Painting kitchen doors – what a mess! Replace instead!

There’s no question that, for most people, money is pretty tight at the moment. However, that doesn’t have to mean that you can’t do things such as giving your kitchen a facelift – you’ve just got to box clever.

Shabby without the chic?

As soon as people start talking about ‘a new kitchen’, they invariably start fantasizing about new kitchen door ranges and tiles; all the expensive and work-heavy stuff. But there’s one aspect of a kitchen that can really give the heart of your home a real lift and it’s often the most overlooked.

In the majority of kitchens, it’s the cupboards that take up the most space and they’re the facilities that are the most used. Whether you’re looking for pans, pulling out your food processor or reaching for the cereal, your kitchen cupboards are used every day and suffer the most wear and tear of practically anything in the room. It’s no wonder that many of them end up looking more shabby than chic!

How do people see your kitchen?

The state of your kitchen doors can have a real effect on the way people see your kitchen as a whole. Over time, the finish dulls, hinges wear and veneers start to come away. Certain stains can get locked into wood and the overall impression is one of tiredness. The temptation might be to get the paint out but, unless you know what you’re doing, you can actually create more of a problem than you started with. It’s at this point that many people can’t see the wood for the trees; instead of looking at the parts of the kitchen that are causing it to look a bit jaded, they see the whole thing as a tired, scruffy mess.

One of the cheapest things you can do is also the most effective: replace those doors!

Time for a change!

Deciding to replace the biggest and most commonly-used surfaces in your kitchen opens up a whole world of options. You could simply go for what you had before – but what would be the point in that? In buying new doors, you could choose an entirely new colour scheme or go for a completely different style. If you like the ‘country cottage’ feel, you could pick up doors that have been stylishly weathered or, if you want something sleeker and sharper, you could go for bold colours and with minimalist fronts. If you're a traditionalist then you can go for the classic Shaker style, or get contemporary with steel and granite surfaces.

The best thing to do at this point would be to get in touch with an interior designer – but we’re trying to keep costs down. Instead, chat to friends and family about what they think would look best in your home. There are kitchen design programs on the Internet that you could use to get a good idea of how you want your kitchen to appear once the work is done. If you’re not that tech-savvy, then you could do much worse than doctoring a physical photograph to get an idea of the look you want to achieve! Alternatively, find a refurbishment company that offers an in-house design service too – you'll be surprised just how affordable it can be to outsource the process to the professionals!

A new kitchen doesn’t have to come with all the costs of a new kitchen – as long as you try and make the best of what you’ve got.