If you read a lot of home decorating magazines, you will eventually notice that the "before" and "after" photos show a kitchen going from dingy to delightful in just one photo. This is fine for people with huge budgets (or more likely, huge debt), but what can people with modest budgets do?

This kitchen is an example of how you can slowly improve your home by making a series of renovations as you can afford them. In the first picture, you can see that the kitchen was in a cramped "U" shape, with an intrusive breakfast bar that kept the cook from interacting with the rest of the family. In Phase One, we simply took out the intrusive wall and used an existing pantry to house the refrigerator. This made the kitchen "livable" until the client could afford to take the next step.

In Phase Two, you can see that we have added simple cabinets below the left-hand counter and over the refrigerator. We also covered the old linoleum with nice "granite" flooring that is actually peel-and-stick tile. Last but not least, we built a simple custom kitchen island to extend the rustic feel of the kitchen.

In the final phase, we replaced the laminate counter and cheesy white backsplash with nice, warm-colored tile. We also panelled over the dated "popcorn" ceiling and called in an electrician to install new lighting.

Regardless of what home decorating magazines say, you don't have to do everything at once. Just make sure that you work with your handyman to make a good plan that fits your budget.