A woman turned her dated 2000s kitchen into a cozy, modern space for $150,000

Meg Leonard and her husband bought their dream home in December 2021.

Leonard, 34, is an entrepreneur and content creator who owns a digital and interior design studio.

In 2021, she and her husband were living in Baltimore City, but they were dreaming of buying a house in Annapolis, Maryland.

"We were looking for something to make our own," Leonard said, telling Business Insider that she and her husband are both drawn to homes with charm that's hard to come by with new builds. Leonard hoped to remodel a home and lean into the traditional, coastal vibe with her design.

Then, in May 2021, they found the perfect house: a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Annapolis. The 2,900-square-foot space needed a little TLC, which was just what Leonard wanted.

"It had great bones, but things were added on in different phases," Leonard said. "It felt entirely meant to be."

After some back-and-forth on the sale, they finally bought it in December 2021, eager to start turning the house into their forever home. They now live there with their son and golden retriever.

Their early 2000s kitchen was high on the renovation list.

As Leonard told Business Insider, the home's previous owners renovated the kitchen as an addition to the original house. It had wooden cabinetry and windows, tile floors, and a large stone wall framing the oven.

"It was definitely Italian style from the early 2000s that was brought into the home," Leonard said of the kitchen's style.

Though the kitchen had good bones, Leonard didn't love its details. The stone made it feel dark, despite the big windows, and the 8-foot ceilings didn't help. Likewise, the appliances were high-end but dated. Leonard also wasn't a fan of the orange wood cabinets, which she said were falling apart, or the dark granite countertops.

"It wasn't feeling like the happy, airy space that I wanted," she said.

Leonard also didn't think the kitchen's dining area was being used to its full potential.

Because the home had been renovated multiple times before Leonard and her family bought it, it had some strange design elements. For instance, the kitchen was added to the front of the house, so the former front door ended up on a wall inside the space after that addition.

Leonard also thought the space in front of the door felt too isolated from the rest of the kitchen to serve as a dining area.

After they moved in, Leonard and her husband tackled a renovation of their primary bedroom and bathroom, and added a laundry room upstairs. Then, after saving up some money, they hit the ground running with their kitchen renovation in October 2023.

"We really tried to balance the function on top of making it look better," Leonard said. "Storage and aesthetically really opening it up was our goal."

Leonard designed the kitchen herself.

Leonard liked the kitchen's overall shape, including the placement of the appliances, which helped the design process.

"We liked the footprint of everything," she said. "My goal was to kind of create a neutral, timeless base that I can then style everything around through the stools and the accent pieces."

To start the process, they gutted the space so they could start fresh. Leonard designed the kitchen herself, but she hired out a contractor and professionals to bring the work to life. Leonard said she thinks it's worth paying professionals to work on rooms like your kitchen, which are so central to a home.

"This is the space where you need to invest properly, especially when it comes to plumbing and gas lines in all of the things," she said. "You never want to then resent your space."

She also ended up feeling grateful she lived in the kitchen for a while before the renovation began, as it allowed her to see how she really needed the space to function.

"I listed out our dream inclusions, how I wanted them to flow, where I wanted the dishwasher to be, and even practiced unloading where the dishes would go," she said.

The tile floors and dark wood framing the windows needed to go.

Leonard didn't love the look or feel of the chunky tile floors that were in the kitchen when they bought their home. She didn't think they fit the space, nor did she love the feel of them when she walked around.

And while she loved the shape of the windows, she didn't like the wood framing them, particularly because of the color.

"To each their own, but orange wood is not something that brings me joy," she said.

Wood floors and white windows lightened the space.

Leonard decided to continue the white oak flooring from the rest of her home into her kitchen to create a "seamless" look.

"As long as you wipe things up right away, they last," Leonard said about the floors. "So we've been loving that."

The walls and trimmings were painted white, making the space feel airy, and Leonard also had white beams added to the ceiling for depth.

"As soon as they went in, I think that was the first time that I was like, 'I could cry,'" she said of how much she loved the beams. "It made the room look taller, and I think it's because they weren't a dark-stained wood."

Decorative touches — like a dinner bell hanging near the backyard door and dark-wood and wicker barstools at the island — give the kitchen the homey feel Leonard was searching for.

The wood cabinetry didn't work for Leonard either.

Although she liked where the cabinets sat, the dark color wasn't Leonard's favorite. She also didn't like that the cabinets didn't go to the ceiling, and she thought the countertops made the whole space feel darker. Plus, the cabinet doors were falling off, so they needed to be updated anyway.

Leonard planned to replace the cabinets with new white cabinets that extended to the ceiling, with appliance covers to match.

"I wanted inset cabinets that were panel-ready on the appliances just to have a more seamless, perimeter look," she said.

White cabinetry and countertops brightened the space.

Leonard got the ceiling-high cabinets she was hoping for, which she complemented with a white marble countertop that extended to the backsplash.

"I just loved the idea of it looking a little more rich and and grand by using that marble slab," she said.

The real marble was one of the biggest splurges Leonard and her husband made on the kitchen, and she said that even though some people think marble can be hard to maintain, it "was definitely worth splurging on" for her.

"Any of the etchings are great signs of life, and it shows that it's natural, real stone," she said.

Leonard chose brass finishes throughout the kitchen, from the hardware to her oven and a rack that hangs by a window. It elevates the kitchen's otherwise neutral tones.

Leonard also incorporated her personal style through small details, such as the sconce on one side of her sink, which serves as a high-end nightlight they turn on when their kitchen is closed for the evening.

"I just love those little bits of character that are a little different," she said.

The bulky, arched stone surrounding the stove and oven didn't work for Leonard either.

When Leonard bought her home, the oven sat in an alcove with an arch above it, surrounded by a dark tile pattern. Double ovens were inset into the tile, with a cabinet above them.

Leonard wanted to keep the arch above the oven and make it a statement piece in the kitchen, but the dark tile around it had to go. She also wanted to reduce the arch's footprint and decided to remove the double ovens, even though many people find them appealing in a high-end kitchen. It wasn't suited to her lifestyle.

"Double ovens sound like a dream, but we really only use those on Christmas," she said. "We needed that storage."

Leonard kept the arched shape, but she modernized it.

The new arch is wider and slightly square, allowing the white-and-gold oven and six-burner stovetop to shine. The marble backsplash flows all the way up the arch for a seamless look.

Combining the oven and stove freed up space to the right of her kitchen, so now an "appliance garage" sits where the double ovens used to be. The large cabinet gives Leonard space to store things like her coffee maker and air fryer. Her counters were left open for decorative rather than utilitarian touches.

She also added cabinets with glass panes framing the oven on either side so she could display some of her everyday items and pitchers.

The details around the stovetop helped elevate it.

Leonard had shelving built into the sides of the archway, where she stores everyday items and decor to add a pop to her space.

They also added a pot-filler above the stove, which Leonard said she loves.

"I know a lot of people are like, 'Is that worth it? Am I actually going to use it?'" she said. "We use that all the time. I love to have tea every day."

"It's like a piece of jewelry, but it definitely has changed our day-to-day routine," she added.

Leonard liked the large island, but it needed some updates.

Much as she did with the rest of the kitchen, Leonard wanted to keep the island in the center of the room but make adjustments to it. She liked it as a seating area for stools and as a prep space.

Leonard said it was particularly important to her to keep the trash can built into the island, as she likes chopping and preparing food there and easily tossing things into the bin below.

"We spend most of our time standing over that block and preparing, easily cleaning up, and turning to cook," she said. "It's been really functional for us."

The island's built-in features make it more functional.

Rather than white, Leonard decided to use a darker wood for the island.

"I always knew I wanted a dark island just to give it more of that traditional, rich contrast," she said.

The gold hardware and white marble top gave it continuity with the rest of the kitchen, and Leonard tried to lean into the elevated feel with the design, including table-like legs on one side.

The built-in features that make it easier to use are Leonard's favorite parts of the island. The built-in trash can still works great for her family, as does the paper towel bar above it. They also built a cabinet that stows a microwave, creating another hidden space for an appliance.

The off-white and brass light fixtures hanging above the island tied it all together. Leonard said she had the lights raised slightly higher than usual. The height allows people to see through the kitchen uninterrupted when they walk into the space.

Closing up the old front door was important to Leonard.

"That was actually one of the first projects my husband and my father-in-law did," Leonard said of removing the door and closing up the wall. "We wanted it to feel like a traditional hallway and not have this random door that was an old exterior door there."

That left them with an empty square off the side of the room, which used to be cut off from the kitchen by a peninsula. Rather than making it into a traditional dining space, Leonard decided to transform it into a nook with ample built-in storage.

"We figured we would get more use out of a nook than a traditional dining area," she told Business Insider.

The nook has built-in bench seating.

A three-sided bench seat creates the nook, and a rectangular table with two chairs on the exterior side sits in the center.

Leonard also lined the ceiling and walls of the nook with white paneling, making it feel distinct from the rest of the kitchen.

"I figured to panel that space would kind of give it a statement without doing some type of bold color," she said.

The bench tops also lift up, and Leonard uses them to store items she doesn't use day to day.

"We have all of our Christmas stuff on one side, and all of our bigger platters," she said. "We know exactly where things are, and they're not shoved in the basement."

The nook has become an entertaining space for Leonard and her family.

In addition to the bench storage, Leonard also had shelving built above the nook along one side, creating additional spots to display her style. She likes that she can change the feel of her kitchen by swapping out items on display.

For now, Leonard has platters and sentimental items she doesn't use day to day on the shelving, like a plate she uses for her son's birthday and a portrait of her late dog. A TV also hangs on one wall.

The nook has become one of Leonard's favorite spots in her home, both as an entertaining space and a place for her family to relax. People crowd into it for parties, and her family dines there daily.

"We never sat in that area before, and now I use it every day," she said.

Leonard also wanted to update the pantry.

Before the renovation, Leonard's pantry sat across from the island between two doorways. She wanted to keep it in the same spot, but she didn't want it to extend quite so far into the kitchen.

"You would be unloading groceries, and you couldn't walk around because it was basically hitting the island stools," she said of the issues the pantry's size caused.

As they designed the new pantry, Leonard decided to make it slightly smaller so there was a larger walkway between the pantry and the island.

"People find it hard to believe that you would make a pantry smaller, but we didn't really lose a ton of space," she said. "It was worth it to not have the kitchen feel a little claustrophobic. "

She made the new pantry a statement piece in her kitchen.

Leonard said she wanted to play up the island's dark wood as she crafted her space, and the pantry door felt like a natural fit.

She hoped to find antique doors that would work, but when she couldn't, she had her doors custom-built. They have glass panels, and brass bolts serve as her door handles and line the center.

"I feel like that kind of gave it that look on a lower budget," she said.

Striped curtains cover the bottom shelves, peeking through the glass for a quaint touch.

Leonard's family loves their kitchen now.

Leonard's family loves the whole kitchen, but she said the nook is her favorite spot in the airy space.

"I love having a place to sit down and have a substantial family meal, but it's cozy, and it doesn't feel like we're sitting at a formal dining area," she said.

She also said she's happy "having a place for everything," thanks to her ample and well-thought-out storage.

"It feels like us," she added of her kitchen. "We're happy to start and end our days in there. And I think that's the biggest thing, just making it a space that you actually enjoy."

All in, Leonard spent around $150,000 on the kitchen renovation.

Leonard said her kitchen was "absolutely" worth the price tag because it works so well for her family now.

"I was so strategic about not making it just a pretty kitchen but really thinking about where each dollar was going," she said. "I wanted us all to have a space that we're proud of and want to spend time in."

Leonard recommends really thinking through a kitchen renovation before starting it, focusing on how the space will function for your family before aesthetics.

"List out your priorities, your needs, your current pain points, your dreams, and make sure that they're easily documented, so you can always kind of refer back to that inspiration," she said. "You can have fun with the aesthetic parts and kind of fill that in."