New Kitchen or replacement doors/work surfaces

SkydiveLaura

Moving into a new house and want to update the kitchen.

We are considering leaving the cupboard carcases and getting new cupboard doors, worksufaces and sink. But is it worth it, vs. gutting the kitchen? What are peoples experiences? (appliances are all seperate and would be kept, apart from integrated cooker which we would also keep)

Phirefly

Are you talking about the kitchen in the house you're moving into or the one you're selling? If its the one you're moving into, how long are you planning to be there?

I'm in the middle of a very similar situation.

madget_2

Phirefly has a good point. It may not be worth doing such a big job if it's the kitchen you'll be leaving behind - a little cosmetic work, such as changing the doors etc might help, though.

Otherwise, if it's the kitchen of your new house, it would depend on what kind of condition the carcasses were in and whether they'd be likely to last for at least another 10 years. I'd also take into consideration whether the layout suited my needs.

If the carcasses were not so good and I wasn't happy with the layout, I'd definitely prefer scrapping them and starting anew with a brand new kitchen.

SkydiveLaura

Sorry I wan't very clear. I'm talking about the house I'm moving to (moving out of rented accomodation).

The layout seems to be ok. Looking to be there for 5-7 years. Not sure about the quality of the carcases, whats the typical life? The kitchen is at least 10 years old as is was fitted before the current owners bought the property

phill99

Once you are in your new property, you may find problems with the carcasses. If they are old, you may find that the shelves are warped for instance. Ans tghe cupboard under a sink is notorious for being 'blown' as water seems to manage to get under there somehow!

Upgrading tops and doors is certainly worth thinking about and is cost effective. However, it depends entirley on the servicability of the carcasses. You may find that you end up throwing good money after bad if they are not up to the job!

Phirefly

Hi Laura, thanks for clarifying.

We recently faced a similar dilemma. Our kitchen is about 12 years old, and looking really tired. We have been in this house 5 years and have been getting round to doing the kitchen, we've modernised the rest of the house.

We got our builder in to quote for fitting the kitchen and got to chatting about the fact that we're hoping to do a cheap Ikea fix-up as we're not planning on being here longer than another 2 years. He said we were mad to consider spending the 4.5k on it we had costed and saved, as although the units are badly arranged the work top & tiles are a bit naff and all the appliances are knackered, it wouldn't take much to tart it up a bit to sell/let. At first I was reluctant as the rest of the house has a very high-end finish, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

So we've set about doing just that. We'd had to replace the sink and tap last year and had just chucked in a cheap one with a view to replacing, but they look ok. We've bought a fitted s/steel oven, hob and extractor that was the best compromise between price/style/reliability. I've splashed out on a good quality washing machine as its likely we'll take that with us. Even a little thing like replacing the horrific ceiling light with a simple ikea track spotlight (we had planned to have integral downlighters fitted) has made the world of difference. The cabinets are pretty cr*p, the carcases are poor quality, small and make poor use of the space, but they are inoffensive now their hideous mid-90s decorative mouldings removed. We took down one of them and replaced with s/steel bar shelves that make better use of the space and beautiful storage pieces which look the absolute business. We may replace the doors, I'm a designer so heavily critical but everyone who sees them says they're fine - I'm passing them off as shabby chic... The worktop is tired but again inoffensive grey laminate that I've just learned to live with, it really doesn't look that bad. i thought about having a new worktop but decided it was too far in the direction of refit and not in line with our new brief. The most offensive thing was the tiling, we've decided to cover it with a s/steel splashback and the tiles around the windowsill I'm just going to paint.

Including the washing machine, we've spent about £700, and it really does look like a new kitchen. Add in a new blind and some tasteful decorations and table lamps, and I could hug our builder as he's just saved us the best park of 4k. it was a bitter pill to swallow as I've just spent the last 6 months enjoying planning and designing a new kitchen, but like you, we're not going to be here forever and that 4K represents 5% of our target 20% deposit on our next, forever, home.

You're planning to be there a bit longer so it may be worth investing a bit more, but if you have half an idea about style on a budget, then you'd be amazed what a difference a couple of clever changes can make. I said to Mr. P just this morning - in the case of our kitchen, you can polish a turd after all.