Updating my kitchen inexpensively?

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The bones of my kitchen are just fine, it just needs a bit of sprucing up - ideas welcome!

At the moment, I have a red and white theme, but I'd rather something a bit more neutral/soft. I have red and white tiles on the walls, small red tiles for the splashback as well as on either side of the stove. The cupboards doors are white (plastic over MDF which is cracked and coming away in places), and the counters are a (fake) marble-looking red and dark grey. It was like this when I moved in, and I'm VERY ready for a change, but don't want to spend a fortune.

I was thinking about painting over the tiles, maybe fitting an opaque glass splashback over the red tile splashback area, or perhaps a brushed metal one? That seems simple and cheap enough to do?

I've also seen "wrapped" counters as an option instead of replacing them entirely - has anyone done this?

I am planning to remove the plastic from the cupboard doors and then just paint them with an appropriate type of paint - I'm on a Frenchic group on Facebook and this is all the rage!

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? Any hints/tips/tricks/stumbling blocks you could share would be appreciated!

Ooh, I have a pot of Zinsser BIN, that's excellent to know! My kitchen tiles won't get nearly as damp as in a shower room, so that could work nicely.

Do you know how much roughly you would want to spend.

As you want to refinish the doors, could you afford to spend say £500 / £600 on new worktops and either a matching splashback or white tiles, so they don't age.

Also changing door/drawer handles can make a big difference.

I'm afraid re-tiling is probably out of the question at this point, the wall tiles cover a huge surface area in the kitchen and to fit new ones would cost loads.

Realistically, I think I'm looking at a short-term fix, something that is cheap and cheerful, will look ok for a couple of years, until I can afford to properly do it up.

Changing the door handles is definitely in the plan, too!

Agree with pp...if you can, spend the money on replacing the worktop. That will make a HUGE difference. Not Wood though...nightmare upkeep!!
Wood effect laminate could work though? Dark walnut colour?
New knobs on doors.
Paint tiles.
Stainless steel Splashback could look great work matching SS knobs and of you hsbe SS kettle, toaster etc
I've done this type of upgrade a couple of times in my last house and it really can work well.
Good luck

Yeah, don't get wood unless everyone is meticulously clean and tidy - it's a nightmare to keep nice. Laminate is decent these days.

You could put panels over the tiles.

I've painted my kitchen unit doors with Frenchic and it was brilliant. You'll get a much better result if you paint over the laminate rather than remove it though. If you have just one or two doors that are peeling and can't be repaired, could you find replacement doors on marketplace / gumtree?
If you have to remove the laminate, do NOT sand the MDF and DO use a primer or Frenchic finishing coat before applying the paint to seal the MDF. Otherwise the MDF will just drink up the paint.

I'm completely fine with painting over the laminate, if I can repair it. The less work involved the better. I didn't know I could paint over it!

Do you really need the cupboard space?

It might make it look more light and spacious if you replaced them with open shelves. I like the sound of the red and white scheme, and with a white background (walls) and wooden or white open shelves and some red accessories (teapot? bowls, etc) it might freshen it up with minimal expense.

A photo of it at the moment would help.

Don't go with open shelves unless you enjoy cleaning dusty grease off things.

I've attached a pic. It is a dark space, unfortunately, and I think it's made darker with the red.

I plan to change the doors on the cooker as well.

Honestly?

I'd only change the flooring, the worktop and door handles!*

*assuming you're keeping the red range oven

Light oak laminate and light oak flooring/lino

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I'm completely fine with painting over the laminate, if I can repair it. The less work involved the better. I didn't know I could paint over it!

Just a word of caution on this OP.

I painted over the laminate cupboards we inherited with our house purchase as a quick fix until we could replace the kitchen. The wall units look good but on some of the base units the laminate bubbled and then peeled off very quickly. They were the units next to the oven and the dishwasher freezer doors so I suspect it was the proximity to a heat source that did it.

I appreciate other people have done this successfully but it really didn’t work out for me. I don’t think it was anything to do with the way I applied the paint as the wall units looked, and have remained, perfect.

This was part of the reason we had to bring out kitchen renovation forward.

Seal a wooden worktop with Osmo. Upkeep couldn’t be easier. Nothing looks as nice as wood.

We had a wooden work top (oak) sealed with Osmo. It did not last well at all. Not sure why as we didn't clean it with harsh products or anything like that (just water). I wish we'd oiled it instead.

I would never have a wooden worktop again

I'm another one suggesting Frenchic paint.... check out their Facebook page for some great ideas. Also, DC Fix is a popular wrap method for worktops. . Again, check out as above

I agree with others- paint out the random red tiles and the red mosaic splash back in white, replace the worktop with wood/ wood effect and lay a vinyl floor. Maybe also a new tap and a few open shelves on the big wall. I think the cupboards would actually look fine, but if they are peeling or look worse in real life then yes paint them too. I think it will look lovely.

you could do a resin pour on the worktop

The worktops will be easy to change as they are just straight runs with corner joiners. Agree to paint out the random red tiles. I’d replace the doors with shaker style MDF or wood and paint all the cabinets light grey green with a new wood effect worktop.
Its a good cooker, it will look better with a less stark colour scheme.

I did mine earlier this year. Painted the cupboards- used a paint from B and Q.

Wrapped the worktops and retiled the splashback(over existing tiles and only cos I had the tiles left over from bathroom).

Also replaced door and drawer handles- they were £1.39 each. I’ll try to add pics

Before and after

Pics added

Or maybe blue?