Kitchen Makeovers

When people ask us about how to kickstart a simple kitchen makeover, we usually begin by asking them what the top three things they want to achieve are.

Very often, these answers will be slightly different but essentially quite similar. In most cases, people tend to be looking for:

• ways to make their kitchen feel fresher, lighter, and brighter

• ways to declutter or tidy up the overall appearance of the kitchen

• ways to make the kitchen a more versatile and functional space

Starting with a clear picture in your mind of the top three things you want to achieve is a great way to approach a kitchen facelift project because it makes it easier to prioritise among all the hundreds of available options.

There is no one definitive list of ‘dos and don’ts’ when planning kitchen makeovers, as your aims and your budget will be utterly unique to you. However, having a clear grasp of your main aims going in will always help to steer you in the right direction.

If you’ve invested in a long-lasting, high-quality kitchen centrepiece, like a Leisure range cooker, you can expect to enjoy many years of great performance from it. For this reason, it makes sense to plan any changes to the rest of the room’s layout around how you tend to cook, serve and eat meals. Think about the spatial and workflow relationships between the oven, fridge, and storage cupboard locations as you plan your kitchen makeover; doing so will help ensure that any changes you do make, contribute towards improved efficiency and convenience.

Speaking of food and utensil storage, one of the first things people usually seek to change or update when giving kitchens a facelift is the look of their cupboards and other units. Replacing the entire carcass of a built-in unit can be costly, so if you’re looking for a quicker and cheaper fix, consider replacing just the doors. If this still stretches the budget, you can paint them yourself, swap out the handles for new designs, have the whole unit professionally sprayed, or even get rid of your cupboard frontages altogether. The latter is, of course, the cheapest option, and it can help to open up a space that feels cramped by turning your boxy units into display shelving.

The condition and placement of things like lighting fixtures and wall sockets play a highly underestimated role in making your kitchen feel bright, clean, convenient, and functional. When planning a makeover, don’t forget to assess the age and condition of your overhead lighting, incidental lights, and plug sockets, and make changes where necessary. Consider installing some extra under-cabinet strips and swapping around the location of lamps and sockets to make the whole room work better for you - neither is a complicated or costly fix, and the difference it can make to the overall ambience is surprising.

Kitchen counters have a significant influence on the overall visuals and feel of the whole room. Yet, you don’t need to spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds to get a striking new look out of them. Consider exploring cheaper DIY options like reclaimed wood and concrete rather than expensive marble or boring laminate. In doing so, you can pull off a unique rustic or modernist style for a lot less than it costs to buy and install most fancy showroom options.

The backsplash helping to protect the wall behind your cooker is one of the most common kitchen zones in which people tend to introduce a little visual ‘pop’ when planning a makeover. This makes sense - it’s a feature that doesn’t cost much to install, is easy to change or update, and it helps frame the meal preparation area as a real focal point of the room. By carefully selecting your backsplash you can transform your kitchen, creating an inexpensive, highly functional kitchen feature. If you are after a modern look, consider a stainless steel backsplash. Or, if you prefer a more traditional approach that doesn’t limit your creativity, why not get creative with some bold, uplifting tile paints?