Small Cottage Kitchen Makeover on a Budget

Sharing is caring!

Dreaming of a kitchen makeover but worried about the cost? Here I’ll show you how we created our small dream cottage kitchen without spending a fortune. Keep reading for all my tips for creating a cottage kitchen on a budget.

Disclosure: as an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Read my full Disclosure and Policy here.

The elements of a cottage kitchen

A cottage kitchen is all about warmth, charm, and a touch of nostalgia. It’s a cozy and inviting gathering space for family and guests, a functional cooking space, and must include smart storage solutions for a clutter-free practical space.

The key elements of a cottage kitchen are:

• Soft, neutral color palettes with warm whites, creams, beiges, soft blues or greens.
• Natural materials such as wood, stone, linen, and natural decor items such as fresh flowers and plants.
• Classic and timeless shaker-style or glass-front cabinet doors mixed with open shelves.
• A beautiful and functional farmhouse sink (even better if vintage) with a vintage-style brass, bronze, or chrome faucet.
• A warm and rustic butcher block countertop or a light-colored quartz or marble. If the space allows it, a rustic, distressed wooden kitchen island can add extra charm.
• Beadboard backsplash, subway or floral tiles add a subtle statement and work beautifully in a cottage kitchen.
• Vintage pendant lights or chandeliers with warm light bulbs add interest and light your kitchen up with a soft glow in the evening.
• Cozy decor and vintage finds like copper pots, antique kitchen utensils, vintage art, mixed in with everyday items like mason jars, mix-matched bowls and plates add a personal touch and character to the perfect cottage kitchen.

Our small kitchen makeover on a budget

When we bought our fist house about one year ago, the kitchen looked like this:

It was outdated, in rough shape and needed a lot of work and love. I could immediately visualize the cottage kitchen of my dreams in this small space: with warm paint colors, wooden countertops, the farmhouse sink of my dreams, and beautiful open shelves with vintage decor.

So we got into working and planning. We ended up completely transformed this place, at the lowest budget we could possibly do so!

Let me show you step-by-step our small cottage kitchen makeover on a budget.

Cabinets

Opening the space up

The first thing we did was taking down the upper cabinets on the left side of the window. This immediately opened up the kitchen, making it feel bigger and more welcoming, and created the perfect space for open shelves.

Painting the cabinets: the first plan gone wrong

When it comes to home renovation and DIYs one thing I learned is that things don’t always go as planned. You need to be prepared (and open) for a change of plans.

My initial plan for this kitchen was to save a lot by painting and updating the existing kitchen cabinets. I was planning to transform the flat doors into beautiful shaker style doors using this trick. We had already taken off the doors and chosen the paint colors. Then we realized this was not gonna be quite possible.

The first problem was that the existing cabinets were in quite rough shape. They had many layers of paint on them, and many imperfections to fix up.

We then discovered that the sink wasn’t properly sealed and had been leaking behind the counters and cabinets into the wall. That created the perfect environment for mold, a dangerous health hazard to live with. At that point we knew we had no choice but get rid of the existing cabinets and remediate the water damage and mold.

So we begin looking around and getting quotes for new kitchen cabinets. The first step was designing the new kitchen, which in this case wasn’t super hard as we knew we wanted to keep pretty much the original layout. The reason for this is that honestly it was just fine, but also we didn’t want to have to replace the floor, or rearrange the electrical and plumbing. This was the first thing that made us save money on a new kitchen.

Custom new cottage kitchen cabinets on a budget

Long story short, we got many quotes from several cabinet companies. The quotes were up to $12,000 (just for a reference, this is in CAD and we live in eastern Canada), which wasn’t in our budget. Then my friend Kiera (you can find her over at The Humming Homemaker) suggested to ask her father in law, who had already built her kitchen, to build our cabinets.

He agreed, so for the price of materials and a very honest labor rate, we got our brand new, 100% custom new shaker style kitchen cabinets! I can’t talk enough about what an amazing job he did! I love that he built the cabinets out of solid wood (birch plywood and pine), rather than MDF, which is what the most affordable store-bought cabinets are made of. Not only solid wood is more durable, but it’s also a healthier choice than MDF because of the lower VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions.

Now, of course not everybody has this option available, so if you are looking for affordable cabinets here are some other options:

• IKEA cabinets
• Ready-to-assemble (RTA) cabinets
• Shop used cabinets on Facebook Marketplace
• Always consider painting and/or restoring your existing cabinets if they are still in good shape

Cabinet colors

Let’s talk a bit about the fun stuff here! When you are planning your kitchen makeover, one very important thing to consider is paint color, which can dramatically change the look of your kitchen.

For our small cottage kitchen, I chose to go with two-tone cabinets: white on the top and sage green on the bottom. The colors I used are Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee, a beautiful warm white, and Benjamin Moore October Mist, a beautifully balanced sage green with warm yellow and calming grey undertones. Our cabinets were painted using Benjamin Moore Advance in Satin finish, a great, durable choice for kitchen cabinets.

Hardware

To add more warmth to our cabinets, I chose brass hinges, knobs and pulls. I used knobs on all cabinet doors, for a timeless look. For the drawers I opted for seashell shaped pulls, for a vintage touch.

To save money on hardware, I opted for some simple classic overlay hinges (also known as flush mount hinges). They are more affordable than more modern soft closing concealed hinges, and they add a vintage touch.

Countertops

Let me tell you, countertops can be expensive! For our small cottage kitchen makeover we chose hevea butcher block countertops. I love the warmth wood adds to our kitchen. I also like that this is a much cheaper option than quartz or granite countertops. Butcher blocks are also higher quality and more natural than other affordable options such as contact paper that mimics marble or wood, or countertop paint kits.

Sealing the butcher block naturally

To seal the countertops and protect the wood from water and stains, we used (many many coats of) a mix of pure tung oil and natural, food-grade citrus solvent from Real Milk Paint®. Tung oil provides a natural, non-toxic finish to the wood, and enhances its grain and color.

Farmhouse sink

A farmhouse fireclay sink is more than just a kitchen fixture. It’s a blend of beauty, durability, and practicality. Fireclay sinks are durable, easy to clean, and their large, deep basin is perfect for washing large pots (or babies!!).

For our kitchen remodel on a budget, I first looked around on Marketplace for a real vintage farmhouse clay sink. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything in our area. So I purchased this beautiful sink from Wayfair.

A vintage brass faucet for a touch of elegance

After looking around for faucets, I settled on this one from Wayfair. It has a vintage look, and the perfect brass/gold color I was looking for. It was also much more affordable than most other faucets I saw around. I like that it came with a separate sprayer, a very handy tool to have in the kitchen, especially with a large farmhouse sink.

Backsplash

For our small cottage kitchen we opted for a beadboard backsplash. A beadboard backsplash is a classic way to add charm, texture, and warmth to your kitchen without the high cost of tile or stone. Not only beadboard is affordable, but it’s also easy to install. It’s customizable with any color paint that matches your style, and low-maintenance and easy to clean.

We installed our beadboard backsplash by ourselves, which saved us some money as well. First, we measured the area and worked in sections, cutting the beadboard panels with a jigsaw. Then, we used wood glue and a nail gun to secure the beadboard in place. We filled the holes with wood putty and caulked around the edges, then painted the beadboard.

I chose to paint our backsplash the same color as our upper cabinets: Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee in a semi-gloss finish. I like how the same color creates a cohesive and clean look in my kitchen. The beadboard’s texture adds just enough dimension and interest.

Open shelves and shaker peg rails

To add storage space and cottage charm to our small kitchen, I added these DIY shelves and shaker peg rails. I can’t believe how well these turned out. Definitely my favorite part of our kitchen, and I did it all my myself!

For the shelves, I used these knotty pine stair treads, which had the perfect depth, thickness and finished round edge and were a much more affordable option then premade shelves. I also found these beautiful wooden corbels with the perfect cottage appeal.

For the shaker peg rail I used a very inexpensive 1 x 4 piece of knotty pine and these lovely shaker pegs.

Once everything was securely installed and caulked, I painted everything Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee to match the backsplash.

Decor

Here’s to the fun part! I like to keep my decor pretty minimal. For our small cottage kitchen I added a couple of vintage prints in thrifted frames, and some vintage and copper thrifted elements. I also like to switch out my decor seasonally to add a touch of Christmas in winter, and to welcome spring with flowers and other natural elements.

Our small cottage kitchen reveal

Well, here we are! I love how how kitchen makeover on a budget completely transformed this space! It now feels warm, cozy, welcoming, and functional.

I’m obsessed with all the little details, from the little nook for our books, to the board and batten range hood, and the brass accents.

If you like our small cottage kitchen makeover on a budget, have any suggestions, or want to share your own projects, just drop me a comment down below!

Shop my cottage kitchen

Find all the Amazon products I used for my cottage kitchen, and so much more here!

More posts on a homemade life

What is Simple Living? (And 10 Tips to Simplify your Life)

Cute and Cozy Minimalist Kid’s Bedroom on a Budget

How to Measure Screw Length Hack

How to Grow and Use Chamomile

How to Start a Vegetable Garden on a Budget

DIY Rose Water Recipe

Pin it for later