OS Kitchen Makeover

recovering_spendaholic

I agree with wishingonastar about chucking out stuff you don't need. I was the same with mugs and have chucked out loads, plus crockery and cutlery and gadgets. I am a real gadget freak and I cleared out lots and gave them to my sister - I only have stuff on the countertop that I use every day - toaster, kettle and microwave.

Bogof_Babe

And I agree with Dannahaz about re-hanging the door to open outwards rather than into the kitchen. We did this at one house and it made a huge difference to the useable space. We made room for a tumble dryer with work top over, and a tiny breakfast bar with two stools as well.

Don't forget you can even hang it from the opposite side if you re-position the hinges, so you have four options in all.

HappyIdiotTalk

dannahaz wrote:

Have you thought about replaing your kitchen door with a bi-fold door? I don't mean a dirt cheap and flimsy bifold door, I mean one of the better quality ones. This might help you regain the worktop space lost by the door.

Or have the door open the other way, out of the kitchen?

Or take it off completely?

Hazel

The door already opens out of the kitchen anyway. But it doesn't really help, the door is on the left corner of the kitchen so wastes space. If it were in the middle I could have worktops all down the side, instead of two third the way down to make room for someone entering the kitchen. I had a builder come in to look at extending the lounge into the hall and having a door from the lounge directly into the kitchen. But according to the builder that came to look at it, it would have been a major operation as it would have effected the structure of the house, required an RSJ installing and a load of other technical stuff sorting. Would have been expensive too so we decided against it.

GardenMillie

Sounds fab - a kitchen makeover for £250.

What's the tip on putting baskets inside cupboards - I never watched that show on TV and am intrigued!

recovering_spendaholic

On Anthea's Perfect Housewife show she tells people to buy those cheap baskets that you can get in Tescos or Woolies - they are wicker and have a cotton, sometimes gingham, lining, and use them to organise your kitchen cupboards. I put all my cleaning stuff in one, shoe cleaning stuff in another, sauce packets and sachets of jelly and stuff in another one and cake making stuff like flavourings, colourings, vermicelli, glace cherries, baking powder and the like in another. It means that you don't have to rummage so much in the cupboards and they stay cleaner. I have even bought baskets to put on my shelf unit in the living room - I got them in Focus and paid a bit more for them as they are unlined and sturdier and more designery and they look really trendy. I have hair bobbles and brushes in one and in the others I have kids pencils and crayons, sewing kit, first aid kit, my make up, DD's make up and stuff, gameboys etc, batteries and chargers, writing stuff (paper, envelopes etc), photos and cameras, walkmans and ipod accessories and miscellaneous clutter in the others. It means I can tidy up really quickly!!

oliveoyl

the kitchen in my house was v. yuck when i bought it, but as i didn't have enough money to have a new one i jazzed up what was there. i used 'fablon' (sheets of sticky backed plastic) on the doors - they have a large range of colours & designs and they are obviously washable. i gave the sides & trims a couple of coats of paint and they looked fab - still do, 7 years on.

skintchick

I took my kitchen door off completely, because it opened into the living room, as does the door to the hall, and together they cut a triangle out of my living room when they were both open, but to have them shut felt all wrong. I kept it in the garage for when I ever move, but it's great. Not as posh as an arch but nearly

sandieb

I removed door between kitchen and utility room. I also took the one off of the dining room. Heaps better! I'd remove all the doors if I could (bar the bathroom and cloakroom!!:D )

My kitchen makeover some years ago cost about £130 - involved replacing the sink, buying new worktop, removing existing tiles and replacing with cheap white ones, blocking up a doorway (properly), buying 4 matching cupboards for £10 from someone up the road who had dismanted their original kitchen and put the cupboards on the lawn ready to be disposed of.

I just love my kitchen even more because it didn't cost thousands. After all you can pay the earth for a new kitchen, but it doesn't change the quality of the cooking that comes out of it;)

Dobie

HappyIdiotTalk wrote:

The door already opens out of the kitchen anyway. But it doesn't really help, the door is on the left corner of the kitchen so wastes space. If it were in the middle I could have worktops all down the side, instead of two third the way down to make room for someone entering the kitchen. I had a builder come in to look at extending the lounge into the hall and having a door from the lounge directly into the kitchen. But according to the builder that came to look at it, it would have been a major operation as it would have effected the structure of the house, required an RSJ installing and a load of other technical stuff sorting. Would have been expensive too so we decided against it.

Hi
An idea for the future maybe? Our back door was in the L/H corner of the kitchen so that virtually that whole wall was wasted space. We got a builder to move it to the middle of the back wall & it's made a HUGE difference. As you said, we can now have units down both sides. I'm not sure how much it cost but he did some other jobs for us at the same time - made a couple of 'windows' out of those glass blocks, did a bit of plastering & moved the pantry door from one wall to another to make the best use of the space. He only charged us £480 for the lot although we bought the glass bricks ourselves.
The next thing we're doing to make more space is to have the washing machine & tumble dryer moved into a cupboard in the bathroom.

csarina

I took all the doors off my base cupboards , used those expanding curtain rods and made check curtains with rings to hang them from, just have to slide em back when I want anything. Someone was throwing out some glass doors that fitted my top cupboarrds fine........ work surfaces were ok, so was the sink, new check curtains to match the cupbaords, and a coat of one coat magnolia paint, toned down with a little white, nice bright new kitchen for less than £100

I use one of those collapsable crates under the kitchen sink for the cleaning stuff, kilner jars for storing stuff like lentils etc. I have some large containers I bought from Laekland years ago that fit on the shelves with flour, sugar, pata etc in