Help with revamping old kitchen units!

wilykit

Hi,

I have recently moved into the house that my nana left to my dad when she passed away. The house is liveable but a little dated. In the kitchen we have replaced the floor and put some shiny new lino down, but the units are very old and I want to make it look more modern but I cannot afford a new kitchen! I was going to paint the kitchen units - they are currently a very dark brown, but will I have to sand them all down first? They are a weird material - like they have a coating on the top that is really flat and shiny.

I would appreciate any help/tips/advice as the lino has made a big difference but I really want to change the units and paint them white so the kitchen is brightened up a bit!

Thanks

totalsolutions

My friend used to paint his cupboards and worktop, came out ok, really. Try car spray for good finish and bright colours, Take the doors off and take outside. If shiny a light rubbing down will help the paint to stick. Try a primer as well to cover the brown paint. Be aware is not lead paint in your grans house. Other paint will work too and you can try rag rolling too for effect. Just go for it. Ask at Halfords and B & Q. Others will be along in a minute.

wilykit

Thanks, the kitchen is really old and needs updating so I am not worried about trying different things! Ideally I would like a brand new kitchen but that isn't going to happen! Amazing what a bit of lino can do though - it's improved the kitchen already!

I think I will have a go at sanding them tonight, I never thought to spray paint them - good idea, thanks!

spadoosh

The paint you need really for those doors is melamine paint, b&q do some think its suitable for MDF as well. But its quite expensive for paint. Have you considered just replacing the doors and drawers?!The chances are your units will be fine and its just style thats getting in the way. You could buy a set of just the drawers and doors for maybe about £400-£500 and that would definately liven it up a little

WestonDave

B&Q cherry style modern doors/drawer fronts - you can get a 600mm door and drawer front for less than £15. OK so the hinges etc will need a bit of fiddling around and you'll need some handles on top, but we swapped our entire kitchen including handles over for less than £150 (and the handles were a bit expensive but its the finishing touches that make it). There are a couple of other ranges that go this cheap if you really don't like this colour.

Take it carefully, measure it all twice before cutting/drilling and you'll get there.

wilykit

spadoosh wrote: »

You could buy a set of just the drawers and doors for maybe about £400-£500 and that would definately liven it up a little

I wish I had £400 - £500 to spend on it!! I have seen people on eBay selling their old kitchens and some are really decent and go for a fair price, but it is the hassle of figuring out how to pick it up etc.

Nothing about the units are fine - they are probably older than I am!! They will do for now but like I said - I don't mind practising other ways to try and liven them up! It's not like they could look any worse!!

At the moment we are a bit skint as we have spent money on new flooring and other parts of the house so there is no way I can afford that - but thanks for the advice, I still appreciate it!

ormus

as long as you use the correct primer for the laminate units, the top coat can be almost paint.

wilykit

Thank you for your help - I am going to start on them when I get in from work!!

Waterlily24

On ours we used Melamine primer, the top coats were Crown satin finish.
They look good but were recycled from the kitchen to my craft room.

Waterlily24

This is how they turned out

wilykit

That's really cute - I like it!

Can't imagine the OH would be impressed if I painted the kitchen that colour though! I wish I had room for a craft room!

We have the new washing machine being delivered tonight so after that I will get on with the sanding!

The floor is grey/black and white tiles (the typical kitchen floor you see!) and I want to keep it black and white (I did a zebra painting on canvas that I want to put in there so it is staying black and white!)

I cannot decided whether to do the walls dark and the units light or the other way round?!