It’s a perfectly natural feeling to take a look at a corner of your house and imagine the ways in which you could make it better.
When it comes to where we live, improvement is a form of affection, and few places are as deserving of love as the kitchen.
Now, that doesn’t mean everyone can deal with kitchen upgrade costs, especially when good kitchen accessories cost so much our days, so we have compiled a list of budget kitchen enhancement that you can do yourself using essential tools for home!
LED Light Strips
One of the best ways of giving your kitchen an upgrade is to add some atmospheric lighting using LED light strips. Not only are LED light strips are very cheap, but they also consume very little energy, saving you money both in the long- and short-term. If you are wary of them damaging your counter or table, don’t, as they emit no heat!
You can use LED grow lights for indoor plants to place a kitchen garden.
Indeed, lighting plays a massive part in making your kitchen feel like one. This is not just an aesthetic change, either, as when you are cooking or washing the dishes, LED light strips to allow you to have direct illumination over what you are doing. LED light strips are also extremely versatile, seeing as you can cut and bend them to fit any nook and cranny of your kitchen.
Repainting Cabinets
Of course, the kitchen upgrade that you envisioned might be more radical than mere lighting tricks, but that still doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune on kitchen renovations!
Sometimes, the simpler solution is the best. Instead of going furniture hunting, why not just give a new face to what you already have?
That is to say if your cabinets and cupboards are a bit on the older side, and stains and cracks are starting to make their appearance on their surfaces, chances are you might have already been googling “how to upgrade kitchen cabinets”!
A kitchen cabinets upgrade can represent a radical change to your kitchen’s overall ambiance. Darker tones like black and blue can make your kitchen look more sophisticated and professional, while brighter colors like yellow and red can give it more of a homely feeling. The best part is that you can likely repaint all your cabinets in one go, and all you need is paint, paintbrushes and a few sheets of sandpaper to do so. Throwing the price of everything together doesn’t add up to over one hundred dollars, so it’s a bargain of both time and money – and it comes with immediate benefits, too.
Blackboard Fridge
Another significant DIY kitchen update is to turn your old and battered fridge into a chalkboard for writing little notes, or just give your children something to do while you cook. This can be achieved through a special type of paint that has the same properties as a blackboard. You can buy a bucket of it for cheap online, and the only individual step for applying it is to clean your fridge first, then use it and wait for it to dry. Once it’s done, it will be one of your kitchen’s most fun features for a shockingly low cost!
Imagine being able to leave a caring message for your significant other, or a reminder for your children to do their homework. A chalkboard fridge helps you leave little details that will make your house an actual home.
New Outlet Plates
Among all kitchen upgrade ideas, few are as unjustly overlooked as outlet plates, the small plaques of plastic or metal that protect your power interrupters. After all, beauty lies in the details, and adding new and good-looking outlet plates adds up to the overall feeling of a room. When it comes to buying a set, it all depends on what you may be looking for, as there is a vast variety of models. You can go for a simple and more elegant model with smooth edges of white plastic, or something more luxurious with arabesque details and gold plating.
Whichever you choose, your new outlet plates will likely be very cheap, while it will not take you more than a few minutes to install them. If you want to save even more money, you can always redecorate the plates you already have with either paint or unique stickers. Just remember to take safety precautions and switch off your electricity before installing them to avoid getting electrocuted.
Plate Wall
If you have a collection of decorative plates lying around without getting much attention, why not display them on your wall?
A plate wall is not only a stylish kitchen upgrade, but it’s also one of the cheapest decorative elements you could possibly add to your kitchen. All it takes are some paper clips, a seriously strong craft glue, like E-6000, and, of course, some nice looking plates. What you want to do is use the glue to apply the paperclips to the back of the plates, then put some nails on the wall to sustain the plates. The exact layout of the plates is up to you! You can distribute them at random, or according to some arbitrary order of your choice. Don’t forget: self-expression is the key.
The result is a beautiful display on your wall that can be easily combined with plate art to create that sweet feeling of being at home.
Conclusion
The recipe for an amazing kitchen upgrade consists of having the right materials, a good amount of will, and some good old-fashioned elbow grease.
Now, having read this article to the very end, you have already gotten some fresh remodeling ideas, so, now, all you need to do is gather the appropriate tools and fixtures you may need.
About the author
Archie was a builder for more than 40 years. Mainly after his retirement the enthusiastic electrical works in garden and writes for a blog Homemakerguide.com to keep himself occupied. His many years of experience can get you the right tool reviews whether it is a drill, welding machine or so. An impressive fact to note about him is that almost everything in his house is a representation of his skills made by his hands.