Lemme Upgrade: 4 Hacks to Elevate that Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the most visited places in a house. To be honest, one of my most favorite spaces in the house because food is made here.

Why not make this space the best that it can be by upgrading some of the most needed essentials to make a kitchen a kitchen. You can surely upgrade your kitchen in DWMAD style, on a budget. This blog today will give you 4 tips along with 2 honorable mentions that gives your kitchen a premium look.

The first tip on the upgrade list is change that baseline faucet to a sleeker model. Preferably one that showcases it’s talents like the, Moen single handle pull down kitchen, faucet I picked up from homedepot.com for $100 off of the original price. I paid $285 and this faucet is $400. The stores rarely have kitchen faucets on sale but on the Home Depot website the price of these faucets fluctuates from week to week tremendously. Same thing with Lowes. So price online before you go in the store. A little secret to online shopping is if you have been waiting for the price to go down for weeks, add it to your cart and don't purchase it. Usually these online shops will send you a coupon or you will see a price decrease. Sometimes they will have pop ups on their sites inticing you to make your purchase by saving a percentage off for subscribing for email alerts. I purchased this faucet in the chrome finish.

( Pictured first is the faucet I purchased. It is one of the most powerful spray nozzles on the market. Pictured second is another kitchen faucet that has great quality as well. I wanted to provide a nice second cheaper option that was similar to the moen nozzle.)

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A second tip for upgrading your kitchen space is change those knobs you have on your cabinets.

The ones pictured here make the cabinets look a lot taller and sleeker. I love that espresso on espresso look. It gives a sleek modern look to the kitchen. I purchased these from Walmart.com. I got 25 of these 5inch oil rubbed bronze finish pulls for the cabinet for $38.99. I have had them over a year now and they are still in really great condition and have held their color nicely. I get compliments on them and they certainly look a lot better than the pulls that came with the house (picture 1). Why pay $300 for the builder to include it in your kitchen. When you can spend $40 and add them yourself? Walmart.com had the best price, quality, and quantity. By the way they shipped free and fast. Compare to Lowes ($7.55 for 1 pull), Home depot (pack of 10 for $17.50 , and Amazon.com pack of 10 for $23.99). I only used 19 of these. I still have plenty to use for the bathrooms upstairs. If you are interested in purchasing these here is the link.

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The next hack is to add kitchen essentials to the counter tops. Add nice sleek utensils that you use everyday in a nice grab all container. I picked up this oversized mug on sale at Joanna’s craft for $4. It goes with the rest of the black décor in my kitchen and houses all my rose gold cooking utensils that I use everyday. I love the rose gold colander to match!

Another counter top kitchen essential that I would like to mention is coffee. I had to dedicate a space for this as my husband and I are avid coffee drinkers. The white coffee mugs, by The Cellar ,pictured, I purchased on sale from Macys during one of their many sales.

I purchased 15 of these for $20. I adore these mugs because of the cafe-esque quality. If you are in need of basic coffee mugs for a fabulous price, these are must haves! Remember, to make sure you compare store prices to online prices for Macy's before purchase. If you don't want to leave your home to check, simply call the home department in the macys store and they can give you the price over the phone. I found the crate on sale at hobby lobby for $4 attached it to the wall, applied a couple of coats of polyurethane, and voila you have a nice sturdy coffee mug stand for $10. For those curious about my keriug I purchased it from Target on clearance.

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Last hack of the day to elevate your Kitchen is wall décor. I added a few signs to my kitchen. I purchased this chic bon appetite sign by Threshold from Target for $14.99. It comes with all the hardware you need for mounting. I love this sign and it’s the perfect addition to my black and white theme I have in the kitchen.

This sign is pretty lightweight and wayyy cheaper than the one you will find at Anthropologie or Etsy for $50+ dollars. To add to the comparison of this sign with those of Etsy and Anthropologie, this signs quality is unmatched because it uses iron that does not bend with ease. Sorry etsy and anthropology but it doesn't look like a cheap bent wire hanger. If you are in the market for a nice sign with the iron look, this is the sign to get.

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Another sign I have in my kitchen is a sign from Kirklands for $8. It surely adds that Nappa Wine Valley vibe to your kitchen. This sleek sign I like to dubb "French country" that says “wine tasting and food pairing” doubles as a nice photo op sign for my events. This was a really good deal from Kirklands. I sat this on top of my cabinets to draw the eye upward towards the ceiling.

A couple of honorable mentions to close out this blog is keep counter tops clear of extra clutter. Also, add a focal point to your kitchen. I must say my focal point to my kitchen is my show stopping breakfast area wall.

Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you plan on using any of these hacks to elevate your kitchen. I would love to hear your stories. Until next blog.

-XO Ashley