Ongoing kitchen makeover?

[Velar Fricative]

The kitchen in our new house is really outdated. However, we have other projects to prioritize so a full-on kitchen reno is not in the budget (aside from appliance replacements) and won't be for a long time. However, I've been looking at the Rustoleum kit for painting the kitchen cabinets if I decide to take that project on (it's really the color that I don't like about our cabinets, I'm okay with the style), and then I was also thinking about what kind of backsplash to get (kitchen doesn't currently have one), and whether we should replace the countertops sometime soon (they're really ugly, very similar to what you see here). So I could see myself making cosmetic makeovers a little at a time. I'm just afraid it'll bother me even more to have, say, fresh new countertops but blah cabinets and blah backsplash for a few years, etc. Plus I think this might make it harder to stick with a particular look since I wouldn't be making changes at once. And I'm not sure I'd want to do all that work with the Rustoleum kit if we may eventually get new cabinets anyway. I have this issue where if I think something will change even far down the road, I won't want to waste time doing anything now so maybe I should just stick with Ugly Kitchen for a while?

What do you think? Did you make changes to your kitchen a little at a time? Or do you prefer to do one big makeover?

And for reference, here's a shot of part of our kitchen that gives you an idea of what we're working with. Thanks!

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 12, 2014 14:41:39 GMT -5 @bluesky said:

In your situation, I would definitely consider painting/staining the cabinets. They look like they are in excellent condition! And if you are swapping out new appliances, those two changes alone will have a significant impact. What color were you considering for the cabinets?

edit: the countertops don't seem all the horrible to me.  You should have seen mine!

I seem to go back and forth between cream-colored cabinets (I don't know the right color term, but definitely not bright white - off-white?) and dark brown. Maybe this is another hint that I should just live with this kitchen as is for a while until I really settle on a choice. DH doesn't care, so I get free reign!

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 12, 2014 14:45:56 GMT -5 @juno said:

I probably wouldn't do anything until I made a final decision about the cabs and committed to either keeping or replacing them because replacing them could destroy a lot of time any money since almost everything in a kitchen revolves around the cabinets. I think it's good to live in a house for a couple of years and develop a long-term plan; that gives you time to save and it lets you make all sorts of tweaks in the plan you come up with. We did a couple of quick fixes to make ours tolerable over 8 years, but nothing pricey.

This is good advice, thank you. I shouldn't rush into this. Now I just want to figure out how I can jazz up this kitchen to make it less blahhhhhh. I wouldn't even know where to start for a backsplash for this kitchen - DH and I both think a backsplash would be a good way to spruce things up but I'm afraid it will look "off" with this kitchen no matter what we do. 

[msmerymac]

Do you like the layout? I think making small changes here and there until you finally get a kitchen you want - or can live with for quite a while - is a good idea.

Unfortunately, in my case, we have the least functional kitchen layout known to man. Our "counters" are basically like 12x36 inch shelves to the left of the stove and the right of the sink and that's it. We had gold laminate flooring and yellow walls. So my "updates" involved painting the walls white and installing a peel-and-stick tile floor. Plus moving the fridge and bringing in a large Ikea island for storage and counter space. Functional? Somewhat. The improvements were DEFINITELY an... improvement. If I could just change out things like the appliances and the flooring and the counter here and there, though, I would probably do that. But then I wouldn't be doing a whole huge knock-down kitchen reno in the future, either.

TL;DR summary: If you plan on being able to live with the changes for a long time and you don't want to make any major structural changes, go for it. It will make you happier in the kitchen and will seem cheaper over time. And post pics!

[Velar Fricative]

Sept 12, 2014 16:12:19 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Do you like the layout? I think making small changes here and there until you finally get a kitchen you want - or can live with for quite a while - is a good idea.

Unfortunately, in my case, we have the least functional kitchen layout known to man. Our "counters" are basically like 12x36 inch shelves to the left of the stove and the right of the sink and that's it. We had gold laminate flooring and yellow walls. So my "updates" involved painting the walls white and installing a peel-and-stick tile floor. Plus moving the fridge and bringing in a large Ikea island for storage and counter space. Functional? Somewhat. The improvements were DEFINITELY an... improvement. If I could just change out things like the appliances and the flooring and the counter here and there, though, I would probably do that. But then I wouldn't be doing a whole huge knock-down kitchen reno in the future, either.

TL;DR summary: If you plan on being able to live with the changes for a long time and you don't want to make any major structural changes, go for it. It will make you happier in the kitchen and will seem cheaper over time. And post pics!

Yes, we love the layout. Even though we obviously could have made an offer on another house with a more updated kitchen, the layout of the kitchen was much better than others we saw. 

[pitterwoo]

If you think you would keep the cabinets I would go ahead and paint them and possibly get new counters. I wouldn't get new counters in a kitchen that I was planning to rip out the cabinets in down the road. Not worth it to me just because the counters are blah and too wasteful.

I do think painting could and new appliances could really turn your kitchen around.

[rooster222]

Sept 12, 2014 20:39:18 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

If you think you would keep the cabinets I would go ahead and paint them and possibly get new counters. I wouldn't get new counters in a kitchen that I was planning to rip out the cabinets in down the road. Not worth it to me just because the counters are blah and too wasteful.

I do think painting could and new appliances could really turn your kitchen around.

These are the updates we did right away in our kitchen. Down the road I would like to do a lot more but these things seemed like the biggest bang for the buck.

[lb2006]

Sept 12, 2014 15:10:13 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Sept 12, 2014 14:41:39 GMT -5 @bluesky said:

In your situation, I would definitely consider painting/staining the cabinets. They look like they are in excellent condition! And if you are swapping out new appliances, those two changes alone will have a significant impact. What color were you considering for the cabinets?

edit: the countertops don't seem all the horrible to me.  You should have seen mine!

I seem to go back and forth between cream-colored cabinets (I don't know the right color term, but definitely not bright white - off-white?) and dark brown. Maybe this is another hint that I should just live with this kitchen as is for a while until I really settle on a choice. DH doesn't care, so I get free reign!

I would also consider painting the cabinets if it is the one thing in the kitchen that REALLY bothers you.  We debated renovating a little at a time, but ended up doing the whole thing at once (and still working on it!) - our cabinets are the color you describe - you can see the before photos, that the kitchen was pretty terrible!

onelastproject.blogspot.com/2014/03/before-during-photos.html

We were changing the entire layout of the house and expanding the kitchen, so I put up with it for 1.5 years until we started our renovation.  Since you like the layout, i'd go with painting them first  

[dr.girlfriend]

Sept 12, 2014 14:27:45 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The kitchen in our new house is really outdated. However, we have other projects to prioritize so a full-on kitchen reno is not in the budget (aside from appliance replacements) and won't be for a long time. However, I've been looking at the Rustoleum kit for painting the kitchen cabinets if I decide to take that project on (it's really the color that I don't like about our cabinets, I'm okay with the style), and then I was also thinking about what kind of backsplash to get (kitchen doesn't currently have one), and whether we should replace the countertops sometime soon (they're really ugly, very similar to what you see here). So I could see myself making cosmetic makeovers a little at a time. I'm just afraid it'll bother me even more to have, say, fresh new countertops but blah cabinets and blah backsplash for a few years, etc. Plus I think this might make it harder to stick with a particular look since I wouldn't be making changes at once. And I'm not sure I'd want to do all that work with the Rustoleum kit if we may eventually get new cabinets anyway. I have this issue where if I think something will change even far down the road, I won't want to waste time doing anything now so maybe I should just stick with Ugly Kitchen for a while?

What do you think? Did you make changes to your kitchen a little at a time? Or do you prefer to do one big makeover?

And for reference, here's a shot of part of our kitchen that gives you an idea of what we're working with. Thanks!

We made some small changes (new faucet, new light fixture) that in the end I kind of wish we hadn't bothered with, since it all got replaced in the big reno and seems like a waste of money now.  I would do things that could work in the new kitchen -- new appliances, etc. and not put a lot of effort into things that will be replaced.  We had a lot of delays in our renovation, and it still seemed to come pretty quick.  There were things when I first moved in that were like, "Ugh, this pink kitchen is going to drive me crazy!" and in the end I barely noticed it.  If, however, you might keep the cabinets, I would think about painting them, since that won't be "labor lost."  It all depends on whether you're going to switch up the actual layout / cabinets or just the finishes.