In this blog post, we’ll take a look at all the ways we transformed our charming country kitchen to add character on a budget!
Published 6/24/25
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I have ALWAYS said that when I am finally able to purchase a home, the decision will be made with the kitchen.
Then when the time came that we were purchasing a home, the decision most definitely did not come down to the kitchen.
As much as I wish that we had had the luxury of being so choosy, our reality was that we were on a very tight budget and we were going to get whatever kitchen we could afford!
And the one we got is exactly what you would expect on an under $200,000 house budget.
She’s very small, she has incredibly outdated appliances, and the only bathroom in the house is in the kitchen.
Though the circumstances aren’t perfect, I was still determined to make our kitchen the heart of our small home!
It is truly incredible the difference that some paint and secondhand shopping can make.
We were lucky with how much we loved the cabinets! It was a blessing to not feel like we had to replace or repaint those.
But recently our kitchen has been absolutely blowing up on Instagram and Tiktok, so I wanted to take the time to break down some of the changes we made!
My hope is that anyone reading this with a tiny or outdated kitchen will be inspired to love their circumstances and make the most of what they can afford.
1. What We Were Working With
Like I said in the beginning, this is a SMALL kitchen. There’s about 3 feet of counter space between the sink and the fridge, then another 2 or so feet of counter space between the sink and the stove.
The stove is tucked away in a nook behind the bathroom and the space is so tight that you have to stand off to the side of the unit to even open the oven door.
But that being said, the cabinets were beautiful. I adore that there is a window above the sink looking into the backyard as well.
The previous owner of the home was a ceramicist who handmade and laid every single one of those beautiful floor tiles (one of my absolute favorite things about the home).
And of course, the harvest gold refrigerator from who knows when. The color feels very 70’s, but no way to be sure!
Certainly no room for any kind of seating or kitchen island which breaks my heart. I’ve always loved a kitchen that people can hang out in.
2. Going With the Bold Paint Color
The first thing we changed about the kitchen was the paint color! It was a very basic stark white color when we moved in and I was looking for something with more personality.
Before moving into the home, I was pulling a lot of inspo from craftsman homes. I LOVE dark wood against deep blues and greens, and knew that it would suit these cabinets well.
The color is Underseas from Sherwin Williams, and though it was a bit darker than I was hoping for (I’m an impulse painter who never swatches), I’ve grown to really adore it.
I initially chose this color with the thought that we would be upgrading the fridge as soon as possible, but the internet had other plans.
3. Fridge Makeover
When I first started posting on social media, I had made a few different posts about wanting to upgrade our fridge and asking for advice on what we should get.
These were some of my first viral videos but not because people had good ideas for upgrades, but because people were PASSIONATELY begging me to not abandon this fridge.
I never could have expected how much people would love this harvest gold girl, but I credit her as one of the reasons my account grew so quickly! People LOVE this fridge.
After reading many many many comments asking me to reconsider (some kind, some pure evil), I decided that we would keep her for now. Eventually we will want to upgrade for safety (fire hazard) and cost efficiency (old fridges have notoriously high energy bills) reasons.
So I set to work making her look beautiful! I hung an old spice rack on the side by the counter using Velcro command strips, made a “gallery wall” of sorts with old artwork postcards, and used shower suction hooks to hang colorful patterned napkins and oven mitts.
I truly have fallen in love with her and will be very sad if she gives up on us soon.
4. Displaying My Ceramics
When I was 15, I was in a competitive dance group. One of the girls from this group invited everyone over to her house for a slumber party for team bonding.
Little did we know, her father was a very successful artist, and they had an INCREDIBLE eccentric and artistic house around Lake Minnetonka (if you know the twin cities area, you know this house was NOICE).
But one thing that stood out to me so much about this house was that every single one of their dishes was a ceramic piece handmade by her father.
I had never seen a set of dishes so beautiful and it inspired me to start collecting handmade ceramic pieces in the hopes that I could someday have my own full collection of ceramic dishware.
Now that I’ve been collecting over a decade, I have more than enough ceramic pieces and they are the pride and joy of my kitchen. The previous owners left us this stunning curio cabinet and it was the perfect place to display my collection!
5. The Multi Use Coffee Station
Off to the side of our harvest gold fridge is the beautiful doorway to the backyard. I absolutely love this doorway and how much light it brings into our home, but it definitely takes up space in such a small room.
The previous owners had placed a small round dining table here for some seating, but it made the rest of the kitchen feel very narrow.
I didn’t want this sliver of space to go to waste, and I also needed a microwave solution to save counter space.
And what better to save the day than a rolling cart from Facebook marketplace!
This cart had enough space to house the microwave, AND give us a coffee bar. Being able to place so many of our smaller kitchen appliances on this cart SAVED US when it came to counter space.
Though I loved being able to get the microwave off the counter, I still couldn’t stand the site of it on the cart.
I was inspired by a few different creators who used cafe curtains to disguise the front of their dishwashers. So just using a cheap tension rod from Walmart and some cafe curtains I already had from Wayfair, I made the perfect country microwave cover!
6. The Textiles That Changed the Game
For me, the thing that truly started to bring my vision for this kitchen to life was adding the various textiles like curtains, rugs, and napkins.
I had been wanting these curtains from Anthropologie for our living room for MONTHS, but when I finally got them, I loved them in the kitchen so much more.
It’s important to me that curtains are lightweight enough that they can get caught up and flutter in the wind! I don’t like when they’re so thick that they can hardly move.
Previously, I talked about adding fabric napkins to the front of our fridge. I found these gingham ones at a garage sale and loved the color palette against the yellow fridge and blue walls.
Since buying these, I’ve purchased a few more fabric napkins in varying prints to add more texture and depth throughout the space.
The runner in front of the sink is from Zara and it’s a jute rug with a floral pattern on it. It looked very yellow on the website and I was bummed seeing it in person and it having absolutely zero yellow tint to it.
Eventually I want to replace it with something more colorful, but I’m a firm believer that you should use what you have until it’s worn out or ruined.
So for now, this will do!
7. The Projects We Have Yet to Take On
Though I have come to love many things about this kitchen, there are still so many things I want to change in here.
Our biggest constraints are budget and skill.
The project I’m most desperate to taking on is replacing the ceiling. The ceiling is currently a very ugly white drop ceiling tile situation that has water damage spots.
My dream is to have tongue and groove wooden ceilings throughout the kitchen and whole main floor of our home! Once we can afford it, this will probably be the first project.
I’d also love to replace the counter tops. I’m having the hardest time deciding what I would want to replace them with though. I love the look of tiled counter tops, especially when the tile extends up the wall as a backsplash.
I also love butcher block counters but I worry that it would be too much wood overall.
It’s also my dream to have a large white farmhouse ceramic sink with beautiful brass hardware. I’ll probably wait to make this change, though, until I can decide what to do with the counters.
But for now, this little kitchen does exactly what we need it to do. We’re making beautiful memories in it no matter its size or quirkiness. I love her and feel so blessed to have a home with a kitchen and window above the sink.
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