Whether you have big bucks or a barely-there budget, a few simple changes can make a big difference in the
kitchen.

Kathleen Wilson, author of The Budget Decorator‘s Bible, is an expert at adding kitchen style on a budget. In her own kitchen, "we didn’t have tile backsplashes and didn’t want to rent a tile cutter." The solution? She bought some beautiful stone floor tiles, broke them in pieces and created a random mosaic on the wall as a backsplash. She used silicone adhesive and grouted between the pieces. Total cost: About $10 for a space 10 inches high by 20 feet long. She suggests checking with ceramic shops for broken pieces of pottery, or using broken china to create your own mosaic backsplash. You can even buy just a select few high-end painted or carved tiles and then create a mosaic around them. Great new kitchen >

"You're grabbing these handles and knobs every day," says designer Mick De Giulio, who likes to mix up the hardware in the kitchen. "Not using the same handle or knob throughout the entire space, adds another artistic touch to the kitchen," he says. With all the artisans now focusing on kitchen knobs and handles, there are lots of wonderful hardware choices.

Here’s a trick from Candice Olson, host of HGTV’s Divine Design: She likes to paint the bulkhead above cabinets the same color. "It makes the cabinets look custom and expensive without a big investment," she says. See it >

"You don’t always have to tear things completely out" when you’re renovating a kitchen, says Joan DesCombes, CKD, of Architectural Artworks, Inc., in Winter Park, Florida. She’s worked with homeowners who’ve made small but significant changes to a kitchen with great results: "In one instance we removed a white kitchen island and replaced it with one made of cherry wood with a black stain rubbed through it. We reused one piece of granite from the island, but added some African granite, and changed the hardware, including brass and gold-plated rails, to a satin nickel version. The original stainless-steel hood was replaced with a black version with stainless trim. "The kitchen looks entirely different," she says.