Kitchen recommendations for a complete Newbie.

[Mighty]

Hi All,

First post here, I've been having a read around though and am really impressed with the forum.

I'm pretty useless when it comes to using my hands woodworking etc, I'm anything but a handyman...

So here is my question:

My wife and I bought a house not long ago, our only problem with the house was the kitchen. While we like the layout of it, we hate the colours bright yellow and blue (see picture)

I talked to a couple of joinery places, they have said they'll need to completely replace the kitchen. Quotes for this job are in the range of 20k.

This is probably a bit more than we're wanting to pay for a mere colour change, so I'm looking for alternatives. Would I be able to get a good finish if I re-painted the cupboard doors myself and installed new handles etc.

The other query is the bench top... how to change the colour of that? I have heard of a system where a thin piece of slate can be cut to the size of the top and inserted over the original. Are there any other options for me you could recommend.

Thirdly, the floor. I was considering putting in a floating timber floor, but have heard some bad comments from a couple of people regarding them. Would you recommend tiles instead?

Any suggestions, advice, things I may not have thought of would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Matt

[Zed]

looks pretty dated - you may want to replace....

however a joinery shop should be able to make new doors for you - assuming the hinges are the snap - off variety.... thaty can be measured precisely

the benchtop I have no idea....

cheers good luck

[namtrak]

........
This is probably a bit more than we're wanting to pay for a mere colour change, so I'm looking for alternatives. Would I be able to get a good finish if I re-painted the cupboard doors myself and installed new handles etc..........


......The other query is the bench top... how to change the colour of that? I have heard of a system where a thin piece of slate can be cut to the size of the top and inserted over the original. Are there any other options for me you could recommend........

........Thirdly, the floor. I was considering putting in a floating timber floor, but have heard some bad comments from a couple of people regarding them. Would you recommend tiles instead?.........

Matt

Kitchen looks like it may be made out of solid timber? If it is pretty solid and square then updating with some colour changes could do the trick. Repainting the doors would be fine, maybe take a drawer out and sand back, finish and paint the back of it to see how it comes up

You could get a quote to replace doors only.

I think you are looking at something like granite transformations for the bench, no idea how that would come up. If the kitchen carcases are solid, I would look at replacing the benchtop in total.

I think you need to be wary of floating floor in a wet area. There are a number of flooring experts on here who could set you on the right path

Cheers

[mic-d]

G'day, If you want an absolute budget colour change you could repaint the doors and benchtop ( after proper prep and with the right paint!). With a little more expense rip out the benchtop - you'll have to remove the benchtop built-in cupboard - and fit a new one. You'll need a sparky and possibly a plumber for this too. As Zed said the joinery could make up some new doors (or Bunnies might have the correct size vinyl wrap doors). Might not be a straight fit for the new face-fit hinges tho, looks like existing are butt hinges so there might not be appropriate mounting points for the new hinges.

Cheers
Michael

[arms]

[Quotes for this job are in the range of 20k.

go to my store and price out any cabinets you may require ,i can gaurantee that it wont even come close to 20k

[Trav]

My suggestion would be to take off all the doors, give them a bit of a sand and then coat with a all-surface primer like ESP or 3 in 1. Then repaint an appropriate colour. You could fill the holes where the handles currently are too, and install new handles while you are at it. You can usually pick up handles in bulk on e-bay for a good price. Or look at somewhere like Lincoln Sentry.

Benchtop will be trickier. There would probably be a few benchtop places int he phonebook who will come in and install a new benchtop. Granite Transformations is the crew who come in and cover the top with a thin sheet of granite. They will replace cupboard doors as well. Otherwise you can use laminate paint, but for such a hardwearing surface, I'm not sure it is such a good idea.

But also shop around for joiners etc. 20k seems like a pretty extortionate price for a new kitchen that size unless you have asked for all the bells and whistles. Ring a few local joiners and see what price they will do. The kitchen companies that advertise on TV, IMHO, seem to charge a fortune and you may find better value in a local joiner.

Trav

[journeyman Mick]

$20K?:eek:
I reckon I could do it for that even taking into account airfares and freight from North Queensland. The doors in the overheads look like they swing on butt hinges which would make fitting new doors a bit trickier (but certainly not impossible) than if they were on Euro hinges. If the carcasses are sound then a new top and doors/panels would be an affordable face lift.

Mick

[Markw]

As Mick said $20k :eek: :eek:

First up dump all the major companies, the Kneeble, Impala, Kitchen Connection etc. They all have huge overheads to cover showrooms and TV ads and estimators and on and on and on. Even some of your smaller local companies will probably have showrooms and on-site staff which all have to be paid for out of the profits gained from you the purchaser.

Get your yellow pages out and look for a local guy. Look for someone with their own assembly factory - maybe a big shed in the backyard (you need to ask questions). Don't rely on someone who uses a third party to cut timber/melamine assemblies. You can always ask to see the workshop - I did. For a smaller company, look for a clean place that doesn't have dozens of jobs sitting round waiting. Ask how many jobs are done concurrently - expect at least 2-4 per tradesman, walk out if it seems too many compared to the number of tradesmen.

I had my kitchen ripped out and replaced for under $15k and this was a custom built, vacuum PVC doors yadda yadda. The work was done by one guy and the quality was excellent. For the bench top also consider the newer "scratch resistant" type laminates. These are a little more expensive but are much more scratch resistant than standard laminex. There are also some which look very much like granite but are not very resistant to scratching.

To save money - get your own appliances or reuse what you have. Everything the builder has to buy attracts an overhead. Use the existing plumbing as changing to a new "flick" type tap needs a plumber to come in and change the pipes. Offer to demolish and dispose of old kitchen, its really not that hard to do and if you chop it up into little pieces your can get rid of it through your normal coucil bin in a few weeks - just don't tell Council .

Work out what you would like in a kitchen - planning. Listen to advice from Tradesmen who quote but don't be swayed into what you don't want - listen to the why - if doesn't have a why then you probably don't need it. Storage space and working space is everything. Consider how you go about each process in your kitchen from cooking meals and accessing appliances to washing up to just walking through the kitchen or maybe accessing your backdoor to move furniture (usually located in the kitchen). I made the mistake of putting the cupboard which holds glasses and plates above the dishwasher - with the dishwasher door open I can't put the plates away - PITA.