Mini kitchen makeover

[mrbeansteddy]

I’d really love a new kitchen in my flat, to help me sell it in a year or so, but it also needs new double glazing, which I think I will prioritise.

So, I’m thinking I could maybe give the kitchen a mini makeover instead e.g. paint the cabinets, paint the walls, replace the flooring, replace the shoddy worktops (how easy is that??), new false ceiling and fit a new extractor hood.

I’ve attached a photo of the space at at my existing cooker. There is a pathetic little extract grill flush with the ceiling. If I fit a new hood, it will be either be off centre above the cooker, or between the cabinets, iyswim?

Any suggestions on how to minimise how weird it will look?

Little bump

There’s a Facebook group called DIY on a budget where, if you can get past the glitter paint and frog tape, lots of people have done cheap revamps so you’ll get good ideas / inspiration.

Fablon seems to feature heavily in a lot of the cupboard / worktop updating.

Have a look at the frenchic fan forum on Facebook - lots of painted kitchen units and tiles on there that look great.

Reposition the cabinets? This is very easily done—it took my carpenter around five minutes. He was doing some other kitchen work and it was bugging him that there wasn't an equal amount of space on each side of the extractor hood. :-)

TBH it looks more odd to me that there's a great big gaping space down one side of the cooker. If you're getting new worktops would you perhaps think about getting a built-in hob and separate oven?

Yes the double glazing is probably the priority.

Having said that:

The doors look like they’re a veneer of some type. They probably won’t paint well if that’s the case. It is pretty cheap and easy to replace doors only if you’d consider that option.

The oven gaps really bother me.

Worktops are the devils work. We plan to fit the cabinet and doors ourselves and pay a professional to do the worktops. Likewise I will tile (I did the kitchen and bathroom floors and it was heavy work but not difficult iyswim) but I pay for a plasterer.

I'd adjust the position (or size if there's no margin to move) of the left hand cupboard to achieve symmetry. That cupboard is dangerously close to the hob anyway - there is supposed to be at least 7.5cm either side of a stove above which there is no cabinetage - if there was a pan fire a cabinet that close would catch fire and the fire would spread.

You can get oven gap sealing strips. For the gap between oven and worktop.

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, the gaps at the cooker are awful. Stuffs always falling down there. I was considering getting bigger cooker and have a joiner change the worktops to remove the overhang.

Changing the doors might be an easier option, and then just replacing the upper cabinets in a way that fits a hood better.

I kind of think it would be easier just to get the whole thing done, but I can’t be bothered with ripping out, redesign, etc. when I have other stuff to do and not enough cash to do it all. Hopefully a wee tidy up would tide me over to be able to sell it

So how wide is the gap between cupboards where the cooker is, and how wide is the worktop gap. You could pick up a really nice 60cm freestanding gas or electric cooker for £100-200 (secondhand), may be cheaper than trying to make the gap fit the cooker you have. Clean yours up and sell it too.

You could take the wall unit off and re-hang it to be symettrical, fill in with a bit of wood if that leaves a gap at the end of the run. Most kitchens don't have wall units offset from the cooker unless that has recently changed, usually the gap is the same width as the cooker with an extractor at higher level.

@NotMeNoNo that cooker is 50cm, so yes I was thinking a 60cm. But measuring the current space, it’s about 63cm between the lower cabinets. One of the work tops over hangs by about 1-2cm. Crappest kitchen ever.

Moving that upper cabinet on the left towards the cooker and then filling the leftover space seems like a good idea, if it’s that simple.

Thanks.