Top tips for a DIY, budget kitchen makeover

My favourite DIY project to date is the kitchen. No special skills are required for a similar transformation. Both beginner and budget-friendly, you can carry on using the kitchen as you get bits done. It’s also rather fun. Now the kitchen is as good as finished, I wanted to share my tips for transforming your kitchen without ripping out the carcass and starting from scratch. DIY, budget kitchen makeover, here we come!

Consider this first….

We stuck with what we had and didn’t change the layout of our kitchen at all. However, if we were starting from scratch or had the time / inclination / budget, ideally I would have changed the layout a bit.

Making the best of your space – small kitchens

Our kitchen is a typical Victorian terrace galley kitchen. The space has not been used as well as it could have been. If you really want the best from a small kitchen, then a flat pack carcass isn’t the way to go. You need bespoke cabinetry that goes all the way to the ceiling. Let’s face it, with the best of intentions, you will end up dumping things on top of cabinets and they will get grimy. The kitchen will also look cluttered, making it appear even smaller.

If you are starting from scratch, keep this in mind. Or if you can be bothered, adapt existing cabinets to make full use of the walls. Build upwards! Think Singapore.

Making the best of your space – natural light

The picture below shows my kitchen in the morning (at it’s brightest, as the window faces east) and as you can see, it is still pretty dark.

Removing the cabinets on the right-hand side and replacing with open shelving would be a better use of space. This layout would allow light to fill the room, without losing precious storage space. A common concern with open shelves is that everything will get dusty and/or greasy. However, if the shelves aren’t too close to the cooker, then grease shouldn’t be an issue. As for dust, rather than fill your shelves with decorative bits, use them for your everyday items (it’s an excuse to invest in some nice, new crockery!) and you’ll be washing them regularly anyway.

We have decided to leave the cabinets as they are for now. Removing them will require repair work to the walls and frankly we can’t be bothered with that. If we did have time though, this relatively small change would maximise the feeling of light and space. The overall effect would be the feeling a much larger room.

A quick fix to maximise light is the addition of mirrors. Some carefully positioned mirrors will help bounce light around the room.

DIY budget Kitchen Makeover – what we did

1. Transform existing kitchen cabinets

We stripped the shiny, brilliant white laminate coating from our MDF IKEA cabinets. This allowed us to paint them in softer shades, better suited the colour palette of our home.

You can read the full how-to blog for stripping laminate here. In short, the heat from a hairdryer or heat gun is all you need to peel off the laminate. Seal MDF cabinets before painting with a durable paint (we used Intelligent Satinwood from Little Greene). I prefer eggshell or satin for kitchens. Chalky or matt paints get dirty quickly, as they aren’t very scrubbable.

I found this part of the transformation really fun and did a little each day. I didn’t remove the doors as there was no need to take an extra step, and we were able to continue using the kitchen as normal. Do be sure to check what material your cabinets are made of – and that such material will be suitable for painting – before you attack them with the hairdryer.

2. Refresh grubby grout

Tiles (and tilers!) are expensive and if you already have decent tiles in the kitchen, give them a new lease of life by changing the colour of the grout. We went from white to dark grey originally and then during this makeover to a lighter grey.

Read my blog on using grout pens here. Grout pens are perfect for a DIY, budget kitchen makeover because you need zero skill to use them and they make for a really quick and effective update.

You can also get tile paint or cover your tiles with vinyl for a quick fix it you don’t like the colour. We didn’t do this as our tiles are an inoffensive, plain white metro tile.

3. Use vinyl on the worktops

I absolutely love our ‘new’ worktops. Our old, marked and scratched worktops were black, granite-effect laminate and, in the dark kitchen, they were oppressive. Given that this is a DIY, budget kitchen makeover, replacing them was out of the question. Instead, we used Ribbeck Oak effect sticky-back vinyl from D-C-Fix, available here. I followed the guide on Create Your World to apply the vinyl but I’ve set out some tips below.

• Give the worktop a thorough clean and make sure it’s free of dust and crumbs etc. This is really important for a good finish. Allow the worktop sufficient time to fully dry.
• We ordered 67.5cm width vinyl, however in hidsight, the wider 90cm would have been easier to apply as you can be less precise in lining it up. There will be more wastage with this option though.
• Start with the easiest section (i.e. not the worktop with the sink) to get the hang of applying the vinyl. Remove the backing paper as you roll the vinyl onto the worktop and smooth any air bubbles as you go. As a last resort, stubborn air bubbles can be pricked with a pin.
• Use a hairdryer to help smooth the vinyl over corners.
• Once the vinyl is in place, trim any excess away with a sharp craft knife.
• Finish the edges around the wall/worktop and sink/worktop with silicone. This will seal the vinyl and give you a lovely, neat finish.

The sink is tricky and I had to do ours twice. I totally buggered up my first attempt (it’s a good idea to order some extra vinyl!)

Use the grid guide on the back of the vinyl to work out where the sink is and cut a rough template out. Lay the vinyl over the sink and smooth it down, as closely as possible around sink, before cutting the excess away with a sharp craft knife. If you get any water on the vinyl (we had a slightly leaky sink), it should regain its stickiness after 24 hours. Don’t despair – leave it overnight and try re-sticking the next morning.

If the worst happens and you make a hole, you can repair the vinyl by cutting a small vinyl square – a bit like a plaster/band aid – and smoothing the edges into the existing vinyl with a hairdryer. It’s not perfect, but did the trick for me when ours was damaged by the plumber. Ideally, take your old sink out, apply the vinyl and then fit the new sink – there’s no issues with lining your vinyl up perfectly then!

4. Change the cabinet handles

The easiest and most instantly effective thing you can do to update you kitchen is simply change the cabinet handles. Don’t stop at handles: taps, light switches and sockets can all get an upgrade too.

Either order new ones if yours have totally had it (like mine had). You can order my handles here.

You can also spray paint your handles for a new lease of life. I like Rust-Oleum Brilliant Gold spray paint and have it on all sorts of things including cabinet pulls, light switches and plug sockets (do a few light coats and be sure to mask off the holes of the socket.

5. Invest in a new sink and tap

If you can afford to buy some new bits, a new sink will go a long way. I couldn’t believe how much lighter and brighter our kitchen appeared with a white ceramic sink in place of the old stainless steel one. We also got a new tap and it is gorgeous. If you are changing colours, think about matching your appliances as well – and waste not want not, pop the old ones on gumtree for free!

I should mention one thing that did not work, was spray painting gold the sink waste. The plug has held out ok, but the waste lasted about three days! I did everything right – lightly sanded, primed, painted and then used automobile lacquer, but it just isn’t right for something that is permanently wet. Hacks aren’t always the answer, unfortunately.

6. Use window film

I have lusted over real reeded glass cabinets for a long time and have an obsession with stained glass and glassware generally. I even love those glass room dividers from the 70s that are very much out of fashion now! We couldn’t afford new glass, and nor did we want to change the cabinet doors anyway, since they are in perfectly good condition, so adding reeded glass film was the perfect compromise.

This is the film I went for, but you can get it in all sorts of different effects and it is great for any cabinet that might otherwise look a bit cluttered (I wanted to hide all of Léo’s garish baby bottles and other paraphernalia).

DIY, budget kitchen makeover – how much did it cost?

I received some of the items in our DIY, budget kitchen makeover as PR products to review and therefore did not pay for them. Costs are set out at ordinary retail prices:

• Paint: We used Little Greene Intelligent Satinwood on our kitchen cabinets and I couldn’t love it more. It is an absolute dream to paint with. The top cabinets are Pale Clay and the bottom cabinets are Boringdon Green. The walls were painted four years ago using Crown kitchen paint in Afternoon Tea. It’s a scrubbable paint which is ideal for kitchens. Cost: £99
• Grout Pens: I needed two for our kitchen. Cost: £8
• Vinyl: We used 15m of 67.5cm width vinyl. Cost: £35 (in the sale, usually £45)
• Handles: I order 2 packs of 15 handles. Cost: £30
• Sink and tap: The is where the cost really came in for us as the installation was expensive (our worktop needed reinforcing and it became quite a job!) Cost of sink and tap: £300; Cost of labour: £400
• Window film: We only needed a very small amount of film, but I have extra to use for IKEA hacks! Cost: £45

So without the sink and tap the cost was just over £200 and with the sink and tap (and installation costs) it was £900. I think a kitchen that looks pretty much brand new for £900 is pretty good going!

DIY, budget kitchen makeover – how has it held up?

One concern many people have when embarking on a project like this is durability, especially the vinyl on the worktop.

It has been a couple of months now, and I can honestly say the vinyl is fine. You have to treat is with care, but to be honest, a real wood worktop would also be damaged if you took a knife to it or put a hot pan on it! Be realistic in your expectations; if something costs £30, it probably isn’t going to last a lifetime.

The rest is all fine too. The paint has not chipped or peeled. The window film is still in place. The sink is such a dream! It actually reflects light around the room and I rather enjoy washing up now.

If you want to see the whole step-by-step process, then this is all detailed on my Instagram page. I have a story highlight for the DIY budget kitchen makeover and specifically for the worktop vinyl.