Kitchen remodel advice please?

[Kitchenwitchery]

Could I ask for some advice on how to make this kitchen look nicer, please? We're buying this house and the kitchen was redone recently, however it's not to my taste. The wall tiles are white, light blue and mid blue, the countertop is gray, floors are beige and the units are obviously natural wood colour. I just think nothing really goes together.

It seems like a massive waste to replace a new kitchen for only aesthetic reasons. And I know there are companies that will do things like paint your cabinets or replace the doors, replace the countertop, etc. I don't like the tiles but I think replacing tiles is quite expensive - is that right? Or maybe I can just live with them? I thought maybe if the cabinets were painted mid-blue it might make the tiles look better. The countertops could be replaced with oak maybe? Or maybe a company could put a white quartz overlay on them?

Any advice really appreciated please.

my suggestion is to paint the cabinets any cool white and change handles to something more trendy

don't put quartz overlay- it costs as much as real quartz and doesn't last, painting tiles is not good idea as difficult to clean and wont last; you can add kitchen mats from ruggable ( washable) if you don't like floor tiles

I'd agree the cheapest/easiest option (for now) would be to paint the cupboard doors a colour to match the palest tile. The brown/blue combo doesn't really go together. Not sure how the grey worktop fits into the colour scheme either tbh but it might work better visually if the cupboards weren't brown.

On the other hand, if you decide to paint the cupboards, replace the worktop and maybe change the flooring it might be cheaper just to change the tiles!

Living with it for a while is always an option - that way, you get a feel for the place - you never know, you may come to love the blue tiles!

I think I'd get rid of the blue wall tiles, they clash with everything and you've said you don't like them. I doubt that would cost too much but what you choose to have instead depends on what else you want to do.

I actually like the cabinets and would try to pick tiles to go with those, perhaps cream or alternating cream and something else fairly neutral. I'd possibly change the worktop too but perhaps later on after the tiles have been done.

It's difficult, the blue tiles go with nothing, the worktop and floor go together but the worktop doesn't quite work with the units So I think you have to either change it all, gradually if you're on a budget, or pick something you like about the kitchen and change one or two things to match that.

I think not doing it all at once is a good idea. We are in the final stages of a year long kitchen renovation and what I initially thought I wanted isn't what I ended up with (and nor would it have worked).

It's really difficult, isn't it? I should add that the worktop is really poor quality but the rest is good quality. I think if I redid the cabinets and countertop and floor but kept the tiles I'd still only think the kitchen was OK.

Or I could have the cabinets painted maybe say teal, add an oak countertop, and do tiles in seaglass/teal and probably really like it. I might even push the boat out with some coordinating wallpaper? And I think that would all go including the floor which I would keep. What do you think?

I'm a bit reluctant to get rid of the tiles because there are also those tiles randomly on an adjacent wall which I wouldn't replace. If I get rid of those I think I'd need to replaster. But I'm best to just bite the bullet, aren't I and bin the tiles? There's no magic way to make them look good. Thanks for all the advice so far.

I think I would paint the units the colour of the darkest tile. New handles. Then new worktops in a creamy colour toning with the lightest tile colour. That would make a huge difference for a modest budget.

The tiles are the most in-your-face part of the kitchen so personally I would want to change them.

The tiles aren’t that bad. The wood colour of the cupboards is awful. White would really make a difference. A better floor would really help too. Difficult to see what the worktop quality is but the whole kitchen isn’t great. I would save up and get rid. The kitchen looks small so could you enlarge it?

I would replace the backsplash and the floors with something simpler/light colored.

We moved into a similar looking kitchen and once I costed up painting the doors - sanding down and 3 coats - new worktop, painting over tiles - it came to a few thousand!! We ended up getting a whole new kitchen….

Thanks again. @EdgarAllenRaven I was worried about that - that tarting up the kitchen could be throwing good money after bad.

@TizerorFizz the floor is the only thing I quite like! Is it not nice? The kitchen is a bit bigger than it looks in the photos and big enough for us - it's just DH and me and we're downsizing. Worktop quality is really poor - it's like cheap laminate that's already scuffed. Which is surprising as the quality of everything else is good.

@MrsCat1 I'm tempted to try that, thanks. I just wish I could visualise it a bit better so I'll know whether I'll actually like it before I go with it! At least with getting an entirely new kitchen you can see a display version and know whether you'll liek it or not. I don't have a very good imagination unfortunately!

Does anyone know of any good visualisation apps where you can take a photo of your kitchen and change things about please? I found one but it wasn't very helpful as it didn't recognise the worktops.

@EverythingLouderThanEverythingElse yes they are pretty "in your face!" unfortunately.

Just get rid of the ugly tiles and replace them with a plain, neutral colour and it will instantly look 100% better. Yes, it will cost money, but worth it as it will totally transform the kitchen. The cost of a tiler for a day or two, plus buying the tiles themselves (unless you go for something really fancy) will be hundreds rather than thousands.

Oh - I was assuming over a thousand. Thank you, @NutellaNut . If that's the case I think I'll replace tiles and countertops and have the units painted. I'll leave the floor but is it really bad?

I think the tiles are fine. It's the doors which need toned down a bit. They look really bright.

I'd be tempted to get them spray painted. Picking out one of the colours from the tiles.

I agree that you’re talking about hundreds rather than thousands to replace the tiles. I’d replace the worktop - even a laminate one in a better colour would look a lot better. Never heard of wrapping a laminate worktop with quartz (sounds a bit mad to me but as I say I don’t know anything about it!). I think you can make it much nicer for hundreds rather than thousands (or around the thousand mark)

Deluxe paint used to have a bit on their app that let you change colours of a room.
But it might have been stock photos rather than up loading your own photo..

Just pointing out that you don't need to remove the tiles, as they can be tiled over.

I also think the tiles are fine. It's the units and worktop that I'm not keen on but it is personal taste. I have blue units, white quartz worktops, no tiles but a blue and white tiled floor so I like the blue and (off) white combination!

Is there any way you'd be willing to share a photo please @MrsCat1 ? If you don't feel comfortable or don't have time I fully understand. I am just so rubbish at visualising things!

The tiles are quite chunky so I do think they'd probably need to be removed.

Is there any way you'd be willing to share a photo please @MrsCat1 ? If you don't feel comfortable or don't have time I fully understand. I am just so rubbish at visualising things!

The tiles are quite chunky so I do think they'd probably need to be removed.

Hi. This should give you an idea.

I think the problem is that you’ve got a combination of cool colours (blue/grey), mixed with warmer tones (wood/beige). My Dd has taught me this. But some blues can be warm, (ie blues verging towards purple)

So I think it would all ‘come together’ if you went down with either the cool OR the warm colours, not both.

I personally dislike the cabinet colour and dark tops.

I would spray/paint or replace the cabinets, doors only. Replace the counter top. Maybe even look into painting tiles/or replacing. I’ve heard that tiling onto of tiles is very easy. Problem is that there is often an order of work. I don’t know if worktop would have to be after retiling it or not (but I’m sure there are work arounds.

I would definitely recover/paint the tiles on corner wall, even if I left the tiles everywhere else.

Blue isn’t a favourite colour of mine in a kitchen, but I think if you match the cabinets to the tiles it could look good.

Ref the floor which you say is beige. Id look at getting a hardwearing rug or runner that ties to cabinets or worktop or tiles. I’m not sure what shade the walls are?

I would do the two things that I don’t like whatever the scheme, in my case it would be cabinets and worktop.

Then sit back and see if you can live with it. It may give you enough breathing space that you could redo other parts in a few years.

Id look on Pinterest, you can search for blue kitchens. There lots of inspiration on there. Also many kitchen companies do their own planning/visual kitchen guides. Try IKEA?

Dont forget lighting and plants can make anywhere look better.

Just remembered Howdens to a kitchen visualiser

Are you any good at tiling yourself? If so, that could be one of the least expensive changes. Personally, I don't like the way your tiles go all the way to the ceiling in a band! I like them to go up to the extractor. If you're happy with the layout, you can just replace the cabinet doors, as they are usually standard sizes. What sort of flooring do you have? If it's vinyl, you can simply lay a different colour on top. The most expensive thing to change is probably the worktops!

Thank you so much, @MrsCat1 , your kitchen looks really beautiful!

I actually do like blue and have a lot of blue in the rest of the house also, so it would flow well. I think you're right @Isheabastard about the warm and cool colours clashing and I too dislike the worktops and units the most. I'll check out that kitchen visualiser.

I've tried tiling myself previously and made a bit of a hash of it. Not terrible but definitely didn't look professional.