Knotty pine kitchen - help!

[ohsitdownnextome]

The house I’m buying has a fantastic kitchen diner with a peninsula. I don’t think any of it needs replacing. But the units are peak 90s knotty pine and the wall tiles are ‘rustic’ and it’s all quite orange.

What’s the cheapest way to update it all please? I’m going to be spending a lot of time in this part of the house. My total redocorating budget is only £30k so I can’t replace the kitchen.

Can knotty pine be sprayed?

Thanks in advance.

Leave the floor, replace the kitchen tiles, don't paint them, it will just look like painted over tiles in a shabby rental.

Agree with sanding and painting the units, replace the door handles with something modern and get the counter wrapped or replaced.

That could look like a really nice kitchen with a bit of elbow grease. Congrats on the house.

They’re easily painted. I wouldn’t go blue if you’re worried about the kitchen looking dated - unless you really love the colour blue! I’d embrace the warmth of the floor and go with this colour palette. If you don’t have the budget to remove the island I would just change the worktop to wood. Replacing worktops and tiles isn’t as expensive as you think it is. We had a similar kitchen and did this, also painted the cupboards ourselves.

Replacing the tiles will be relatively cheap and is an easy DIY job if you fancy learning a new skill. As is painting the cabinets. A normal decorator can paint them if you don't want to.

You could bleach the wood and then stain to an oak finish,depends if your willing to put the effort in or just want quick fix of painting units.

I would not paint them, I love pine

My kitchen had been painted grey so I had to paint it white and I painted the walls yellows and I used tile stickers from Amazon, cost about £50 all together

I would get the kitchen painted but I wouldn’t paint the tiles. I’ve painted mine and whilst the majority look fine 2 years later, the window sills and other parts are scratched.

Personally I would paint the kitchen a white or another pale colour with some lovely new tiles. It’ll lift the room and look as good as new.

Real wood kitchens are far superior to laminate, it should last you decades.

real knotty pine is beautiful,since the sixtys when ever i could actually rented a place,next was dade pine,very hard and last for ever

I would keep the pine cabinets as they are and change the tiles in some way, either by tiling over, or covering with painted tongue and groove.
It's amazing how you can tone down orange pine by what surrounds it.
I would change the floor colour to something less red, too.

But if you really can't live with that, I would try sanding down the cabinets to see what's underneath the orange finish.
It might be a quieter tone underneath and just need sealing or staining.
In a previous kitchen, I've calmed down a too bright wood finish with a pale paint colour wash and then sealed it for ease of wiping.

What jumps out at me is the island.
I am assuming it has cupboards, opening on the other side, and is therefore too useful to remove. But the contrast between the top and the base is too eye catching for me, so I would paint it a more neutral colour, (the same colour as the tongue and groove, if you have that, or the same colour wash, if you have that, or a colour that tones with new tiles or decals, if you have that)

Terracotta is very on trend so assuming the floor is actual tiles and not lino, I would keep those.

https://www.homesandgardens.com/news/colour-trends-210270

Retiling the walls yourself is definitely possible - I've done it and my DIY skills are not great.
Painted tiles don't last well.

And then paint the kitchen units - I'd be tempted to get rid of the one with the glass doors at higher level which I think looks most dated in terms of style but the others are much plainer and will take the paint well (prep then properly, treat the knots etc).
I know navy kitchens have been wildly popular but I suspect they will continue to be so. Or lean into the earthy warm trend further but with green tones rather than just the orange tones it bas now

Definitely sand and paint your base cabinets—electric sander is about £30 from b&q. Use 120 grit sandpaper and they'll be gorgeously smooth. Wear a mask when you're sanding.

They'll look lovely! I would remove the wall cabinets too if I was you. You could even get a student to help you paint them, it's not skilled work. Totally agree you can just replace the cabinet knobs. I picked up a load of cabinet knobs on Facebook Marketplace for a tenner. Congrats on the new home !

So you got ppl in to replace wall tiles, floor tiles and worktops?

I think I’ll keep the terracotta floor tiles - rather like them - but get workmen in to replace wall tiles and worktops and spray cabinets. The colour scheme you posted is lovely. Green would be great.

Any idea what the above would cost? I’d like to spend no more than £5k as I have two bathrooms and a boiler to replace and need every room painted and to recarpet the stairs and two first floor bedrooms. And I have £30k max.

That’s lovely!

I’m wondering if I get the cupboards and island sprayed yellow then the terracotta floor tiles will blend in? Then decal the wall tiles so as not to spend too much on tiling until I’ve saved up a bit more money. So much to do in this house, which has great bones but has not been decorated since poss 1990s.

If you like the floor and wish to keep it, then maybe look at Tuscan kitchens as inspiration. They always have a terracotta floor, and lots of natural wood (though usually dark and on the ceiling!). The cabinets could be sanded and natural, or all of them or some of them off white, or another colour you like. I wouldn’t personally choose yellow though.

My DIL sprays wood. She sands down. Then puts something on the knots so the resin sap doesn't bleed through. Lays a sheet in the garden, removes doors and sprays them outside.

She uses little rollers and lines up with brushes on the rest. She does you tube tutorials to learn new skills. Then seals with something.

It always looks amazing.

You might want to replace the worktops if they're a bit tired

it was about £2k new tiles, all new worktops, new sink and taps. Zone 2 London. Painted the cabinets myself, really not a big job and had a lot more cabinets and worktop than in your picture.

That's a lovely kitchen. Due for a comeback anytime now and never out of fashion in the country.

If that's a real quarry tile floor, definitely not something to change

It won't be safe to put painted tongue and groove panelling at the back of the gas hob.

But there are other options and once the pine is toned down by painting it, the tiles may not seem so bad.

£2k - that must have been some time ago?

We had a similar kitchen which we had painted by a tradesmen who specialised in exactly that. The finish has been incredibly hard wearing. I bought new knobs off eBay for very little. Ours is a second kitchen in the house so doesn’t get a lot of use which might have meant we could be a bit more chilled about storage but we kept glass doors and put stuff we love in those cupboards.
Separately when I once needed counter top for a bathroom I went to a local firm that supplies loads of high end kitchens. They had tons of offcuts in their yard. I was obviously constrained to what they had that was big enough but actually it was still more than enough choice and it cost me a token amount.

Do you know I think the best and cheapest solution is to style this one out and lean into the 1990s kitchen comeback. I’ll give this one a good clean and say it’s cottagecore or Tuscan and put dried flowers and copper pans on display and paint the island Hunter Green. I’ll stencil little pictures of grapes and breadbaskets on the tiles. We will roll out fresh pasta for dinner parties and serve Chianti. I will become a Tik Tok sensation 😂

Painting wooden cabinets is going out of fashion and looking quite dated. Those cabinets you have are gorgeous. I think you're on the right track- change the island and possibly the countertops and then see if further significant changes are needed.

I got a pine drawers/side table on ebay a couple of years ago, it's in its raw state - I have never been tempted to paint it - depends on the piece though and the quality of the pine will make a difference.

Thank you! I do suspect that once i cover the pine it comes back into fashion lol. What would you do with the counters and island?