It’s often during the first few days of moving into your new home that you discover its ‘quirks’; those little details that you may have overlooked during viewings and those that are not necessarily significant enough to appear on surveys. A home that is filled with still-unpacked boxes can be an unforgiving backdrop and it might be then that you start to see things differently; the colour scheme you weren’t sure about now definitely needs to go, or rooms look tired and run down.
The complicated kitchen
The obvious solution for most rooms can be as simple as opening a can of paint; at last, you can make your mark and replace those smudged fingerprints with some good, clean colours that reflect your taste. However, when it comes to the kitchen, things can get a little more complicated.
The problem with an unfamiliar kitchen is that this is where its previous owners will really have left their stamp. The kitchen is the most-used room in the house, being the place where dinners are cooked and served, pets are fed, children undertake art projects, washing is done and can even be the scene of the occasional culinary crime. While your first thoughts might be about the paint job, look a little closer and you might well see the scars and bruises left by the daily domestic battles.
Rip it out and start again?
What’s the answer? The first thought many people have is to simply rip the kitchen out and start again. That way, they can change the colour scheme in one fell swoop and bring those tired-looking units back up to scratch. The main drawbacks with this though are time, money and a lot of mess. If you’re going to completely gut your kitchen, you’re going to spend a significant amount of time relying on microwave meals and takeaways and probably have to shell out a sizable lump of cash. On top of that, there’s the inconvenience of having workmen trudging in and out of your home, while you’re trying to get to grips with your new surroundings. Do you really need to rip out everything and start again, or is there a solid foundation you could work with?
Put your stamp on your new home
The much cheaper, more time efficient and infinitely more convenient solution is to focus on the parts of your kitchen that occupy the greatest surface area - the cupboard doors and drawers. If anything’s going to bear the scars of the previous inhabitants, it’s these. By using a kitchen refurbishment company, you can simply replace the doors and drawers and get a kitchen that looks like it’s just been installed, almost overnight. The structural basis of the kitchen remains untouched, with only the aesthetics refreshed and updated.
There are a number of bonuses to choosing this option.
- You don’t have to just replace doors and drawers with a better version of what you’ve already got. Instead, you can choose an entirely new colour scheme or opt to have it made from specific materials. Whether you like shabby chic or contemporary minimalism, you can put your stamp on things – and at a considerably reduced cost! That means you'll have some cash left over for those flourishes that really make a kitchen your own.
- Inherited kitchens tend to have hidden quirks. Doors and drawers that won’t close properly or cover odd corners of the room can be replaced with bespoke upgrades that are fully functional and designed specifically to fit.
- You can, if you wish, install them yourself, or hand the job over to the professionals. And instead of weeks of upheaval, you can have a brand new look in days.
