Easy Kitchen Makeovers Tips

Creating Extra Space

A quick space saver in your kitchen is to use metal hanging racks for pots and pans. This saves you a lot of counter space.

You can also use magnetic spice racks and magnetic knife strips to keep things out of drawers.

If your drawers and cabinets are packed, you may want to also clean house a bit. Donate or give away all the bake-ware, Tupperware, utensils ext. you have accumulated over the years, and never use.

Creating a New Look

A great way to change the aesthetics of your kitchen is to paint the walls, ceiling, and also re-paint or sand down and stain your existing kitchen cabinets. You can also tile the walls behind the counter tops.

Practice first, but remember that this is a relatively easy and cheap way to change the look of your kitchen drastically.   

• When tiling over existing laminate counter tops, measure the area and determine the amount of tile you will need. Remember to always purchase 10% more than what you would normally need.
• To tile over a laminate counter top, first turn off the water and remove sink and all appliances that might be in the way of the counter tops. Then make sure all the cracks are filled by applying putty. Once the putty is dry and the whole counter top is even, sand the entire surface of the laminate. This will help the tile adhere. Once done with sanding, wipe it down with a sponge. Wait until it is thoroughly dry.
• Because Laminate is water proof, you can now start tiling. Begin with a dry run and laying out all of your tile pieces. Make sure everything fits the way you want it to. Cut the tiles to fit before laying them. For the tiles around the sink, lay them and use nippers to take a little off the tile until it fits the shape you need around the sink. 
  
• Once everything is cut and laid out, begin adhering it to the counter top. Keep spacers in until the job is finished to prevent shifting.
• Let everything set overnight and then grout the tile. It is easiest to use the pre-mixed grout. Be sure to wipe grout off tiles once. Don't wipe too much, or you may remove some sand, causing the grout to shift color slightly. The tiles make look foggy until they dry; however, there are cleaners for that at home improvement stores.
 
• When putting in your sink, it may be necessary to nip your tiles a bit more. Once the sink is in place, lay a thin bead of clear silicone to the perimeter of the sink to prevent water from leaking through.     

Creating More Counter Space

If you have limited counter space you can invest in a kitchen cart or table. When entertaining they are very convenient to move around. You can get them with cabinets underneath. This will also save on storage space. You can also buy a very large cutting board and use it over the burners on your stove.