Old but functional kitchen...

[TinyWeeFairieHouse]

It can't just be me! My kitchen is old. We moved here about 18 months ago and the previous owners had done a decent paint job on the kitchen doors but it is definitely looking....tatty now!
I have no spare money for a new kitchen, not got a bean to my name but I can probably stretch to a few tins of decent paint (French Chic??) to tart it back up a bit.
The kitchen is functional, immaculately clean but it just looks so very tired 😕
Anyone else that doesn't have an insta worthy kitchen want to commiserate with me? Or am I the last bastion of the comfy worn out family kitchen?

Honestly I wish I could get away with a paint job on ours, the house is about 13/14 years old and the kitchen is wrecked, we’ve been living with it for the past 3 years but it’s got to be done. Can you stretch to some new doors? Or get the wrapped? A friend of mine wrapped hers and got new handles, looks fantastic.

Ours is 27 years old, I’m hoping it will survive a few more years yet

To be honest the paint will be a stretch at the moment! I don't really want to wrap the doors, the previous owners 'fitted' the kitchen so it's somewhat higgledy piggledy anyway!
I literally just want to make it a bit smarter and hope finances improve in the next few years 🤞

I have no idea how old ours is, I think it's around 10-15 years since it was put in looking at old estate agent images on zoopla!

Ours is about 25 years old. It's in very good but used condition. We had planned to get a new kitchen when we moved in over a decade ago. But kitchens are expensive. Quality is always on the wane. I would hate to reorder or really fine kitchen with something that couldn't stand the rest of time. Too much upheaval. We changed the tiles, counter top, sink and floor.

Quality is abysmal at the moment, you could easily spend thousands on something that will be wrecked in 5 years!
I remember those pine kitchens from the 80's or 90's (barely twist??) they lasted forever but got ripped out because they were unfashionable.

I hate mine too. It’s 20 years old and wasn’t a cheap kitchen at the time but the stuff is peeling off some of the doors. I could get new doors/worktops/floor but tbh I want to remodel the whole thing so seems a waste 🫤

We got our cupboard doors, kick boards etc vinyl wrapped last year, and got a granite skin for the worktop. It totally refreshed our old, but functional kitchen. Not free obvs, but much, much cheaper than new doors and worktop. If you are crafty, with attention to detail, you could vinyl wrap the doors yourself.

Friends just moved house kitchen dates back to early 80s. It's immaculate not a thing wrong with it. Dated because of it's colour but the joints are dovetailed wood it's like quality furniture. Handmade I suspect.

I would repaint if I couldn't replace.

Parents kitchen is over 60 years old, ours is 30. Waste of money replacing just to be on trend

We've been there. I don't know about frenchic but we had amazing results with specialist kitchen cupboard door paint.

I would also recommend watching some YouTube videos to understand how to adjust the hinges. Squaring up any dodgy doors helps a lot.

If/when funds allow new flooring, fresh paint on the walls or new cupboard handles (Screwfix, amazon) all help. Old fashioned vinyl roll on the floor is underrated IMO. But just the cupboard paint will make you feel a while lot better about it, I bet.

I did mine 25 yrs ago and TBH I'm still happy enough with it! I went for quite a plain simple design at the time and it's still pretty inoffensive.
If I want to freshen things up I just add a new colour scheme with small appliances and accessories.

I have painted units from the 70s with Zinsser Allcoat last year. Tiled over the brown tiles after coating with Eco Prim Grip and it has all worked pretty well.

Mine is 30! Its completely functional just very outdated but solid wood. If anything i really need a new oven but ill get it in time. Everything is just so expensive its not happening anytime soom

The flooring is the only thing I would keep, it is proper stone flags....does need re grouting though!

We have an old kitchen. The house is 40 years old, only one previous owner and I guess they liked the original kitchen. All solid wood units that are in good nick, but a tiny plastic sink.

Ours is at least 25 years old...may be older. It does need replacing now because various bits are damaged etc and the floor is trashed. If it wasn't we wouldn't be doing anything... trendy is over rated 😁

Take it out and have a free standing kitchen. You can fit the contents of all the cupboards into a freestanding larder and a tall cabinet. You can change it round and there's no more annoying kitchen cupboards to clean. You can fit new benches or buy a free standing one/s. It's not compulsory to have an expensive fitted kitchen.

If I were to move again. I'd want a pantry and this system. My granny had a scullery which thinking back was very practical.

Our kitchen is from 1978! And is in a pretty minging state that I haven’t managed to do much about despite lots of elbow grease. It probably won’t get sorted for a couple of years while we fix more pressing stuff first. I painted the walls and I’m going to get some under cabinet lights. I’m thinking about taking off some of the more broken doors and just doing a cottage-style curtain on an elastic as an interim solution. I was also looking at peel and stick tiles but they seem to all have pretty bad reviews.

Mine is 25 years old - it’s a lovely wood that glows on sunny mornings. Walls need retiling though.

Ours was awful (rental) so were limited. Took the top cupboard doors off and displayed nice glassed etc..
Dh sprayed all the door handles black...
Also had awful cladding on the walls in coffee brown!! Twas grim.. Painted that matt black. Managed it for 10 years!

If the cabinets are I good shape then I'd just change the doors and drawer fronts. I couldn't afford a whole new kitchen so I spent altogether £600 on doors, drawer fronts and the end panel and the strip at the bottom which I can't remember the name for😂 it's amazing how great it looks in comparison to what it used to look like. We also changed the sink and countertops like you. Beats forking out thousands on a whole new kitchen 😅

I know ours is more than 26years old because it was here when we moved in.
It is looking its age now though. We’re getting new doors and worktops.

Mine is 28 years old. Had it sprayed about three years ago and have been really pleased with the result. We changed the counters and backsplash at the same time. The doors were wood and in great condition but very dated orange pine. The refurb probably cost about £3k all together but as others have said, you would never match the quality of the units now, without spending ten of thousands.