9 Simple DIY Kitchen Upgrades Anyone Can Do (Even You!)

When you think of DIY in areas like the kitchen, you may assume it'll be intense and might take knowledge and a budget you don't have.

This might leave you apprehensive about trying to upgrade anything too much.

However, there are a few ways to improve aspects of your kitchen without having to do too much work and can fit into a reasonable budget, as some of these can be done with spare tools and equipment lying around the house.

Read on to learn about these upgrades and how you can make them more personal.

1. Replace Cupboard Doors

If you have a dated countertop and cupboards, there is a way you can strip out the doors without having to change the carcass and plinths.

All you have to do is measure out the door's height, width, and depth, and you can find a wide range of designs and colors to suit you.

Then you can remove the old doors with a screwdriver and add the new ones with the corresponding hinges so they open optimally.

If you get vintage or farmhouse doors, you could change the cupboards' design so they match.

You can go one step further and replace the handles, and you can even do this with drawers so they are modernized, or you can go the old-fashioned route.

2. Create A Splashback

This is another simple way to add a tile or mosaic effect to your kitchen walls without having to go too far with your time.

You can find ones that have a metallic finish, gloss, pattern, or marble effect that can be used to mark out areas of the kitchen.

You don't need to go to a kitchen supplier to find these either, as you can find stick-on panels that you can arrange on your walls as you see fit so that you could go for a modern tile effect, or you could go more vintage and go for a Tuscan design.

You can measure up the wall and adjust the sizes of each if needed, and any spills can be wiped off easily, so you can have a look that doesn't look too cheap and adds character to the room.

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3. Create A Storage Wall

This works well with smaller kitchens as it utilizes any free space on the walls, so this can be as simple as installing bars that screw nicely into the wall, and you can hang anything you like so that you can hang utensils, herbs, ingredients, or cooking equipment.

If this type of storage doesn't appeal to you, you can put up a few free-standing shelves, and all you need is a drill and a level so everything sits right on it.

You can go even further and add hooks to the bottom of your shelves to hold more items.

This works well if you have more items in your kitchen than space, so you can hang up things that you regularly use in your meal prep and saves having to go through draws and cupboards looking for them.

4. Resurface Your Countertops

A popular way of doing this is by using peel-and-stick covering, which can match the look you're going for, and you can make the surface more durable.

You might be tempted to replace the countertops altogether, but this might go out of your budget, so you might want to use a countertop refinishing kit if the surfaces aren't too worn or damaged.

You can even select from a good variety of looks, from marble, metallic, and matte, so you can peel, cut, and stick so you have straight lines and a countertop that will hold for a while.

5. Install Vinyl Flooring

This might sound difficult, but you can measure and get a good roll that you can lay and cut around edges to get a good fit, so you only need a retractable knife, some spray-on adhesive, and some trim if you want a natural fit.

The best part is that you don't need to use underlay as vinyl can come with enhanced cushioning on the back, so it can absorb foot pressure and be water resistant so that any mess won't leave any long-lasting streaks on the vinyl.

You can also find some attractive designs that could be made to look like natural hardwood floors or a pattern that fits with the rest of the theme in your kitchen.

6. Add Glass Holders

If you have cupboards with exposed sides, you can use this to get more use out of the space in your kitchen, as your shelves and cupboards may be full. This holder is ideal for wine or other glasses that have a stem.

You can use any spare wood you have in the house, cut it to the width of the side of your kitchen cupboard, then use a jigsaw to trim the edges and cut grooves into the wood where the glasses will slide into.

You can screw the holder into place as long as the cupboard is thick enough to hold it.

If you don't have this space, you can fit the holder underneath a cabinet and drill them into the bottom, giving you options with these holders.

7. Add Cabinet Shelves

This is a good idea if you have cupboards that don't have any shelves or do have them but don't utilize the space that well, so you can add more shelves to make storing things much more manageable.

To do this, you can take out an existing shelf and cut a board to the same size, and you can insert wooden pegs into the sides to hold the shelf in place, which can be a lot easier than using brackets.

With this, you'll want to remove the cupboard door before you do anything, as it might get in the way of taking your shelves out, and you can leave the door hinges still attached.

8. Modify Your lighting

This sounds harder than it looks, but it is even easier to do this yourself as you can find self-adhesive lights that can stick onto surfaces in your kitchen, and these can add light to areas that are otherwise darker where they don't catch the light from the primary source.

You can find warm and bright light, adding different hues to your worktops.

To do this, you empty the cabinets you want to attach your lights to and drill a hole where the wires show, which you can feed through and plug into a power supply.

You can use wire straps which can be drilled into the bottom of the cabinet so any loose wires can be secured, and some of these lights have a sensor, so you only need to wave your hand to turn them on.

9. Install A Kitchen Island

You don't need to go and fit a new island to make this work, so if you have the room, you can find an old base cupboard with compartments and fit this into your kitchen, and because it doesn't have a heavy surface, it doesn't need to be fastened to the floor.

What's even better is that you can personalize the cupboard doors and shelves to look the way you want, and even if this doesn't have the space to work as a seating area, you can get a lot of applications from this.

Thai works even more if your kitchen is too small to fit a standard island, so you can use something like this to mark the centerpiece of your kitchen.

You could even use reclaimed wood and build something simple from scratch to make it.

Other Upgrades

If these sound out of your time or budget, simply painting the walls in your kitchen is a great way to make the room feel airier and larger, so the standard color is white, but you can go for one that fits the look of the room.

You can also paint your cupboards, fit a spice rack, add pictures to the walls, add a new faucet, include different furniture, use mason jars as holders, clean and paint around the windows, or even polish up all the metal fixtures in your kitchen.

These are some ideas that utilize the space and allow you to flaunt your cutlery and equipment while leaving your kitchen as fresh and open as possible.

Final Thoughts

Even with simple DIY upgrades, you can make use of all aspects of your kitchen, so never again do you have to walk into a kitchen and find yourself disappointed in the look of your kitchen.

You could try a few of these ideas to start with and look to long-term projects when you're confident you know what you're looking for in your space so that you can be proud of your kitchen.