Does the kitchen in your rental property need a new lease of life? Perhaps the property is currently empty, and you want to make some improvements before new tenants move in?

Giving your kitchen a refresh needn’t cost too much, and in this blog, we’ll tell you about some of the ways you can give your kitchen a new lease of life, without replacing it entirely.

Did you know? As an NRLA member you can now benefit from a 10% discount on most items at Tradepoint and B&Q, thanks to the NRLA’s partnership with TradePoint. That’s double the discount, in store and online on more than 40,000 products! To read more and request your discount card, visit our website.   

How to refresh your kitchen

One way to give your kitchen an updated feel is by replacing or repainting the kitchen cupboards or adding new tiles to a kitchen wall.

How to repaint kitchen cupboards

Sometimes a fresh lick of paint on the kitchen cupboards is all it takes to improve the overall appearance of the kitchen.

So, you’ve chosen your paint and covered your work space in old newspaper. What next?

The first step is to remove all the handles from each of the kitchen cabinets, number each of the doors and then remove them one by one.

To save you from having to stand on worktops to reach higher up cupboards, painting the doors when they are not still attached to the kitchen units is easier.

Top tip! You can use planks and screws to support the doors for painting, as demonstrated in the video below.

Once all the doors are removed, you will first need to remove any grease from them. To do this take some sandpaper and gently sand them. Then, take a lint-free cloth and use this to wipe away any dust on the doors.

To paint the kitchen cupboard doors, cabinet paint is recommended. Give this a good stir, and then you’re ready to get painting!

It’s a good idea to start with the fiddly parts of the cupboards first, using a paintbrush to paint the edges.

Then, you can paint the rest of the cabinet using a roller and applying even pressure. Once the first coat of the door is done, wait for twelve hours and apply a second coat. Once dry, you can refit the doors to the kitchen cabinets.

How to replace kitchen cupboards altogether

Perhaps instead of painting the kitchen cupboards you’d prefer to replace each of the doors on the unit altogether?

To do this, you first need to measure the size of each of the doors. Start by drawing a simple layout of your kitchen unit on a piece of paper.

Measure all of the doors and drawer fronts and note these measurements down on the drawing. You don’t need to measure the entire kitchen unit as you wont be changing this-just the doors. It is important to measure each and every one of the doors, as they may not all be the same size.

The next thing to do is to work out how many new concealed hinge fittings you’ll need. The majority of cupboard doors need two hinges, but larger ones may require three.

Once you have the measurements and the number of hinges you will need, you can then go and buy the new doors and fittings. Think about choosing some new handles as well as this can really change the appearance of a kitchen. For more practical advice on changing the kitchen doors and adding new handles, see this video below.

Tile the kitchen wall

Another simple trick to improving the appearance of a tired looking kitchen is to add or replace some of the kitchen tiles. Tiles are both waterproof and easy to clean, so are very useful to have in kitchens.  

The first step to take before buying tiles is to work out the area of the wall you want to cover.

Once any old tiles have been removed, take a tape measure, a pencil and some paper and measure the height and width of the part of the kitchen where you want to add tiles to, to work out the area in square metres.

You’ll need to add on about 10% to account for cutting and wastage, and then you should be able to see how many packs of tiles you need to tile the wall.

It is then time to prepare the wall surface. To do this make sure the surface of the wall you are planning to tile is clean, flat, and free from any grease.

Using a face mask and making sure the area is well ventilated, scrape of any wallpaper or flaking paint, and fill any holes in the wall.

Then, it’s time to prime the area using a primer or a PVA adhesive, diluted with water. The primer must be dry before you begin to tile the wall.

Fixing the tiles

Wall primed, it is time to begin the job of adding the tiles.

If you are tiling between two walls, it’s a good idea to start from the centre of the wall and work towards the corners. You should start from where the kitchen worktop is, and work upwards.

Different tiles require different adhesives to allow them to set properly - powdered or ready mixed, so it’s best to read up on this to see which you need.

Using a notched spreader, apply the adhesive to the wall. Don’t do the whole wall in one, rather aim for the right amount that would cover four or five tiles at a time.

Then you can begin to press the tiles on to the wall. You may need to cut some tiles if they’re too big for the ends of the wall. To learn more about how to do this, watch this video below:

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