Kitchen Temporary Makeover

[VonWeasel]

Hello. My first post on here and hoping for some ideas and suggestions on how to update a kitchen on a budget. Thank you in advance.

We moved into our house in early 2020 and we don't want to spend loads of money on the kitchen because we hope to replace it all in the next couple of years when we build an extension. It's slightly bigger than a galley kitchen with the units down both sides, the cupboards are shaker style (off white) but the finish has come away in a couple of places and has peeled. The worktop is dark black granite which I hate because it is so dark. I don't know whether it is possible to paint over this or disguise it somehow. There is a large white butler sink. The walls are currently white, with small splashback tiles along the lower parts of the wall that are also off white. At present I don't really like the colour of the kitchen so will be painting it (colour undecided) and was also wondering if I could do anything to the tiles to make them look a bit more attractive. Have wondered about coloured grout but don't know if that is just a terrible idea from watching too much of Escape to the Château! Ideally I would rip the whole kitchen out now and start from scratch but this seems like a waste of money. The boiler will also need to be replaced in the not too distant future and we would want to eventually move the gas meter as it is currently in a strange place so bigger projects to sort out.

If anyone has any experience of something similar or has any suggestions on how to improve our tired kitchen for now, they would be gratefully received. Thank you.

@VonWeasel Honestly - if it were me & you are going to get a new kitchen / extension in a couple of years I would just paint the wooden units and the walls and leave well alone with anything expensive - you could probably get a few inexpensive things to make it look a bit better but I would paint first and then decide. 20 years ago I inherited a pine kitchen ( by which I mean cabinets , walls , ceiling , everything - spent a weekend painting the whole thing in a nice colour and some accessories I had from previous house and a couple of shelf things which were as cheap as chips) It did us well until we could get the kitchen we wanted & was not depressing or horrid at all

What colours do you like - I think one lovely thing about something you know you are going to change is you can experiment - so do units & walls in possibly the same lovely colour & buy some inexpensive cheapish handles & an inexpensive blind & splash out on some nice oven gloves and tea towels ( let no-one tell Basilisk she does not know how to live - ha ha )

Just give it a refresh without any major redesign OP.
Lucky duck 😊

There are a few options in this article for covering the worktop

But I’d agree with others to just paint the cupboards a cheerful colour in the meantime. I did that a few years ago while we saved for an extension and I think having gone a bit wild with my colour choices then kept me from making any rash decisions with the “real” kitchen.

Thank you so much for your comments. I will investigate paint options! I have also ordered some new material to make a window blind and a new runner, plus changed some of the odd handles. It already looks a bit better as the colours are a bit more aligned! I think that painting the cupboards, as recommended, will make a big difference too and draw the focus away from the worktops