Painting laminate kitchen units... And can I do anything with this worktop?

[JustBeingJuliet]

I'm slowly but surely sorting out my new house, but I have zero budget. Zilch. Totally skint! Bathroom has been done for less than £500; tiled and lay the flooring myself, just need someone to connect up the shower now and thank god it will be finished! My biggest bugbear now is the kitchen.

It's an ex LA house complete with council fitted kitchen that has been in about 15 years. It's bloody awful! I have beech effect units, and a beige coloured worktop that has marks from every single thing the previous owners ever chopped on it, plus a huge burn mark next to the cooker, where I can only presume they plonked an on fire chip pan or something! I will not be able to afford to replace it for about 10 years at the rate I'm going, so looking for some cheap and cheerful ideas to brighten it up until I can gut it.

I've bought new handles for the units, I have a tin of kitchen paint to do the walls, I got some cracking new lights in the B&Q sale for grand total of £7 and the tiles aren't bad (dark grey and cream). So, can I paint crappy laminate cupboard doors? It can't look any worse than it does already! And the worktop? Really cannot afford to replace it, plus it looks like it's been glued extensively to the units, so I feel taking it off will rip chunks out of them. Can I paint? cover with Fablon? Tile? I absolutely hate how it looks at present, so can't possibly make it any worse!

Any tips? I would ideally like the units either cream or grey, worktop either wood effect or a dark grey/black. Can I do this?

[Acer77]

Sorry I didn't read the last few posts - doh! Glad you found a solution!

[Acer77]

Paint the units - it'll be fine if you prime the doors first.
As for the worktop have a look on eBay - I don't know how big your worktop would need to be but you can get 3 meters of wood laminate worktop for £70 and its new! Might be better than second hand because it will fit properly....

[JustBeingJuliet]

I shall do photos once it's all finished :) Not doing it properly until we get back off holiday and ds is back at school so hoping to finish it during September.

[JustBeingJuliet]

Just an update on this!

I managed to get a cabinet door identical to my kitchen, plus a spate piece of worktop, off freecycle and have had a practice with paint etc. Chalk paint from aldi works very well on the laminate units; two coats plus wax and it seems to withstand knocking and scratches, so I'm investing in some Annie Sloan chalk paint in cream and going for it on the doors (aldi only had steel grey in stock and it's a bit dark for the cupboards).

Painting the worktop isn't going to work as it just doesn't cover well, but I got a cheap roll of Fablon from B&Q and have had a play, and I think it's going to work well, so I'm getting enough of that in a slate effect to cover all the worktops. Have also decided to use the grey chalk paint that I have to paint the tiles, as I think they will look better then.

I'm removing the doors off one double wall unit (it's one that's kind of on its own opposite the door as you enter the room, so looks a bit lost anyway!), and I'm painting the carcass and wallpapering the back wall in a statement wallpaper with some stick on lights and I think it'll look pretty good!

I've managed to get a new sink off eBay for £9.99 which is the exact same size as the old one (which is dented and doesn't drain properly) and have my eye on a pull out mixer tap to finish it off.

I've got kitchen paint already, in a silver-white colour, and I'm looking at new blinds for the window in a dark red/grey/silver pattern (kettle, toaster etc are all dark red) and I think it will look fab!

Quite excited about starting it now :)

[wowfudge]

For your work tops I would fill any obvious dips and use Fablon to cover it. We used to have a pantry with quite rough wooden shelves and my mum covered them with Fablon for hygiene purposes as much as anything. Lasted years with no deterioration.

[JustBeingJuliet]

Somebody has suggested THESE and then varnish over the top to seal. I guess that's similar to using Fablon type stuff isn't it?

[Battleshiphips]

My dsis tiled her countertops about 5 yrs ago and they still look lovely. They are granite style tiles and the grout is sealed. She did rough up the laminate surface before tiling.

[Belleview]

Simple worktop saver
www.amazon.co.uk/Joseph-Worktop-Saver-Clear-Large/dp/B001F0RUGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438171386&sr=8-1&keywords=large%20worktop%20saver&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[Belleview]

This stuff looks interesting www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IXJATGU?keywords=Fablon&qid=1438171175&ref_=sr_1_6&sr=8-6&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[Belleview]

I think I'd fablon the work surface so it won't chip and its wipe able and looks ok, then use worktop protectors.

[SophiesDog]

Apart from hygiene issues I would be very hesitant indeed about tiling onto a laminated surface.

I don't think there is a tile adhesive in the world that would actually adhere to it!

[mandy214]

There was a tiled work surface in our kitchen when we moved in. It was horrid. The grout was disgusting and it could not have been hygienic in a million years. It may look lovely for a couple of weeks, but I doubt it would stand up to continuous use in a family kitchen without degenerating very quickly and becoming unhygienic. It was the first thing to go.

[Battleshiphips]

I've painted my laminate cupboards with homemade chalk paint and they look great. They were cheap beech effect and I've painted them cream. They haven't chipped or marked and they've been done for around 4 months. I am also planning on tiling our work surface as I've seen a few done like this and it looks lovely. I'll try and dig out some pics so you can see what it looks like. Everyone thinks I've got new units.

[Katymac]

A short term solution to worksurfaces might be to use cheap vinyl flooring - you can get a long length so each single piece covers the entire piece of work surfance

[SophiesDog]

Form follows function...think about what you need and go from there.

You may find you don't need rows of chipboard units and miles of worktop.

It's certainly cheaper not to have them.

[JustBeingJuliet]

Ooh I'm liking the idea of freestanding kitchen storage :) Hadn't even given that a thought as I think I'm preprogrammed to think kitchens have to be sleek and fitted!

[SophiesDog]

after pics - it wasn't quite finished by then but you get the idea!! Mainly it was just SO nice not to have to live with those awful rotten cupboards and tiles. However basic it was, at least it was CLEAN!

[Lelivre]

Another suggestion would be to build up a bit of £ and look out for a used kitchen. They can go really cheap. People often throw out newly installed kitchens when they move into a property.

[SophiesDog]

Ooh x posts with Poltergoose!! She's right you know

[Lelivre]

I've seen what poltergoose suggests and it looked good (old dressers with drawers and cupboards under cut down fitted as cabinets) but it was a period property.

[SophiesDog]

I feel your pain OP. We lived in a rented house for about 7 years and the kitchen was so awful, so damp and falling apart and most of all, impossible to clean, that after about 2 years I literally ripped the whole thing out, I mean it was gutted - floor to ceiling tiles, all off with a chisel - floor tiles the same. It was so painful and such hard work but I was determined as I couldn't live with the ingrained filth any more.

The landlord agreed to pay for a plasterer to skim the whole room, and I built myself a very basic new kitchen from an ebay worktop, ebay sink, ebay tap and some old Victorian cupboard doors which I built a frame around.

It did cost more than £100, true, but you might be able to manage with free standing furniture rather than building in? The only thing you need a worktop structure for technically is the sink and you may find a second hand free standing one on ebay (Ikea did a nice one). Then a table for preparing food on, cooker (or is that built in at the moment?) and maybe an old cupboard or two.

I am a bit impatient but tbh my first rule in most projects is to chuck out the stuff you don't want, and see what you are left with to work from.

Before pictures!

[Lelivre]

Yeah one of my first flats we tiles the nasty worktop with the cheapest white tiles and it was fine (well, much better than before).

[orangina01]

I think tiling the worktop with penny tiles or similar would be good , especially as you just learned how to tile. When I visited California loafs of the homes had tiles on the worktops. The site wallsandfloors.co.uk has lots of very cheap tiles. Good luck.