How To Refresh A Dated Kitchen On A Budget

High-quality kitchens, especially in-frame kitchens, can last for many years. That does, however, mean that they can end up looking dated while they’re still perfectly functional. Your kids might not notice this but it can be a bit of a sore point for adults. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to address this, even on a tight budget. Here are some tips to help update your kitchen on a budget.

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Give your kitchen a full detox

Take everything out of your kitchen and give it a really deep clean. Then declutter thoroughly and reorganize whatever’s left. If necessary read up on kitchen organization and invest in some new organization solutions.

Just giving your existing kitchen a bit of love can be enough to make it feel like new. Even if it doesn’t, it’ll give you a chance to think about what’s working for you and what isn’t. It’ll also probably make your life a lot easier if you decide to do further work in your kitchen on a budget.

Paint your cabinets

Before you commit to painting your cabinets, check their condition thoroughly. If you’re in any doubt at all about the state of the boxes, it’s usually best just to leave them alone. You’re going to need to replace them soon anyway. If you try updating them, you may damage them further. You’re also going to get very little reward for the effort you’ll need to put in.

If the boxes are fine but the doors look the worse for wear, then just get new doors. This is much more affordable than new cabinets. Also, you can often reuse them if you update your cabinets later. Even if you can’t, you can usually sell them on (or donate them).

Painting laminate cabinets is actually pretty straightforward. It just takes a lot of effort. In particular, it takes a lot of preparation and priming. You’ll make your life a whole lot easier if you number the cabinets and their corresponding doors. They may all look the same, but the chances are that they aren’t.

On a similar note, get some envelopes and put the fixtures for each cabinet (and door) in a separate envelope with the relevant number on it. Again, it may look like each cabinet (and door) should be able to use the same fittings. The chances are, however, that there will be slight variations between them.

Line your cabinets

Lining your cabinets with contact paper does take time but it’s a lot easier than painting them. Your first decision is whether you want to line the back of the cabinet, the shelves or both. If you have a glass-fronted cabinet, then you might want to consider lining the door. This can actually give you the best of both worlds. You get the visual lightness of glass without the transparency.

Applying c ontact paper is really easy. You obviously need to clear everything out of the cabinet, including the shelves themselves. You can, however, leave the cabinets on the wall. The key to success is going slowly. You want to keep the contact paper slightly taut. That way it goes on flat. Keep stroking it firmly to remove any small bubbles.

You can use contact paper on the outside of cabinets and doors. This does, however, require a lot more skill to pull off. When you line the back of a cabinet or your shelves, small mistakes are effectively invisible. When you line the outsides of cabinets and/or doors, they’ll be very noticeable. Also, using large quantities of contact paper can get seriously expensive.

Decorate your fridge

If you’re up for a real challenge, you can paint your fridge. Be warned, however, it takes a lot of effort to get a good result. If you’re up for a smaller challenge, you can cover your fridge with contact paper. This takes a bit more skill and effort than lining the back and/or shelves of kitchen cabinets. On the other hand, it’s much easier than lining the outsides of cabinets.

You can make your life easier by choosing a forgiving pattern. Look for something where nobody will really notice if you get your cutting a bit off so the seams don’t line up exactly where they should. For everybody else, fridge decals are the way to go. They’re affordable and much easier to put on. If you have a dishwasher you can use them on it too.

Upgrade your hardware

Upgrading your kitchen hardware is by far the easiest way to update your cabinets. The reason it’s the last option on the list is that it’s relatively expensive. That said, it’s still much more affordable than a whole new kitchen. You might also be able to grab some bargains if you look around for pre-loved options.

I hope that these tips gave you some inspiration for updating your kitchen on a budget.