micro budget kitchen refurb!

playford

Right, lets talk kitchen revamps.
This is a mission of mercy. My girlfriend moved into an absolute shack of a house last year. I mean really, really bad. I’ve been restoring the rest of the house on an absolute shoestring as she’s having it tight enough with her first mortgage to pay.

Now the kitchen/bathroom extension is truly awful example of 70’s beauty board and shoddy workmanship. In short god awful. Now I cant strip beauty board back as I think there is nothing between insulation and exterior cladding. Eventually all of it will be demolished and a new double storey extension put on, but this will be a year or two.

What can be done with “beauty board”. You know the fake seventies wood board stuff?

I’ve painted it with emulsion so far just to get the awful stuff away… I undercoated the doors of the kitchen white just to cover the awful beige. This was just to get it done enough so she could move in. However I want to do a referb of this that while not looking magic will certainly pep it up in a big way.

What about using vinyl wallpaper to cover beauty board in a kitchen? Then use metal adhesive for splashbacks? Im thinking new laminate worktops and have my dad (he’s a plumber) fit a new sink.

Anyone repainted and put on new handles for kitchen doors? There’s only about six doors should I just try and match up some ikea doors? Lino floors
Any advice of micro budget refurbs would be great

bobinbognor

Hi, Beauty Board!!! Oh my god what ever made us use it. However as you plan to rip it out in a couple of years and just want a neat clean surface to live with until then why not buy some sheets of MDF and simply stick it onto the Beauty Board. Get a good quality mastic from a builders merchant, there are several mastics ideal for this purpose. Once up the sheets wil be flat and smooth. You can tile, paint, wallpaper, whatever takes your fancy. Good luck.

playford

like the plywood thick stuff?

what if i used thick-ish vinyl wallpaper and lined it first?

majjie

Don't know about the wallpaper - but don't see why it wouldn't work.

You can paint the unit doors - I take it the undercoat covered ok? And IKEA is good for smart handles ... but their doors aren't standard uk sizes - so usually no good for replacements.

If you want new doors - try B&Q - but unless you get them in a Sale, doors are quite pricey. (Have a look at the door prices here: http://www.diy-kitchens.com/acatalog/Index_Home.html)

New worktop and handles will make a huge difference - as will a new sink, if the old one is naff.

emujuice

There's still a few half price sinks in B and Q at the mo - although not always marked up- all the old stock basically - and £1 doors if you rummage around from B and Q. Try ebay for new handles, shouldn't need to pay a pound or more. Will show you our under £200 kitchen revamp shortly (nearly there!)

Mrs_Boo_Boo

Renew worktops and doors makes all the difference. We recently revamped a rented property kitchen. Planned to change the sink but didn't need to because it looked ok after the worktops. You can use ordinary contiboard instead of kickboards,fill ins etc to reduce the cost.
Good luck