by Theresa Nation

Created on: July 03, 2007   Last Updated: July 04, 2007

Your kitchen is the center of your home. It is the room we all gravitate toward when friends and family gather. When we sell our home, it is the one room in your house that can make or break that sale.
If you think you have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to remodel your kitchen, think again. I have bought and sold many fixer-upper homes and have never spent more than $7000 remodeling the kitchen.

Let's start at the top with lighting. Quite a lot of older homes have fluorescent lighting in a wooden box frame and a sheet of "designer" plastic as a cover. These plastic covers are inexpensive and newer designs can diffuse light and actually make the area seem brighter. Fluorescent light tubes are now available in a variety of light emissions. Soft light or sepia tones can soften the light or make it more closely match incandescent lighting. Better lighting makes for a brighter and more clean looking space. While you're at it, give that wooden box a paint job as well.
You may want to consider simply replacing the entire fixture. Track lighting can pinpoint light to specific work areas and come in a wide variety of finishes and shapes. You can even get a curved track that will spread out the individual light canisters and give wider coverage into the newly lit area. If you are uncomfortable replacing electrical fixtures call your local rent-a-handyman service. They will be more than happy to send someone out for a small job and may charge less than an electrician.
Track lighting is a standard fixture in new homes. If you can't change the lighting in your kitchen consider "tap lights". These individual units adhere to any surface with double stick tape and can be mounted under your upper cabinets. They run on batteries, or they can be wired in line and the last one plugged into an outlet, so you can stick them up anywhere. They are not very bright, but work extremely well lighting small areas of workspace. Most upper cabinets have an apron on the front, so if you install these lights in the middle of the underside of the upper cabinet they should be pretty well hidden.
Be aware, improved lighting can shine a spotlight on other problem areas. You may need to put a new coat of paint on the walls and ceilings now that you can see them. While we're talking about walls, lets just remove all the wallpaper. It's just not in style anymore.
Now that you can see your cabinets you may think they need to be replaced. Not true! Take another look, chances are, the frames

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