Do you want an actual redesign, or just a cosmetic and organizational change? And what is your budget?

New simple hardware, remove the rail from above the cabinets, remove window swag, new faucet. Deep clean floor grout, super clean and polish cabinets, paint ceiling and walls, and as you know, get rid of 100% clutter. Then live there for a while until you see what's in the future. Post us photos of adjoining rooms.

If it is not too late replace that fridge with a counter depth one. You need to get much better lighting before doing anything else and IMO until she moves there is not much you can do other than try to declutter as much as possible. IMO the kitchen needs a complete redo so I would spend one dime on this space . A year go quickly and in that time you can figure out how the space functions for you and then work on a new kitchen. Ikea cabinets are great for DIY

This may be a delicate situation. How many people are living there now? Does your MIL still consider the kitchen to be hers or has she already ceded control to you and your husband?

She has conceded it as ours but the clutter is a constant struggle, no matter how many times I’ve reorganized. We sold our house and moved here/bought after my FIL passed away. The house and 5 acres was too much for her but great for us and our two kids.

I’d like to eventually change out or paint the cabinets and replace the floor. For now I’m looking for help with paint, possible backsplash on sink wall, and storage ideas on the area where the shelves and microwave is (alternatives to what’s there now. Air vent is behind microwave cart.).

So really, cosmetic and organizational changes to help me get through for right now but can extend with other updates. I enjoy being in the kitchen but hate being in mine right now. I’m not great with picking/coordinating colors. I feel like after I get the kitchen semi settled I can work on the living room.

I do have a new faucet to install and new lighting is being discussed and picked out with my dad who’s an electrician. He suggested recessed LED lights (6) spread out from the garage door to end of kitchen area. Thoughts?

What’s the best way to deep clean the grout and seal it? I’ve cleaned it before with an electric toothbrush and bleach water. MIL was supposed to purchase sealer as she ‘knew the kind to use’ but that never happened. Our kitchen is a high traffic area and we have two dogs.

I’ll send more pics of upstairs space when I’m back home. Thank you all!!

Let’s say budget for paint, grout cleaner/sealer, cabinet hardware, organization items, lights, and possible backsplash = $500.

I see no reason why you can't make that budget. If my mom's kitchen is anything to go by, once you clean out the cupboards completely and box up anything not in routine use a lot of the counter junk will have a place to go in the cabinets. Don't tell her your getting rid of it just storing until she is ready to move. If there is once a year stuff in there, box it up with a label and find a place to store in garage or attic. Pack the useless cabinet over the fridge with things she refuses to box up. Top of fridge should be clear. Whatever is up there goes away or into storage until Mom moves. Little junk has to go - a basket for mom, one for the kids, one for you. Then post a new picture and the community can help with paint colors and hardware choices.

Electrician?? He will save a lot. Recessed led lights a good start. I would skip an installed backsplash for now. Just washable paint until you are ready for changes.

I see a yard sale in your future! Could your MIL get on board with that idea? It might be a way to get her involved in sorting through a lifetime of accumulation. Just getting the surfaces cleared off enough to be used would be a big plus! I see pill bottles on the shelves in your last pic; can you find a big basket for all of them to go in? Maybe they should be in her bathroom with a glass for water to take them with. I agree that you should have gotten a counter depth fridge; see if that can happen. Unloading that blue cart thingy will be an accomplishment! Just tackle one surface and one cabinet at a time. Load that fruit bowl and set it on the table. I bet you're going to find out of date and stale items that can be tossed everywhere. How much did you toss when the fridge went out?

Can’t do anything about the fridge as we actually had to settle on this one. Due to the virus production is down so stock is really low. The fridge we really wanted wouldn’t be in stock and delivered for a month. We looked around at several places and made calls. We live in a country setting so limited on stores within an hour-2hr drive. It also limits us on a yard sale because we are off a couple of backroads. Prior to working from home I would drop stuff off at a local donation spot weekly. I’ve had her area (pill spot) organized and cleaned several times. Put out a basket for stuff but it still accumulates. I will say it’s a little more organized and clean in the kitchen but this is what happens when I’m gone for a few days. She was home when the fridge stopped working so I don’t know what she threw out.

Believe it or not all the food currently in sight is good. We also have a little extra in prep for July 4th.

My dad being an electrician has saved us a lot with updates around the house. I’m not a fan of brass so I’ve slowly been changing out lights. He’s able to get supplies a little cheaper and only charges me dinner. :)

Over the next week I’ll work on cleaning/decluttering and post pics. Thanks again!

"I’ve had her area (pill spot) organized and cleaned several times. Put out a basket for stuff but it still accumulates."

Yeah, that's the thing about clutter -- people who leave stuff around don't do it because they don't have a place to put it, they leave stuff around because either a) they can't be bothered to put it away because it doesn't matter to them, or b) like clutter. There's really no way to organize around a person who clutters, because they'll just un-organize again and it will be a constant struggle. You can't make someone be neater than they have been for the last 40 years. Well, not without psychological torture.

You can whittle down the volume of stuff; I know it's hard with the Covid situation, but even if you start boxes of stuff to be donated or recycled, you can stack the boxes until you can take them to a donation or recycling place. For a while, I had 14 big garbage bags full of textiles piled on my spare bed waiting for the recycling place to re-open so that I could take them to be recycled. But they were already in bags and ready to be thrown in the car when I could.

Certainly you can maximize storage spaces for those who will use the storage (i.e. not your MIL), and that will help a little. Change out the light fixtures and improve the light quality (go LED); it can be pretty inexpensive add some self-adhesive tiles for a backsplash -- it will just change and brighten things up for a year until you take them down when you are able to consider the whole picture and what will get painted, tiled, or moved around. You can't really decide on what backsplash you want now, if you might change the counters or paint colour.

For right now I would get a free standing pantry cabinet tether it to the wall and get that clutter oragnized, IMO you need to do a purge too. There is no way that kitchen will function properly without a redo and so plan on that and get the cabinet for now you can always use it somewhere else after.

Thanks for info on who's got control of the kitchen at this point. If I understand correctly, there are now two kitchens' worth of stuff in the kitchen: yours and your MIL's. I suggest you pack up most of her stuff ("let's pack the good stuff for your move") now. maybe with the moving boxes you already have. She can unpack it all later when she moves, so she can postpone any decisions. Leave out her favorite mug for current use, of course. Then you can start decorating the way you want. As for the pill area, if the bottles are safely child-proofed, they can just be straightened out every week or moved to the MIL's own bathroom if it is private. Some parents use lockable cash boxes to store meds.

I would start decluttering the rest of the kitchen area by sorting through the plastic things. THey take up lots of room and they may not be earning their keep. It's easy to weed out the dusty never-used ones, those without matching lids, and things that won't go in the dishwasher without melting or accumulating puddles of gritty rinse water. Keep the best and recycle the rest. You only have six drawers, consider using the biggest for plastic.

Then remove the valences on the window and back door "for the summer" to let in more light.

Take down all the decor items on the walls and backsplash to get it cleaned off and ready for grout sealer. IME, good grout sealers are sold by local tile shops and big box stores; consider checking online for ratings since you are a long way from stores. Many people paint their old stained grout to give a fresh look. Choose an off white grout paint that matches your tile color if you want it to be unobtrusive but new looking. Polyblend is a popular brand.

If you don't already have under bed storage containers, consider investing in some. If you don't have wheels on your beds and move them regularly, consider bed risers to enable you to get larger ones. You're looking for a place to store duplicate items, if not kitchen items bed&bath items.

Wash any dirty dishes and then thoroughly clean the refrigerator -- with an emphasis on throwing away anything that needs to be tossed -- then put all refrigerated items back in the refrigerator, including the eggs or items you consider refrigeration optional.

Choose and empty enough kitchen cabinets for storing FOOD and put ONLY food in those cabinets. Look closely at your countertop and throw away all trash -- be judgmental ... do you really need to keep that empty jar or bottle, etc. As you begin to sort through your cabinets, you need to do the same with the items in them.

What can you keep/take out of your kitchen -- not store it there? To the extent you can use any dining room cabinet, do: If either of y 'all has formal china or other dishes for serving and dining that NEED to be protected, put them in there. If y'all have real silver / silverware or other valuable items, put those in there, too -- if there is a space for them. If, however, y'all have only every day use dishes and serving bowls then put what you use most often for dining in that cabinet, including the size drinking glasses you are most likely to use for a meal. If y'all don't have a china cabinet, make some trips this summer to the nearest locations of Habitat for Humanity Restore Stores and other charity run thrift stores to see if you can find an acceptable cabinet within your budget.

Because you NEED the storage space above the upper cabinets, do not remove the trim at the front edge. Instead, you will need to use that space.

If you use a coffeemaker daily, set that out of the way at the end of the countertop. Ditto that if you use a microwave oven daily. Ditto that IF actually use a toaster daily. Put only one large item atop the refrigerator -- something you actually use and need to get to regularly. Other larger items need to go elsewhere.

If y'all have duplicate small electric countertop appliances and/or or any you seldom use (or could do without using for days at a time while you sort and regroup) -- stand mixer, blender, veggie chopper, bread maker, toaster, toaster oven, microwave, waffle maker, countertop grill, coffee maker, -- then choose the ones you are least likely to use -- can do without using for the next couple of days -- set them atop your overhead cabinets out of the way. If you don't already have one, Invest in a sturdy folding step stool to reach the items atop that shelf easily if /when you do need to. Invest in some clear (recycle) bags to cover the small appliances to keep them clean or wrap them in plastic wrap. That should get some larger items BOTH off your countertop and out of your cabinets.

Measure the rest of the space atop your upper cabinets and invest in some matching inexpensive (Dollar Tree; WalMart) fabric baskets -- not the plastic things you can see through -- enough baskets to fill the entire space above the upper cabinets to fill that space. If you have hand held appliances that will fit in the fabric baskets, put them in the baskets atop the overhead cabinets, too -- covered with plastic wrap to keep them clean. Use a sharpie to NUMBER the baskets and keep a list of the baskets and what is in each numbered basket.

In preparation for sorting your smaller kitchen items, pick out the biggest longest widest deepest cooking utensil you have and invest in a half dozen plastic buckets or some plastic containers that would hold those kinds of things.

... Alternately, if you can find one with long deep drawers, you could invest in a pair of plastic three drawer rolling cabinets with drawers that would fit most similar items but when you put them together, leave the top off one set of three to create a single six drawer cabinet. Heaviest items will go in the lower drawers. Even if you only use the rolling plastic cabinets to sort kitchen items for now, they will work well for bed and bath items and/or hobby items later.

... AND do pick up a stack of at least a half dozen square cardboard boxes -- the 4-milk carton kind, preferably with flaps intact -- at least for sorting if not for storing purposes.

Use cardboard boxes to box empty container items you have in your kitchen, separating like items together (plastic, glass) -- separating also those intended for limited use/disposable and those that were bought to be reusable. When each is full, close the flaps and stack them in a corner of another room, heaviest items on the bottom. One exception: IF you have a few storage containers with lids that you REGULARLY use for refrigerating or freezing foods/leftovers, keep those out.

Except for tableware/flatware/silverware, empty all the drawers. Organize ALL the tableware/flatware/silverware in the kitchen drawers in a way to best suit your use of those items. Put serving utensils you don't use for cooking in another drawer. If you have another drawer and also have items that you use for both cooking/serving, put those in the same drawer.

In separate buckets/containers/drawers (of course, using two for any category if all the stuff will not fit in just one) sort all other items usually found in drawers or on hooks in kitchens: all measuring items in one container; all scoops in another, all funnels in another; all strainers in another; cooking utensils in another; long thin plastic and wood stuff -- spoons and spatulas, etc. in another; miscellaneous (non-electrical) items like the pizza cutter and potato peelers and can opener and bottle opener could all go in another container.

Unless these items are already in a dining room cabinet, clear a cabinet for them and then put these away: all dinner and breakfast plates; all saucers and cups and mugs; all drinking glasses; all serving bowls. If you have corning wear that can be used for cooking and/or serving, put them in a cabinet together. Put the refrigeration/freezing/storage/serving containers you actually use regularly in a cabinet together.

Empty and sort any drawers and/or cabinets you haven't yet.

Aside from the cardboard boxes, put any buckets or containers of stuff that you've sorted -- still in their containers -- in base cabinets.

Important: As you're doing all this, as you find things you seldom use, box those things with like items and put them in that corner in that other room.

Use the kitchen for several days. How "organized" is your kitchen beginning to look now?

what about giving your mom the peninsula to keep her stuff in and on. plus the shelves that going up the side. it looks like the countertop is a clutter catcher so I would use that instead of the cart you have . If you want to keep the cart then cover it with fabric. and paint the walls a shade of your favorite color. you're kitchen is very neutral so any color should work. I would do gray because I like the contrast of gray and warm wood.

Check out Gively - it's an app where you can pick secondhand stuff up for free. Plenty of furniture up there at the moment!