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?

We used rustoleum on ours, it's excellent. The difficult bit is sanding off the previous paint job.

When you paint the doors, try to leave them off (in garage etc) for 1 week to allow them to cure and toughen up.

We found the new knobs 🍆 were what really made a difference, found them online for 99p each.

I did mine with Frenchic last week. It looks amazing. We went for wise old sage. Then used DC fix to vinyl wrap the work tops. I’m so pleased with it.

Mind is also 28, decent quality maple shaker cabinets. This year we had them painted, new flooring, new under cabinet lights (they were fluorescent previously and hadn’t worked for years), new tiles behind the hob, new cooker hood and a Quooker tap. Also new skirtings, radiator and plinths. Kept the same granite and under mounted sink. Very happy with the result.

Mine is about 20 yrs old. In good condition if a little dated but I want to slightly change things eg move radiators etc.. and do the tiny utility as well, think we may well be looking at around 20k. I wish I could just paint the doors, and I would, except I want to slightly move things around.

Sadly my doors are not quality wood ..I guess it was a cheap b&q job. Although I am loving how many of you haven't ripped the old wooden kitchens out in favour of doing them up! I have a feeling future generations will thank you all!
I grew up with parents/grandparents who never replaced kitchens, once they were in they were in, it was something you did once in a lifetime.....then you painted the bejesus out of them to keep them fresh 🤣
I actually really like the idea of the free standing kitchen mentioned earlier and I live somewhere very close to a house clearance place that sells Welsh dressers (big ones!) For about £100!! I am definitely going to look into this idea and see if I can make it work 💕

Our last house the kitchen was 15 years old when we moved in. Great condition though, still there when we moved out 12 years later. New guy ripped it out to replace with a new one. We’d talked about getting it replaced but was hard to justify when it was in really good nick.

you could replace the doors and handles?

Ours is over twenty years old but again wooden doors in great condition. Have been considering painting. And wrapping the work top. Is wrapping the doors better than painting? Would love some photos of anyone who has changed theirs
also have a karndean floor I would love to change but unfortunately that’s also still in decent condition. It’s in a floor tile ‘style’ but the strips between weren’t fitted very well and where they have joined strips it doesn’t look great. Has annoyed me for years but I should have complained when it was fitted

We had a big Welsh dresser, a butchers block, a small run of cupboards with a sink in that was technically freestanding, a plate rack. I love a plate rack, so much easier to just get down the things you're constantly using. We did find things got greasy/dusty in the gaps though and cleaning was a lot more annoying than in a fitted kitchen.

I’d live with it for a couple of years until I can replace the doors if the units themselves are fine. I hate this replacement/update culture, so wasteful.
We moved into our place in 2021, kitchen was tatty (think peeling wrapping on doors, all from the 80s). Not got around to doing it up, still working.
My mum lives in my grandparents house, tiny unfitted pine kitchen from when the house was built in the 50s. It looks like a time capsule but painted doors aren’t warped and the drawers still work.

Mine is 30 years old. One of the doors is hanging off, but other than that it works. I’m not about to spend thousands to replace something I’ve already got.

Damn, I didn't think about the cleaning aspect!
I like a spotless kitchen (house) so I would have to think carefully about how practical it would be to go with freestanding units.

How can such a new kitchen of about ten years be wrecked? I replaced mine 15 years ago and it’s still a ‘new’ kitchen. My previous one was 20 years old and only replaced as I knocked a wall down. I would expect a kitchen to last 30 years or so, with maybe a worktop replacement.

I don't know but it is!
Poor quality and badly fitted was probably never going to last a lifetime.....