One year ago my oldest daughter Kendra helped me change up my rental kitchen.
I took the doors off in February. But the kitchen wasn’t complete until March as we had to work around her flip house schedule.
I have to say I love open kitchen cabinets! If there’s dust I don’t see it. And if I don’t see it I don’t worry about it!
Kitchen Theme:
I’ve always loved the color combo of red and white, but I keep these colors mainly in my kitchen.
Last year I added a new refrigerator and dishwasher. I bought the refrigerator. The apartment complex changed out the ancient dishwasher that wouldn’t work.
I ordered new drawer pulls and stick and peel subway tiles for the back splash from Amazon. And I found other odds and ends at Tuesday Morning.
The other day I changed things up a bit on the counter top. That’s easy to do and gives me a slightly different look.
Easy Way To Redo Ugly Counter Tops:
I redid the counter top myself with GianiGranite’s Carrera White Marble Epoxy Kit. The epoxy part was the hardest. I didn’t do a perfect job, but it’s good enough.
After using GianiGranite counter top kits before, this one is by far my favorite kit. I like a simple white color on my counter tops.
I truly love walking into my kitchen and seeing these open cabinets. The colors and plates and are so cheerful.
I Truly Love This Look In My Kitchen:
After changing up the look of my apartment kitchen several times over the 7 years I’ve lived here, I really prefer the open cabinet look. I like to just reach up and get what I need without opening the cabinet doors,
Since I live in a small space home, organization and storage is vitally important. So I keep what’s on my counter top corralled where I can easily find things.
I keep snacks in that big vintage bowl in the center of the lowest shelf. And after years of using all different kinds of plates, I really prefer plain white plates.
From time to time I will run across a few white plates at Tuesday Morning that have a different pattern or texture, and I will buy a couple. I don’t care if they all match. Just that they’re all white.
However with the advent of COVID-19 I don’t stroll around in their store now. I miss doing that. You never know what you’ll find there on any given day.
One Year Ago This Month:
Here’s what the kitchen looked like one year ago.
Have you tried open cabinets or shelves instead of cabinets? If I owned this place, I’d really rather have the cabinets yanked down and put up shelves instead.
Would you want to try this look in your own home?
Lovely color scheme & clever redo on the counters. Hope you have better luck with the open shelving. I found it made for more work in the long run because dishes got dusty & collected that greasy film from cooking, etc.
I don’t have a stove/oven. I had it moved out when I moved in here to accommodate a European style washer. So there’s really no way for grease to get on there. Seems to be very little dust. I use a convection oven across the room on a cart to cook food.
Love your kitchen! Very cute. Have u considered painting your spice rack white? And then saving empty spice bottles until u have enough to transfer other spices into and relabel so they will all match?
Great job!
Your kitchen looks pretty, comfortable, and easy to navigate. Awesome job of working with what you’ve got to make it yours. The red and white is cheerful.
Hi there! How were you able to epoxy in an apartment? Did you have to ask permission?
Hi Brenda
I love your kitchen with the red and white too! You did a wonderful job. I have a question regarding your white dishes with the vertical design: what is the brand?
Thanks
I am moving my small kitchen to another small room, and contemplating open cabinets, shelves, or plain walls with art and plants. Your lovely red and white kitchen is an inspiration and I will try open shelving.
Clearly you do not live in an earthquake zone! 😂
Beautiful, as always, Brenda. You know you’re singing my song with that red and white combo. I love the open shelving look, unfortunately my cabinets aren’t built like that, if I took the doors off it would look awkward due to the arrangement. I have a glass on a few doors…not the same at all, but close enough, I guess! 😉
I love the look of open cabinets but they wouldn’t work for me. I’m pretty organized int he kitchen and put stuff back where it goes but I have a husband who puts stuff any where he finds an empty place. Drives me nuts because I’m always rearranging things he’s “put away”. If it was just me I’d go for it…. it makes things look so much larger and I have a small galley kitchen.
Your kitchen looked beautiful then and now. I love the colors and the cozy feel.
I wouldn’t do open shelving for myself, but I love your kitchen. That print hanging above the spice rack is great!
Oh, I forgot to mention how much I love that picture above your spice rack. It’s adorable and always catches my eye when you show pictures.
I do love the open cabinet concept but I don’t have it in my home. When we lived in Germany in the early 80’s I had a tiny kitchen with no cabinets. We got permission from the landlord to put up shelving and I loved it.
I, too, love your kitchen but truth be told I love everything about your cozy home! I’ve been working on mine and having fun.
I love the open cabinets in your kitchen. Also, you are very organized so everything looks nice and neat!
Brenda,
your kitchen turned out wonderful! I love the open concept and shelving. By having a simple color scheme and merchandising your dishes and accessories; the kitchen feels cozy and serene ! I remodeled my kitchen around 10 yrs ago. I reused my oak cabinets and painted them White Duck by Sherwin Williams. I took my uppers and used them as a base for my new island. Everyone thought I was crazy because I didn’t want upper cabinets at all! I saw a lot of kitchens like this in Italy and France and I have always thought how attractive and unique they were. I bought a bronze metal shelf with hooks on clearance from Pottery Barn. I rotate artwork and bowls and greenery for the different seasons. White kitchens to me, are classic and timeless.
I love your whole apartment, but I especially like your kitchen. I like the look of open shelving but can’t bring myself to do so.
My contractor friend helped me redo my tiny kitchen at the end of 2018. When we took the top cabinet doors off and painted the the insides and shelves white, I couldn’t believe how much bigger the kitchen looked, so I left the doors off. I read the pros and cons of open shelves. I don’t find dust an issue as I’m constantly using the dishes and wipe down the shelves as the dishes get used. I’m very happy with the openness and I like seeing my dishes displayed.
With the Gianni kit did you need to use a blow torch to literally “pop out” bubbles that formed in the epoxy coating applied as a final step? I see lots of epoxy kit videos at Youtube and I’ve seen some used in some makeover projects online and people always do the blow torch thing. The thought of using a blow torch scares me to death and I wouldn’t use a product that requires me to do that as a finishing in order to get rid of bubbles in the finish. I say – FIX THE FINISH so it doesn’t bubble, LOL!
No, you just poured it on fast and let it smooth out. You can watch a video if you go to their site.
I also took the top cabinet doors down, 10 years ago, renter as well.
Like you, I am partial to red and white in my kitchen; but only in the kitchen. I suppose it evokes the old time, country kitchen feel, since I live in the city. It feels so cozy and inviting.