Kitchen renovation questions including sanding down Corian

[todaysnameis]

I've got a very well-made but rather old kitchen (about 30 years old). The carcasses seem pretty indestructible and the layout is good as it is. It's been facelifted twice before but now looks tatty.

We can't decide between facelifting it again or starting again from scratch.
Facelift would mainly involve:

• sanding and repainting the solid wood cupboard doors
• changing tiling
• changing lighting to smaller spots at one end and a nice pendant in the dining area
• At the moment there are Corian worksurfaces which are about 14 years old. They are quite tatty with some chips and a crack, and a few stains. Can I get these sanded down again and if so where do I find someone to do it?
• replacing the oven and hob (oven is a good 25 years old, hob is about 14 so not too bad but poorly designed).
• replacing the tap (minor)
• replacing door knobs (minor ish)
• some other minor stuff like replacing seals

The flooring is Amtico which is only about five years' old as it was replaced after an insurance claim. It's not my ideal choice but really not bad and I could live with it.

The end result post-facelift would be nicer but not my absolute ideal as it still won't be an inframe kitchen - it wouldn't be far off though as the doors are the right style.

So the big question is...if I am doing all this, would it be better to just start again from scratch? I am guessing all the above would cost about 5k to 7k whereas a new kitchen, especially if we changed the flooring (which is a lot as a big space) would be heading for 15k.

Which is a big difference in price just to have perfect rather than nice isn't it...

I think I'd go for nice rather than perfect (and it won't be perfect) and spend £10k on something else! The result sounds very nice, to be honest.

Hmmm I can see what you're saying. We are lucky enough to be able to afford the extra but it is a bit indulgent to throw 10k extra on it all being shiny and new.

Well, when we bought our house, the kitchen had had a face-lift, much less than you describe, and I was really impressed by how good it made a very elderly kitchen look.

You could always have new worksurfaces if you fancy?

I would go for new worktops rather than trying to renovate the old. Laminate is hard wearing and inexpensive, and easier to look after than any other surface I know. If you are going to replace the tiles then the old should be taken off before changing the worktop, and the new tiles fitted afterwards.

I would go for a brand new kitchen with all new modern cabinets and faucets installed. You should go for new kitchen with granite counter tops and hardwood flooring. Your new kitchen will last for long time and you will love spending time there. :)

The expensive change would be worktops - you can get the stains off your corian with Barkeepers Friend. Comes up like new.

The modern types of granite counter tops are available in many shapes, sizes and colors. You only need to select the best one for you. You can search it on internet or visit your near by stores.

Corian can be refinished quite successfully, I'm not sure of the costs though as I've only discussed it for a commercial job. I don't know where you are but if you google corian repairs you should be able to get some companies near you who could come out and give you a quote.