This narrow green kitchen makeover is a lesson in how to get your dream kitchen for £1,500

We're seeing green kitchen ideas pop up all over our social media feeds and for good reason. They're on-trend, inviting, and bridge the perfect gap between experimenting with colour and creating a versatile kitchen scheme. 

Committing to a kitchen design can be challenging, but what's even tougher is creating your dream space with a limited budget. The green kitchens we dream of (cough, Dakota Johnson) often include hefty price tags and large spaces, but the good news is that it's achievable even when faced with a small kitchen and a modest pot of money. 

Green country kitchen makeover

With over 90k likes, Caroline McQuistin shared her green country kitchen makeover on TikTok and viewers were wowed by the detail of her design. What's more, she achieved it all for under £1,500. When you see the results, you won't believe it. 

She took the outdated oak doors, black worktops and black lino flooring and turned it into a dreamy country escape. Filled with natural wood materials, a rich green palette and quintessential vintage finds, Caroline's kitchen looks high-end and perfectly placed in the setting of her home, on the Isle of Skye.

'I spent a lot of time in farmhouse kitchens growing up, and the thing I loved most about them all, including the one I sat and ate my porridge in every morning, was that the kitchen table was the hub of the home,' gushes Caroline.  

'Our kitchen unfortunately isn’t big enough to have the huge farmhouse table of my dreams at its centre for all to gather around, but by hook or by crook I will make it a sociable space.'

@carolinemcquistin

♬ Crimson And Clover - The Shacks

Before

After Caroline moved into her new home with her partner, she started considering how to update the kitchen to suit her taste. Previously, the old colour choices and appliances were making it appear much smaller, so luckily it wasn't as big of a job as she once thought. 

'When we viewed the house, I left thinking the kitchen would need to be expanded at some stage as it was very small.  But after moving in and the large fridge freezer the previous owners had in the middle of the room was gone, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was a bit more spacious than I’d thought,' says Caroline. 

'I knew getting an integrated under-counter fridge was a must, and after eyeing one up online, a few weeks later I saw the very one on Facebook Marketplace for £30. We picked up a kitchen unit someone was giving away for free with the same doors as our existing ones and used the door to make it look built-in.'

After

In what looks like an entirely different room, Caroline achieved a lush green kitchen design with oak-effect worktops, wooden flooring, and a custom-built bench made from offcut wood. The design looks entirely bespoke but was actually the result of DIY. 

'Most of the ways we cut costs was by not replacing the base units. Only one of the doors was in bad condition, the one under the sink, so we got rid of it and had our local seamstress make a gingham curtain and painted the rest in Farrow and Ball Sap Green. The walls are Safe Play by Coat Paint and the wallpaper is Maskrosen Green by Sandberg Wallpaper,' says Caroline. 

'The biggest cost was replacing the worktops. I sourced the cheapest solid beech ones I could find. I also wanted to get rid of the dark splashback, so taught myself to tile and once again, sourced some of the cheapest white tiles I could find,' Caroline continues. 

'I love the way the white tiles contrast with the black grout, so I wasn’t bothered about needing to buy the cheapest option.'

Sourcing items secondhand is time-intensive and can often slow down a process, but the satisfaction is immense when you find something that's just right, and considerably cheaper than other options. 

'I spend a lot of time (like, a lot!) searching on Facebook Marketplace and traipsing around charity shops. It’s quite hard to get stuff living on the Isle of Skye, but my boyfriend is a delivery driver, so whenever he’s heading somewhere I’ll search that area to see what I can find, or if I can, join him and hit up all the charity shops in that area. That’s how we got most of the furniture/finishings for the room,' says Caroline. 

From the pull-down drying rack, hanging baskets, yellow window frames and the built-in panelled bench, there are so many features that make Caroline's green kitchen ooze with charm. It's safe to say we're making it our mission to start hunting for the best vintage kitchen finds.