To consider a kitchen facelift rather than a new kitchen?

[bringunby]

I'm happy with my kitchen layout but not the cupboard colours, work surface and door handles, so I'm curious about kitchen makeovers. There are companies saying they can re-spray existing cupboards, replace the worksurface etc. They claim to be cheaper than a new kitchen, and presumably there is also less waste in re-using fittings, but are the results worth it? Has anyone had success with a makeover? Are there pitfalls to be aware of?

We live in SW London, so any local recommendations would be welcome too.

@Helzzzz

Personally I’d change the doors to go with the granite worktop. What about high gloss In white or cashmere? Or walnut on the bottom and white on the top.

I did mine myself as have other MNers & transformed horrible MFI 90's units. Got the doors from Kitchen door outlet in the Sussex area and worktops from fleabay. Measure very carefully as per advise on website for the door sizes and hinge heights. You can get iron on cupboard edging strips, soft close hinges and matching panels for unit ends. Got trades in for gas hob, sink/taps, some if the worktop fitting and some electrical bits. If diy not for you get quotes from independent kitchen fitters or good handymen and ask them to measure up for doors etc. I did mine in stages to avoid disruptions. From memory it was around 4-5 k total.

It’s not a typo-they replaced all the kick boards etc and a couple of big end panels. Yes it was a lot but not as much as a whole new kitchen. It transformed the room.

We had dream doors do them. They also out in three new cupboards and a Plinth of drawers. I have no doubt you can do it cheaper but at the time we needed it done, quickly and done well, neither of which would be guaranteed if I did it myself!

Have a look at Frenchic’s Instagram account OP, they repost lots of people who paint their kitchen cupboards / tiles with their fantastic paints. I’m going to do it next month hopefully! I’m painting all cabinets and doors, painting the wall, replacing all handles and replacing the flooring and my calculation is that it will cost around £500. Not sure what to do about the worktop yet, could save money by vinyl wrapping or painting it (Rustoleum have a kitchen worktop painting kit that costs about £80 and looks amazing) or we may just replace if we can afford it. Hoping for an extension in a few years so not willing to spend more than a grand for a kitchen that will eventually be knocked down. Lots of home reno accounts on Instagram do this and loads of tutorials out there and on YouTube.

We had ours refitted last year and new worktop and sink. The units themselves were a modern gloss cream with chrome handles and really nice, but they had been fitted badly.
The black gloss worktop made the room dark.

We had a joiner friend start again. Amazingly he found the huge 7ft stack of units including the built in oven wasn’t actually fixed back to the wall and could have toppled any time. He sorted this, fitted a lovely butchers block style wooden worktop and a chrome sink to replace the black one.
Total cost for all of this was under £500 including the joiner being here all weekend. It looks like a new room.

[quote ALLIS0N]@Merryoldgoat - I’m sorry to say that I’ve never seen painted tiles that look nice, although I’m happy to be convinced. Would you be willing to post a photo?[/quote]
@ALLIS0N

I thought exactly the same but the Facebook group convinced me, plus my bathroom was hideous. I can’t post a pic here but I’ll PM you one!

It won’t let me!! I’ll try to post a non-identifying pic

If its only the colour of the units you doNt like get them painted - replacing the whole door isnt necessary. We moved last year and although i would like a hand made painted kitchen Which ive had before i cant justify the cost here so we had a local guy in suffolk paint the kitchen for us - he used a finnish paint i believe for £2k. Ive kept the black work surfaces although would prefer wood. Ive used F&B churlish green and DH white.

@bilbodog
Looks fab 🥰

That looks amazing @bilbodog . Your colours work well with the floor and the country style beams and Blind fabric.

I bet you are glad now that you kept the granite worktop - it’s so easy to maintain.

I am also trying to work out how to change our kitchen but for less than £20k for a brand new kitchen.
I have cathedral style doors in oak and really do not like them, not sure I would even like them painted as they style is now so out dated.I had a quote of £5k from a local co to replace door and handles, seems too expensive and quote was years ago.
I currently have every brochure going from Wren, Howdens, all diy shops.
If I change doors I would need to also do tiles, worktop and cornices, foot panels etc. Looking for ideas and tips so this is a good thread for me -perfect timing.

Could anyone who used Frenchic a while ago give an update on how it's holding up?

I've got all sorts of ideas in my head right now, and 7 days holiday still to use...

@Skyr2
Frenchic is your friend, new handles, do you really need new worktops?

Posted too soon, can you source new doors yourself? they’re very easy to swap over. Save money by doing as much as you can yourself.

We replaced all kitchen doors ourselves. Had the local wood shop cut 18mm birch plywood to size, drilled the hinges ourselves (just need one special drill bit but it’s super easy) and bought new handles. It cost less than 300 pounds altogether. Entire kitchen is transformed. We also put in new sink and kitchen tap. Next up is changing gas hob for induction.

If anybody does end up going with a kitchen facelift company, I cannot say enough how bad Dream Doors are! Don't waste your money with these cowboys.

Watching this thread with anticipation because we are just moving into our new home with a kitchen that we want to respray or have repainted professionally!

You Tube has great videos on how to paint kitchen cabinets. And new handles are dirt cheap on eBay. Mine are exactly like the ones for £7.95 each that I saw, but mine cost £1.20 each.

@ALLISON, the secret to painting tiles is:
Sand first with sanding gadget. Apply one coat of epoxy concrete floor paint.
Apply two layers of chalk paint. Seal with chalk paint lacquer. Gives great finish & v slight shine.

I had a really, really dated wooden coloured kitchen. Sanded & painted the doors myself (was quite a job) took us a few weeks... bought new handles & work tops then paid to have them fitted.

TRANSFORMED.

Honestly it’s the way to go... I done it for just over 1k. Do it yourself!

Thanks @CSIblonde. But what about the grout? doesn’t it look weird if you have coloured tiles and coloured grout ?

The lovely couple next door to me have just had a new kitchen fitted - light grey gloss Units with dark grey/ brown worktop . However they painted over the existing tiles in turquoise and it looks bloody awful and spoils their whole kitchen . You don’t even notice all the new bits, just the shiny bright turquoise.

I’ts kind of put me off. Don’t know if you can tell 😬

@ALLISON I painted cream tiles white so no it looks fine. I wouldn't try it with very dark tiles tbh. You'd prob need 4 or 5 coats. Mines not shiny,shiny. I'm not a fan of loud colours eirher, generally.

We sanded and painted our cupboard doors (big job, but easy and satisfying) an then got new surfaces, tiles, sink and cooker fitted. It cost about £3000 overall but made a huge difference and lasted really well.

£5.5k to replace doors and handles?? My entire new kitchen cost only slightly over that including labour!!