How to modernise an oak kitchen on a budget
Discussion
Was at my mates new house and he's got about £20k refurb budget with about £60k worth of ideas, so he can't do everything to begin with. He wants a new kitchen, which he knows will blow most of his budget. I had a look but I thought I would ask here and see if you guys have any good ideas.
1st of all, the kitchen in question. No real contrast going on at all and looks dated. We talked about spraying the cabinets (only £2k). I said you could actually keep the cabinets exactly as they are, and literally work on everything else.
For complete low budget option, I suggested:
Keep cabinets as they are
White worktops (natural oak and white worktops seem to be on trend?)
Matt black sink, tap and all kitchen handles Matt black. Matt black American fridge to fill the fridge void
Maybe kettle toaster and microwave in Matt black too
That gives definitive colour scheme - oak primary, then black and white to modernise
I also thought about removing the grout from the tiled floor (floor is in great condition) and replacing with a fresh white grout to tie in with the white worktops.
Heres a better pic of the floor.
To finish, skirting and architrave in white as well. Far too much oak and orangey vibe going on. The walls around the cabinets are tiled. Also thought of removing that grout and redoing it, or maybe tile paint. Everything is good condition so I was saying to keep the spend low. His back garden. is a great space but ugly as sin, so I was saying to spend some outside as the kitchen might get a new life with some smaller adjustments.
Thoughts PH? Go with my suggestion or just straight into a respray? He would be mad to replace the cabinets, which are in great condition. Pull out larder shelves on runners either side of the fridge for example. Those things are expensive.
1st of all, the kitchen in question. No real contrast going on at all and looks dated. We talked about spraying the cabinets (only £2k). I said you could actually keep the cabinets exactly as they are, and literally work on everything else.
For complete low budget option, I suggested:
Keep cabinets as they are
White worktops (natural oak and white worktops seem to be on trend?)
Matt black sink, tap and all kitchen handles Matt black. Matt black American fridge to fill the fridge void
Maybe kettle toaster and microwave in Matt black too
That gives definitive colour scheme - oak primary, then black and white to modernise
I also thought about removing the grout from the tiled floor (floor is in great condition) and replacing with a fresh white grout to tie in with the white worktops.
Heres a better pic of the floor.
To finish, skirting and architrave in white as well. Far too much oak and orangey vibe going on. The walls around the cabinets are tiled. Also thought of removing that grout and redoing it, or maybe tile paint. Everything is good condition so I was saying to keep the spend low. His back garden. is a great space but ugly as sin, so I was saying to spend some outside as the kitchen might get a new life with some smaller adjustments.
Thoughts PH? Go with my suggestion or just straight into a respray? He would be mad to replace the cabinets, which are in great condition. Pull out larder shelves on runners either side of the fridge for example. Those things are expensive.
I'd do either spray or just sand down and hand paint maybe a kind of off white or very light grey. Could maybe do some DIY built in wine storage around the fridge, looks a bit lost in the current opening. If do all that for fairly cheap could then get a white worktop and new sink and tap.
Flooring would maybe be a big expense so would possibly have to leave as is but get the skirts white. I always prefer consistent flooring throughout GF of the house so would maybe hold off until he could do it all at once, though he may prefer some carpet some not so depends.
Flooring would maybe be a big expense so would possibly have to leave as is but get the skirts white. I always prefer consistent flooring throughout GF of the house so would maybe hold off until he could do it all at once, though he may prefer some carpet some not so depends.
princeperch said:
He could hand paint the kitchen rather than spraying it for about 200 quid. A friend did this and whilst you could tell it was an old kitchen still it very much freshened it up.
We did this as a stop gap.Ordered some sample F&B and Lick paints, chose a dark blueey/greyey sort of shade, had B&Q paint match it, painted the original oak and ended up with so many compliments on our "new" kitchen it became increasingly harder to actually spend the £XXXXX but that is another story.
We're in the same predicament with the kitchen at our new house. It's a pretty large room and there are maybe 30+ cupboards.
We're buying new cupboard doors etc (the kitchen is good quality is just a bit naff) and the cost is coming in around £1500... Which I think is okay given what it would cost to replace it entirely.
For that room, white skirting etc would make a big difference
We're buying new cupboard doors etc (the kitchen is good quality is just a bit naff) and the cost is coming in around £1500... Which I think is okay given what it would cost to replace it entirely.
For that room, white skirting etc would make a big difference
The oak will still look OK, in its way, in 10 years time if you just look after it.
If you paint it, it will look grubby and unfashionable in a few years.
We had a similar problem, we just went for new lighter work tops in the end, because everything else was a lot of spend for very little return.
If we'd had a blank sheet of paper and a blank cheque, the whole layout would have been different.
Lighting and pictures on the walls can make a big difference for not much cash.
Free standing furniture like stools or tables etc can be a feature too.
Best thing we did for our kitchen was a serious look at storage elsewhere, so the kitchen could be kept less cluttered.
If you paint it, it will look grubby and unfashionable in a few years.
We had a similar problem, we just went for new lighter work tops in the end, because everything else was a lot of spend for very little return.
If we'd had a blank sheet of paper and a blank cheque, the whole layout would have been different.
Lighting and pictures on the walls can make a big difference for not much cash.
Free standing furniture like stools or tables etc can be a feature too.
Best thing we did for our kitchen was a serious look at storage elsewhere, so the kitchen could be kept less cluttered.
Wilmslowboy said:
We had ours painted and replaced the handles/ knobs <£2k
Hot tap £750
LEDs down lighters, wall and ceiling painted <£1k
This is similar to the colour and the approach we took at the time. Hot tap £750
LEDs down lighters, wall and ceiling painted <£1k
The fact I then spent 5 x the wren quote for a new one on a car didn’t go down very well at home when it’d suggested the painted kitchen was good enough. I’d have otherwise probably got away with it a lot longer.
Painting/spraying the doors is a no brainer but he needs to lose the wall units or it will always look dated. That bridge unit around the fridge is horrendous. I would get rid of all the wall units, new tiles and couple of nice open shelves
change the flooring, worktops and cabinet handles and bingo job done
change the flooring, worktops and cabinet handles and bingo job done
I painted a 90's kitchen (yellow) to cream
Little Green oil based egshell, micofibre roller
Take a look at https://plankhardware.com/ for handles etc
In progress:
Little Green oil based egshell, micofibre roller
Take a look at https://plankhardware.com/ for handles etc
In progress:
Edited by dmsims on Wednesday 19th March 08:44
Forgive me I'm a total Neptune fan... I think you could 'Neptune-ify' this.
Firtsly go to a Neptune showroom and look at the cabinet colours, knobs & wall colours; easily replicated.
I would ditch the wall cabinets, around the cooker. Remove tiles below and go for a clean one piece splashback.
New light work surface.
Looks like there is a room for small island/ penisular. buy Neptune item on ebay.
Like the heated towel rail.. that's actually a good thing to keep
Firtsly go to a Neptune showroom and look at the cabinet colours, knobs & wall colours; easily replicated.
I would ditch the wall cabinets, around the cooker. Remove tiles below and go for a clean one piece splashback.
New light work surface.
Looks like there is a room for small island/ penisular. buy Neptune item on ebay.
Like the heated towel rail.. that's actually a good thing to keep
Interesting thread as I’ve just moved in to a house with a dated noughties maple kitchen with patchwork multi colour tiles. The kitchen itself is well fitted and laid out well but things I’m going to do to update it:
- get new doors from howdens in off white
- hand paint carcasses, trims, kick boards in matching colour
- new handles
- replace tiles, again probably white/off white in metro style
- get new worktop, like idea of quartz or walnut
- maybe LVT flooring
- new sink
Should transform it for a fraction of the cost of a whole new one
- get new doors from howdens in off white
- hand paint carcasses, trims, kick boards in matching colour
- new handles
- replace tiles, again probably white/off white in metro style
- get new worktop, like idea of quartz or walnut
- maybe LVT flooring
- new sink
Should transform it for a fraction of the cost of a whole new one
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