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Original poster

Kitchen - changing door fronts only?

14 replies

RM2013 · 12/04/2023 00:21

Looking for some balanced opinions. We moved house in Jan. Don’t love the layout and think it could be improved. DH has suggested we could have a new kitchen as he’s due to get a lump sum soon. However looking at the price of a completely new kitchen he’s put his foot down and said he doesn’t really want to spend a huge amount.
has anyone used one of these restoration. Companies that fits new doors and worktops?
we might be able to achieve a better layout by moving fridge freezer and maybe adding 1 larder unit.
how much would this realistically save vs a new kitchen? Is it worth doing?

OP posts:
CherryMaple · 12/04/2023 05:07

We used a joiner to fit new door fronts and worktops when we were trying to sell our house and it had been on the market a while. It wasn’t cheap, but did make a difference and helped the sale I think - £3k ten years ago (IKEA worktop).

Are you happy with your existing cabinets? What style would you want to go for? Have you looked at good value new kitchens - eg, DIY Kitchens? If you don’t love the layout, is replacing doors and worktop going to help?

Pointblank2 · 12/04/2023 07:32

We had a quote from a national replacement door company, Dream Doors I think, but a local kitchen company did it for half the price.

Sandrine1982 · 12/04/2023 07:47

We did this and it made a massive difference. If you are happy with the cabinets, find out where they were bought, then just buy doors and side panels and have a builder fit them (or fit them yourself).

We also removed the top cabinets on one side just to create a more open look as we had enough storage, and it looks brilliant.

You can do lots of things cheaply. Also d

Sandrine1982 · 12/04/2023 07:47

Also don't underestimate the power of paint :)

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2023 07:57

We are in the process of doing a bit of remodelling of our kitchen. The doors came from www.kitchenandbedroomdoors.com . This is the second time I have used them. Very happy with price and quality.

Kitchen cabinets are generally standard sizes so moving things around hasn't been too complicated.

Kitchen cupboard doors - Lowest price guaranteed - HOMESTYLE

HOMESTYLE supply replacement kitchen doors at unbeatable prices. Choose from over 50 designs, 60 finishes and many accessories. Made to measure and delivered for free.

http://www.kitchenandbedroomdoors.com

GnomeDePlume · 12/04/2023 07:58

I don't work for them by the way!

Original poster
RM2013 · 12/04/2023 08:21

Thanks all. The reason I say I don’t love the layout is because it’s a small U shape and by moving a radiator we could extend the run of units along one wall which would give us more storage. At most we probably only need one additional unit. Due to the size and shape of the kitchen we are fairly limited with layout we can have anyway.

Have looked at DIY kitchens (haven’t braved a visit to any of the other large kitchen retailers yet) and played around with some designs but costs were still coming in quite high. Would probably blow our budget once we had factored in fitting costs, flooring etc hence why I wondered if a spruce would be worth spending money on.

the house was built 2006 and as far as I can tell it’s still got the original kitchen installed by the builders so no idea where the kitchen was from. Might measure the doors to see if they are a standard size

OP posts:
booboobidoops · 12/04/2023 09:42

Recently replaced my cupboard doors, used www.ukkitchendoors.com

Really really happy with them. If yours aren't standard, they can make them to size, just input the measurements of your current doors.

Came in at half the cost of other places I got quotes from.

They were a bit slow on email, but very helpful and once ordered the doors arrived in about 6 days.

chocaholic73 · 12/04/2023 11:54

We've replaced cupboard doors in 3 different houses. Can save a lot of money and is much more straightforward than stripping the lot out. You can usually add an extra cupboard or two at the same time if there's room.

GasPanic · 12/04/2023 12:36

I am replacing worktops and doors atm.

As other people say, doors are standard sizes so no issues there. The main problem is getting colour match to other trim etc like side panels and cornices.

You can get overlay worktops that cover up the current worktops.

I have also found that in some areas the carcass of the cabinet is not too great either. Basically anywhere where MDF is close to high humidity and water (dishwasher sink) it will absorb water and swell, making the thin veneer on the outside peel. So the doors have swollen and peeled (no problem to replace) but the veneer on the cabinets has peeled a bit as well, so I am looking into rectifying that.

Sandrine1982 · 12/04/2023 20:39

I wouldn't be too sure about standard sizes. For example, we wanted Howdens but the cabinets we had were Selco (shorter top cabinets) so we had to buy from Selco. Ikea had a completely different size still ...

Furries · 13/04/2023 01:58

Can you not just paint the cupboard doors? Much cheaper. And maybe change the worktop, that can make a big difference to the look of a kitchen.

GnomeDePlume · 13/04/2023 07:49

The company I linked to above does made to measure doors. This was useful as our utility room has non-standard height doors.

cheeseandketchupsandwich · 13/04/2023 08:06

Sorry to hijack but has anyone ever done similar with bathroom cabinet doors? Seem to be struggling to find any

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