Update my kitchen on a budget

[Celp28]

I moved house last August and money is a bit tight in terms of big purchases for the foreseeable. My kitchen is in good condition, the cupboards are solid and not falling apart and the tiles are all in good condition, worktop is good, no cracks. However, I really dislike the colours! The cupboards are a funny, dirty cream colour and the tiles are a pinky/orange with a red strip going through. I work in a school and have the summer holidays coming up and I’d like to do so diy around the house. Have any of you ever used cupboard paint and tile paint to freshen up your kitchen? And if I do can I can colour completely, for instance go to a grey over the red tiles? Or will the red show through? I need to sell the idea to my husband as he is notoriously lazy and therefore critical of any diy as he’s afraid I’ll rope him in to helping 😂 I’m pretty sure I’d manage to paint the tiles and cupboards myself but I don’t want it to look rubbish! I doubt I’ll be able to afford a new kitchen for about 3 years so I’m hoping this would be a quick fix until then.

Photo?

I’ve tried to attach a couple. I’ve tried to do a close up of the cupboard and tiles so you can see what I mean.

I have a hideous bathroom that we can't afford to do up at the moment. I painted it with tile pant, took several coats but has come up much nicer now - I know it's not a long term solution but for now it is ok.

Also my friends did their kitchen with cupboard paint and it looks good

I had a similar kitchen situation. We replaced the door handles, changed the lighting, added under cupboard lights. Re-tiled most of the tiles, the ones we couldn't we painted white. It worked fine but needed a few coats. We replaced the work surface, put down new lino flooring and put in a new sink/tapes. It's not a new kitchen but much better than the original one.

Yep - tile paint & paint your units. Takes time but considerably cheaper than replacing, even just the doors - esp as they look ok.

Thank you for your responses. Im glad others have done it and it’s looked good, I will definitely go ahead with my plan. I am going to change the door knobs but leave the worktop as that is in good condition.

Look up Fusion Mineral Paint. There's a group on Facebook too for ideas

I would start with the tiles. Do those a better colour and the units might not need it.

Have just repainted my kitchen cupboards, used the V3 cupboard paint from B and Q, looks amazing. I did remove the doors and do both sides, and used a foam roller, i got a much better finish and it was quicker, i also got new door handles from ebay which were a fraction of the high st prices. Just need to save up to replace the worktops!

I think the units are okay. Focus on the tiles- it will make a huge difference.

Thank you for your suggestions. I hadn’t thought of eBay for handles, that’s an excellent idea! I was thinking the same about focusing on the tiles first and I’ll try the new handles before I do the cupboards.

Consider scraping out a little of the grout, painting the tiles, then regrouting. It's the painted grout that usually gives it away.

All those grooves in the cupboards though!!'
Are you on fb local selling groups. Cupboard doors often pop up on mine.

I see what you mean about tiles too. But rest is ok.

Looking forward to seeing what you do.

There are companies near me that advertise that they can cover your kitchen cupboards in vinyl for very cheap! Like they do with cars have you seen when they wrap a car in vinyl you usually can't tell if done well.

You can get great tile stickers now that look better than painting the tiles. Definitely paint the cupboards and get new handles and it'll be transformed

I like it OP.

I think if I had to change anything, like you say, the handles. Then paint over the red tile.

I echo what pps have said - metal knobs or handles will make a big difference to the cupboards. I'd also remove the vertical blind. I hate them and think they look dated in homes.

I tile painted my old tiles, lasted great - about 4 years - before I could replace them. I used a grout pen (basically it drew in white lines) to make the grout "reappear". I think with new metal handles it'll look fine.

If you've got any kind of budget at all, have a look at One Stop Refinishers on Instagram /fb - they come in for a day, tape up everything and spray paint your kitchen. The results are amazing.

Our cabinets were fine but the doors looked shabby so we replaced those, the worktop and tiles. All fitted professionally for a our £2k. Looks great

We put tiles on top of the old ones, which was much cheaper than ripping them all off, the new tiles were not v expensive at all and made a huge difference. Good luck

I did mine on a budget. Painted the cupboards (sand them down a bit, use a primer, and a roller for the big areas and small brush for the little. Take the doors off and do a couple at a time. Mine had ridges in too but as long as you take your time and don't rush it can look really good. ) i got a big box of tiles for £10 from a bootfair and tiled it myself using a tile cutter from B&Q - Its really really easy. Lots of videos on YouTube. Getting the old iles off was messy but worth it. Nobody can tell i did it myself your worktops are nice so at least you haven't got to worry about that.

This is what we did with our kitchen, instead of buying a new one.

• cupboards painted with Wilko's cupboard paint
• tiles painted with Wilko's tile paint
• new Lino flooring
• new worktop
• new hob
• new sink
• new handles
• painted walls

All in, we spent around 2k - obviously if we'd not had the new hob/sink/worktop it would have been much cheaper but I'm amazed at the transformation we DH achieved and so glad we did this instead of financing a new kitchen. Would definitely recommend the wilko paints.