Kitchen renovations require budgeting for a long list of pricey things, but what eats up most of your money—a whopping 29 percent of your budget, according to the National Kitchen & Bath Association—is the cabinetry. It costs more than the countertops or the floors or even the installation of all those pieces. If you're thinking to yourself, "Do I reeaaaally need to update my '70s-era galley kitchen?", stop it right there. There's an easy way to reduce the cost: Forgo standard kitchen cabinet doors altogether. No, we're not talking open shelving. Instead, hang curtains—you could use some leftover fabric from a failed crafts project!—to hide all your late-night snacks and cooking utensils just as well as a piece of wood, but with 100 times more style. Here's how to do it:

It's the decorating equivalent of swiping on some mascara. With pinch pleats, basic gray linen suddenly looks voluminous and put-together. Getting a rod pocket sewn in isn't a bad idea either.

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You know the ease of flinging back your shower curtain? You want the same for accessing your plastic wrap.

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Hanging curtains over every kitchen drawer and door is a weekend project, we admit it. For the impatient, we recommend rehabbing a single spot: the area under the sink packed with cleaning products and rusty pipes.

In a 200-year-old barn that she transported to coastal Rhode Island, designer Ellen Denisevich-Grickis created an eclectic kitchen that includes a swish of striped fabric underneath the farmhouse sink.

Don't be blinded by their functionality; curtains are accessories first and foremost. So go wild and pick a fabric in a colorful geometric print—you can always switch it out for another pattern in a couple months.

Sweet gingham fabric hides storage in this charming kitchen/dining area, found in an Isla Taboga, Panama, home.