My job is not quite DIY (but not quite a pro painter) since I am a handyman by trade (for the last 16 years) and do similar projects and do recommend much higher end materials, but my brother is on a budget since he is just trying to get the house sold and he lost his job roughly 8 or 9 months ago and has not been able to find a job since the holidays or COVID. Times have been tough and he is incapable of getting results like this on his own. I usually rent all my equipment and he does not even have the budget for that so I finally decided to purchase my own airless for his project. Everything was done the exact way a pro painter would have done it on the exception of the materials and not having layed the cabinet doors flat while spraying to allow the paint to self level. We used the cup hook and coat hanger method to save time even though you run the risk of having the paint run or not have proper coverage if you don't run the sprayer at the correct speed. Thank you wiscokid and eam44 for your input on the matter. Live_wire_oak, at some point everyone was not a professional and did not know how to paint, even you; you have to start somewhere and should be educating people without making them feel bad about their decisions. I did not expect a high end professional job, but neither did I expect a DIY result either.

I too agree with the above, except for the comment that a complete redo will cost $80-100k. It's a small kitchen - with careful shopping, $40-45k should do it. People who are experienced in renovations and/or DIY can do it for less than that. If you must just do a couple small things, the brick must go first and foremost. Next, the black counters must be replaced. The issue with the brick removal though is that it will leave unsightly spaces between the upper and lower cabinets in which it is currently placed. You might be able to get filler, but it will be hard to make that look right. Hence the recs here that you need to do the entire kitchen. And an improvement that is for free would be to de-clutter. Clear the spaces and your kitchen will look much better. Some of the issue with this kitchen is that it has a cramped feeling, of course from the brick, but also from the stuff you have all over. I bet there's some duplicative stuff and things you don't use. The books need to be removed immediately and put somewhere else - do you even use all of them? Remove all the tchotchkes that are above the upper cabinets. Is that a skateboard up there on the left? The dish rack and the other unidentifiable items are not adding anything decorative. Just the cat statues can stay up there, they seem cute though it's hard to see. Less is more.

Beth H. : thank you. He made the countertop himself out of 2 3/4" plywood and we bought formica 180fx laminate for the counters (and done the ideal edge) and used the same 180fx for the backsplash. I know alot of ppl don't like laminate, but I actually do and I do alot of food preserving and canning and the backsplash washes off so easily. With hubby doing all the work and making everything himself the total price of our whole house remodel came to $20,000. And that included, 6 new windows, 2 full baths, a kitchen, and flooring.... (during covid with prices more than double on alot of things. So we saved quite a bit! Overall, I love the way it turned out! And I'm extremely proud of my hubby!

Please ignore the clutter :P Nope, can't do it. First, you have such a long, uninterrupted stretch of counter top, you must have something out ... otherwise, it looks empty, and that's its own problem. What you need is to curate your clutter, which will always be a part of your kitchen. Ideas: - You have a smattering of bottles near the stove. Gather them onto a little tray (colorful tray, not white), and now they're intentional. - You have a coffee pot. I'd move it to the far right cabinet and add a basket to hold coffee "stuff". Add a mug tree or hooks under the cabinet to suspend them. Identify the coffee area with a small (colorful) placemat or small runner. The idea is to make it intentional, not just something that's left out. - The cord by the bar stools is bothering me. I feel like the cabinets definitely need to be painted Absolutely not. Your cabinets are -- as another poster said -- uninteresting, but if you paint them, they'll still be one long line of plain cabinets. Said differently, they'll be uninteresting in a different color. Instead, consider removing the center panel /putting glass into a couple cabinets. Since the interior of your cabinets won't be finished, go with opaque glass. Or lace over the glass. Realistically, your cabinets are your background, your base. You must add interest elsewhere, but this is very possible. and I would love to extend my cabinets to the ceiling. To the ceiling! Always to the ceiling. But since you probably can't do that right now, consider adding baskets up top. Simple, square baskets that would give the appearance of being an intentional way of bringing the cabinets to the ceiling. Keep the color close to your cabinets. This adds storage, of course, but it also gives you a new texture and something natural in your kitchen. Done right, this can look like it was a plan. I was thinking navy blue and white ... so leaning towards all white cabinets. You're right to be nervous about navy. Without natural light, it's not for you. But all white doesn't seem like a good choice either ... all white is not easy or cheap to pull off well, and your kitchen doesn't seem like a natural choice for all-white. I'd paint the walls instead. Something bright like a buttery yellow or a robin's egg blue. That big swash of wall at the end of the kitchen /the space above the cabinets -- if painted -- would bring in a good bit of color. Do not for one minute consider painting your uppers and lowers different colors. That's trendy right now, but your kitchen is already long /painting the uppers a different color would divide things in a bad way. Add crown Yes to crown -- 1000xs yes to crown. One reason this space looks builder-basic and uninspired is that the ceiling line looks unfinished. You can go with a simple crown, even something you can do yourself, but crown molding will enhance, upgrade, improve your space exponentially. backsplash tile Backsplash, yes. Doesn't have to be tile, which is expensive. . Wallpaper or stenciling would give you an immediate burst of personality just as well. new counters In a perfect world, yes, but that's real money. When you're able, OP, keep it light but not so super-basic as you have now. new hardware Totally yes. I missed this one, but -- looking back -- your pulls are medium-dark and kinda blend in. Sometimes that's the right choice, but not here. You need an influx of personality, so choose something lighter /brighter. And don't go with simple silver buttons -- something with personality. Hardware is the jewelry of the kitchen. replace over the stove microwave wtih a vent hood. Thing is, where's the microwave going to go? If it can go into a cabinet or into -- is that a pantry beyond the kitchen? -- sure, but if it's going to land on the countertop and become clutter, no. Of course, this assumes the OP cares about the microwave. She might be willing to nix it. the main thing you need is a bit of color. Some art work on the walls. Some colorful rugs here and there, and with that long span of cabinets, a few colorful pieces of glass ware, or something nice to look at on top of the cabinets. You dont need to clutter them, but, it is lack of accessories, you need more than anything. Yes. Again, 1000xs yes to color and accessories: - Sure, neutral kitchens are trendy right now, but those magazine-worthy white /gray /natural wood kitchens ALL have large, lovely windows bringing in perfect morning light. That's their focal feature -- that's why they look great, even without committing to a color. You cannnot have that, so you must bring in color to add interest. - You already have plenty of neutral, basic, simple to ground your kitchen. You are not in danger of going overboard. You need to bring in bold through your color and accessories. - Pick a color that you like for your principle shade, but bring in some print and texture as well. - Add colorful chair mats to the bar stools, and add a couple small "stacked" pieces of artwork next to the chairs. - Add a colorful teapot or soup pot to the stove. Other thoughts: - That door at the back of the kitchen is a black hole to nowhere. Right now it (nothing) is a focal point. Keep the door closed -- put it on a swivel, if necessary -- and add a pretty wreath. While you're at it, add a matching wreath to the door on the right of the kitchen. - Lose that black chalkboard (chalkboard?) by the door. Nothing dark for you -- your kitchen needs light, bright, bold accents. That chalkboard just adds to the black hole effect. - Consider an accent above that door -- a couple decorative plates? Not word art -- too neutral for your space. - You can have a tall-skinny piece of artwork (or several small items "stacked") above the trash can. - Natural accents are necessary. Add a plant at the end of the cabinet near the trash can, and add a hanging plant above the seating bar. - You have loads of functional light in this kitchen, but it's not doing anything for the looks of the kitchen -- I wish the builder hadn't gone with such large lights. You need something in the center for personality -- something "more" than Swiss cheese ceiling lights, something dangle-y, something that ties into the metal on your cabinet hardware. And maybe a second, smaller version of this central light above the seating bar.