easy, we didn’t even use a tile saw since the tiles were very small. I suggest sticking with a mosaic or an easy pattern if it’s your first time, something like a herringbone pattern can be tricky to do yourself. Our new backsplash created a nice focal point for our cheap kitchen makeover and was less than $200.

Reface backsplash

Another even easier way to add a backsplash is to use peel and stick backsplash. This is basically like a sticker that you can put up over existing tile or your wall. No grout or mortar needed!

Here are a few modern and contemporary peel and stick backsplash options to inspire you. These may seem expensive, but if you do it yourself, vs hiring a tile installer, it ends up being less expensive (and much faster).

A final option is to use tile paint to actually paint the existing tile backsplash. This takes a little more skill but can pay off big time in terms of savings.

Update appliances for your kitchen makeover

OK, so this one’s not “cheap” if you want to replace all your appliances with top of the line, super fancy appliances. But, updated appliances can completely transform a kitchen without doing anything else.

Replace appliances

A decent set of a refrigerator, dishwasher and range can run you around $2500-$4000 if you buy on sale (most big box stores put appliances on sale at almost every major holiday). This is way less than a full remodel of your kitchen (which could be $15k – $45k).

A lot of places like Lowes and Home Depot have financing deals at 0% interest (if you have good credit) for a year or more. Financing is a good option so you don’t have to take a bunch of cash out of your pocket all up front, you can pay it off over time.

Reface appliances

OK, so this one is super thrifty, but there is actually stainless steel appliances stickers. $10 on Amazon, and with over 1300 reviews with 4 stars, it can’t hurt to try?

Wrap up of cheap kitchen makeover ideas

Ok, that was fast and furious but now you have the best cheap kitchen makeover ideas to reface and replace your kitchen while taking it easy on your bank account. We covered everything from walls, to cabinets, and countertops. Then we gave ideas to refresh lighting, backsplash, and appliances.

These ideas will give you the most bang for your buck if you are trying to go from dated, neglected, kitchen, to a contemporary heart of your home. If you need help on the design side, for picking out finishes and colors, check out my post: How to Design a Room (for Beginners).

Which idea do you think would make the biggest difference in your home? Leave a comment below, I’d love to know.