Suppose you’re looking for a small kitchen renovation design but don’t have the spare capital. In that case, you can achieve a small kitchen renovation on a tight budget without ripping out cabinets or making significant alterations to your kitchen’s current configuration.

Read on for some small kitchen cheap renovation ideas from our expert kitchen renovation designer at H&H Cabinets.

Small Kitchen Cheap Renovation Ideas

Kitchen Cheap Renovation: Kitchen colour

It’s incredible how much difference a fresh coat of paint can make; however, many unique colour blends can be expensive. However, this doesn’t mean painting is out of the question. Two of the cheapest paint colours on the market are timeless decor classics.

An all-white kitchen will never go out of style and adapts to any other fixtures, be that benchtops, cabinets or appliances. However, if you want some contrast in your small kitchen cheap renovation, then a classic black and white colour theme can provide optimal results for minimal outlay.

Butcher block countertops

Countertops can often be one of your most expensive fixtures in a kitchen renovation, especially if you go with all-natural or composite stone or custom laminates. A more affordable solution that still provides a fantastic effect is going with a butcher block countertop solution.

Butcher block lengths can be made from nearly any timber variety and are often very affordable, and can be easily customised in a variety of ways, including:

• Bull nosing
• Gloss varnish
• Epoxy finish
• Beaten with hot chain
• Scratched and stained
• Burned and lacquered
• Painted and more

Butcher block allows you to get ultra-creative, and you can often ask your local hardware for some offcuts to test some ideas before you commit.

Out with the old

One of the cheapest ways to change a small kitchen’s aesthetic is to downsize and declutter. Unfortunately, this may require the whole household’s input, and you may need to pull out everything; every drawer, cupboard and corner.

Be ruthless, and remove anything that hasn’t been used for a couple of years unless you can really justify it; you may be amazed at how much space you gain and how much better your benchtops and shelves look with less clutter.

Unwanted appliances and cookware may even be able to contribute to your small kitchen renovation budget by putting them up for sale on social media marketplaces.

Kitchen Cheap Renovation: Lighting and tone

Lighting can make a big difference to how open your kitchen space feels, and you don’t have to spend big money on new lighting fixtures to make a big difference. Natural light is also worth addressing; adding a skylight or bigger windows could significantly change your kitchen’s aesthetic during daylight hours.

If you have thick garden foliage outside your existing kitchen windows, trimming back your trees or shrubs could also let more natural light in and make a bigger difference than you may think.

Kitchen Cheap Renovation: Open shelving

Does your current small kitchen feel closed in and stifled? That could be because of your overhead cabinets, which are notoriously underutilised. To open up your kitchen and make more functional space, consider removing your overhead cupboards and replacing them with open shelving.

Having open shelves reduces the intrusion of your overhead cabinets and creates depth and texture to your kitchen aesthetic. For a sleeker finish, go with floating shelves to hide any brackets.

Open shelves allow you to see everything hidden in your cupboards clearly, and give you easier access. Keeping stuff like dry foods in clear mason jars also looks fantastic and prevents you from doubling up on things you already had in the pantry.

Functional decor

Are you tired of your cluttered benchtops and prep spaces? A kitchen inundated with an unnecessary mess like display plates, statues, paperwork, keys, and the like, can make a kitchen feel like it is closing in on you.

Make your kitchen decor functional by choosing appliances, cookware and utensils that become part of your kitchen decor. Examples could include:

• Artisan cutting boards
• Fashionable knife blocks
• Hanging pots and pans
• Acquiring stylised and uniformed appliances
• Fancy food jars and more

Functional decor can best be utilised by installing open shelves and vertical storage, so everything in your kitchen looks fashionable while also having a function and purpose.

Address your corners

Small corner kitchens can feel particularly closed in, especially if you already live in a small residence like a unit or apartment. This is one area where it is worth using all the tricks up your sleeve to open up the space and provide versatile function.

Anything you can do to open up and brighten the space will help make your small corner kitchen feel less closed in, such as:

• A white colour pallet
• Open shelves
• Hanging storage
• Skylights and strategic lighting
• Vertical storage and more

There are also some innovative and affordable smart storage solutions for corner cupboards, like pull out storage units and carousels, that help you utilise that dead corner space without getting on your hands and knees every time you want something at the back of the cabinet.

Get artistic

Reenvisioning your small kitchen space doesn’t have to just come from finding cheap fixtures and redesigning storage spaces; sometimes, a little creative innovation and flair can transform your generic small kitchen into a modern decor dream.

Think outside the box, and do something daring, such as:

• Wooden plank ceilings
• Rustic floorboards
• Polished concrete
• Wall, ceiling and floor murals
• Adhesive subway tiles
• Bespoke splashbacks and more

Don’t get bogged down in traditions and current trends too much; this is your kitchen space, and there is nothing to stop you from doing something bespoke and unique.

Kitchen renovation designer Melbourne

For expert advice and services for small kitchen renovations in Melbourne, call our expert small kitchen renovations designers at H&H Cabinets. Our award-winning kitchens are celebrated throughout Victoria, and we pride ourselves on excellence. We are a family-owned business producing fine cabinetry and kitchen innovations since 1968.

For more information, call us today on 03 9808 4200 or send your inquiry via our online contact form, and one of our consultants can call you at a prefered time.