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.

Paint it. Honestly it will lighten the whole kitchen up and look so much better.

You have a lovely light space to play with here, so you can do pretty much what you like.

Tiled floor: I'd keep the terracotta floor tiles (if they are tiles and not Lino) and maybe put a runner down along in front of the units. If Lino, get rid of it and put down something you like - perhaps wood to match the wood by the island.

Wooden floor: strip and stain. Something that blends in with the other part of the floor, or contrasts sharply to mark the dining area off from the cooking area.

Cupboards and island: sand, treat with knotting solution, and use something like Rustoleum in a colour you like - one that either blends with the terracotta floor tiles or contrasts well (if you're keeping them). A good decorator would be able to do this for you, though painting units is a bit tiresome, but not hard. I'd also change the handles. You can make a kitchen look really classy if you add good quality cast-brass handles, but brushed steel also works well (brass costs an absolute mint these days and needs the odd polish).

Wall tiles: If they're really grim (it's a bit hard to tell from the photos) it's probably worth replacing them.

Worktops: as for wall tiles. It would make sense to replace both at the same time.

Think too about lighting for those dank winter afternoons and evenings.

I'd check out how much to get the doors and countertops changed.
If too expensive then paint the cupboards cream or get them spray painted.
I too would hate open shelving.
Dust, grime from cooking and dirty flies landing on kitchen items. Yuck.
Personally I hate terracotta tiles so would get a good quality laminate - Balterio Garda Oak is lovely.

I think a light colour of your preference; either a creamy white or a pale-er blue (maybe if not creamy white then a light shade of a cool tone to counteract the warmth of the cabinet/tiles!) I would then pick up on the island colour with accents in a floor runner, tea towels, a vase etc to make the kitchen look more unified. The dishwasher position makes that harder because it makes top/ bottom/ island all look a bit disjointed but it's no great issue.

100% absolutely leave the kitchen unpainted (unless you’re dying to do the island), replace tiles and worktop only. Terracotta and natural wood absolutely back in fashion. Get on Pinterest and style it out.

6m ago. Central London.

Why does it matter if it’s in fashion or not if you don’t like it and want to change it? If you’re going for just fashion fine, but it seems you don’t like the colour and want to change. Surely your feelings won’t change if it suddenly becomes trendy? I don’t mean this to be aimed at you, more to the people who are saying don’t change it as it will come back into fashion soon (it’s not looking like it will, I work in the industry), but who cares if you hate it now? Much better to have something pleasing to look at for you as you’ll see it every day.

You've flipped around my meaning; which is that exposed natural wood a permanent classic, and painting wood (particularly in chalk tones, rustoleum etc) is very much a trend and one that is on it's way out.

Personally I would never paint beautiful knotty pine cabinets to make them a matte, flattened finished (though would certainly adjust the tone). I think it's such a shame when people do that.

But agree that people ultimately should do what makes themselves happy in their own homes!

I'll admit and fully embrace my fickle nature - I like new things, I like old things, I like to buy new "old things", my tastes change with trends and fashion - I am truly amazed by people who pay no attention to trends at all - I love to freshen things up - my wardrobe and my house - explore a colour I maybe once shunned and has been reimagined by a new trend. If I'd bought my pine chest 10 years ago I'd have painted it - now I don't want to not because I'm precious about painting wood but because I like the warmth and textural variation it brings to my kitchen. Same with my pine handrail on the stairs - it's pitched pine - was stained to look like teak but I've stripped it back and its raw nature looks lovely beside the smooth freshly painted spindles, that I've spent an obscene amount of time prepping. Depends how you style it and of course your taste. But there is nothing wrong with changing your mind on trends - your house do it your way.

I love these greens or a bluey green. You'd need to use knot away, two undercoats, and two top coats. We used a general decorator, and he'd done a largish kitchen in about a week. But that was also oiling all of the inside cupboards. As a PP said you're lucky with the shape of the cabinets as they look quite timeless. I'd put a matte brass handle with these and I think it'd look amazing. The tiles on the back wall I don't think would cost too much to replace. It's amazing how quickly our builders got them off the walls, and they were replaced within a day. Think it was a few hundred. That'll make a HUGE difference to the kitchen