Kitchen revamp for under £500?

helping_hubby

As you may know, we're in the middle of renovating our new home. But we won't be able to afford a kitchen for a few years. The downstairs living space is an L shape open plan living room/dining area/kitchen. We're re-doing the living/dining area properly, so it'd be nice to have a bit more of a presentable kitchen that doesn't let the rest down so much.

I've got some ideas of what to do but I'd like to hear yours first so I don't influence you.

In the pictures above, the oven is brand new, so that won't need replacing. The fridge is from freecycle (what a bargain), but it's perfectly serviceable despite a few dents, so we won't be replacing that. My plans so far mean keeping the kitchen cupboards, but re-arranging them a little.

We won't be replacing the floor tiles either (far too expensive and we'll do that when we come to do the kitchen as a whole).

Would love to hear some inspiration from you guys, including colour ideas.

OddjobKIA

as you have a nice warm coulor on the floor I would go for a light colour ( avery light apple green maybe) on the walls..maybe some colured tiles above oven .Build in the gas boiler same as kitchen cupboards allowing access through door and remember ventelation top and bottom. Rpalce full glass door with Half glass. (alows in light but makes it lighter at night when its dark outside as photo above). oh and ensure all kick boards are on..

Take untensils of wall and put into utensil pots then put cupboard up there and put in the bread maker tassimo steamer etc etc.. untill needed..

if money allows a dark wood worksurface would go well.. The layout isn that bad i would leave alone and maybe buy a butchers trolley or small but sturdy table to go into middle of room to allow extra worksurface or even a cosysit doen and drink tea area..

dander

I would recommend taking a look at some kitchen ranges and seeing if you can find some suitable cornice and pelmet to put around your wall units - they are bits that are often missed off by people trying to do a kitchen on a budget, but they really lift the look of a kitchen, making it look much better quality.

I understand you not wanting to replace the tiles, but I think they are the most dated looking part of the room at the moment. Have you considered putting a vinyl flooring over the top? They can be quite cheap and are very easy to lay with just some special double sided sticky tape.

Personally I think I'd take the cupboards above the cooker off and replace with a stainless steel chimney hood to match the cooker.

Colourwise, I think a lot will depend on whether you keep the floor as is. It's very orange and really doesn't work with the white - is it tiles or walls where tiles have been taken off? So if you are replacing tiles I would go for something much creamier/champagny kind of tones - there are a lot of mosaic type tiles around in natural stone colours, something like that would probably work well.

Another option might be playing up the slightly 70s look of those floor tiles and going with some of those big floral type patterns that are around at the moment. I've seen some big tiles and tile edgings around with big bold floral patterns on - which might work - depends what's going in your living room section of course!

CHARLIE

Why don't you try MFI there shutting stores and clearing the show kitchens you may find a bargain for the kitchen

OddjobKIA

sorry for the bad edditing but something like this

helping_hubby

Wow, thanks for the ideas. I'm liking some of those and also some are sort of along the lines I was thinking.

The floor tiles actually follow through to the hallway through the glass door. I would love to replace them, but just have bigger priorities (like a bathroom).

What I was thinking was to move the two small cupboards above the cooker to the right. And the two larger cupboards (to the right of the small cupboards) to where the utensils are hanging.

Take untensils of wall and put into utensil pots then put cupboard up there and put in the bread maker tassimo steamer etc etc.. untill needed..

I have a nice big cupboard in the hallway which after it's been emptied of all the DIY stuff (it's a store room for tools at the mo) it can house my mixer, steamer etc. The breadmaker stays out as it gets used a lot. So that solves that problem. Will free up a bit of work space. I think I will move the fish tank upstairs too when one of the bedrooms is done.

if money allows a dark wood worksurface would go well.. The layout isn that bad i would leave alone and maybe buy a butchers trolley or small but sturdy table to go into middle of room to allow extra worksurface or even a cosysit doen and drink tea area..

I was thinking of buying new work tops (just cheaper end laminate in black) as the green worktop is horrible and worst of all its got burn holes and knife scratches all over, and maybe black kick backs as even the existing ones are broken and horrible.

Your idea of having something in the middle is interesting. My mum has suggested an island when we come to refit it. But I'm not sure as the kitchen is the only access to the living room/dining. But maybe a temporary solution would be good idea for trying it out? I do find I'm very lacking in work top room.

as you have a nice warm coulor on the floor I would go for a light colour ( avery light apple green maybe) on the walls

I was thinking of tiling (will already have tiling equipment from doing the bathroom) half way up the whole back (where cooker is) wall. And up to the window sill where the sink is. I worked out that I'd only need a couple of metters square. Then paint the rest the same (creamy colour I'm afraid) as the living room.


The unit where the utensils are hanging is free standing! It's awful. So I want to push that right against the wall.

I wonder if it would look odd to put an extractor fan above the cooker and have the little cupboards to the right? Oh and the cupboard to the left of the little cupboards, that one is actually thinner in depth! So I was thinking of putting it next to the door where the calendar currently is?

I would recommend taking a look at some kitchen ranges and seeing if you can find some suitable cornice and pelmet to put around your wall units - they are bits that are often missed off by people trying to do a kitchen on a budget, but they really lift the look of a kitchen, making it look much better quality.

This is a good idea. It would also hide the disgustingness that is on the bottom of the cupboards. Thanks for that.

Obbjob - I'm loving your paintshop skills Even that looks loads better than my kitchen now!

maman

To revamp my old kitchen I painted the units. I covered (grubby) white with yellows but if I were you I'd go for the palest of greens which would then tone in well with the floor. I also painted my old wall-mounted boiler to match. You could then have white walls and paintwork so that the free-standing appliances didn't look too obvious. Another option is to go all country style and make little curtains to cover fronts of some appliances but I think that would drive me mad every time I went in to fridge. OK for washing machine/drier or something like that.