Creative Kitchen Refurbishment Ideas

Any homeowner wanting to refurbish their kitchen should always be on the lookout for sources of inspiration other than the usual showrooms and catalogues. Indeed, you can apply some great creative ideas from other renovation projects you’ve spotted - both household and non-household - to your own kitchen refit. With a bit of imagination, you can adapt and resize appealing elements from all sorts of projects to fit your kitchen design requirements, budget, and available space.

One tip we recommend when looking online for kitchen remodel ideas is to widen your search. Consider researching popular kitchen designs, both modern and traditional, from other nations and cultures. Of course, these might often be built around specific approaches to cooking or mealtime culture that won’t necessarily apply directly to you and your family and will need to be adapted in ways that make sense.

Even so, they can still spark a neat idea for a particular design flourish or storage solution that few others on your street will be using. Ultimately, this can help make your kitchen look and feel more individual without necessarily having to tear it down and start again from scratch.

Many people looking for kitchen remodel ideas will have become frustrated by a dark, dingy space that feels cramped and cluttered but don’t want the expense of a complete refit. If that applies to you, it’s always worth seeing if you can remove or minimise some of the things you already have, rather than adding more new stuff in.

In particular, look out for any light-blocking cupboard units, unnecessary walls, or moveable appliances that might better serve your kitchen space by being taken out, downsized, or relocated. Partially knocking through to create an open hatch or entranceway, for example, is often an incredibly effective option. It can help give smaller kitchens the feel of a larger, more free-flowing space, and it’s usually a lot cheaper than trying to extend the existing floor plan.

There are certain setups we just expect to find in every kitchen, regardless of whether it’s a very modern build or an older style.

Rows of boxy cupboard units, for example, are a near-universal staple in kitchens the length and breadth of the UK - but are they the best design in a small space? One cheap and effective way to open up your kitchen area and give it a far cleaner, more modern air is to abandon the idea of fitted wall units altogether, and opt for tiered shelving with hanging hooks instead.

You’ll get just as much (if not more) storage space for the same amount of wall area used, and the open nature of shelves means they don’t block nearly as much light or headroom as cupboard carcasses. Shelving can appear to take up far less space in the room than door-fronted cubes - and besides, why would you want to hide all your best crockery and glassware away in the first place?

It may seem an obvious point to make, but for a large percentage of the time we spend in our kitchens, we’ll be interacting directly with one of our major appliances - typically the cooker or oven.

Even so, we commonly draft our kitchen remodel ideas by plotting out the approximate cupboard and worktop placements, then trying to figure out if we can fit our most-used appliances neatly into any remaining available spaces. Instead, why not celebrate the dynamic and practical nature of a well-planned kitchen by giving those key appliances pride of place?

Building the rest of your kitchen setup around the tools you use the most is a great way to improve overall efficiency and workflow within the space. Start with a highly functional and versatile option like a Leisure Dual Fuel Range Cooker, and then think about how you personally tend to work with and around your cooker in deciding what else should go where.

Demanding that everything adheres to one consistent look or theme can add unnecessary cost to a kitchen makeover - and the results can sometimes be a bit dull and predictable too.

For example, insisting that every worktop in the room be visually and materially identical can incur some hefty expenses, as well as limiting their overall impact. Instead, designate one surface as the main ‘showpiece’ area and consider lower budget options for the less prominent or useful counters.

The same concept also works well for cupboards, doors, handles, and so on: anything that won’t be getting a lot of attention or use can be downgraded to a cheaper model than those used in the most attention-grabbing areas. This eclectic approach not only saves on cost but when done with taste and discretion can also result in some highly attractive, unique, and visually striking kitchens.

Depending on the type of space you have, one of the most effective ways to freshen and brighten a dull kitchen can be to undo a lot of what’s been done to it over the years.

You may have attractive floorboards lurking beneath old vinyl matting, for instance, or a cooking area that can be made much less dingy by removing or upgrading a once-trendy patterned tile backsplash. Maybe someone added fancy cupboard handles that poke needlessly into the room or boxed in an appliance that would seem less obtrusive if they hadn’t tried to hide it.

Again, looking at what can be removed isn’t just a creative way to come up with inspiration for kitchen refurbishment ideas- it’s also a cost-effective and labour-saving one.