Painting and updating an old hutch is a modern way to give your home character on a budget. During our kitchen renovation in Mt Airy Philadelphia, we designed an area where a hutch would go, but waited to find the hutch until the kitchen construction was almost finished. This allowed us to adjust cabinetry and appliances as needed and find a hutch that would fit our needs (and our space) at the end of the project. 

It took a month of scouring garage sales and the internet looking for the perfect hutch. We found it on craigslist in Bryn Athyn, PA. Price: $75

It was cute as a button and the perfect size, but there were a few issues:  1) The orange wood  looked terrible in our kitchen. 2) The top piece was too short to allow an appliance to sit on the hutch. 3) The knobs and drawer pulls looked dated (and not the date we were going for). 

So, we removed all the hardware and glass, spackled the holes and sanded all the wood. Next, we removed the backing and cut the legs of the top.

We drilled holes and used dowels and wood glue to hold the new pieces together.

After all the glue was dry, we spackled the seams and sanded them smooth. Finally, we painted everything a mustard yellow and stained the top to match our cabinets. New hardware gave a victorian / farmhouse look. The final product:

We added some luan beadboard to the back of the top portion to deal with the new height. We also added a GFI outlet during our renovation. I would say this is the most important aspect to creating a 'built in'. With electric we can use the hutch how we would any counter area.

Building a custom cabinet like this would easily cost $1500-2500. Our project was under $200 and adds great character and charm to our Philly renovation.