Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Sep 23, 2009 10:34 am We need help with our 70s kitchen (as you can see!) We don't want to do a full reno, as we are planning to extend in a few years time and will probably move the kitchen altogether. Therefore we need a low cost makeover to get us through! We did consider replacing the cabinetry with something flatpack, however are concerned with how the flatpack would go on the uneven slate floor. (The floor has to stay, too costly to replace just now.) The cabinets are in good structural condition, so maybe a paint job would suffice? I am thinking that if we paint the cabinets, lose the wood panelling and replace the oven (and maybe the bench top?) we could be making a big improvement. Here are my specific questions: Wood panel wall - do we paint over it or remove it? One board is starting to peel away, and as you would expect the wall behind it is marked with glue. Cabinets - these are timber veneer with no peeling, just a few scratches here and there. Do we sand and paint? What paint do we use? Michelle has suggested a blue colour to bring out the blue in the slate. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Benchtop - this is laminate, not terrible but stained. Is there anyway to clean it or should we replace (with laminate again?) as you can see it is quite thick, can you still get benchtops that wide? If we went any narrower we would be washing the dishes on our knees, as the benches are quite low. Tiles - these are small, shimmery mosaicish (quite trendy!) Do we leave, paint or replace? Does tile paint work? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Open shelving - ditch or paint? The piece de resistance - my contessa delux oven. She works a treat but doesn't do much for a more modern look! (yes that is a built in pie warmer!) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks for any advice - what would you do? Re: Help for my 70s kitchen! 2Sep 23, 2009 11:42 am I would be tempted to paint the cupboards all crisp white, replace the taps with something modern and see how it looks before making a decision to do anything else. What condition are the benchtops? I think I would live with the oven and save up for a topnotch one with the major reno later (although that piewarmer is pretty "out there"!). It's amazing how your kitchen has so many features that are currently trendy - handleless cupboards, dark wood, mosaics, etc. Re: Help for my 70s kitchen! 3Sep 23, 2009 12:08 pm It could definately be worse -I laugh everytime I see dark wood kitchens with no handles in the latest magazines - very familiar! Good point about the taps - that's an easy fix. The benchtops are pretty good, no peeling or scratches - its the stains that don't help. There are discolourations in places (sort of like old coffee stains) which are quite noticeable because the colour is so light. Have tried cleaning it (just with household cleaners, nothing intense) but they are permanent. Maybe I need a stronger cleaner - how does bleach go on laminate? Re: Help for my 70s kitchen! 4Sep 23, 2009 1:38 pm Hey Newby, First let me say I feel your pain. We had the exact same problem when we bought our first house last year (see below - excuse the little sister and gf, and yes, thats fake brick!). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I can relate to your problem with the wood paneling on the walls because we had the same, as you can see above. I ended up ripping these off myself which wasn't hard and got a plasterer to come in and re-plaster over it. I would guess it would cost about $500 just for that. We had 2 guys doing plastering at our place for 1.5 days and it was $900 all up which I thought was alright. Our kitchen was about 1/3 of the job for that price. You can see what the walls ended up like below. Our walls were covered in glue behind the boards as well. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ As far as everything else goes it all comes down to cost I guess. Maybe just keep the cabinets and replace the doors with ones from Bunnings if they are the same size. With the benchtops, maybe just get a few quotes from kitchen places about the cost of re-laminating exhisting bench. With the tiles, I would probably just rip them off and get a few modern ones to replace them. Would cost next to nothing if you put them up yourself. You never have a fridge against wall as you’ve drawn. The doors can’t open past 90 degrees and it’s difficult and maybe impossible to remove drawers 2 15600 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6632 2 4680 |