How to Make Your Kitchen Look Expensive
How to Make Your Kitchen Look Expensive
In this video, I go over some of my favorite ways to make your kitchen look expensive. These are some quick, fun, and simple design tips that help elevate your kitchen and make it a little more luxe and custom to your own design taste.
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⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 – How to Make Your Kitchen Look Expensive
00:46 – Upgrade the Faucet
02:57 – Lighting
05:28 – Cabinets to the Ceiling
07:40 – Color
10:47 – Paneled Appliances
12:33 – Anchor Your Items
13:54 – Keep the Counter Clean
15:08 – Fun Details
16:51 – Kitchen Art in General
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"Look at that! Look! I’m interesting!" I’m dying. He’s too funny!
We are redoing our kitchen cabinets now. My husband is spraying them & does a wonderful job! I picked a soft sage green. Counters & backsplash are fairly new. Needed to update the cabinets & decor😀
i love the appliance garage idea. i think if we get to redo our kitchen i’d totally put that in as well as the paneled appliances. on a side note i had 2 great aunts (sisters in law) who both decorated their kitchens with chickens and roosters, they weren’t farmhouse at all it was so funny to see they both loved those, they didn’t have to the ceiling cabinets so thats where they had the majority of their decor.
As far as paneled appliances we need to be honest about how the used to look 😂 90s ….. to call it an eye sore is an understatement lol. They were so obviously back then that it always looked a little pitiful lol. Since then paneled appliances have come a long ways. I don’t thing I would ever want to panel a refrigerator but i would love to hide a dishwasher behind a panel. Sometimes it isn’t bad to have an appliance like a refrigerator easily identifiable. My guest are likely to go use our refrigerator unlike our dishwasher where we hide our shameful dirty dishes between washes lol. Who am I kidding 😂 😅 I would need 2 dishwashers for the luxury of hiding dirty dishes 😂 (always a back log of dishes)
Great advice as always🎉
Nick, what are your thoughts on functional additional, second level upper, small upper cabinets to the ceiling for additional storage?
Omg @Nick_Lewis this is such an informative cheat sheet on things to adjust. 🤯 I didn’t know some of the terms to even describe what I wanted, and you really cleared it up for me.
I feel like you gave the best designer brain-dump I’ve heard in a long time! 🙌🏾✨🥰✨🙌🏾
Yes. I had panelled appliances as far back as prior to my wedding in 1981. Germany. I still have them, the kitchen has changed in the meantime, in my 2016 kitchen update. The fridge, the dishwasher both blend in seemlessly with the cabinetry. And I will never understand why this seems to not work in North-American style kitchens, unless you go for the high-luxury looks and finishes (billionaire style). What we are not, of course. Nonetheless, we have the panels for our appliances.
Perhaps you can be setting the mirror on an easel low enough for stability but lifting the mirror up high enough to be seeing yourself under the Moth ?
I’m building a house right now and there’s soooo many choices I’m overwhelmed 😅 Where do you suggest I shop for kitchen cabinet pulls?
Thank you, expensive is not an adjective, or a goal. I am very tired of the expression. Premium sounds much better.
This guy speaks SO FAST and not once does he stop and say, "and uhhh…"! My remodel starts in 2 weeks and I’m over budget by 40% The endless attempts by vendors to separate me from my money is infuriating. I thought that once supply chain issues were ironed out that prices would come down a bit. Yeah, I can see now how naive that was of me. Suppliers are keeping prices high because they can and they are raking it in. I’ve been working on this project since January and demolition is going to start soon. I hope I get re-energized and excited again because this has really beaten me down and I’m really sick of this thing that I was once so excited about. I did not intend for this comment to be a therapy session but what the hell. I’m certain I’m not the only one who feels this way during a remodel. (Or am I?!?) This was a great video and I’m implementing quite a few of the recommendations already in my design. The irony is that, to make a kitchen LOOK expensive you have to spend some serious money, which really IS expensive! OK, sorry. I’m just rambling so I’ll hang it up now and just say thank you for the great video!
I love your videos. There is so much content crammed into every moment, my head hurts. But so many other interior design videos are so – vap!
i’m always shocked to see how homemaking standards have dropped in my lifetime. however, i grew-up with a mom who was shockingly controlling about keeping the house clean. we cleaned the whole thing every. single. day ~
I think I’m looking to have my house feel "homey," "elegant," "well-designed" or "put together" more than I am wanting to appear "expensive." Just hearing you say that over and over makes me feel like you want me to try too hard. I just want to be smiling with contentment when I am at home. I don’t want to work to impress anyone.
To avoid the clutter and still enjoy cooking with all my gadgets and things, I decided to wash a dishwasher half full of dishes if it would bring the place to clean in a shorter time. I also found a clear acrylic refrigerator box for my rotary cheese grater that slices grates and fine grinds and has a lot of parts. (I have arthritis and this functions for me) my baking supplies and tools and my restaurant style storage with one lid that fits all are in clear acrylic boxes too that just slide onto and off the shelves with ease. No mess showing. I look for easy to clean appliances and cookware to cut the time and up the eye appeal.
Adore you! So how about buying a translucent powder compact and dusting that cute face before filming xoxo
Your faithful subscriber-
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Hi Nick. I’m a new subscriber. I have been going down the rabbit hole of your videos and love how they’re part design education and part humor. Thank you for taking the time to put out this great content for us.
Yay, Nick! Clutter counters drive me crazy.
I challenge you to try to make mine look expensive
Nick please see this , I really want to know how did you make your tv so much into the wall. It’s so thin and I want to do the same with mine. I appreciate your response.
04:31 Hey, is that your actual kitchen? I’ve been begging for a tour of it for what feels like years. It looks like the first photo is your kitchen, definitely. And by the way, I wonder this in every video: do you rent the space you’re living in now? I know you’d bought some property and were planning to build a house, but I remember those plans were put on hold. So are renting your current space? It feels like you’ve been there for awhile.
Love your videos! But had to laugh during the talk about panelled appliances because they are considered as kinda oldfashioned in Europe.. at least in Germany 😂
@12:11, where can I find this light fixture? Looks to be 12-16 lights. Thanks
"Expensive is not a Design Style". Preach, Nick!!! <3
When we redid our kitchen I was surprised to find that it did not cost much more to put in cabinets to the ceiling than the short ones.
I have a big question, we have an open concept house but our kitchen has tile and the family room wood. We are planning to remodel the kitchen but we don’t want to extend the wood to the kitchen, what to do?
I am relieved that more people are looking at painting cabinets other that white! No offense to to those who like white cabinets but they look cheap no matter how high end the cabinets are. White cabinets remind me of the low income apartments from my childhood. Not to mention (I know I am not alone with this issue) but a lot of white and/ light can trigger migraines for some people. Not to mention white is so depressing….. white is the desert of color…. void of life. I give a pass to grey cabinets because it adds some color (even if neutral) and can easier be coordinated with no matter how dark or light you go.
Can you do a video on eat in kitchens that don’t have an island. Tables and chairs are hard to find that aren’t for a dining room.
I have a cathedral ceiling in my kitchen and living room. So cabinets cannot go to the ceiling, but a.friend of mine was getting a new custom kitchen and in her older house her original cabinets went to the ceiling which was fine. She had regular cabinets and then on top of them she had little cabinets for whatever stuff you didn’t use all the time….. funny thing tho the cabinets went all the way up to the ceiling but they didn’t account for the fact that she is short and SHE CANT EVEN SEE IN THE CUPBOARD the first shelf was at nose height and then it was get the stool to get anything else off of the second shelf… that was a pure fail on the design and install of these extremely expensive cupboards I would have been furious as I am only 5 feet talk as well!
European viewer here, paneled appliances are amazing and so are your videos, Nick!
Ok so the reason all these things make your kitchen “look expensive” is because they ARE expensive (except maybe decluttering—but even that requires more storage room, aka a bigger kitchen). You won’t find any of these things in a builder’s grade home for a reason. There are no secrets here—just buy high end stuff and your kitchen will look like you spent money on it.
But Nick, I know if those jewels of hardware (that can give sparkle) were ACTUALLY sparkly – I know..sadly..you would not like it😉
Do you have a video on decorating for fall? I don’t think I saw one, and if you don’t you totally should make one!
100% agree with pendant lights and cabinets to the ceiling advice to make your space feel taller. We live in 1960s house that was designed and built by my grandpa who didn’t have enough material (thank you, Czechoslovak commie party) and had to make the ground level ceilings below the legal minimum – 232cm. I did both these things for my kitchen and people compliment me on how airy and tall it feels (it is white kitchen which helps… though I incorporated another Nick’s advice and did pink subway tile backsplash). 🙂
On the other hand, I’d not recommend opting for built in fridge. Sure, it looks great but the fridge will lack air supply and overheat aka use a lot more electricity. Not to mention that the fridge models that are made for building in generally already are a lot less efficient. I’m all for looks but this is wasteful imho and when I researched this, I opted for stand alone fridge instead.
Thanks for sharing all these great ideas! 💯❣️
I agree on cabinets going to the ceilings. I would like to add that if you do not want to get all new cabinets bur are willing to paint then there is a way to both box it in and make it functional. First off build those boxes! Now the easiest thing you can do to make it both functional and intentional is to buy individual cabinet doors with glass panels! This makes that double decker look intentional! If you are trying to hide not so pretty items in that hard to reach area (i would) the make sure to look for a frosted glass option. There are several cabinetry companies onine that give the option to just buy doors with or without glass (sometimes different options in glass transparency). You will likely be able to find a company that has either prefab or custom door option that can both fit the space and the door trime of your other cabinets. So dont give up with the putting lipstick on an unnecessary bulkhead! Make it functional if you can. I have been planing on do this for years on my house but unfortunately emergency situations with the house occurred and obviously emergency situations came first 😅. I really hope that this or the master bathroom will be our next big project rather than an emergency situation 😅 I know wishful thinking lol.
Nick, I love you! My husband and I just bought a new apartment in DR.! We are Dominicans and looking for decor ideas I came across your channel! What a blessing from God. You have given me more insights and ideas than the 100 videos I have watched before yours. Now I keep coming to your channel to see what’s new.
We are also doing inset cabinets on our new/remodel kitchen. Have always loved paneled appliances!
Nick I’m curious what you do with dishsoap and sponge. Use every day but hate the look of them.
Do you have any suggestions for cat furniture? Like is really difficult to find something cool that can go with the normal furniture and I really don’t want to spend so much money in something ugly that almost probably the cats won’t use. I love you lr channel btw 💛
We bought a house with a galley kitchen. They had dark cabinets all the way to the ceiling. In this scenario it looked super small and cramped. We put in ones didn’t go all the way up. We put a very light wood and the space at the ceiling actually added dimension to the very narrow design.
If my kitchen looks expensive then my guests will expect fancier food…..
When we remodeled our kitchen, I ended up commissioning some art glass pulls/handles for my cabinets and drawers from a small glass artist whose shop I stumbled across on a trip and they are without a doubt my favorite "decor" thing in my kitchen. And they weren’t even that expensive! But they are completely custom. Sadly her shop is now closed but I know there are many similar shops/artists out there and it’s something I honestly never would have thought of doing until I saw some of her sample handles in her shop. Fun way to support small artists and also add custom/unique features to your kitchen (or bathroom for that matter).
I know how this is going to sound but, my husband and I are building a castle home. We’re about to start the interior and I’m stuck on which large scale artwork to pick. If you any ideas on medieval artwork that’s not too edgy, i would be grateful to hear it!❤
How would you implement kitchen cabinets to the ceiling with a vaulted ceiling? When facing the majority of my uppers, the ceiling to the right… if that makes sense? Frame it out asymmetrically with the ceiling or just leave it alone?
Just ran into "joy designing" and geode and watercolor patterns on walls… what in the interior design wackiness is going on!?!?
Did anyone else notice that the clock never changed it’s time during the entire video
Please don’t make the pictures in a border. They’re a lot smaller than otherwise they would be and I cannot really see the details that otherwise would be so interesting. But I loose interest if they’re too small to see.
Nick, thank you so much for your great ideas. My husband and I are building our forever home. My kitchen cabinet are going to be a beautiful navy blue with cabinets to the ceiling with glass in the upper cabinets. I was already planning on having task lighting but I love your idea for toekick lighting and will incorporate that. The island is 9 feet long and I am having trouble finding pendant lighting that I really like. I am going to have a very large pantry that includes the microwave and coffee maker as we don’t use them daily and have only one 9 ft wall (with cooktop) of counter. Would you recommend putting our toaster oven in the pantry also for the same reason? Thanks again for your informative videos.