A Bright & Modern DIY White Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover

When we first moved into our home, this kitchen was an outdated, dark and small corner of our open floor plan that we felt needed to be brightened and opened up in order to create a larger, more modern and bright farmhouse kitchen. The cabinets and trim were a dark honey oak color, the counters were a large black shiny tile, and the kitchen was closed off by a large in-kitchen pantry cabinet that limited the counter space. By tearing out the cabinet, painting everything white and completely updating the kitchen with our DIY skills, our dream of a modern and bright white farmhouse kitchen became a reality. Here is a look at our new DIY modern and bright white farmhouse kitchen!

To refresh and brighten up our outdated kitchen and create a beautiful modern white farmhouse kitchen, we put our DIY talents to work and completely remodeled this space. Every inch of this kitchen was updated!

We painted the cabinets white, added a white subway tile backsplash, installed DIY rustic pipe open shelving, replaced and expanded the the counters with white Quartz, added a larger and deeper sink and a new modern stainless steel faucet, and replaced the old refrigerator.

The photos below show how our kitchen looked before we updated it to a bright and modern white farmhouse kitchen. The photo on the left is how the home looked when we purchased it, with red walls. The photo on the right shows the kitchen after we painted the walls with Rodda – Rand Moon (light grey).

The kitchen was too dark and too small. There were no windows to add any natural light and the pantry cabinet blocked the light from the slider and created a very small counter space next to the oven. Our first decision for this space was to completely remove the large pantry cabinet so we could extend the counters. Not only would this give us more usable counter space, but clear a space for some gorgeous DIY rustic farmhouse pipe shelves.

Having the open shelves here to store dishes is the perfect location since its directly next to the dining space. The old pantry cabinet was largely unuseable storage anyways because it was so deep and either far too high or too low to the ground for everyday use. We converted our deep under the stairs closet to a pantry instead!

Another way we used our space wisely in this kitchen was by hanging a rustic farmhouse pot rack above the island to hold all the pots and pans so the limited cabinet space would be freed up.

The island counter was all somewhat small in this outdated kitchen, and mostly taken up by the sink. When we remodeled this kitchen we extended the island all around with IKEA Quartz in Frosty Carrina white and decided to install an under the counter sink under mount sink. This type of sink keeps the mess hidden, and also looks cleaner since the rim of the sink no longer shows on the counter itself (where people sit and eat!)

This created a much larger island, more usable space, and made it more comfortable to sit and eat at since the sink no longer seemed so close to the seating area. We love the modern farmhouse look of the stainless steel sink and faucet paired with the bright white IKEA Quartz Frosty Carrina counter tops and white kitchen cabinets! The pulls we added are a matte black.

Now when we are in our living room instead of looking at a small, dark, and outdated kitchen, we can enjoy a bright white modern farmhouse kitchen with lots more usable space. The whole kitchen is so much brighter and functional thanks to the expanded counter tops. It was impossible to get two adults in this space before to prepare a meal, now we can cook together with plenty of room to space. The plates are more accessible thanks to the DIY rustic pipe shelves, and the pots and pans are no longer an issue to store thanks to this beautiful pot rack.

This DIY was definitely one of our first major renovations to this home, and by far one of our favorites. Having a space that is functional and beautiful makes it so much easier to enjoy time in the kitchen as a family.

Now that you have toured the finished kitchen head to my DIY Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel post to find a full list of materials for this project, including specific details on colors and finishes & the tutorial for painting cabinets white, installing subway tile, and building DIY rustic pipe shelving.

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Check out all our DIY Home Projects Here!

Take a look at how we organize our farmhouse kitchen!

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