Looking for the best simple changes to make when you don’t have the time, money, energy or desire to launch a complete renovation in your outdated kitchen? Here’s my go-to list for 10 quick updates for a honey oak kitchen!
Each of these details alone will work hard to brighten, refresh and bring your oak kitchen up to date and back to life, but in combination? They are a powerhouse of quick, easy and low(er) cost style.
These are my 10 go-to touch points when re-designing a tired oak kitchen without a full renovation.
Each item is quicker, easier, cheaper and more DIY-friendly than any major renovation task, too!
I hope this list is just what you need to start breathing some life back into your oak kitchen!
Hardware
Try replacing all cabinet pulls & knobs with something more updated. Black or silver in simple lines always look great but don’t overlook the lux look of old gold, either! Choose something you love in a style that goes with your decor.
Tip: adding words to describe your style like ‘ultra-modern’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘boho’, or ‘Scandinavian’ to your search will help narrow it down. For example, ‘boho cabinet pulls’.
2. Backsplash
Backsplash tile is one of the most impactful elements in a kitchen, so if yours is ugly, outdated or worn out, this is a great area to look at changing.
Tiling is fairly DIY-friendly, especially with the new adhesive setting mats, but even hiring out the work is normally pretty reasonable. In a full kitchen reno, backsplash tile is one of the best ‘bang-for-your-buck’ areas.
If this wasn’t a historic house and if I had plans to fully renovate or replace the tile in the next few years, I would absolutely look at adhesive tile, too. These have come a long way and look really good for a ‘quick & dirty’ transformation. You can lay them right over existing tile if you want!
To tone down the orange oak coloring while also creating a bit of a visual distraction, I would look at a neutral color (gray or white) in an interesting shape, layout pattern, or with a contrasting grout. This way the color isn’t clashing with the oak but the pattern of the tile itself creates some interest & distraction.
Tip: Tile the full area from countertop to the underside of the cabinets for the most impact. If there are no upper cabinets, consider going all the way to the ceiling - this doesn’t work everywhere but when it does, it can create a great feature area!
3. Lighting
If you have outdated pendant lights (above an island or eating bar), wall lights (above the sink or open shelving), or a chandelier (above the table) you can create some great style with updated lighting. Changing these out is normally simple and easy (make sure you do your how-to safety research first if you aren’t experienced).
Don’t be afraid to add something with some personality!
Tip: it’s okay to mix metals in a room but it’s best to have a foundation metal (most things in the room will be this one) and an accent metal (just one or two special areas will showcase this one). Lighting is a great place to bridge the two together as there are lots of lights that have more than one metal color.
4. Pick a neutral
Since the oak is already fairly ‘loud’ in the room, one of the easiest ways to tone it down is to pick one neutral and repeat it throughout the space. You can use varying shades in different places but the repetition of one general color will look great and read as less competing colors when you look at the room.
White, black and gray (either warm or cool) all work. I would avoid beige or browns with oak.
You can still have accent colors throughout (a palette of 2 or 3 tends to work well, rather than a single color) but the majority of extra color should be your neutral.
Tip: Use this neutral to choose things like furniture, textiles, accessories and even the main wall paint.
5. Simple styling
Use simple, cohesive styling to create a mood, feel or vibe for your kitchen. Pull things together with a color palette or other similar detail repeated in a few different ways. Don’t distract with too many small items - simple, larger decor items tend to have more impact. Less is more!
Tip: don’t feel like you need to have a categorized ‘style’… often what we love is eclectic and doesn’t all fit into an exact group - perfect! This means you are on your way to creating a curated style that evolves and grows over your lifetime. This is so much better than having everything in a room bought from one store on one day - that kind of styling tends to get stale over time and lacks personality and uniqueness.
6. Distract with a focal point
Using a feature piece of larger decor or furniture items as the focal point of your room will give a foundation to the style of the entire room as well as provide a powerful visual distraction. Things like a bold area rug, an interesting runner, a large colorful piece of art or a unique piece of furniture (a bench, side table or buffet are common in the kitchen) work perfectly to create big impact.
Tip: These big, interesting, colorful pieces can be a great place to pull the colors of the room from. Look closely at the colors in art or a rug, especially, and see if there are 2 or 3 that you would like to pull out and repeat in things like linens, accessories, smaller art, even an accent wall color.
7. Paint the walls
Nothing has bigger impact in any room than the wall color. Simple, neutral & clean tend to go best with lots of oak in the space. A cool color will neutralize the yellow-orange of the oak better than a warm brown or yellow.
Tip: if you have oak cabinets or oak floors, remember that any light that reflects onto your walls will have a yellow-orange tint. This orange cast will change the way your paint color looks. It makes big difference! Because of this, it’s really important to test your potential paint colors in the room (either on the walls or on a board of some kind), in all lights, for a few days, before committing to one.
8. Remove some upper cabinets
If you have head-to-toe oak (floors, baseboards, AND all of your cabinets) consider removing a few upper cabinets. This can give some breathing room for the walls and just take down the overwhelming look of the oak.
If you need the storage space, you could replace the cabinets with open shelving which gives you back usable space. Open shelves are also amazing for styling with accessories, baskets and plants.
To the wall itself you could add a fun wall color, add some feature art or even tile all the way to the ceiling. There are lots of ideas out there!
Tip: I know not everyone is a fan of dust, etc on open dishes, but maybe they would work for things you have stored cabinets right now (less-used serving dishes, vases, tea sets, things in boxes or baskets) or even just for styling alone. Often if you rearrange things you will find you end up with just the same amount of storage space in the end!
9. Add some architectural dimension & detail
One of the bigger problems with oak kitchens is often not the wood itself but the dated style of kitchen design. Kitchens of this era tend to have lower wall cabinets (they do not always go right to the ceiling), no crown molding or detail at the top, and a flat facade.
If you are able to add some ‘architectural’ interest to the layout of your upper cabinets, this can go a long way to updating the room.
Things to look at:
moving the cabinet above the stove up a few inches (this is called ‘castling’). You might need to finish or cover the sides of the cabinet box.
replacing the cabinet above the stove entirely with a more modern architectural hood surround or even a new industrial-look hood
removing the doors of a cabinet to create open shelving
replacing the insert of a few doors with glass
adding crown molding
adding some open shelving
10. Faucet swap
Replacing the faucet is a great upgrade and is pretty simple to DIY. There are so many great faucets out there in every metal finish and they are easy to install without changing anything on your counters. (Just look at the number of holes on your current faucet before buying.)
The faucet is a great visual update because it’s tall and can be seen from across the room. Details like this are perfect quick updates - big impact without a major hassle!
Tip: In the world of ‘quick and easy updates’ I wouldn’t suggest swapping out the sink at this time, especially if you are not replacing your counters or if you have a drop-in style sink. A new sink will require a new cut-out and it’s often not worth the hassle of doing that on older counters where it might not fit or the counter might get damaged in the process.
That’s it! I hope that my short list of the 10 best quick updates for a honey oak kitchen helps you to get started and that the transformation allows you to fall in love with your own kitchen, oak and all!
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