How to make a budget kitchen look expensive

[Kr1st1na]

DD has just bought her first flat and it needs a new kitchen. Limited budget means one from Ikea / Howdens etc. Any tips for making it look a little more stylish ?

I’ve looked on Pinterest etc and it’s full of helpful suggestions like

Install a marble workshop
Fit designer taps and appliances
Here’s this lovely custom made glass splash back at only £100m2
Buy handcrafted doors and hardware from superfront

Sadly she doesn’t have that kind of money. So low to moderate costs ideas please .

Kr1S
Before it was fitted, the whole lot was oiled three times so it is still sound (even around the sink)
I rub it down with olive oil every couple of weeks
and have sanded and oiled it once since installing.

It has all sorts of little marks on it - but its a work top
same as the floor takes a pasting as we walk on it with shoes and boots
and up to 60 drunken teens spill drinks on it during parties
but its a floor
and I have no wish to live in a show home.

Both are solid wood so at some stage I may get them professionally sanded back and re sealed
but not in a hurry.

"To my eye, a gap between the top of the wall cabs and the ceiling looks unsightly"

Depends on the building. The gap between mine is almost three feet - you couldn't really box that in.

my kitchen has the small gap that Piglet hates (see picture)
but it does not bother me as I stash weird things up there and wait for guests to spot them

that and the area to the right of the pillar is angled so infilling would have been weird

I have a white gloss IKEA kitchen, it's lovely and far more sturdy than other 'cheap' ones. I did buy more expensive work surface from a local shop as IKEA's didnt look great. Mine is fake wood as real wood can rot round the sink if you don't keep it dry. I went with multi-coloured tiles (think Elmer the Elepant) so my accessories are all different colours.
So I would say save on the kitchen units and spend on handles, work top and tiles.

I really really hate the small gap too i'm afraid, although everything else in your kitchen looks fab @Ta1kinPeace

Laminate Work tops are really not very wow though.
BubblesBuddy They might not be "wow" in a £30k kitchen but in an £8k kitchen they look lovely. I quite like the fake wood ones and also the Ikea white marble effect looks pretty good.

DD is fussy AND will have flat mates which is a bad combination Don't get real wood then!

We have wood on our kitchen floor but too expensive for her. Also you need to be careful with cleaning, she will have flat mates aka mortgage payers so low maintenance is key.

I would get wood-a-like laminate that is suitable for kitchen. like this

I had a cheap Ikea kitchen in a flat. I used v lovely tiles above the cooker, The rest of the worktop had an upstand. You can make that look swish as you can budget for nicer tiles as you're only covering a few small areas to tile and it becomes a focal point against a plain white kitchen.

Our kitchen came from Howdens-I didn’t realise that was considered ‘budget’?!

Howdens isnt budget, they are 2-4 times more than ikea depending on what price you get given through your builder.

Diy kitchens is cheaper and better quality than howdens. Still for price and quality then ikea is hard to beat.

An alternative worktop idea would be to use Earthstone stuff. It’s got acrylic on the outside so looks like some much more expensive stuff but it’s relatively affordable.
www.worktop-express.co.uk/acrylic-worktops/mocha-earthstone-worktops?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIobKEwMDp1wIVCOAbCh2eugplEAQYASABEgJLSvD_BwE

Also ikea do interest free credit now for kitchens

Howdens is very posh to me!

Our friends spent 14k on their kitchen and it looks great but.. the wine cooler and oven are wonky and it just totally ruins spending all that money.

Our kitchen dine by the previous owners was £600 again looks great but the finish and attention to detail has spoilt it and made we want a new one.

Clutter-free will make it look smarter.
Ikea handles are fine.
Avoid wood worktops, they need maintaining.

Have enough storage, keep it clean and polish the sink - I have friends in London with eye-wateringly expensive kitchens which are so cluttered and messy they never look what they are worth. Choose a floor that doesn't show every drip and mark otherwise she'll be constantly mopping and it will never look clean.

I love my wood worktops

but I agree utterly about clutter free - that picture was taken literally days after we had moved into the space.

In the corner to the left of the oven is now a microwave on brackets with breadbin under
Island stays clear (the triple popup socket is wonderful)
Tea / coffee station is kept under control
Fruit bowls are to the right (by the back door)
otherwise everything else is put away in its place
I HATE cluttered surfaces
and stripping the place for teen parties is easier if its decluttered

I second DIY Kitchens, they are brilliant and their stuff is very good quality. You could easily make it look nice with some good handles (I used iron mongery direct recommended above) and we got posh taps

Howdens is budget, similar level to IKEA and DIY Kitchens but both are better quality than Howdens (from what I've seen).

Choose elegant colours and spend a bit more on the small stuff like tiles and handles. Make sure that it is properly fitted. Ikea kitchens can actually look 100% ok if you pick the right stuff. It would also be worth trawling through gumtree/flea markets for things that can be upcycled.

After nine years one of the door surfaces has bubbled/lifted in my kitchen so I'd beware of wraparound vinyl. Mine has no joins anywhere and I'm desperate to find a solution. Only one door of the ten has been affected but it's driving me crazy :( Good looking appliances can give that expensive look - that plus clear surfaces as far as possible.

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions.

I have been reading everything and checking your links, I had never heard of most of them as it’s 10 years since we did up our own kitchen so I’m quite out of date. I see that laminate flooring has improved a lot since then and think that DD will like some of the grey toned ones.

And the Earthstone worktops look impressive, though I fear the budget may dictate laminate.

Handles - how on earth do you choose? My head was spinning after a few pages of ironmongery and there were still 233 pages to go.

I am not very imaginative, I just browsed pinteres/houzz/magazines for inspiration. Often you see a room and think yes! Exactly! Then you can create a version of it. I think real homes are easier to relate to than showrooms. Start a pinterest board and you will soon home in on what you like.

I really recommend Diy kitchens or (units online or 3d kitchens similar), they are such good quality and not too different from ikea on price. Also a better choice of sizes to fit a small room. Although ikea are distinctive and very cleverly designed.

Two other things, we have gloss square edged laminate worktops, they have contemporary look without price tag of granite /composite.
Getting the layout /zoning right costs nothing and means every cupboard earns its place.

Zoning! I didn’t know there was a name for it.

Our current kitchen is big but we do hardly any walking and now I know the offical reason for this . It’s well zoned.

Thanks for the link

To avoid the gap above wall cupboards she may want to consider not having any. We did base units and open shelving. Shelving is lots cheaper and very Instagrammable if you have nice items you'd be happy to display (we have copper pans and nice ceramics in complementary colours - mostly charity shop finds)

We got a cheapy kitchen from www.diy-kitchens.com/ and then spent more on worktops and appliances. As she can't afford higher end appliances just make sure she gets built in versions that are hidden behind matching fronts.

We chose handles, taps and sink separately to the kitchen as it was cheaper and we ended up with a look that was more 'bespoke'

We also only had a small amount of tiling but chose posh, statement tiles.

Pic attached of one angle, the rest is too messy right now!

I have put in kitchens in high quality rental properties, and the advice is absolutely not wood. Just go for the best quality laminate surface you can. For tiles, especially if it is a small area, it is worth going into smaller up-markets suppliers and ask if they have any end -of -range bargains. Good quality tiles make a difference. For the floor, look at the floors in kitchen showrooms, which are inevitably dark, and which set off the lighter coloured units. .

a well designed or thought out kitchen will always look more wow than an expensive lots of taste all of it bad kitchen

A lot of kitchens that I fit are handleness now, led strip lights under the cupboards and or worktop are an economic easy improvement

laminate splashbacks are available and do not have grout to get dirt into

As a builder I like Howdens carcasses which are 18mm thick and preassembled and then any choice of door from anywhere

I am fitting one at the moment with Howdens carcasses in oak veneer with a bespoke reclaimed teak handleless door from the internet that was cheaper than anyone could offer from Howdens

Client has asked for Stainless worktops which we found a chap in Luton from ebay who will make them once units are fitted

Its a U shape kitchen with about 10 meters of worktop run and breakfast bar

Total budget is less than £10k inc fitting for all of the above