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8 Cost Effective Tips To Enhance A Tired Kitchen

Posted on Wednesday, February 8, 2017

8 Cost Effective Tips To Enhance A Tired Kitchen

If you’re lucky enough to have a Smallbone or a Poggenpohl kitchen, chances are these little improvements may do more harm than good.  For those of us wanting to make the best of a slightly tired kitchen, the below eight tips are a cost effective way of rescuing your kitchen from the 1970’s and getting the most important room in the house ready for the market.

  1. Declutter Work Surfaces - thinking about our kitchen there’s a microwave, toaster, kettle, food processor, some space age all in one cooking device, coffee maker and a sandwich maker.  Luckily, we’re not thinking of moving yet!  At least four of these items could go in cupboards.  Additional shelving, easily available for under £10 is an easy way of almost doubling the amount of storage space and removing all the precariously balanced tins, cups, and plates.

  2. Paint, Paint and more Paint - give the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint and with the right preparation, even cupboards can benefit from a coat of the coloured stuff.  This paint from Ronseal is a good place to start.

  3. Clean or Replace the Grout - and whilst you’re there with your paint brush scrape out and replace any discoloured or missing grout to give those tiles a fresh new look.

  4. Lighting - we’ve touched on the importance of lighting in a previous blog, 7 Top Tips For Property Selling In Winter.  Harsher overhead lighting is fine for when you’re cooking but it’s those softer sidelights that you need for showing the kitchen at its best.

  5. Build an Island - sounds both extreme and expensive but actually you can find some really effective solutions at various DIY outlets.  Even a free standing ‘butchers table’ works and you’ll be able to take it with you when you move.

  6. Glass Fronted Units - something I saw at one property really worked and was also cheap to d.  Replace a few strategically positioned eye-level unit doors with glass ones with a bit of fabric behind for that country kitchen curtained effect.

  7. Update the Flooring - if it’s tiled regrout and if it’s tired old lino then replace.  Not only is it unsightly but it’s also a trip hazard.

  8. Renovate Work Surfaces - possibly the most expensive and disruptive of these activities but the one that has the most impact.  If you have wooden work surfaces then a good sanding and reapplying of worktop oil should do the job.  If it’s tiled then re-grouting will get you through.  There is a solution for laminate surfaces which is a two-step paint process.  It’s around £70 for a litre tin which should give you upto 5m2 of coverage.

You might not want to take on all of the above but hopefully there are two or three things you can do to help make your kitchen the centerpiece of your home.



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