rivers300 I changed the island stools from high back to low profile stool that fit under the island, it feels like my kitchen doubled in size.

simps214 This is a lovely ideabook and right on time! I was just admiring some kitchen pictures wishing for a larger space when I saw it. Thanks :)

olldbobbi This is great! Kind of a 'love the one you're with' article. I am very lucky, I love my kitchen. It's old, the cabinets are a bit chewy in places, but they're sturdy and since I've painted them white they look great. I don't know if I have the perfect triangle but I have tons of storage and the layout works well for me. I do know I would never have the patience to go through an entire kitchen remodel, that's for sure!

midmodfan I am also very lucky because I love my kitchen. The island is parallel to a long wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, so I can look into the garden while preparing a meal or cleaning up.

But my first idea was: cleaning thoroughly! We did it once in our house in Florida (which is usually rented longterm). The kitchen is old, looked rather run down and dirty. After three days of disassembling, cleaning, scrubbing, oil-rubbing, painting and reassembling, the whole kitchen looked sparkling and fabulous.

Make the best of what you already have!

olldbobbi midmodfan, that's the truth. A good thorough cleaning job makes the world of difference. It's the best part of spring! Everything is new again and it all just sparkles.

Firm name I like white! Great ideas!

Amie Gillingham I finally removed the ugly, dated ivy wallpaper from our kitchen walls and painted them a warm ivory. It's amazing how much larger and more serene the space feels now!

Becky Harris This is very inspiring. Right now my kitchen nook is where I dump all of the stuff I don't have a place for and while it corrals it all it's rather depressing. Now you have me dreaming of a clean space, bench cushions and a Hicks pendant light.

olldbobbi Ahem, Becky, have you hung your shutters yet????

ikwewe I was just thinking about this. I do like my kitchen, but it came with one of those magnetic cooktops that requires iron based pans.There was a full set of 70s enamel cookware that looked brand new. After cooking just a few times with the big fry pan and one of the saucepans, I could see that white enamel ware and I were not going to be friends. I will donate the whole set to the ASPCA thrift store and get stainless steel. There will be more room in the cupboards!

cheals I love this article. We have been completely transforming our hideous kitchen for under $100.00!! It isn't the greatest kitchen but it is MUCH better than it was and I am very happy!
We took off the top laminate doors (refacing from 80's) to expose the original 1959 shelving. We still have to take the frame off of the front. For now we painted it a light color.
On the bottom cabinets I took off the doors, filled all the holes, sanded them all down and painted them Urbane Bronze (Sherwin Williams). When we reinstalled them we flipped them so that the arch was on the inside and the flat part was on the outside for a more modern look. We spray painted all of the hardware.
We will remove the laminate and linoleum flooring. Then we will paint a map of The Cuyahoga River on it (we're from Cleveland). One day we will put in slate...
We also removed huge down lighting. I couldn't even putt coffee pot on the counter before we did that. We also took off the laminate back splash. Maybe one day we can add tile. Maybe even a new light. For now, I am really proud of our hard work.
I think the toughest obstacle is going to be convincing my husband to let me paint the top shelves hot pink!!!!

midmodfan cheals, I love your 'new' kitchen! What a fabulous idea to reverse the doors.

I know it would be difficult to convince MY husband to paint something hot pink, but I'd do it anyway (when he's on a business trip ;-)). I think it will work very well in your kitchen.

olldroo Right now, I love my kitchen because it is totally falling apart and I have to get a totally new one - all modern, sparkling, practical and everything accessible. I can't wait and thanks to Houzz I have so many great ideas.

bdennison All this time inside in the cold weather makes me want to change things up. I have white cabs and a black island. I took the doors off the 15" cabs over the fridge and microwave, painted the interior gloss black and filled them with cookbooks and decor. They were useless spaces before and now I can astually put things there that I enjoy.

scootermom I have two kitchen idea books on Houzz so I long to do a bigger remodel. That said I took the month of January to clean out drawers, add some new dividers, cull out the old and duplicates and switch cupboard contents around to make more sense. It was quite satisfying.

swimmer175 I love that my kitchen has a window, has a vintage oven and is big (for a NYC kitchen).

emailjayne Cheals: brilliant!!! That is my kind of makeover!! $100 bucks!! I love the creativity of turning your doors around! Btw, I kind of loved the unicorn artwork on the cabinet door!!

emailjayne My kitchen is far from perfect but here's what I love about it: it is much bigger and brighter than the tiny, dark galley kitchen in my old home, it is white and cheerful, I have plenty of counter space, my husband took down part of a wall to make a bar (even though the bar is still just roughed up in mdf and is not finished, it is functional), and finally, because it is mine!

djoann958 My kitchen is not my dream kitchen by any means, but a vast improvement over the kitchen in our previous house. We upgraded to all stainless steel appliances which has made a huge difference already. My son and husband removed the wire shelving in my pantry, painted the walls, added solid white wood shelves and an over the door spice rack with tons of shelves. It makes me smile every time I open the door. The finish on the cabinet doors is wearing off, so I am soon going to have them painted a bright white and replace our laminate countertops with a black quartz. Also, finally I am going to have an amazing backsplash! Can't wait!

Dura Supreme Cabinetry Great article Laura Gaskill!

CAROLE MEYER The three things I love about my kitchen are....1. The fireplace 2. the peninsula with the stools where we love to read the paper (with the fireplace on!!) 3.The joy of working in a pretty room that functions for me) P.S. the squares in the ceiling are not lights...they are skylights.

bevhart2 I have the tiniest house < 100sq ft. First I removed the various flooring types down to the bare concrete foundation. I finished it with decorative stained concrete which I love because it is undestructible and shows the cracks to let me know when the foundation is shifting. Something went wrong with the the concrete skim coat causing the upper layer to chip away in spots. At first I hated it but after I got my furniture in the house and many visitors told me how much they like it I decided this is one of those fortunate mistakes. My decorating style is evolving into a kind of Country French Cottage so the rustic floor with its cracks and chips looks like I planned it that way. Next, out came that half wall that faces the front entry door. Gone, is the closet and wall behind the piano. I replaced the wall with lower cabinets (drawers & cabinets) and a countertop that extends over the cabinets and into the livingroom for extra seating. This tiny house now lives so large I can use that wall for a buffet, dining, extra seating for the livingroom, and my crafting projects. You can see the clutter in the background but that is an easy fix...I just whisk it away and everything looks great!

olldbobbi Carole, gorgeous!

bevhart2 - Tiny isn't so bad, there's less to clean!

richdyan I'm so enjoying these Houzz articles and comments...my ideasbook is brimming already. I'm planning my kitchen in a tiny 1950s house we're renovating; it's rustically built and light may well be a problem as window space is a compromise, but I'm finding it easier to bring ideas together and think outside my usual box.

bevhart2 Carol, love your kitchen! The penninsula is awesome. I have been struggling with how I could get the most out of my dining table due to the tiny space. Your penninsula minus the fireplace and sink might be the solution I have been looking for in order to fit more people around the table in my tiny house. I also love the dark cabinets. I was thinking I would paint all of mine white to match the new lower cabinets I installed but I think I can paint mine a rich dark color. I was afraid to go dark due to the tiny space but I am thinking maybe it would blend the lower cabinets with the dark stained concrete floor and actually cause it to appear larger.

Kimberly Hoyt Small aptly describes my kitchen :) In fact, small describes our entire living space! We've moved into a 395 square foot casita until we can build our house (which is probably several years down the road). Because this is a long-term commitment to a small space, we are making some changes to the original plan to just use what we had.

The kitchen/dining space is 3x5 meters. Not very big! Along one short wall we've placed a stove, small cabinet with sink, and a fridge. There's about 30 cm of counterspace on one side of the sink, and 50 cm on the other. That's ALL the counterspace! We're using a bookshelf for the pantry, a dresser in place of a hutch (all our small appliances are piled on top) and a homemade hutch (my FIL built it years ago) to house bowls, pots and pans, etc. There's not much floor space left so for the meantime we're using a small folding table as a dining table. It's just not working!

One change we've already made that helped, is to put a shelf over the sink cabinet. I now keep the most used dishes up there: plates, glasses, cups and mixing bowls.

After brainstorming ideas, we've come up with plans for a long, shallow cabinet (2.4 meters by 55 cm) that will replace the bookshelf, dresser and hutch and free up some much needed real estate in that room! The piece will actually be five cabinets tied together with one long countertop (ahhhh, I can hardly wait!). Two 60 cm wide units will have a fabric skirt on the front, to hide a few slide-out shallow drawers for pots and pans, root vegetables, and spices. Three 40 cm wide units with drawers will work well to store table linens, pantry items, and so on.

We'll also build a drop-leaf table that can be scooted against the wall most of the time, and only pulled out when needed. We've never seen a drop-leaf table here (we live in South America) so we plan to pick up the necessary hardware on our next trip to the states, and build one ourselves.

Making those changes should make our tiny kitchen/dining space a lot more functional -- and pretty!

frandoll does anyone know of an excellent metallic paint?

thegreenbee I hate my teeny (rental house) galley kitchen. It makes me want to cry. If I have anything good to say about it, I'd say maybe it makes losing weight easier, because I have lost the "joy of cooking". The downside to that is that I have a family who insists on eating every day!
... I'll stick to daydreaming.

gypsyrose17 I used a small dresser, painted it green and replaced knobs with blue ceramic ones, placed it over the end side of my cabinets that adjoin the dining area. It holds naplins, candles, potholders, dishtowels, etc.

scootermom Frandoll Thomas's Liquid Stainless Steel -- looks like stainless steel

mettebg We love our kitchen because it has a small love seat, wood stove, solar light tube and a view! It was our dream kitchen 9 years ago.....and continues to be!

PaintColorHelp.com Dallas Love your tip on the rug. I encourage that also - because most "bath" and "kitchen" rugs are ugly, so why use them? You can find bargain runners all over now, sometimes even real wool, and they can be shampooed with a carpet machine when needed.

frenchdecor @ Carol, love your kitchen, fireplace is a dream. Where did you get red stove knobs? I checked some websites couldn't find. Please, if you bought them separately let me know where. Thank you.

cheals midmodfan (love the name): Thank you! It has been a lot of fun. Also, I have to admit, I took the doors off when my husband wasn't home! He had to help me reinstall them but it wasn't something he had been planning...I might have to do the same thing with the pink;)

cheals Frandoll, we used rust-oleum spray paint on all of our hardware. It was $6.50 for the can. If you mean something you can brush on, I'm not sure. I think I have seen something at Home Depot but I don't know how well it works. We are happy with the way our hardware turned out. My sister swears by Krylon. She has used it on lamps and furniture.

pjtime cheals--Brilliant with the cupboards! I rushed into my kitchen to see if I could turn the door over, but alas, they are routed out deeply for the hinges. Still, I had other kitchens I could have used that idea in, and I'll try to keep it in my tiny brain for future difficulties.

Carol Meyer--Oo lal a. Fabulous kitchen. It's a dream. Love the dark cabs too! If I could get a fireplace in the kitchen, for sure I would!

antoinettekr bevhart2, I hope you made a typo and your home is actually

lrcz @frenchdecor. I might answer your question about the red stove knobs. I once owned a Wolf range, it came with black or red knobs. The ones in the picture look identical.

bdennison frenchdecor, Check out http://www.etundra.com/Red_Plastic_Burner_Valve_Knob-P5685.htmlCAWELAID=1570347554&catargetid=1569871141&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CK_R2dWZp7UCFUXf4Aod_B4AEQ
for the red knob. There are a couple of places on the inet that sell aftermarket red knobs. You just have to match your stove. Good luck.

bevhart2 @ antoinettekr....yes, its a typo. House is 1000 sq ft. Just the right size for me with all the changes I made.

trasgorshek I love our kitchen! It isn't anything spectacular but it's the first one we have owned and all the updates I have done myself. As I've gotten older I've come to realize that I appreciate things more. We didn't get certain things until much later in life. And when I do the work myself I have a huge appreciation for the littlest of change.

olldroo Gosh Tras, you are sounding positively ancient - maybe you need to stop mixing with OLLD ladies.

trasgorshek LOL! Roo, I do sound ancient, don't I?! Love it!

Sande Wendt Great article, thank you for the budget friendly ideas. I love that our new home has a breakfast 'nook' large enough for a 72" by 42" table, freeing us to use the formal dining room as a lounge. (Okay, right now it is the place the kids drop their backpacks, but some day, it will be a lounge.)

twanger71 I would love to have at least 3 more feet in both length and width which is impossible in this townhouse kitchen without forgoing a breakfast nook, useable dining room or passage into the kitchen/family room. I do like the nice deep sink which really helps me keep the counter clear while I'm cooking. I'm no master chef who has the pots and pans magically clean in a flash during the whole cooking process so that's a big plus. My granite counter tops always look clean. A splash here and there just blends right in so I don't have to stop what I'm doing to get it just that second and can continue to cook. Which works well when I'm having guests over who will be right there with me in the family room which is open to the kitchen. Best thing is the kitchen is spotless. I moved in just a couple months ago and I scrubbed every square inch of the floor which brightended the dingy grout lines. Cleaned the appliances inside and out even with a toothpick if necessary, and any accessible surface around them after moving them out from the wall. Even though the kitchen isn't brand new it looks like it is after I cleaned it extremely thoroughly. I love it. What small changes I will do in the near future is ad a nice back splash. Perhaps a coordinating stone and glass mozaic. Big changes would be replace all the white appliances, white cabinets and beige ceramic tile flooring. Bigger changes would be to also completely rework the layout, open it up to the dining room, run the cabinets down the wall and lose the breakfast nook in place of a working island with seating but this is the real world and the kitchen is in perfect condition. I can live with it a while longer just fine.

Suellen Valetta I just finished spring cleaning the kitchen of our Florida townhouse. It's a little small and I added a small movable island for extra prep area. The pluses are a huge window with lots of light and my custom single sink 9 1/2" deep that holds my biggest pans easily.

cheals pjtime- I recently saw a picture of a makeover where someone added wood around the original design to make it a raised panel in an arts and crafts/mission style. Then they painted it. It looked amazing! So if you know anybody handy with wood maybe that could work:)

cheals Here is the link with before and after pics:
http://www.curbly.com/m/14114-roundup-10-inspiring-kitchen-cabinet-makeovers

pjtime cheals--Thanks so much for that link! A lot of really nice makeovers. I was thinking about adding strips and/or beadboard to the doors before painting to give a more modern simple feel to my current cabinets. They are a golden oak with arched tops and still in fairly nice condition, but need either a refinish on the sink cabinets or a paint job. To me the cabinets scream 1980's and I'd like a more updated look. I'd been thinking about white, but again, there are so many white cabinet kitchens now, I've been hesitant. Your link gave me ideas other than white. My hubby usually does the cooking and he's very messy. I actually liked Jonathan Fong's cabinets. Pretty wild for tame me, but wow, art in the kitchen sure makes an impact. It's food for thought...that's an excellent idea for the plain birch fronts on the bathroom of my other house! See, you've got me thinking about more options!

Pine Street Carpenters & The Kitchen Studio Nice article, Laura!

michelevankleek Thank you for #12. This is most likely the majority and is a great reminder :).

mistykhan I added a stainless steel restaurant prep table with a single shelf on the bottom as an island. It greatly improved functionality and coordinates well with my stainless steel appliances. Plus I got more storage space for pots and chopping boards that I used daily on the shelf. I also added a hanging pot rack right above the island which has been fabulous for the pans we use daily.

Seattle Staged To Sell I love the way, mirror is used in the back of the kitchen cabinets to visually open up the space and add light.

carlajene What do I love about my kitchen? 1) My daddy built it. 2) My mama used it. 3) It is full of good and tasty things.

cmho With regard to changing out overhead lighting, I have the highly popular 80's flourescent boxed lighting in my kitchen. I can't afford to take it out but was wondering about using decorative flourescent panels, such as a simple Tiffany design. Anybody have experience with these? They run about $100 per 2x4 ft. panel on the internet.

olldbobbi cmho, I have the same kitchen lighting as you! And boob lights in the bedroom. Ah, life is good.....

maryjo123 I usually love the ideas here but please, have you ever smelled narcissus flowers? And white fabric furniture in a kitchen?

pjtime There are some specific narcissus that have a wonderful scent...I think one is Thalia if I recall correctly. It's heavenly scented. But I agree about white fabric in a kitchen...it's hard enough to maintain in any white upholstered piece and certainly wouldn't work in my home now with the dogs and cat (St Bernard & Australian Shepherd & black cat) and men who work doing mining and truck driving. Just keeping the grit and mud off the flooring is enough to keep me busy.

Shea Joy I'd also suggest adding some open shelving, updating window coverings, optimizing storage by installing pull out drawers and organizers to clear clutter, stashing the trash can, and hanging some bright artwork..

embracegrace We designed the kitchen in our dream house. One year in, it's still the favorite part of our new house. I love the cork floors, the quartz counters, my pretty backsplash, the layout with two islands and a lowered baking center, all the drawers, my spice drawer under cooktop, the walk in-pantry, raised dishwasher, instahot, single sink, double ovens, microwave drawer, touch activated recycling center, pretty pendants, vacupan, ...I wouldn't change a thing: http://www.dejongdreamhouse.com/2012/04/introducingour-dream-kitchen.html

Terri Slee Interiors I love the new microwave drawer.

olldroo embracegrace - your kitchen is amazing. My cooking doesn't deserve anything like that. Could you please post some photos specifically of your microwave drawer, I haven't seen one and am very interested in it.

embracegrace olldroo, thank you. It really is my dream kitchen. I spent about two years dreaming about it, putting tape on the floor of our basement to adjust the floor, imagining where everything would go, and of course, saving lots of money before we started building! What we like about the microwave drawer is that you don't have to lift hot things above your head (like an over-the-range one), it frees up counter space (compared to a counter model), and most especially, the drawer allows anyone to use it: friends/family in wheelchairs, our 4-year-old (it does lock), and short people like me. We don't use the microwave a lot because we have an instahot for our tea (which we LOVE!), but I use it for baking a lot, and it's wonderful for melting chocolate because I don't have to take out the hot bowl every minute, I can just open and stir.

olldroo Thanks for that embracegrace. My new kitchen is very in the planning stage - with the help of so many fantastic ideas from here. I'm limited to what I can do, so much of the existing kitchen layout will stay as is, but the microwave, which I do use a lot, is the one odd thing that has to be relocated. I'm fairly tall but sadly getting old so want everything senior friendly - no stooping, bending or climbing. I would like the microwave at eye level but I don't think that will happen, so this might just be the answer, no bending and not too much to lift. I like the idea of being able to stir things without having to remove them too and it looks easier to clean than a standard model. Now to check the shops to see if they are available here - and at a realistic price.

embracegrace Glad I could help. We build our entire house with universal design principles. If it's going to be forever home, we want to make sure we can comfortably live in it, forever, right?

In addition to Houzz, check out the forums at GardenWeb (http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/). These two sites were a huge help to us!

pjtime embracegrace! What a lovely name! And you obviously are doing so! A very thoughtfully done kitchen with beautiful materials! Thanks for sharing!

pjtime embracegrace: Love the "eet smakelijk" on the door. No wonder this is your favorite room!

embracegrace PJtime, thank you! That's so sweet of you to say! (I love your name, too. If I wasn't in my painting clothes, I'd be in my PJs and napping today!)