My Rented Kitchen Make Over
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Ahhh our kitchen make over, what a journey. We started on May 17th 2021 and completed it in the last week of January 2022, when we hung the final curtain up in the window. In total that’s just over eight months, plus weeks of planning and research before hand, I’ve grown a baby in less time. But something about the kitchen intimated me so much, so we just took our time. I am so pleased we did as I adore how it turned out, sometimes slow and steady wins the race.
Kitchen before:
As I am sure you know, we rent our house, and we are so lucky to have a wonderful landlord who is open to all kinds of DIY suggestions. We know that we want to be here for a few years, and for us it was worth investing in updating the kitchen as it was a space that didn’t particularly fill me with joy to spend time in. I knew we could do it for under £1000 too, but I must stress that we did have help and expertise from my dad (I know, I know he helps me with so much, he’s a star!)
One of his many jobs, in between being a footballer and working in retail was a kitchen fitting company, so I really want to highlight this was one of the things that really played to our favour and was one of the reasons we were able to keep the costs down so much. But without any further ado, let’s get into it, I have broken it down into categories to try and keep some order to my ramblings.
Worktops & Sink
The kitchen was functional before, but I knew that with a few changes it would be a much easier space to cook in. We didn’t change anything layout wise, but one of the biggest changes we made was changing the worktops and installing a new sink. Our old sink was round and small, it seemed almost to be a one in, one out situation when washing up, the new big white sink has made such a difference practically. We added new taps, both were in an end of line sale at B&Q, and came in at less than £150 for both, in fact the taps cost more than the sink - the things you learn. Worktops are also B&Q because finding light coloured worktops is not an easy mission, they’ve worn really well and I’ve not stained them with tea, pickling onions or with my love of red cabbage
Cabinets & Handles
All the cupboards doors are new, but the carcasses of the cabinets we kept. I danced back and forth between painting the existing ones, covering them with vinyl, but the doors that were there before had quite a lot of swelling on them from water damage, and to be honest weren’t really worth saving.
The new doors were made to order MDF ones, they are water resistant, which is green MDF and best for a kitchen if you are looking at MDF. My dad spent a day routing them, which is the grooves you see in them. A lot of doors weren’t hung the correct way, you ideally need to make sure that for fire regulations that doors open the right way near your cooker. They are painted in a Valspar Rugged Olive in a Satin finish, which is half way between a gloss and matt paint. This makes it less easy to scuff, we have had these painted since around June time and are really happy with how they’ve been wearing.
The door handles, I wouldn’t say are my first choice, but compromises have to be made when working to a budget, and these were excess handles my dad had in his garage from over the years. They actually go really well with the floor, and were £100 cheaper than the gold handles I wanted to buy.
Floor
The floor….the floor. I spent HOURS trying to find a new floor that wouldn’t cost me £800. We have a long kitchen, and it would be classed as narrow if it wasn’t for under the counter underneath the open shelves. This bit kept throwing the square metrerage well up in price point, and we also needed a very slim floor due to the back door that opens on top of it. There are affordable floors out there just not in the colour we wanted, at one point I was thinking, sod it, I’ll pay the price for a pricey floor. Everything was blue, and sadly we’d already painted the cabinets by this point otherwise I’d have changed the whole colour scheme to accommodate the floor. Thankfully the very first floor I saw when I started my research came back into stock after months of waiting. It again was B&Q, the reviews weren’t too glowing, but I couldn’t find anything else in that price bracket that was the right tone and grain of floor for what we wanted. It came in at under £300, but was quite the nightmare to fit. It says click and snap, but there wasn’t so much clicking and snapping going on, however it was worth the blood, sweat and tears as it looks great and again has worn really well with a dog in the family who has not yet learnt to wipe his feet. But do decide if it’s worth it for you, and please please read the reviews.
Walls & Tiles
We painted the walls maybe a year before we decided to overhaul the entire kitchen. It was suggested to us by ‘CharmingLifeByJess’. It was super easy to apply, and is a really space brightening colour and goes easily with so much.
The wallpaper is Chelsea Rose by Sanderson an exclusive from wallpaperdirect* and whilst this was a press sample, we would’ve only needed two rolls to do the two walls, so if wallpapering a whole room is not in your budget, see about doing a couple of walls, as it still makes a really big impact.
Lastly the tiles, we decided to paint over what was already there, again it was another thing I was a bit nervous about, but it turned out so well. We went straight over the grout too with one colour, which might not be for everybody, but we have quite a lot of tiles in the kitchen so I knew I was never going to go back with a paint brush or grout pen and make it white again. We used the V33 tile paint, and then painted it on top with colour we wanted, which is Puppy Paws (have you ever heard a cuter paint name) by Valspar and is a near enough spot on match for Lick Pink 02. The tiles have also worn really well, the only place it hasn’t is on the window sill where we have plant pots and things to scuff it. It’s only chipped a tiny bit, but we will touch this up and finish with a sealant to make it harder wearing.
Fridge
Ok I realised I didn’t include this in my cost above, and the reason I haven’t is because the fridge is coming with us whenever we move in the future. It was the biggest expense of the kitchen, but the separate fridge and freezer we had both sat under the counters and the fridge was very leaky. We knew an all in one fridge freezer would work so much better for us, but it did mean we lost some counter space and had to move the microwave. I looked at second hand Smeg ones, but realised they were actually too big and would’ve had to take the scallop shelf down above it, which wasn’t an option. We are both really pleased with this fridge freezer, no more bending down to see what’s in the fridge makes life that little bit easier.
Ace’s Bed
When we realised the freezer wouldn’t be at the end of the kitchen anymore, we figured it would be the perfect place to put a bed for Ace. He kind of naturally gravitated there to sleep, so we made it a purpose made place for him. We needed to reinforce that worktop with a MDF board, and thought it would make a nice little den for him. His bed is from Homesense, and he’s often chilling or sleeping in there, he seems super happy with it. I just really wanted to share a cute photo of my dog with you, ok?
Curtains
We have two curtains in the kitchen, one is an under counter one, under the scalloped shelves, and the other is across the window. The under counter one I made, it feels super retro and it just hides a multitude of cr*p to be honest. The bin is under there, dog food, drinks bottles and other bits and pieces. The fabric is from The Cloth Shop, and I got 2 metres, and in hindsight I only needed one. The wire and hooks were from Dunelm but I can only find a link to them here, and you need to get the hooks separately so just be aware, but it comes in at just under a fiver. The fabric was £25, so in total it was £30, and I surprise surprise I just love how it turned out.
We have a really big window that runs across the sink, and whilst I wanted do do similar here, I just didn’t know if I’d have the skills to sew a straight line for that distance. I found Linen and Letters on Etsy, and got a custom bistro curtain made, they were super quick and super fast. The curtain does just the job and doesn’t block out any light, which was a concern but it actively reflects it and somehow makes the space brighter.
The pole and rests, were £14, again sometimes the cheapest option does the job. As much as I would’ve liked a gold one here they were coming in at £100+ and we’d already decided to spend the money on a new fridge freezer, so it was important to keep costs down elsewhere.
Scalloped Shelves
My favourite part of the kitchen are the open shelves, they were already here but I gave them a little makeover. I painted the black brackets the same colour as the walls, which actually was leftover tile paint, but they are virtually the same colour. I also painted the scallop trim the same colour too, this trim was bought from eBay and just tacked on and can easily be removed when we leave. We may have to buy more black brackets if the landlord wants us to change it back, but they are standard Ikea ones so if we need too, we will. I love having all my crockery on show that I’ve had collected over the years, it means we use it daily and enjoy it.
And that’s it! The kitchen make over, finally done! I am so pleased we did this, it completes the downstairs of our house and it’s a real joy to be in there cooking and chatting to friends (why does EVERYONE always stand in your kitchen!?) I think it took so long as each element was a problem to solve, within a certain budget. Also I had limited experience with decorating kitchens, so my confidence wasn’t as present as it usually is when putting a space together.
To keep this mammoth post under 2,000 words I will do a separate post on some of my favourite kitchen accessories, but in the mean time if you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I’ll get answering them.
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my friend Medina aka Grillo Design’s kitchen, myself and Medina started and finished decorating our rented kitchens at the same time. Without all the voice notes to Medina with some moral support I don’t think I would’ve done it. Her kitchen is fantastic, go and check it out here.
We’ll be do an Instagram live on Tuesday 8th of February at 8pm to talk about all things kitchens.