How to make a budget kitchen look high end..

[Isohungy]

Inspired somewhat by the equivalent thread in fashion and a recent thread on gloss kitchens looking cheap...

In your opinion what makes a budget kitchen look more expensive/better quality?

Professional fitters, quality handles, properly fitted worktops, good lighting, addingbpelmets and cornices, good tiles.

Oh, and dont go for bright colours!

depends how budget your budget kitchen is, if it’s a budget flat pack fake laminate wood effect slab door from b&q no matter what you put with it it would still look budget in all honesty, you have to have a reasonable standard of door that you can work with to upgrade in the first place so choose your door wisely then follow what soon has said.

Agree - there is a certain point below which I think budget cannot be upgraded - but if , e.g. , wooden is your choice a decent quality wooden - even MDF doors but then practicality comes into play - or other paintable kitchen ( doesn't need to be too expensive ) painted in a nice colour with good handles will look nice - decent worktops - I am not sure gloss always looks cheap but it will need to be a good one and possibly not gloss on both overhead and under counter units or perhaps have a darker colour under counter and lighter above . Also yes - spend money on tiles / back splash etc - along the lines of a cheaper suit will always look better with a better shirt rather than vice versa ( sorry if already said - haven't read the other thread - will do so.) A coloured glass splash back can be done more cheaply by buying the glass and painting the back of it in the colour you want rather than ordering specially coloured glass. Good fitting I also agree with - no kitchen will look good with wonky joins and bodged edgings etc - no matter how much you have paid for the units.

Best sink and taps you can afford.

Also buy the best appliances you can afford - not just for the looks but it is what you use a lot.

Not sure that has helped dreadfully but good luck. A friend of mine inherited a very old and dated pine kitchen in her new house. We painted it and took off the more twiddly dated bits , new nice handles , new sink & taps & new splash backs - it looks great. But it was a decent quality kitchen just massively dated. Given hers was wooden even just the change of colour made the most enormous difference.

I would look through a few kitchen / interior magazines for the "look" and then see what you could replicate on your budget ( obviously not a massive Lacanche range on a Belling budget but if you see the look of something then there is probably a way of getting the feel of that less expensively )

So just agreed with @BettyBooJustDointheDoo & @Soontobe60 - but less concisely

Oh and one more point you might think is silly but I think it works is - get the tallest overhead cupboards you can & unless your ceilings are unfeasibly tall - fill in the gap between the top of cupboards and ceiling with plasterboard or similar and paint to match either ceiling or cupboards ( this may be what @Soontobe60 was referring to with pelmets ) It does look smarter if there is no gap between overhead cupboards and ceiling if the ceiling is relatively low ( obviously 14 ft high ceiling won't work ) but looks smarter IMHO and also the practical advantage of not having an awkward bit to clean on top of cupboards)

We did this basiliskstare the builder called them bulkheads. Added very little to the cost overall, and it did look better, I was surprised by the difference

@Palace63 - how lovely someone knows what I was talking about - I just didn't know the name - so thank you for that - but when we downsized I have a much cheaper kitchen that the one we had before but just that little thing looks so much smarter & btw much more practical.

Professional plumbers and tilers. Stunning floor and top crockery and accessories. Less of which is more 😊

I agree with @Monty27 - proper basics like plumbing etc - a kitchen will never feel nice if the basics don't work & yes proper tiling. A friend of mine who is an interior designer once said of curtains - if you can afford it - better to buy cheaper material and get them professionally made than spend more on the material and bodge them ( I do not speak here of ready made curtains which will usually be well made - but I hope you get the gist ) A stretch perhaps - but you could spend all the money on tiles you like , but if not put up properly - they won't ever look good.

I've seen people upgrade cheaper shaker kitchens by using skirting board instead of plinths