Ultimate Guide to Updating an Outdated Kitchen

Is your kitchen looking dated with cabinets that are out of style, paint colors that aren’t from this decade, and cabinet hardware that is plain worn out?

Here is your ultimate guide to updating or modernizing your kitchen, without having to tackle a full remodel.

After building and renovating 4 houses, I’ve become an expert at inexpensively updating my kitchen on a budget.

Ideas for updating your kitchen:

1. How to choose a new paint color for your kitchen walls.
2. Paint color ideas for kitchen cabinets.
3. Oak or wood cabinets: replace or paint?
4. Create brighter kitchen with updated lighting.
5. Change out the cabinet hardware and add soft close.
6. Update backsplash tiles without replacing them.
7. Worn stove labels and knobs? Try this easy update.
8. Maximize the space in your cabinets and drawers.
9. Replacing your granite counters? Why marble is a bad idea.
10. Ready for a kitchen remodel? Here’s your guide!

My suggestion to you is to take an honest look at your current kitchen design. If you purchased a home 10+ years ago and it’s never been renovated it’s likely time for an update.

Or maybe you’ve lived with the same kitchen for 10 years or so? Unfortunately it’s looking dated at this point.

Kitchen design trends change every 5 to 7 years, with major shifts happening every 10 years.

Once you hit that 10 year mark counters, cabinet styles, lighting, and paint colors have drastically changed. Sorry!

Check out my 10 Year BEFORE and AFTER Home Tour

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Choosing a Paint Color for Your Kitchen Walls

Ah the wonderful wide world of paint colors. With 10,000+ color choices it can make it hard to find the perfect one!

However, changing the paint color of your kitchen is the fastest and most economical way to update your kitchen. With a gallon of paint costing on average $25, it’s the best update for your buck.

Luckily, I have a really easy tutorial you can follow about how to choose paint colors, so make sure to visit that information when you are ready.

When choosing a paint color for a kitchen, it all starts with “one thing” like tile, the cabinet color, counters, or flooring.

What’s most important is that you make sure all of the undertones of the paint work together with the other finishes in the kitchen: warm, cool or neutral.

Here is a great post explaining what I mean about undertones using white paint colors.

So you can stay current, every year I cover what paint colors are trending and pick the best most useable colors for your home.

Or you can always check out my custom paint color palettes that are inexpensive to download and keep.

Paint Color Ideas for Updating Kitchen Cabinets

Next think about painting your cabinets for quick way to update your outdated kitchen.

This is more time consuming and can be expensive if you decide to hire a contractor. How much does it cost to hire a contractor to paint your cabinets? The average cost is around $5,000.

Another option is to paint them yourself! We will talk about that in the next section and I’ll help you tackle the DIY paint project to save money.

As far as color is concerned, I have a TON of resources to help you find the BEST cabinet colors for your kitchen.

It is SO important to TEST any cabinet color you are considering before you EVER apply.

In my FREE guide, I help you avoid the most common mistakes when choosing paint colors.

It includes my advice on how to test the color, before you commit to it!

Oak or Wood Cabinets: Replace or Paint?

I realize there are wood cabinet loyalists that may be reading this and think it is a sin to paint over real wood.

Sorry, but obviously considering I am the Queen of Painting Everything…I don’t agree. That may be a surprise even after learning I worked in the wood stain industry for years under the Cabot brand.

Shades of brown wood stain just don’t get me excited like a brand new color of paint on cabinets!

Paint adds a whole new dimension and reflects light to enhance the architectural details of the doors and drawers.

My advice is that if you want to update your kitchen and you have dated stained wood or honey oak cabinets, go ahead and paint them!

Should I fill the oak grain prior to painting my cabinets?

This is a question I’m often asked. My response is always the same…no.

The primer and paint will slightly fill in the wood grain, but not completely. I think the grain adds a little character and it just isn’t worth the trouble to fill.

It’s a SERIOUS process to fill in any wood grain adding money and time (days) to painting your cabinets.

My advice is to skip filling in the wood grain and just paint them.

Check out my how-to paint tutorials for every DIY skill level.

Create a Brighter Kitchen with New Lighting

Just like paint color trends lighting trends change as well. If you haven’t changed your kitchen light fixtures in the last 5 years, they’ll begin to look dated.

There are SO many affordable and beautiful kitchen light fixtures on the market now.

I’ve written an ENTIRE post with many easy ideas for creating a lighter and brighter kitchen in a weekend.

Updating your kitchen lighting should be at the core of your updates especially if you don’t have a lot of natural light.

Maybe you don’t know how to choose the right sized lighting for over your island?

Here is a great guide on how to measure and what height to hang pendant lights over a kitchen island.

From updating the under cabinet lighting to installing dimmer switches I have you covered!

How to Choose Kitchen Cabinet Hardware

Next to paint, cabinet hardware is my next passion. Updating your cabinet hardware is an affordable way to add a ton of architectural detail and update your kitchen cabinets.

Fun fact! I am the former VP of Sales and Marketing for one of the top cabinet hardware companies.

During my tenure my team and I launched 200 new styles of cabinet hardware, so you can say I am an expert!

When it comes to cabinet hardware, it’s really important to decide on the style first and foremost plus the finish.

NO, all of the finishes in the kitchen don’t have to be the same 🙂

If you have a limited budget and want to change the finish of your cabinet hardware you can spray paint it!

Another easy kitchen cabinet update that will modernize the cabinet function are soft close hinge adapters.

No more banging or slamming sounds in your kitchen. Seriously, soft close adapters the best update.

There are a couple of cabinets above my refrigerator that I didn’t add the adapters to. They annoy me every time I close them!

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy way to add soft close adapters to your drawers.

Update Backsplash Tiles without Replacing Them

Ah that wonderful strip of tile between the cabinets and the counter. A kitchen backsplash can be a wonderful sight or an eye sore.

Tile on the backsplash looks dated as looks change and covering over the tile, before replacing is a budget friendly option.

Did you know there are peel and stick tiles you can use for a kitchen backsplash?

Stick-on tile is an easy and affordable DIY project you can use to makeover your backsplash in just a DAY.

I’ve used peel and stick tile on a full wall, on my fireplace surround, and on a bathroom floor. Call me a fan!

You can use these tutorials as a guide depending on the type of peel and stick tile you choose to use.

Want to paint your kitchen tile backsplash?

Yes! You can paint the kitchen backsplash tiles as well. I painted shower tile to look like marble.

If paint will last in the shower, then you know darn well you can paint the kitchen tile too.

You can follow the same tutorial for your kitchen backsplash. How to Paint Tile (so it won’t peel later)

Easy Update for Worn Stove Labels and Knobs

Once you begin to make changes and updates in your kitchen, you may turn an eye to your appliances and notice they are looking dated too.

That’s what happened to me when I remodeled my kitchen. Everything looked shiny and new, but my cooktop looked worn and tired.

The knobs were faded and worn and the dial labels were worn off from 10 years of use.

It wasn’t in my budget to replace any appliances, so instead I found a really affordable way to make my cooktop look shiny and new too.

In just an hour, you can completely refresh your cooktop or stove.

Organize Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Now it’s time to look inside of your cabinets. How organized are they working for you and not against you?

Does this picture look familiar, where you have to stick your head in the cabinet to pull out things in the back? NOT fun!

One of my favorite kitchen “hacks” is to install pull out drawers in cabinets.

If your kitchen cabinets didn’t come pre-built with pull out drawers or shelve, there is an EASY DIY fix!

You can retro fit your cabinets with pull out drawers. Here is what this cabinet looks like now and WOW is it so much more functional.

Another idea is to organize your spices in a drawer. This is another project that is SO worth it!

If you like to cook will make your life easier every day!

Replacing Your Granite Counters? Avoid Marble

Yes, I LOVE the look of marble but in a kitchen it can be a nightmare.

If you are used to granite and how durable it is, marble isn’t the best option for you.

Granite doesn’t stain, is heat resistant, and scratch resistant. Marble not so much…

You can read about how I tested marble before ultimately choosing quartz for my kitchen counters and all the reasons why.

Marble just isn’t forgiving and you can’t use it like granite.

This is just a friendly warning as you think about updating the counters in your kitchen 🙂

Ready for a Remodel? Here’s your guide!

Alright maybe you read through ALL of these ideas and scanned your kitchen for what needs to be updated.

When you add up everything you want to change and my temporary fixes won’t cut it, then start saving for a remodel.

I personally saved up for several years, before finally pulling the trigger on my “kitchen facelift”. No major construction just cosmetic updates.

To help you through that process, here is all that I learned and how to prepare for a kitchen remodel.

A simple kitchen remodel can approach $10,000, so it’s really important to budget, plan and find a really good set of contractors.

If you are going to change out cabinets, the island, or layout, remodel costs can approach $50,000!

Budgeting for Updating an Outdated Kitchen

That was a lot to catalog and share with you. I sure hope it was helpful for you as you consider updating your outdated kitchen!

Make sure to layout a budget and tackle small pieces at a time.

Here are my recommendations based on how I approached budgeting and updating my own kitchen.

how to approach your kitchen updates by project:

Have fun and enjoy the process! It really is amazing how a few little changes will make a big impact and bring your outdated kitchen into this decade 🙂