Only replacing bits of a kitchen

[funtimefrank]

My kitchen could do with a face lift. Nothing urgent but I need to replace the integrated appliances (oven and fridge and may well do dishwasher whilst I'm at it) as well as the cooker hood and hob.

The walls need a repaint and there are a couple of minor cracks in the plaster (nothing major at all).

I hate the worktops and dh hates the doors.

But we won't change layout, the floor tiles are really good quality and neutral, the wall tiles are an inoffensive white metro tile. The lighting is fine.

I think the carcasses of the cupboards are fine although the larder unit could maybe do with fixing the runners. The kick board (or whatever they are called) probably do need replacing though. Oh and I'd probably do the sink and taps too.

Having written it down it's more than I thought. Worth trying to replace or basically rip It out and start again?

Depends on your budget but I would say changing the doors etc is DIY able and could be done over a few weekends. Once you pull the old kitchen out its alot more work.

I think it’s worth just doing those bits if you can - ripping out the whole thing will be a lot of upheaval and more time that the kitchen is unusable. I’d also be inclined to keep the cupboard carcasses if the tiling and flooring is going to stay to avoid making a mess of that.
I want to do something similar - keep the the cupboards but replace the doors, sink and worktop. Ideally I’d get new cupboards and get an integrated oven and hob rather than the freestanding cooker we have now but there are other priorities for the money that would cost.

So dh and looked closely today and I don't think we can - the cupboards all have borders/edging/surrounds around them. They are cream high gloss slab doors so you don't notice when they are just there but we realised that basically you'd have to take all of that off as well.

I think we'll have to consider a bigger job. We may be able to keep the floor but I suspect the tiling will get a bit battered.

Shame. So it's gone on the back burner. Bathroom and bedroom higher up the priority list.

I am looking to do very similar in our kitchen. We too have edging and pelmets around our units but they are just screwed on and easily removed.

Replacement edging strips and what not are not expensive, like about £50 for 3 metres so the job remains much more affordable than a full kitchen refit.

You should go for it as like others have said it’s a much easier job than ripping everything out therefore vastly reducing the labour cost, in fact much of the job could be done DIY, then get trades for plumbing and electrical work and maybe a joiner for the worktop.

I had another look last night then spent a very pleasant hour on DIY kitchens pricing up - I think doors would be about 2k all in so not awful. Can you reuse hinges or do you need to get new ones? DH is quite handy although hates it but he could probably change them over with much swearing.

My dilemma now is worktops. Do you do them after doors? We would definitely get a joiner in to do them.

The irony is the kitchen we like is not vastly different from the one we have. Just a bit fresher.