Is this kitchen outdated?

[MrsTrefusis]

I have moved into a house with cream gloss magnet kitchen cupboards and a black granite (worktop and island). The black granite has a lot of sparkly chips in. I think it's called Galaxy. This is not the kitchen I would have chosen but cannot afford to change it (even replacing all doors and drawers is too expensive). The layout is fine. We changed all the spotlights for warm white - previous owner had cool which was BLEAK. Floor is walnut engineered which was horribly faded from sun in parts and we had this resanded as it looked terrible. What to do? The kitchen was installed about 15-20 years ago and is in good condition apart from chips to the granite in the sink area. I've thought about a DIY paint job on the gloss cabinets. Nervous about durability. Any ideas please?

I’d price up having the units resprayed. Maybe sage green? I’m sure there will be a range of colours.
You can get the granite repaired. Sparkly chips not outdated terrazzo look is in.
Once you get accessories to match or coordinate and maybe a new blind it will be transformed.

Is it handless or J-pull or does it have handles? A simple handle change can make all the difference to the look and feel of a kitchen.

You can get the cabinets resprayed by a specialist company which will be much cheaper than even trying to replace the doors. You can respray them matte if you don't want gloss and chose some new handles if you want to change the overall look and colour to something that you prefer.

If you can't afford a respray you can attempt to paint them yourselves but make sure you fully research the best way to do this and the best paint involved. Not sure of durability but again, a google search should provide the answers to that.

Will you be able to change the kitchen in time if you save up? Or get one on finance in the future maybe?

We have white gloss ikea cabinets from 2008 with the black galaxy top too! Also can’t afford to replace the kitchen but the gloss wrap on the cupboards is starting to crack and peel so I’m tempted to try something I saw on social media and strip the gloss wrap using a heat gun, then paint the mdf doors underneath on the basis that it can’t look much worse…DH is skeptical to say the least!

Is it within budget to change the countertops? I did this recently to upgrade a kitchen and it made a huge difference. It went from dark and dismal to lighter and smart.

You can definitely get the doors resprayed, I would try to find someone who will take the doors away to spray them, rather the someone respraying them in situ, it will cost a bit more, but I think far better job. If your keeping the work top look at something like Farrow and Ball Drop Cloth, I would also look at changing the back splash I've use shower panel in the past to great effect.

We had similar when we moved in. Still have the cupboards (even though I hate them) but we changed the worktop to a wood grain natural looking one and swapped the handles to nickel, made the whole kitchen look a lot warmer.

We had ours resprayed, cheapest option.

They are long "T-bar" handles in nickel. Problem is the holes have been drilled so I'd have to replace with exact same size.

Did they respray yours in situ? Are you happy with the finish and durability?

Massive amount of worktops so I think not😬

can you just swap out the drawer and cupboard fronts?

the countertop is a harder one but you can keep an eye out on ebay etc, people do se their old ones. We sold ours.

Ours are Magnet. The vinyl film is in good condition. Yes I've been watching videos on painting these. I'm dubious about being able to do it myself professionally! I believe if the vinyl is damaged you have to remove it before painting.

My friend had hers done and i would say 3 years in they are very chipped. Especially spraying gloss i wonder if it would work.

She had to take everything apart and take it to the spray place

Do not paint yourself! My husband tried doing with an ikea pax hack and it looked awful. I had to pay professionals to come and start again

A friend of mine had a similar kitchen. She removed the doors, took of bar handles and filled in holes, painted them in Frenchic paint which has some gorgeous colours, changed the handles. Also used a high quality wood effect wrap vinyl on the counters. It was a temporary job until she can afford a new kitchen but it looks great. Frenchic have a helpful facebook page that gives tips and inspiration.

Ive got a couple of friends who have painted their cupboard doors and they look really good, and have shown no signs of wear so far after two or three years. It took them a while to do them, but it was a straightforward job. Why would you pay someone a fortune to do something that you can easily do yourself?

Could you just replace the doors? Find a similar system. It would not be as expensive as replacing the whole kitchen.

Maybe my husband just did a half arsed job on ours then 🤣

I guess the OP could get some paint and just try one.

I think the idea of some kind of wrap on the surfaces could work well. I bet you could get some kind of laminate or vinyl in a marble effect (or whatever effect takes OPs fancy) cut to size so you could stick it on top. I absolutely bet that service exists somewhere, even on etsy or something

It sounds quite good to me! People are still buying cream kitchens - well they are still for sale! - so it doesn't scream old fashioned to me. You must have some wall areas you could put colour on if you think that would change the look.

I would just wait until you can afford to get what you want. Nothing worse than a bodge job, and then you’re forced to pick something that goes with the stuff you can’t change so you’re not really getting what you want.

Painting gloss cupboard doors might not be as enduring as painting wood , be careful you are not influenced into spoiling a perfectly adequate kitchen . People don’t often post if they regret something and lighting and cameras don’t always show things as they are.

If its in good condition, I would be inclined to live with it until I could afford what I wanted, as PP said. At least its only cream and black, it could be a lot worse. (Looking at you, evil previous owner, with your bright red cabinets)

I did this to my friends kitchen, obvs with her permission. It t was really easy, the plastic laminate came off without needing any heat gun and left a smooth surface to be painted. It absolutely transformed the kitchen.

Id be tempted to redo walls (paint or paper) and potentially splashback. Maybe add "stuff" to pretty it up (herbs in pots etc), or replace some wall cabinets with shelving & use them to store things you was frequently.

It seems a bit crazy to paint a decent kitchen if the paint is likely to last 3 or 4 years only, particularly if you have to pay someone to do it, when itll not be your ideal kitchen afterwards

If the gloss is in good condition you could try wrapping one or two with Fablon. it does depend on the style of door, if they're curved it might be tricky but slab style would be a straightforward job. it will also come off easily without damage if you hate it.