I hate my kitchen but it cost a lot of £££

[RightMoveAlong]

Namechanged.

I had a new kitchen fitted around 18 years ago and it cost over £20K in total. New boiler at the same time (in kitchen), built in fridge, granite worktops, solid light-wood kitchen installed by an upmarket company.

I was never happy with the worktops (glittery black) but DP wanted them and I gave in.

It's so dark. The room faces north so I need the lights on all day as the window is small. The black worktops don't help.

It's very dated now because everyone is going for white or pastel painted units.

I don't know what to do , if anything.

We may move at some point and I guess buyers would know it was a quality kitchen even if not their taste and rip it out.

I can't bring myself to re-new it even though the money is there, as it seems such a waste. The property is worth around £650-£700K.

Would it be possible to sell it 2nd hand or get something for parts of it?

doors and handles are very easily changed. You don't even need a professional. You can spend whatever you like, from cheap to ultra expensive. They are almost invariably in standard sizes.

you don't have to buy them from a glossy showroom.

Worktops are fairly easy to change if you are, or hire, a carpenter. Unless they were fitted with removal in mind, they will be damaged taking them off, and will damage tiled edging. Ther new ones can be screwed onto the units from underneath, making it very easy to change them in future should you so desire.

Stone worktops are glued down and are very very difficult to remove, and incredibly heavy.

When we moved out of out old flat and renteed it out for a while we used a company like this to refresh there really tired kitchen. It made a massive difference for a fraction of the price of a new kitchen
www.kitchenrestoration.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAiAg8OBBhA8EiwAlKw3kujPFX0m2J87_kx_132l0uuKLBbGi9DZ1sXFQ28fBYZoLA4gPMdR1RoCRbgQAvD_BwE

I’ve just paid almost 30K for a kitchen but in 18 years I imagine it will have worn out or my tastes will have changed?
Why are you feeling guilty for buying a new kitchen? You could freecycle the current one

p.s.

used kitchens are practically unsaleable as you need a van to move them and they will probably get damaged. It is hard work taking them to the tip.

If you happen to have a van, and someobody is selling a kitchen locally that you really really like, and it is bigger than you need so there will be enough good parts after you have discarded the damaged or non-fitting items, you can get fantastic bargains. A few hundred for a kitchen that cost tens of thousands. I once did this because I needed a couple of matching units in a discontinued line, and ended up with heaps of stuff.

You will need a couple of burly women to do the lifting and carrying.

If you spent 20k on a kitchen 18 years ago you need your head testing.

@TollgateDebs

A kitchen with 18 years of use, regardless of what is paid for it (and here I do not equate price paid with quality or value, as often a great deal of the price is the installation cost) is really not worth a great deal secondhand. 18 years of use is the kitchen equivalent of a car with 120,000 on the clock, regardless of make. As for the granite, love our Via Lactea and our trade units, which we installed and customized, but then we went for something that ignored the trends, but made us happy and 6 years later still looks like the day we finished it. Why not get someone in to look at how it could be updated and you might find a renewed love for it. Certainly worth the effort to ask for another opinion.

Exactly this.

IDGAF is someone with more money than sense paid £30,000 in todays money for a kitchen. It's almost 20 years old. I wouldn't pay a single penny for an almost 20 year old second hand kitchen. As I said, I wouldn't even have it if it was offered for free.

As you said, it will have nearly 20 years wear and tear. You'd have to have rocks in our head to buy this kitchen. All these 'a good kitchen will last 100 years' type comments are hilarious. I don't know a soul who'd keep a kitchen past 20 years.

Also, I can't get my head round the OP hating her kitchen, but doing nothing about it for nearly 20 years. Batshit.

Waits with bated breath for all the links to some stories of various cat ladies, and eccentric people who have had the same kitchen since 1923!

@LowlandLucky

If you spent 20k on a kitchen 18 years ago you need your head testing.

LOL. This ^ In spades.

I have had old hand built free standing kitchen unit spray painted after 10 years and they look great 10 years later. They were pine and looked dated.
Lights are a good suggestion
www.scawtonsawmill.co.uk/kitchens-14-c.asp
The above is a really good company various family members have used them.

I begrudge painting it simply because I think it's impossible to paint drawers etc to look professional but maybe I'm wrong there.

Yes - if you do it yourself. But if you pay a professional kitchen painting company, they spray paint all the doors and it looks fabulous. My friend had hers done and it looked brand new.

The floor also makes s difference to how light a room is - I changed lightish vinyl for oak look flooring -room looked darker and colder

@LowlandLucky

If you spent 20k on a kitchen 18 years ago you need your head testing.

You’d be very hard pressed to install a quality kitchen with granite tops, appliances, lighting and all the labour for under £20k even 18 years ago. The kitchen may be quite large.

Just because you can buy a budget kitchen it doesn’t make you stupid to spend more.

As OP says, it’s still in good condition, she just doesn’t like it.

Where do you live OP? I know someone who could help you out with lighting if you are anywhere near Salisbury.

If you spent 20k on a kitchen 18 years ago you need your head testing

Depends where you live. I saw a Love it or list it the other week where they spend £7k on their kitchen and I just thought "how". But I imagine they bought the units cheap and installed it themselves.

I have got a kitchen from the 80’s can’t afford a new one but repainted cupboards with wood paint and painted the tiles all in subtle stone colour and it looks so much brighter - cost around £150

"It was a mistake to go for dark granite and if we do swap it, I will have to work very hard on DH to make him agree."

And there's your real problem.

I can't imagine spending 20K on a kitchen and not liking it OP but I sympathise - working in a room you hate is a bit depressing. There are loads of great suggestions here so go ahead and change what you can. I hated my (much cheaper) kitchen which was chosen by the builder - I had no choice and as soon as I could I changed them to something to my taste.

You don't need me to tell you this but next time don't allow yourself to be overruled - put your foot down and get what you want.

I don't know a soul who'd keep a kitchen past 20 years.

You don’t know literally anyone who doesn’t have enough money to replace an old (but perfectly functional) kitchen? Perhaps you might want to think about widening your social circle.

@ChloeCrocodile

I don't know a soul who'd keep a kitchen past 20 years.

You don’t know literally anyone who doesn’t have enough money to replace an old (but perfectly functional) kitchen? Perhaps you might want to think about widening your social circle.

Ours is 21 years old. We’re going to replace it soon but just the thought of all the upheaval is making me dread it. All the dust, living on ready meals and take aways, washing up in the downstairs loo - fucking nightmare.

@PresentingPercy

Sometimes the shape and detailing on doors looks dated. I’ve seen these kitchens painted and they still look naff.

I would bite the bullet and say it’s run it’s course. If the units still please you, change the work top but it’s never going to look 2021. Fashions change snd you just don’t see much pale wood now.

I agree with this. I'm on a farrow and ball FB page and the kitchen repaints almost always look exactly what they are - old fashioned cupboards in a new colour. Nothing to do with the quality of the painting. If I was paying for a new solid surface I would get the whole kitchen redone - you're throwing good money after bad and it won't be a cheap makeover either.

Paint it.
The granite might look well then.

Dont rip it out anyway.

We bought a couple of years ago and the dated yet good quality kitchen was good for us.
We painted it and it will do fine til we can afford to replace it.

Love this

“A person who was born on the day you installed that kitchen is an adult now”

Great acid test!

@WhereYouLeftIt

"It was a mistake to go for dark granite and if we do swap it, I will have to work very hard on DH to make him agree."

And there's your real problem.

OP has already been back to say that they've discussed it and agreed.

18yrs?? I would change it.

How about replacing the worktop and painting the units? Plus maybe new handles? A ‘new’ kitchen for an awful lot less.

I predict you'll get nothing for the second-hand granite. I've been offered it FOC in the past but it wasn't worth the cost of having it cut to fit my kitchen. I could have had my own choice of new granite for the same price.