AIBU for wanting to replace a 20+ year old kitchen?

[lovelygirl17]

We recently bought a nice house, both DH and I are happy but the kitchen is old. It was installed 21 years ago with built in appliances like fridge, freezer, dishwasher, electric hob and oven. It seems it only had a very light use because everything is in a very good condition, no surface scratches for example, cupboard doors aren't loose, the dishwasher and oven were sparkling clean (looking almost new). We are not planning to move from here until we are ready to downsize, hopefully no sooner than in 25 years time. I try to cook from scratch every day, I also bake cakes and make things like jam so a good cooker is essential for me. This house has an electric hob and already driving me mad. Also, it only has a single oven. I don't think we can change that without remodelling the whole lot. DH is adamant that it's a great kitchen (in comparison what we had before) and we shouldn't even think about changing anything anytime soon. We spent a lot of money purchasing the house but we could still stretch to a new kitchen. AIBU for wanting to replace it all?

In your position, I'd want to hold on to the money in case something unforeseen and urgent comes up. I'd change the hob and the oven to ones that suit you better and stick with the serviceable kitchen until I was more settled in. I understand the urge to put your own stamp on your home but I don't think you need to rip the kitchen out.

Some people buy second hand/good condition kitchens, could you see what you might get for it/offset the cost?

I would change it if it were me..

Your kitchen sounds like mine. Moved in a year ago. We taking our time as they so expensive to put in. Only got so much money to do the house up. Don’t want to put a kitchen in I don’t like. As can’t replace it.
We living with it at the moment. It’s functional.

You should be able to change the hob to induction pretty easily.

If it's solid and the layout suits, you could do quite a lot with respraying the units, changing the handles and even the worktop or flooring. And the oven/hob.

Is it just the oven you don’t like? I’m sure you could replace it with a free standing one if the one you want does not fit in the current gap? Also maybe respray the cabinets if they are not to your taste. I’m in agreement with your husband here, and would suggest to at least wait a year or so to see what in the current set up you really can’t live with rather that ripping it all out now.

I think I'd try to change just the hob and the oven, as they are the bits that are driving you mad.

Agree with what's being said upthread. Get a gas fitter round to check how easy it would be to install a gas hob, then just buy a tall end unit and install a second oven in there at eye level, reusing the doors from the existing cabinet that would be removed to make way for it.

I would replace a good condition kitchen just to get a second oven/gas hob - those things can surely be accommodated for in the existing set up.

I replaced my gas oven/hob for electric/induction. Also swapped my inbuilt fridge freezer for a freestanding one. Replaced old worktop with new one. As pp said you don't need to rip out a kitchen completely.

@lovelygirl17 I don’t think you’re being unreasonable at all OP. I’d probably want to replace it too.
There are lots of people that but good quality second hand kitchens so I’m sure you’d have no problem getting rid of it and making a little bit of money from it.

Highly recommend living with it for a little while though and spend some time working out how best to use the space to suit your needs 😊 I have friends that recently bought a property and replaced the kitchen before they moved in. They hate the layout they’ve chosen now that they’re actually in and living in the property!

I just changed my cooker for a double one. It was an under the counter one and very easy to do.

I stripped the melamine off the cupboards with a blow torch, primed them (gives a better finish and lasts longer) and painted them with a decent kitchen paint. Didn't even need to get new handles as the old ones looked fine with the new colour. Only cost about £100 minus the oven.

Apart from the

@Mouldyfeet could you explain some more about stripping melamine? I have a high gloss kitchen which has blistered. Would a blow torch get it off? But would we then just paint the fascia’s and sides which aren’t strippable? Sorry to derail.

Depending on your layout you can change the hob for gas or induction. There is quite a lot of rearranging items within the units you can do, particularly if you could get hold of matching doors. If the oven is in a tower unit it could be changed for a larger one or two stacked. You could add another under counter oven, or take out the hob/oven unit and replace with a good freestanding cooker. For example www.hotpoint.co.uk/hotpoint-hdt67i9hm2cuk-double-cooker-black-f159473/p this kind of thing.

Thanks for all your answers so far, I'll listen and leave it for another year and see how it goes (still not sure if I can manage the oven/hob situation for that long but we will see). DH likes the idea of an induction hob, so I'm happy to receive your experiences, @sunshinesupermum, or if anybody else is reading this. @Mouldyfeet, I'm interested in the melamine stripping, maybe I can check it out somewhere on youtube?

Some of the melamine had come off with the steam from the kettle and some had cracked. I figured if a heat gun takes off paint it'll this off properly.

It was so satisfying pulling it all off, sometimes it'll come off in one piece! I just held the heat gun on it at the bottom and waited for it to bubble a bit and then pulled it off.

Sanded them down, used a good primer and then painted. I took all the doors off to paint them and did it in stages due to space. Well worth it though.

@Zebracat I just lightly sanded the cabinets, primed and painted. Used a mini gloss roller to do it.

I'll massively out myself now by putting some pics up, ignore the green walls, they are awful!

sorry forgot to flip one the right way round

lovelygirl17 I'll try and upload some photos - mine is a tiny kitchen but I got it to work without breaking the bank.

The lower units are all painted dark green and I left the upper ones white. The walls are matched to Farrow and Ball Clunch (such a good pale neutral!) the worktops are white glass and splashbacks stainless steel.

I agree with others, see if you can change the oven and live with it for a bit. I was thinking of changing a kitchen in a place I bought until I realised I’d be replacing it with something lower quality. I did some minor stuff (changed the floor for viny wood effect, changed the handles and painted the tiles) and now I really like it. Plus we unexpectedly had to replace the boiler shortly after we would have paid for a new one so glad we saved the money.

Igrew to hate the look of our kitchen which we put in 25 years ago, but it's solid oak, very solid and all height matched for me. They layout is perfect.
We just changed the worktop (about £500) and painted the doors a soft pale sage green.
We got a fabulous huge Samsung fridge in pale blue, reduced from £1000 to £490 in Marks Electricals and some pink accessories and the effect is now like living in the bake off kitchen.

Relatively straight forward to replace the electric hob with an induction just be mindful of the power rating, mine is on its own fused circuit whereas my oven is a plug in one.

As a temporary measure you could install another single oven somewhere in the kitchen rather than going straight for the double. I am assuming your single oven is in a base cabinet.

Lots of single ovens come with a plug so very easy to install. It is usually supported on metal brackets that just screw to the side of the cabinet. There are loads of videos on YouTube showing installation. The brackets come with the oven and instructions on where to locate them.

Wow at these wonderful makeovers. I have hope.

@lovelygirl17

Thanks for all your answers so far, I'll listen and leave it for another year and see how it goes (still not sure if I can manage the oven/hob situation for that long but we will see). DH likes the idea of an induction hob, so I'm happy to receive your experiences, *@sunshinesupermum, or if anybody else is reading this. @Mouldyfeet*, I'm interested in the melamine stripping, maybe I can check it out somewhere on youtube?

We had an induction hob in our previous house. Loved it. Water boils so quickly on it, really controllable and very easy to keep clean. Safer as the rings don't get hot in the same way as metal gas rings/ ceramic (still hot after cooking but not to same level if you see what I mean).

Moved at beginning of year to a house with gas hob and really miss the induction. I'd forgotten how long water takes to boil on gas!

You do need induction compatible pans though- which meant for us buying a whole new set as ours were circulon aluminium before so didn't conduct. Look out for curly spring symbol for induction compatible.