Anyone ever done a kitchen facelift?

[GimbleInTheWabe]

Our kitchen is looking a bit worse for wear these days. DP ruined the sink by washing out paint in it which won't budge no matter what I throw at it. The worktops are cheap laminate (installed before we moved in) and are chipping etc. The tiles are neutral but looking pretty sad. We've out down new flooring and whilst I'd love to change the units too that'd be a lot more expensive so I was going to look in to getting them vinyl wrapped maybe.

Has anyone ever just had their worktops replaced? Or done a similar kitchen facelift thing?

I'd love to know your experiences, tips and approx the cost if you don't mind sharing. I feel like it could be done for about £600 but I don't know if that's too much or not enough?

We're looking at doing something similar in the house we're buying. What material are your kitchen doors made from? We're considering painting kitchen cabinets (ours are solid wood) and putting new tiles or tongue and groove over existing tiles. We might replace the laminate worktop or if that's too expensive I'll at least put some of that sticky stuff over the existing laminate
Ours desperately needs a facelift but we're hoping to replace in about 5 years

I just replaced the cupboard doors at my house in London. There was a company which sold them very reasonably.

We did this. New floor, new work tops, new tiles, new sink.

It depends how much the materials you buy are but all in I think it was about £2K with labour. We’re in the South, if that helps.

I definitely recommend it. It is like a different room.

We are doing it in a couple of weeks
We have bought new doors and handles, new worktop and upstands, new sink and taps
We are moving a couple of cupboards and bought 2 new cabinets to replace knackered ones
The kitchen bits cost about £1500 from b and q and the fitter is charging £720
Which is way cheaper than a new kitchen

I'm currently in the middle of it. New worktops, new cupboard doors, new sink came to around 750£.

Replastering the walls where the old tiles took the existing plaster off with them is hiking the cost slightly

I did. Painted doors (£0, tin of paint lurking in garage), new floor (£70), painted walls (£15), stick on tiles (£80, sounds grim, looks fantastic). Will find a pic.

We did a low budget version of this about 9 years ago - couldn't afford to change the cupboard doors but changed the handles, painted the walls (left the tiles) and chnaged to a kitchen carpet. Changing the worktop and sink was the thing that really made the difference - the fitting of that was probably the biggest outlay of 200 pounds.

We plan to totally redo the kitchen next year

We did this the year before moving house. Actual kitchen units were fine just dated so we replaced the doors, the worktop and retiled. Painted end panels to match new doors (original kitchen was beech effect laminate we replaced with white doors). Total cost about 1k, including labour of fitting doors & tiling.

Thanks for the responses everyone. Really useful info here.

The existing kitchen is an old Ikea one fitted by our predecessors which is in okay nick but not great. I assume it's chipboard-y type as it is gloss.

Tbh the whole kitchen is 'okay' and we've done some stuff in there already- we rearranged the position of the fridge by removing a cupboard and worktop section and put in a coffee cart thing in its place but it all looks a bit make shift. It's also pretty small (it's a one bed flat in London) but it's 'just' a kitchen IYSWIM and not a kitchen/lounge.

Talking to DP this morning he reckons we should just replace the sink and paint the grout which has got a bit grubby. We're probably going to move next year so maybe he's right.

Piccy? Let's have a nosy!!

I will once I've cleaned up @CS12345

Right then @CS12345 I have you to thank for a clean and not very tidy kitchen this morning!

Corner by the door where we fitted the fridge

is it that bad?!

If you're moving in a year, I wouldn't do anything major. It looks absolutely fine. Mine was brown 70s tiles, chipped flooring and dated wooden doors! My lino cost £70 and really changed the look of the kitchen, so perhaps you could throw a small amount of money at it for a similar bquick update.

This was before

This is after. It's certainly not fantastic but it's far brighter, modern and liveable-with.

I want to do this too. The biggest expense is the worktop. My cabinet doors are solid wood but the sides are laminate. I hope they’ll take pain well.

Paint!

I'm a bit pissed and was horrified at the title! I thought you were planning on some DIY surgery on yourself! I'm such a twat 🤣😂🤣

New worktop will make a huge difference, apart from that I think it looks fine.

@CS12345 that looks pretty good! Could you explain about the stick on tiles and how they work/where you get them from? Did you put them on top of the existing ones? Thanks.

Hi gimbleinthewabe

I think it looks good and if you’re moving in a year I wouldn’t strand any money on the kitchen units etc. What might be worthwhile looking at doing is tidying up the boiler area.

If Ikea do the same units, I’d suggest cutting the depth down on a base unit and using this to house the boiler. I know it’s in front of the window but it will only need to project a few cm more than the foremost part of the boiler. I’d use matching kitchen panels to box in the pipes beneath the boiler. I’d also consider coming off the “new” boiler cupboard with matching wall units running these to the wall opposite the window (and possibly tidy up or remove the the shelves below?).

Just some ideas...good luck 👍😋

My DH and I are selling a house built in the 80’s and kitchen is so dated but we had no cash to do anything other than new appliances and flooring. I do like your kitchen tbh-we are building a house and has an amazing kitchen though we only chose one upgrade in there

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I could probably do with a facelift @MissLadyM but I'd definitely turn out worse if I did it myself!!

Yes I agree that the worktop should be changed. Obviously you can't see in the photos but it's quite chipped and has stains that won't come out. Even if we replaced it like for like its look miles better.

Yes the boiler area is definitely the worst bit @Unacervezaporfavor. We had a new one installed about a year ago (when DS was 6weeks old!) and we still haven't tidied up the area. The shelves looks really ramshackle and we really need to reorganise the entire kitchen tbh but we just haven't prioritised the time.

I have to admit that DP is so slow when it comes to renovation work, even if it's a small job. Stuff will hang around for ages, half finished, until it finally gets done a year later. Hence the skirting board that has lived leaning against the kitchen wall for the past 6 months..