Start with what’s actually wrong
Most people who ask about a new kitchen don’t dislike the kitchen. They dislike how it looks: a dated colour, yellowed white gloss, orange pine or worn edges. If that’s you, the cabinets underneath are usually perfectly sound, and that’s exactly what a respray is for.
Option 1: Respray the existing kitchen
Best when: the carcasses are solid, the doors are in reasonable condition and you’re happy with the layout.
- Cost: from £800 for a small kitchen, £1,200 medium, £1,800 large.
- Disruption: about a week for a typical kitchen. You can keep using it throughout, with a few takeaway nights while the carcasses are sprayed.
- What stays: carcasses, worktops, sink, appliances and tiles. Only the finish changes.
- Result: a smooth, hard-wearing finish in your choice of colour, often with new handles to finish the look.
Option 2: Replace the doors
Best when: the doors themselves are swollen, split, badly chipped or the wrap is peeling, but the carcasses are fine.
New doors still need sizing, hanging and adjusting, and you’re limited to the styles that fit your existing carcasses. It’s often worth a middle route: replace only the damaged doors and spray the whole kitchen so everything matches.
Option 3: A new kitchen
Best when: the layout doesn’t work, the carcasses are water-damaged, or you’re extending or knocking through.
A new fitted kitchen in Norfolk usually starts around £10,000 and can reach £30,000 with worktops, appliances and fitting. Expect weeks of disruption rather than days, and a skip-load of perfectly usable units heading to landfill.
A quick way to decide
| If this is true… | …consider |
|---|---|
| Sound cabinets, dated colour or finish | Respray |
| A few damaged doors, the rest fine | Replace those doors, respray the lot |
| Most doors swollen or peeling | New doors, or a new kitchen |
| Layout doesn’t work, or water damage | New kitchen |
Doing the whole room at once
Because I’m a decorator as well as a kitchen sprayer, I can respray the cabinets and repaint the walls, ceiling and woodwork in the same visit, with colours chosen together so they work as a scheme. Most sprayers can’t paint a wall, and most decorators can’t spray a cabinet.