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Advice on kitchen layout and facelift wanted

Hello, I've just bought my first home and every room needs some TLC. But thought I'd start with the kitchen and looking for some quick ideas to give the space a face lift and where possible arrange the layout. I don't feel the space is being used efficiently, especially the wall where the pantry and fridge are.

I'm a complete beginner and struggling to get started or where to start..

Any ideas would be appreciated.

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MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @heidistander. It's brilliant to have you join us and many thanks for the question about your kitchen.

You might like to look at our Top 10 most popular kitchen projects for inspiration and read through this helpful guide on How to plan a kitchen renovation.

There are certainly a few things you could do to improve the look of your kitchen and which would give it a quick facelift. If you start talking about the layout and efficiency of space, you are moving into renovation territory. A decision needs to be made on whether you want to improve the current look or whether you want to do a complete renovation.

Items that age your kitchen are the laminate benchtops, border tiles on your splashback, white rangehood and cooktop, the brick on the bench return and verticle blinds.

Unfortunately, the bench and cabinets are cream coloured. If they were white, you could work with them. I'd consider replacing the benchtop with a manufactured stone and painting the cabinetry white in the long term. The splashback tiles also look cream, and painting over them with white tile paint would improve their look.

I'd suggest timber panelling over the brick for the bench return, and EasyCraft lining boards would be a great way to achieve this. You could even use these boards for the brick surrounding the oven. Check out @ProjectPete's amazing Kitchen island EasyVJ panelling.

Some white Venetian blinds would be a good upgrade over those verticals.

Efficiency wise, what would you like to see change, and where do you see the kitchen in 5 - 10 years? Are you planning a full renovation in the future, or are you just looking to update and make the current layout a bit more functional?

Let me mention one of our expert renovation experts @redbournreno to see if she has any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

EricL

Hello @heidistander

It's great that you've received excellent advice from my colleague @MitchellMc. His recommendation for making a decision whether to fully renovate it or just cosmetically fix it is important. I've seen a lot of kitchens where the owner has modified their kitchen with a half baked approach resulting in a mixed look of new and old cabinets. I think the renovation should have been put off until they had the proper resources. I agree with your assessment when you say that the kitchen is not being used efficiently.

Would it be possible for you to post the measurements of your kitchen wall? This will allow me to draw some kitchen layouts for you. Is there something beside the oven wall cabinet? Can that brick structure be torn down? How deep is the pantry in your kitchen? How much space do you have on the other side of your island?

Once you provide more information I'll be able to draw you a more accurate layout. In the meantime, please enjoy these ideas I've made.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

Heidi kitchen1.jpg Heidi kitchen2.jpg Heidi kitchen3.jpg Heidi kitchen4.jpg Heidi kitchen5.jpg Heidi kitchen6.jpg Heidi kitchen7.jpg heidi kitchen photo.jpg

heidistander

Hi Eric,

Apologies for the delay getting back to you.

These plans look amazing and really capture how the kitchens' whole potential can change.

Would you have an idea of how much something like this would cost to do?

Below are my comments to your specific questions:

-Brick wall, it doesn't look like anything is behind this wall, and from what we can tell isn't structural

- measurement from back wall to window is 2600

- The pantry is 600m depth - see additional photos attached

- Other side of the island is another dining room, so plenty of room for a dining table .. see photos

EricL

Hello @heidistander

It's great to hear from you, the average cost of this kitchen is around $9000. Please keep in mind that installation is not included in that estimate. The overall kitchen price depends on the door finish and benchtop that you choose. I suggest bringing these drawings to your local store and speaking to the In-Store Kitchen Specialist. They'll be able to give you a much more accurate quote as you'll be able to choose the doors and benchtop that you'll be using. You can also ask the kitchen specialist for an installation quote as well.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

pete_brig

Hi @heidistander.

Some great suggestions from @MitchellMc & @EricL. As both said, consider whether it's a makeover or reno--I'd characterise a makeover as cosmetic while reno is more about rearranging layout etc & that's probably not possible without incurring significant costs.

As an example, painting the tiles, painting the benchtops & cupboard doors, and covering the brickwork (panelling, render etc) would be a lot less than the $9000 excluding labour for the reno option. Changing the colours in the kitchen will make a world of difference to the look. White Knight & Dulux have products for painting tiles, benchtops etc.

Couple of other comments that are more related to a reno:

I think microwaves get used a lot more than ovens so they should be readily accessible--having them up high, typically above an oven, is awkward & a potential source of accidents--I'd suggest a tower cupboard with the oven lower & m/w at a usable height. Tower content typically can be configured to suit e.g. 1 or 2 drawers under the oven, oven, m/w, o/head storage. I'm tall so my m/w is at about 1300mm & that's elbow height so I can access without reaching up. While this is a reno comment, you could leave your layout as is but mini-reno/remove the oven space & replace it with a tower.
Keep 900-1000mm for the fridge space to allow for larger fridge/freezer--don't know what you're future plans are for extra inhabitants 🙂 My fridge/freezer has french doors for fridge (& freezer) & is 890mm wide (allow 50mm each side for ventilation/access)--it's 552 L of usable space.

If you want to consider rearranging items, it'd be best if you provide a floor plan showing the dimensions of the space (length, width), size/shape of cupboards/pantry, spaces/acess openings, benchtops, windows etc--the more info the better, including rooms behind the pantry/fridge for context.

Cheers, Peter

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