Budget tips for a kitchen makeover

It’s the most important room of the house and whether you’re starting from scratch or renovating there are great ways to make your kitchen shine. The Weekly’s Hande Renshaw shows you how.

As the hub of the home and a place to get together for entertaining and cooking with your family and friends, the kitchen needs to be not only functional, but also aesthetically in tune with the rest of your home. Whether it’s classic country charm, retro, industrial or modern city chic, planning your kitchen space well is crucial. Find out what works for you in our insider’s guide.

Budget tips for updating your kitchen

For a quick and inexpensive way to update your kitchen, change your existing cabinet hardware. Swapping handles and knobs can subtly change the look and feel.

Paint your dated splashback tiles; a splashback usually dictates the colour scheme of a room, painting a block colour such as a crisp white onto old patterned tile-work can change the entire look of your kitchen, at minimal cost. For best results, always use a primer, followed by a tile paint and finish off using a grout pen to fill in the tile lines after painting.

Update your countertop accessories – the latest kettles, toasters and mixers are bright and colourful, perfect to pop on display to add interest to your kitchen.

Take the doors off above bench-top cupboards and expose the interior of each cupboard. Open shelving is ideal for putting all your favourite crockery, tableware and bottles of wine on show. You will need to clean up the interior of your cupboards and the joinery where the doors have come off – it might be a good idea to give them a fresh coat of paint.

Consider replacing dated tapware with a new design. Think practically as well as aesthetically –for instance, extendable taps with pull out nozzles will make rinsing large plates a breeze.

If you are fortunate enough to design and plan a kitchen from scratch, you can update the design and functionality to suit your needs perfectly. The kitchen work triangle, where the sink, refrigerator and oven are in a triangle, is often touted as the ultimate design consideration for kitchen layouts. While it’s important to reference the work triangle in a kitchen re-model, it isn’t the solution to every layout problem. Instead, focus on what works best for you and making sure the route between your work centres – cooking, preparation and cleaning – is direct. Companies such as IKEA or Bunnings offer an online planner, where you can draw, build and have a complete 3D view of your new kitchen design.

Plenty of storage is often a priority for any kitchen renovation. Consider clever options such as deep drawers with full extensions and corner cupboards with internal rotating shelving.

For more advice on home inspiration check out these great tips at Homes to Love

CLASSIC COUNTRY A country kitchen creates a warm and inviting hub, and is timeless, fuss-free and won’t date quickly. Keeping a monochromatic colour palette paired with timber joiners and bench tops works best in this style of kitchen as it adds sophistication, while keeping the backdrop simple and under-stated. Country doesn’t need to mean over-decorated, finishes and textures such as simple melamine cupboards, Carrera marble bench tops and a white-tiled splashback will work well in this style.

MODERN RETRO A retro-style kitchen gives you the freedom to inject some personality and charm to a kitchen space by using vintage and character-filled pieces. You can achieve a vintage look just by using neutral colours with a splash of colour and a vintage gas cooker. Retro doesn’t mean you have to style the entire kitchen in 50s style, touches of your era – such as vintage lighting paired with subway tiles – will do the trick. Personalised pieces like vintage storage units or kitchen islands can also bring a whimsical and relaxed mood to the space.

CONTEMPORARY A modern kitchen is all about simplicity – with a focus on sleek surfaces and appliances. Embrace clean lines and a minimal aesthetic with a swathe of marble mosaics or a touch of timber for timeless understated elegance. A modern kitchen is most commonly also open-plan. The open-plan kitchen has been one of the strongest design developments in the modern era. But you do need to consider if an open plan kitchen will work for you? One major advantage of an open-plan kitchen to a zoned-off kitchen is the ability to be with your family or guests when preparing meals and not isolated in a separate space. The downsides are kitchen smells and noises spread through your living area and that any mess is also on display.