Kitchen makeover: lighter and brighter

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With a bit of careful planning and some hard work themselves, the owners of this kitchen managed to lighten, brighten and make better use of their space. The renovation cost about $16,000, including all new appliances, and the resulting kitchen is far more user-friendly.

Before
The original kitchen was quite cramped, with narrow benchtops and dated appliances. The owners wanted to make the space more functional, and enable it to flow through to their living area.

On the up side
Lifting items up off your benchtop frees up valuable bench space in a small kitchen. Our rails and 'S' hooks are from Ikea, while similar hanging recipe stands are available from Ikea.

Your kitchen's sink, fridge and oven should be no more than 7m apart, and should form the shape of a triangle.

• When planning a kitchen renovation, work out what is frustrating about your space – such as not enough light, limited bench space and cramped cupboards – then attempt to remedy those problems in your new design.
• Floating floorboards are a relatively quick and inexpensive way to update a room. You can install them yourself, and they are easy to maintain. Premium Floors has a good range – take a look at www.premiumfloors.com.au.
• A strip of tiles is a good way to add colour to a kitchen. Ours are from Bunnings Warehouse, and we continued the theme with a teal feature wall in the laundry (for a similar colour, try Bristol's Daylesford or Teal).

Clean corner
The laundry nook at the side of the kitchen didn't have any storage space prior to the renovation. Originally, the washer and dryer were mounted on top of one another, with a door concealing them from view. To make the space more practical, the appliances were moved to stand alongside one another, running into the wall, with a benchtop fitted over the top. Handy laundry appliances include the Sunbeam Accura Digital Resilium iron, which automatically switches off if left unattended, and this Pressa ironing board from Ikea – ideal if space is limited.