Ways to make an old kitchen last before a full renovation

[Otter1986]

We are buying a house. Due to unforeseen circumstances (sick family member so a gift that was offered needs to be diverted to care) our budget has reduced.

We are already down the line with a house which we can afford. But what we won't be able to do is the level of renovation we wanted.

It is an ex-rental so it is pretty tatty and it absolutely needs the bathroom doing - I can't imagine even trying to live with what is there. And the kitchen is pretty end of life but we think we can try and to extend its life for a bit and get some money saved to sort it out.

This is lots of information to ask the question: does anyone have any tips for cheaply extending a kitchen life? We intend to change the very manky looking tap and add a water filter, for example. What's worth changing and not - cheaply - until we sort it all out properly. What can you think of that you changed and it made all the difference, or didn't and wished you had for the couple of. hundred it would have cost you. Thanks

I’d clean it and clean it again, then once more and just live with it.

the tap, yes, I get that. If the oven or dishwasher are knackered then perhaps budget but new versions of those will make a big difference.

Paint the kitchen cupboard doors. Tile stickers on awful tile patterns. New vinyl

I did this a few years ago in my kitchen.

It cost about £600 all in. Some of this might apply to you, some might not.

Fix the blown window. £100
New blinds £75
Painted the room as well as the cupboards £100
New handles can't remember the price
New tiles- this was the most work as we took the old ones off but they were ugly £150
Worktop covered with new cover. A bit like sticky back plastic £40
New tap from Facebay, bargain of £30
Think that was everything. We did it ourselves so there were no labour costs. It took a couple of weekends to sort but so worth it. The floor was fine but that can make a huge difference.

I hated the kitchen before now I it's gone right to the bottom of the to do list. We can definitely live with it for a few years.

Just need to replace the sticky back plastic every year or so though.

When you’re only buying time before a proper reno, spend on what stops further damage or makes daily life bearable — not on anything you’ll rip out and bin in 18 months.

Worth doing cheaply:

• Fix leaks first. Under-sink traps, stopcocks, and the seal around the sink / worktop junction. Slow drips wreck carcasses and then you’re replacing cupboards you meant to keep.
• New tap — yes, big quality-of-life win and transferable or cheap to replace later.
• Fresh silicone to sink, worktop edges, and splash areas.
• If doors are solid timber or paintable MDF, a clean and a coat of paint plus new handles goes a long way. If they’re peeling foil-wrap, painting often looks worse — leave them and live with it.
• Sort ventilation if it’s steamy or mouldy (even a decent temporary extractor) so you’re not growing a bigger problem.
• Only replace an oven/hob/dishwasher if it’s actually failed — don’t buy expensive appliances for a kitchen you’re replacing.

Usually not worth it yet:

• New worktops or a full tile job you’ll discard
• Soft-close upgrades everywhere
• Fancy filters beyond a simple tap/inline one if water quality is fine

Deep clean, fix the wet stuff, swap the manky tap, and keep the rest of the cash for the bathroom you said you can’t live with. That order will save you money.

I took down my wall cupboards and replaced with a few wooden shelves which included a pole attached underneath to hang things from. I painted the walls white, got a freestanding cupboard and an open shelf unit and then replaced the doors on the remaining cupboards. Made it look fresh and a bit stylish.

I did the opposite of @DashItAll and added some cupboards because there weren't enough in my old kitchen. I got them 'free to collector' on our local buy/sell site, gave them a coat of paint and put them up.

Cleaned everything to within an inch of its life.

Bought a cheap blind from Dunelm and some new cheapish accessories in a colour to match the painted cupboards and then lived with it until the full reno.

We inherited a 1965 kitchen when we purchased this (200 year old) house in 2024.

Initially we planned to take a wall down between the galley kitchen and adjacent utility and lobby, but needed to live with 5he existing kitchen for 6+ months.

Our units were mainly timber with lots of shallow drawers and there was one long wall cupboard with sliding doors. The walls were entirely covered with grey 'chick' tiles plus a wall of plain pale grey tiles. The tap was so close to the wall at the back you could barely turn it on (god knows how the ninety-odd year old female PO had coped!). The hob on the freestanding cooker worked but the oven didn't. There was no fridge or freezer and we'd included our with the sale of our previous house.

As the white units were serviceable and paintable, I prepped and painted them in a dark pink/burgundy (Edward Bulmer Pompadour) and replaced the plastic handles with solid brass ones. The colour we chose was a trial run for our planned new kitchen and the handles would be reused when we got to that stage.

Beneath the sink there was an open void (due to dealing with a long standing leak we later discovered from the rotten joists) and adjacent to this was the ancient boiler. I made a fabric skirt in a pretty pattern to hide all this. We removed the sliding doors to the wall cupboard and painted it inside and out, then used it display our collection of copper pans.

Unfortunately the tap pipes had seized so we had to live with the inconvenience of the tap for a few months. We got an airfryer for cooking and purchased the French style fridge freezer we wanted for the new kitchen (it stood in the lobby temporarily).

Our thought process was to buy stuff we'd reuse when we redid the kitchen so only bought things we loved.

Ultimately we relocated the kitchen to a completely different space but we've reused the handles, the fabric skirt under our new sink, obviously the fridge freezer and even retained one of the 60s drawer units. Our new kitchen is painted the colour we trialed in the old one!

Just see what you don't like about it - handles are easy to change, you can get paint if you want to change the colour, you can change the worktops and re-do sealant cheaply. I have one casing under the sink that got damp and the hinge kept breaking the wood, so I have removed the door and put in a curtain there instead now. Kitchens are quite easy to update on a budget as taps and door handles are relatively cheap.

My kitchen is 30 years old and to keep it going we painted the walls and the cupboards, got new light fittings, covered up the old tiling with a splashback, removed the large old cooker hood and got a new steel one with a matching splashback, and replaced the blind. We replaced the counter top a few years ago. The style of the cupboards is still dated but painting them white has made a huge difference. We replaced the handles and some of the hinges too.

Clean it thoroughly. Without seeing it it's hard to know where you should focus but changing door handles or a new worktop can make a difference.

Thanks all. We went for a second visit and opened a door which just fell off the hinges - so we might not be able to save it after all. Its apparently 30 years old and its a rental house so no one has taken care it of. So we might have to replace it sooner rather than later unless we can repair (its quite ropey though!) One to have a ponder about

If it's just the doors/hinges they can be cheaply swapped out piece by piece if the cupboard/carcass is ok.

I bought new hinges on Amazon and swapped which way the doors opened where the inner cupboard was too knackered to hold screws. Honestly I was surprised by how "modular" fitted kitchens are - have a good look at eg b&q for the cheapest possible slab doors. The hinges are all standard mounting so you may not even need a drill just a screwdriver.

And you can paint many things (like tiles) if it's only a patch up job. Doesn't have to be perfect so long as it's better was my motto.

If kitchen carcasses are completely knackered then maybe go see a kitchen company that does an interest free deal? My friend had her kitchen done and they had 5 years to pay it off interest free.