Kitchen Makeover

4 years ago

My wife and I are looking at purchasing this fixer upper in a great neighborhood. We would preferably like to live in the home 18 months or so before we go into a major kitchen renovation. This will allow us to save some more money and look exactly how we want. At that time, we will actually move the kitchen over to where the hutch is, new cabinets, appliances, wood floor to match rest of house, etc.

In the meantime, what would be your best advice to make this kitchen livable/usable until then. My wife strongly dislikes the blue tile but I haven't found any safe means of painting over it. Thinking paint the backsplash white, leave the countertops blue, paint all cabinets white, paint hinges white, new pulls, and call it good.

I'm open for any ideas. Was tossing around the idea of two tone but we have that one pantry length cabinet I'm not sure what we'd do with as well as the in wall oven section. Thanks for looking.

Featured Answer

loobab

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hi DayTrader- Congratulations on your new house!

If you are going to completely remodel your kitchen, don't waste any money now on changing your tile, painting your cabinets, or doing a single other thing in your current kitchen.

If your wife is allergic to all that blue, purchase some large cutting boards and use them to cover the surfaces of the counters and backsplash that have the tiles.

If the surface of the cabinets is sticky dirty you can clean them with a product you can buy in the hardware store or big box store, the name of which I forget, it contains TRIS. Someone here will tell you, or the person at the store will tell you.

Meanwhile, start your "dream book" by collecting pictures of what you like and why, and what you don't like.

Make a list of your needs and wants and prioritize them.

Start asking around your area for NKBA certified kitchen designers to interview for your project.

https://nkba.org/certification/certified-kitchen-bath-designers-ckbd/

Also, check these out, they may be helpful to you as you plan your new kitchen.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5972404/new-to-kitchens-read-me-first-2020-interim#n=7

https://www.modcabinetry.com/nkba-guideline/

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Comments (9)

jck910
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Agree with loobab Painting the cabinets is expensive and a lot of work to then change out in 18 months. You might be able to replace the countertops with laminate for a reasonable price. When we bought our house in the 80's it had very bright yellow counters on oak cabinets with avocado appliances. I lived with the yellow for about 8 years but changed the appliances to almond
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kandrewspa
4 years ago
The blue is pretty awful, but if you're just moving and planning a major remodel the time will go by fast. It will give everyone something to laugh about in the meantime. You probably need to paint the whole house so get going on that. I moved into my current house a little less than two years ago and it seems like it was about two months ago. We haven't finished everything we were planning to do yet.
acm
4 years ago
Find a cheery blue runner to make the tile seem more at home, and don't do anything to the kitchen -- painting will be a ton of money or sweat and is unlikely to look good at the end.

Unique Loom Blue Elizabeth Heritage Runner Rug, 2'2"x6' · More Info

nuLOOM Braided Cotton Tammara Bohemian Striped Area Rug, Blue, 2'6"x10' · More Info

Safavieh Dip Dye Ddy538K Blue, Ivory Area Rug, 2'3"x8' · More Info

Also, if you're thinking of relocating the kitchen, be sure that you factor in the cost of resizing the windows (inside and out), as they are currently too low to allow for cabinets and counters over there. A kitchen designer might help you figure out whether you can obtain your goals in the current location...
PRO
Randy Trainor
4 years ago
We might suggest waiting the 18 months to do a renovation and not really changing anything in the meantime. Here is a kitchen design of ours with some blue to help you through your dilemma though.
Mt. Washington Ski House · More Info

Mt. Washington Ski House · More Info
marhop
4 years ago
If you are planning on a major kitchen ren which seems to be the case, its a waste of $$ to do anythinw with kitchen now. Put you $$ toward your reno. 18 months may seem like a long time but it will go wuickly as you have tolook look look at idea pics ( so many on Houzz which I used in idea book when planning my major kitchen reno. Then you have to look for kitchen cabinetry company designer. I chose 3 companies to have designer draw up a plan based on my wants and needs which were all in my idea book. The better a kitchen designer has of your wishes including rough color scheme you are leaning toward, the more accurate to your specs will be design plan the designer will propose. This preliminary service is free of charge. I then chose the company that not only came up with the best plan, but seemed to have a better handle on my wishes, was easy to liaise with and of course, the price estimate was a factor. As I found out, there can be quite a range in cost estimates.
If you really dont think you can live with all that blue in the meantime, a cheap way to get rid of some of the blue color is to paint the backsplash some shade of white. tile can be painted. just ask for correct primer and paint at your specialty paint store. Placing appliances, cutting boards, etc on your countertops will eliminate more of the blue
iroll
4 years ago
Another vote for not painting the cabinets and backsplash. Save the money and get your dream in the real reno. In the meantime, you could cover the backsplash with peel and stick tiles to cut down on the blue:

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/sb0/peel-stick-backsplash-tile-c1864259.html?rtype=9&redir=peel+and++stick++backsplash&refid=GX547781147002.Peel+and+stick+backsplash%7Ee&position=&network=g&pcrid=547781147002&device=c&targetid=kwd-2678097232&channel=GoogleIntent&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0eOPBhCGARIsAFIwTs4pIDzKA1FbHX56n4WyDIXE79vBFwO5pPy4_yI87z9LRm0pcC5qIjcaAtp-EALw_wcB
RedRyder
4 years ago
Yup, don’t spend a dime on that kitchen you hate. I like the suggestion of painting the blue tiles on the backsplash or covering them. But save your money! Your decision to move the entire kitchen to where the hutch is will be very, very expensive. You need to start talking to kitchen designers and contractors to find out how much it will cost to move the plumbing and electric (and gas for the stove?). Take this time to start inspiration folders on Houzz and interviewing professionals. You can get help from generous pros here too, but we cannot assess the details of moving the kitchen’s location.
Congratulations on the house!
Jassie
4 years ago
I think painting white is a good idea.