With the New Year comes lots of ideas and plans to spruce up our homes. We are often invigorated and full of enthusiasm towards making positive changes in our lives and in our homes. One area that I’m going to be thinking about in the New Year is how to make some updates to our kitchen without spending a huge amount of money.

There are lots of ways to update the kitchen if you don’t want to do a full revamp and change the layout or install new cabinets.

1. Change the Colour

It’s a simple one of course but well worth considering. A change of colour scheme will lighten and brighten the room anyway and give it a fresh feel. Kitchens can become jaded because of all the cooking and we don’t always notice. So choose some new, on trend colours and in a weekend your mini makeover is complete.

2. Lighting

Change the lighting in your kitchen and you can totally change the mood of the room. Think about a new ceiling light; maybe directional spot lights or install several pendants over a few key areas like the breakfast bar if you have one. Don’t forget pelmet lights, lights over the cabinets, around the kickboards and under the wall cabinets. A combination of these can make a massive difference to the room and won’t cost too much to install.

3. Accessories

Strip the kitchen of all the accessories to begin with. Take the pictures from the walls, clear the surfaces and start with a blank canvas. If you’ve done either of the above suggestions then you’ll have a good base from which to begin again. If you’ve changed the colour scheme get yourself a few new accessories to co-ordinate. Try new tea-towels, a coloured toaster and kettle set, and a few new items to display. As well as making it practical think about how you can keep the clutter at bay and keep it looking stylish.

4. New Handles

A very cheap and easy way to update your kitchen is to change the knobs and handles on all your cabinets. You may need to fill a few holes when you remove the old ones, and sometimes this just isn’t practical depending on the type of handles you had before, but it’s worth considering.

5. Change the Kitchen Doors

My parents did this very successfully a few years ago. Changing the doors on all the cupboards can transform the look of your kitchen and it’s much cheaper than ripping out all the kitchen cabinets and starting again. You may need to have one or two handmade if the cabinets aren’t standard sizes, but generally this is a very straightforward way of updating the room. If you’ve got wood, think of changing to gloss white. Or maybe change to a mix of coloured doors with white or wood.

6. Add some new Cabinets

If you have the space and feel the kitchen needs it, think about changing or adding in a few new kitchen cabinets. I’m liking the look of these Broadway Stoke Kitchen Cabinets for a start, but take the time to look around and choose those that are suitable for your budget and your look. Our kitchen could take a few new wall cabinets; the extra storage would be fantastic and I think it would really update the look.

7. Window Dressings

Finally I think this is one area that will really give you a quick update and give the room a very different feel. Changing the blind or curtains will freshen the room up no end. Blinds often work best in a kitchen. They’re less cluttered than curtains and safer. The choice here is endless really. Roman, roller, venetian all work really well so choose a style that you like and a pattern, print or colour that works well with your room.

Hopefully that’s given you some ideas for a cheap kitchen makeover that won’t take too much effort either.