How to Upgrade Your Kitchen Without Actually Renovating

Kitchen renovations can be time-consuming and costly. But what if you don’t have a lot of time or money?

Maybe you rent, and don’t want to invest in someone else’s property. Or perhaps you have more important things to spend money on than new cabinets and counters.

There are lots of ways to improve your kitchen without ripping everything out, and the results can still be impressive. Even professional designers sometimes keep part of a kitchen intact — in projects for their clients, as well as in their own homes — to avoid waste and unnecessary expense.

“A lot of times, people are looking to avoid the cost of replacing all their cabinetry,” said Amy Elbaum, of AE Design, a Los Angeles interior design firm. So if the cabinetry is well built and in decent shape, she said, “we try to work around it.”

Here are some of the shortcuts she and other designers use to save money without sacrificing style.

Step No. 1: Paint the Cabinets

One of the easiest, least expensive and most effective ways to update the look of a kitchen? Paint the cabinets.