30 Smart & Stylish Ideas for Apartment Kitchens (Renter-Approved!)

Renting on a budget doesn’t mean settling for a lackluster kitchen. You can significantly upgrade your space without overspending or risking your security deposit.

By focusing on elements like decor, lighting, storage, paint (where permitted), window treatments, or temporary backsplashes, you can personalize even the smallest kitchen and make it more livable.

Explore these simple, renter-friendly, and budget-conscious apartment kitchen ideas for inspiration.

Define Space With Pendants

Pin Desiree Burns Interiors

Upgrade your apartment kitchen by changing out the lighting fixtures for something more modern, like this pair of pendant lights that define the semi-open kitchen from the rest of the space.

Be sure to hold onto the old ones so that you can reinstall them before moving out if necessary or required.

Try a Moody Paint Color

Pin deVOL Kitchens

If your lease allows you to paint, transform a galley-style kitchen with a moody paint color, like this earth-toned space from deVOL Kitchens.

The space still reads as neutral but feels warmer and more inviting than pure white.

Install a Breakfast Bar

Pin deVOL Kitchens

A two-seater breakfast bar will turn a small rental galley kitchen into an eat-in space that brings café energy to your home.

This wall-mounted counter next to the window creates a cozy spot for coffee or a meal, alone or with a partner.

Open shelving painted the same color as the cabinetry creates a mini pantry.

Keep Clutter to a Minimum

Pin deVOL Kitchens

Resist the urge to clutter up your countertops by editing your possessions and organizing your kitchen cabinets to provide maximum storage.

Leave plenty of space for meal prep and keep your apartment kitchen easy to clean with bare surfaces.

Paint It White

Pin Neva Interior Design / Photo by Agathe Tissier

In a tiny studio apartment with an open kitchen, painting walls and cabinetry white will help it to fade into the background when not in use. 

Neva Interior Design added green and blue accents throughout this airy, high-ceilinged Parisian space for a fresh, nature-inspired feel.

Try Peel-and-Stick Tiles

Pin Neva Interior Design / Photo by Agathe Tissier

If your apartment kitchen doesn’t have a backsplash, consider adding one with peel-and-stick tiles.

This budget- and renter-friendly hack allows you to introduce color and protect your walls, and is removable so that it won’t damage walls or give your landlord a reason to keep your security deposit.

Plant an Indoor Herb Garden

Pin Neva Interior Design / Photo by Agathe Tissier

Brighten your studio apartment kitchen with an indoor herb garden that is both decorative and edible. 

Neva Interior Design installed a wall-mounted hanging plant pot above the countertop filled with favorite herbs that are within arm’s reach.

Maximize Views

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

If you’re lucky enough to have a balcony or outdoor space off of your apartment kitchen, make the most of it.

Set up a small stylish seating area for morning coffees and nightcaps, fill it with plants, and decorate it like an extension of your kitchen to create an indoor-outdoor feel.

Install sheer curtains on the inside that can provide privacy while preserving light and views to the outside.

Try a Skirted Cabinet

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

Hide clutter or disguise a dated appliance such as a dishwasher or a small fridge with a simple skirted cabinet under your countertops, like this Berlin kitchen from Kateryn Gonchar.

Make a simple DIY version from recycled bed sheets or extra fabric attached with a tension rod, or use premade café curtains.

Leave Some Empty Space

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

Make a small apartment kitchen feel more spacious and airy by not cramming every inch of shelving with supplies and objects.

Use a display shelf for essentials to keep countertops clear.

But leave plenty of negative space to maintain an uncluttered and effortless feel that isn’t overly styled, like this serene space.

Choose a Stylish Trash Can

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

In a small space, every choice matters.

Choose a stylish trash can that you will be proud to display in the corner of your kitchen to free up space beneath the sink.

Utilize Open Shelving

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

Keep open shelving under your kitchen island looking neat and tidy by limiting your color palette when choosing everything from dishes to dishtowels.

This will ensure that your everyday essentials are visible and accessible and free up space in closed cabinetry for one-off items and hiding clutter.

Be sure to stack like items together to create an orderly feel.

Personalize Walls With Art

Pin @ekaterynagonchar / Instagram

Hang some art on the wall of your kitchen to make it personal to you while creating a focal point.

Source inexpensive art online or at thrift shops or yard sales.

Use removable hooks to hang an unframed canvas that won’t leave a mark or damage your security deposit refund.

Keep Reinventing

Pin Alvin Wayne

If you’re a longterm renter, keep things fresh with small affordable makeovers that will make your space feel new without major changes.

Interior designer Alvin Wayne has transformed this New York City a number of times with simple swaps that you can recreate in a rental apartment with a little ingenuity.

Swap Out Bar Stools

Pin Alvin Wayne

Just changing the seating from shiny gold-toned metal bar stools to soft upholstered and black metal models changes the look of this space that is open to the living room.

Source secondhand furniture and sell or donate your old decor to maintain a sustainable approach to decorating your space.

Style Your Countertops

Pin Alvin Wayne

Make your kitchen feel cozier by styling—and restyling—your countertops.

Have fun playing around with vignettes that are both pretty and practical.

Use cookbook stacks to display small plants or cookie jars.

Mix decor objects with practical tools like a stylish vase holding a collection of wooden spoons.

Change the Backsplash

Pin Alvin Wayne

Change the look of your rental kitchen by swapping a subway tile kitchen backsplash with a mix of square and rectangular tiles with a neutral graphic pattern for added texture.

Another change of bar stools—this time for light wood and upholstered bouclé models with tall backs for extra comfort—and new ceiling light fixtures gives the kitchen a subtle upgrade without changing the color palette.

Choose Statement Pieces

Pin Alvin Wayne Interiors

Add color and texture with accessories that double as decor.

Elevate an apartment kitchen by displaying fruit in a statement bowl on the countertop that looks just as good empty as brimming with seasonal produce.

Mix and match styles and materials for added interest.

Refresh Cabinet Doors

Pin Alvin Wayne

Redoing kitchen cabinets doesn’t have to be expensive.

Renters can cover flat-front cabinet doors with contact paper for a budget makeover that anyone can DIY.

These cabinet doors went from high-gloss white to shiny gold with nothing more than metallic gold contact paper.

Add a Row of Cabinets

Pin Alvin Wayne

If you’re a longterm renter or a homeowner, consider installing extra storage space with a ceiling-mounted shelving unit or row of cabinetry that includes closed and open shelving.

Style the display shelves with shiny copper accents and trailing plants to make it as decorative as it is functional.

Try a Bold Budget Refresh

Pin The Merrythought

If you’re a renter with dated cabinets, consider asking your landlord if they are open to allowing you to refresh them with paint.

The Merrythought gave the rustic wood cabinets in a rental apartment a makeover—with the landlord’s blessing—that updated the compact space with $55 worth of olive green paint and a little elbow grease.

Repaint Your Cabinets

Pin The Merrythought

Some landlords will offer to chip in if you take the initiative or offer to do the labor yourself, so it never hurts to ask.

This kitchen went from tired to on-trend with earthy green paint that adds color while remaining neutral, and a simple white subway tile backsplash to modernize the look and feel of the space.

Optimize a Galley Layout

Pin Design by Brady Tolbert for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Tessa Neustadt

Hang open shelving to optimize a galley-style kitchen layout with available wall space.

In this rental kitchen, Brady Tolbert for Emily Henderson Design added open shelving with gold-toned brackets to provide extra storage space above the sink.

Choose Black and White

Pin Design by Brady Tolbert for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Tessa Neustadt

In a kitchen with black-and-white checkerboard flooring, carry the two-toned scheme throughout the kitchen and breakfast nook for a cohesive feel.

Sticking to black and white decor and accessories will simplify your life and ensure you don’t grow tired of your space, which can be accented with color to change up the look.

Hang a Gallery Wall

Pin Design by Brady Tolbert for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Tessa Neustadt

Extend the black-and-white aesthetic by hanging a gallery wall in the dining nook.

Mix photography, prints, and letter board signs of various shapes and sizes to create variation and dimension while sticking to a limited color palette.

Utilize Vertical Space

Pin Design by Brady Tolbert for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Tessa Neustadt

Take full advantage of vertical space by hanging shelving all the way up to the ceiling.

Place items according to how often you use them, with everyday dishes and glassware on the bottom shelf, for example.

Even if you leave the very top shelves empty, structuring the walls with shelving that draws the eye up will make a narrow layout feel less claustrophobic.

Invest in Storage Jars

Pin Velinda Hellen for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

Decant your often-used spices or pantry goods into matching storage containers for a neat and tidy look on open shelving.

Use small trays or trivets to hold glass bottles of olive oil and vinegar or your creamer and sugar to allow everyday items to organically add color and functional decor to your space, like in this guest apartment kitchen from Velinda Hellen for Emily Henderson Design.

Hang an Extra Rod or Two

Pin Velinda Hellen for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

Attach a hanging rod to the end of your countertops to add storage to a small L-shaped kitchen.

Use it to display extra utensils, dry bundles of herbs, or hang tea towels or pot holders in a convenient spot that won’t crowd your meal prep workspace.

Try a Full-Wall Backsplash

Pin Velinda Hellen for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

Make the ceilings in a smaller basement apartment kitchen feel taller with a full-wall backsplash.

Velinda Hellen for Emily Henderson Design chose square tiles with a handmade feel that blend in with the open shelving and wall color for a seamless look in this bright space.

The full-wall tiles draw the eye upward to blur the distinction between the walls and the ceilings for an airier feel.

Define Space With a Rug

Pin Becca Interiors

Define space in an open-plan apartment with a colorful or patterned kitchen rug. 

Becca Interiors chose a stripey black-and-white runner rug in this bright space to add some graphic pattern and movement on top of hardwood floors.

Add a Small Mobile Island

Pin Becca Interiors

Create a sense of separation between your cooking area and the rest of your apartment with a small kitchen island on wheels.

Use it to store dishes or extra pots and pans, display fruit or flowers, or add a couple of stools to give your friends a place to sit while you whip up a meal.

Choose a style that complements your decor, like a stainless steel model to blend in with an industrial-style kitchen.

Or paint the base of an all-wood island in a soothing shade of sage green to freshen up a farmhouse or traditional space.