Paint this kitchen or replace?

H

Highlygeared

Hi guys

just bought a prop in north Brisbane and aiming to do a quick 2 week reno. What do you guys think of the kitchen?

kitchen.jpg


Should I give it a quick and dirty spruce up ie paint cabinets on the left white (leave the rest) OR replace the entire thing with a regular white melamine kitchen? Difference in cost will be about $4K installed excluding appliances. Reno being done by locals and managed remotely (I live in Syd) so bit difficult to keep costs at rock bottom.

Thanks
 
Thanks, well its not the only thing that needs doing but rental premium guesstimate for the kitchen alone:

Do nothing: $0
Paint: $10
New: $40

I pretty much know what you were gonna say - use above nos and work out the ROI %.

But crux of question (because I also want to reval/refin this property) is that in tandem with painting, floorsanding, yard clean up ect ect, is this kitchen utter crap or 'good enough'. Median house prices are early $300s so its not an upmarket area. If it was, I would replace the kitchen no question.
 
I would go for new kitchen, try to keep under 2.5k if you buy well.

Price range, future reval on the cards - seems to make sense.
 
Propertunity said:
Throw it away!

Even a Bunnings flat pack for $2-3K would be worth it IMO, especially if going for a reval.
Click to expand...

Yeah tempted but where do you stop - 2-3K for the kitchen, 2K for appliances etc, $1K to install, then you need an elctrician, blah blah blah. The issue with this house is I need to spend a lot to make it look good or a little to freshen up. Its not one of those grey area type props where spending a modest amount will totally chnage it.

But seriously, it looks that bad? Even though I wont see anything like it on Masterchef, I've seen worse.
 
Highlygeared said:
Yeah tempted but where do you stop - 2-3K for the kitchen, 2K for appliances etc, $1K to install, then you need an elctrician, blah blah blah. The issue with this house is I need to spend a lot to make it look good or a little to freshen up. Its not one of those grey area type props where spending a modest amount will totally chnage it.

But seriously, it looks that bad? Even though I wont see anything like it on Masterchef, I've seen worse.
Click to expand...

We did a kitchen last year, bought it from Bunnings and did the install ourselves. I know a self-install isn't possible for all people but it certainly saves the money.

We got some other work done like floors polished and the arch removed, but the result is pleasing. Total cost is well under $3,000 from memory: I think it might have been under $2,000. By far the hardest part was the fridge cabinet because it's width wasn't standard. If I was doing it again I'd not put it in, just leave the fridge open, and save almost $400 in panels and cabinets and about 2 days of mucking about to make it fit.
 

Attachments

  • P1040018.jpg
    P1040018.jpg
    88.4 KB · Views: 291
  • P1040800.jpg
    P1040800.jpg
    90.2 KB · Views: 293
Highlygeared said:
Yeah tempted but where do you stop - 2-3K for the kitchen, 2K for appliances etc, $1K to install, then you need an elctrician, blah blah blah. The issue with this house is I need to spend a lot to make it look good or a little to freshen up. Its not one of those grey area type props where spending a modest amount will totally chnage it.

But seriously, it looks that bad? Even though I wont see anything like it on Masterchef, I've seen worse.
Click to expand...

2k kitchen, install yourself (what a great learning experience!), 1k appliances... Try get a kitchen which fits current electrical set up.... Alternatively hope a good second hand kitchen comes up on Gumtree..

I personally think it looks terrible, wouldn't rent a property with a kitchen like that.

I should think it would hinder a successful reval substantially.
 
vaughan said:
We did a kitchen last year, bought it from Bunnings and did the install ourselves. I know a self-install isn't possible for all people but it certainly saves the money.

We got some other work done like floors polished and the arch removed, but the result is pleasing. Total cost is well under $3,000 from memory: I think it might have been under $2,000. By far the hardest part was the fridge cabinet because it's width wasn't standard. If I was doing it again I'd not put it in, just leave the fridge open, and save almost $400 in panels and cabinets and about 2 days of mucking about to make it fit.
Click to expand...



looks good, was that $3k including polish!?!?!?!?!

where do you guys find kitchens so cheap,

the best i have found is this mob
http://www.kitchenunder2k.com.au/

can you guys really do it for under $3k???

i mean a kitchen for $2k, + delivery + oven $500+ rangehood $100+ install
 
OK fine, I think you guys are right - just can't stomach the thought of adding anotehr 3-4K to the reno. I just cant do it myself - too far, not handy, lazy. I rather spend 100 hrs finding someone to do it cheap than spend 10 hrs learning how to do it myself. Some people never learn.
 
vaughan said:
We did a kitchen last year, bought it from Bunnings and did the install ourselves. I know a self-install isn't possible for all people but it certainly saves the money.

We got some other work done like floors polished and the arch removed, but the result is pleasing. Total cost is well under $3,000 from memory: I think it might have been under $2,000. By far the hardest part was the fridge cabinet because it's width wasn't standard. If I was doing it again I'd not put it in, just leave the fridge open, and save almost $400 in panels and cabinets and about 2 days of mucking about to make it fit.
Click to expand...

Nice job, Vaughan!

Looks great - a significant improvement to the property.
 
TMNT said:
looks good, was that $3k including polish!?!?!?!?!

where do you guys find kitchens so cheap,

the best i have found is this mob
http://www.kitchenunder2k.com.au/

can you guys really do it for under $3k???

i mean a kitchen for $2k, + delivery + oven $500+ rangehood $100+ install
Click to expand...


No, the $2k was for the kitchen cabinets, doors, bench top, sink. We reused the mixer tap and stove. Rangehood was $100, sink was $110 or something. Tiles were $300. We did the installation. Delivery: my Commodore wagon has paid for itself several times over. Otherwise, get a tow bar and borrow a trailer from Bunnings and do it yourself too for free.

This wasn't the cheapest kitchen Bunnings had, we went for the glossy white up top and "eternity" doors down the bottom. Plain melamine would have saved a couple hundred dollars but not looked anywhere near as nice. (We tried to use colour and texture to make it look more expensive than it was.)

Where did we find this bargain? We walked into Bunnings! Seriously. We checked prices with Ikea, Mitre 10 and the other major players and found Bunnings were about the cheapest. We could have got cheaper going to a wholesale cabinet specialist but we wanted the luxury of being able to race in to the nearest Bunnings hardware store at 8:55 pm any week night and get parts last minute, which ended up saving our lives.

The floor was $1,800 for the whole 3 bedroom house (we lifted and disposed of the carpet and pulled most staples but they fixed some bad timber and punched the nails). Gotta love the tradespeople at Mount Druitt, they are prompt, competent and very, very reasonably priced.

We did the kitchen, polished the floor, complete internal and external paint, re-lined the walls of the kitchen, lounge and dining room and did electrical wiring upgrades (new power circuits, rcd, circuit breakers, relocated 3 or 4 light switches and installed a ducted exhaust fan in bathroom) new window venetian blinds, new lights plus some outside landscaping for under $15k in 4 weeks.

Rent went from $270 pw to $360 pw.
 
Hey HG

IMHO and sorry to be offensive but it's horrible :eek:

If you can afford it spend the $$$ and hopefully also get a better higher-paying tenant. Not everyone can do a kitchen cheaply- obviously ppl like Vaughan have the skills in sweat labour (great job by the way Vaughan :D) but alas, you're going to have to fork out for a handyman or builder to install.

I'd also be checking out Ebay and Gumtree for second hand kitchens- I have a super duper timber one coming up soon but it would be way too big for your house (and it's in NSW) A remote reno isn't hard if you hire someone reputable and have a great PM. Last one I did on my little unit at Sawtell was a completely easy job and cost me just over $4K. Made a huge difference.

Kitchens really are rooms that require attention, not just for looks but hygiene reasons as well. Swollen laminates and old smelly timber cupboards can be very off-putting for potential tenants. Best of luck with it all :)
 
vaughan said:
We did a kitchen last year, bought it from Bunnings and did the install ourselves. I know a self-install isn't possible for all people but it certainly saves the money.

We got some other work done like floors polished and the arch removed, but the result is pleasing. Total cost is well under $3,000 from memory: I think it might have been under $2,000. By far the hardest part was the fridge cabinet because it's width wasn't standard. If I was doing it again I'd not put it in, just leave the fridge open, and save almost $400 in panels and cabinets and about 2 days of mucking about to make it fit.
Click to expand...

Great job on your reno.. I've often thought about the costs for doing something like this and if I could achieve a result like that for 3k i'd be pretty dam happy.
 
Jacque said:
If you can afford it spend the $$$ and hopefully also get a better higher-paying tenant. Not everyone can do a kitchen cheaply- obviously ppl like Vaughan have the skills in sweat labour (great job by the way Vaughan :D) but alas, you're going to have to fork out for a handyman or builder to install.
Click to expand...

Very kind words Jacque. My lovely wife and two sons also helped in the reno.

Not all went well. This was our first tiling job ever and we decided on the little mosaic tiles because they'd require the minimum amount of cutting. The advice given at the hardware store was to use a 6mm comb to lay the tile adhesive. We did this and ended up with paste oooooozing from the gaps between the tiles (like vegemite worms through squeezed Vitaweet biscuits). It should have been a 2 or 3mmm comb. It was a big huge sticky mess.

I can laugh about it now... :)
 
Jacque said:
Hey HG

IMHO and sorry to be offensive but it's horrible :eek:

If you can afford it spend the $$$ and hopefully also get a better higher-paying tenant. Not everyone can do a kitchen cheaply- obviously ppl like Vaughan have the skills in sweat labour (great job by the way Vaughan :D) but alas, you're going to have to fork out for a handyman or builder to install.
Click to expand...

No probs Jacque - gotta love honest, straight to the point opinions. OK will probbaly replace - more out of a need to refi than anything. I have painted some crapola kitchens (to boost rent) and tenants don't seem to mind too much. Wish I had access to Nathan's cheap tradies. That's the one thing I envy most - I can find the deals but reno-ing on the cheap, and quickly, without doing the work myself..that's the hard part.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jodes92
Reno cost advice?
Replies
2
Views
1K
bob shovel
bob shovel
K
Is this reno viable? First time!
Replies
8
Views
5K
Ace in the Hole
Ace in the Hole
K
Should I renovate before selling?
Replies
7
Views
2K
bryn
B
E
NSW before and after
Replies
19
Views
3K
bigdealbaby
B
T
What would you do with this IP to sell?
Replies
11
Views
2K
Tim86
T
Back
Top