Out-of-the-box thinking saved this couple £53,000 on their dream kitchen

After selling their bungalow and buying a larger home nearby for their family, Claire and David Carr had only prepared to do a little light decorating as they moved in.

'Then, on the day we got the keys, David felt that the house needed a much bigger renovation, including new heating and plumbing,’ recalls interior stylist Claire. ‘Rather than wasting money on prettying up the place, only to change it all in a year or two, we decided that it would be better to get the house right from the start.’

And so Claire and David set about updating the kitchen design while adhering to a strict renovation budget. However, little did they know that they would quickly find themselves attempting to update a kitchen without buying anything new.

Expanding the footprint

By removing a downstairs bathroom and some interior walls, they were able to enlarge the space allocated to the kitchen and open it up to the adjacent dining room. They also replaced a small window and a narrow back door with a larger window to allow more natural light into the kitchen.

Overcoming a limited budget

‘All this building work meant that our kitchen renovation budget had shrunk, so I was forced to start thinking outside the box,’ says Claire. To find something suitable within the reduced budget, she began looking into buying a secondhand kitchen and browsing the Rehome website for pre-loved cabinetry.

After spotting an in-frame classic design she liked and checking the measurements and number of cupboards, she made an offer – barely having time to consult David, a project manager, who was in a meeting at work.

The kitchen had an RRP of £57,000; but Claire paid just £4,000 – including all the appliances – and it was in excellent condition.

Buying a secondhand kitchen

‘My offer was accepted and the kitchen was collected. Then all of a sudden I found myself with a whole room and garden full of cabinets, a range cooker, dishwasher, fridge-freezer and sink,’ she says.

Buying a used kitchen may require some creative thinking. Claire found a website that vets its used kitchens before they are offered for sale. She then cut out the ‘to-scale’ size of each piece on a sticky note, enabling her to play with different kitchen layout ideas. This way, she was able to use at least 70 per cent of the cabinets.

Refreshing the cabinetry with new colourways

‘Don’t get hung up on what you can’t use, as you are still saving such a lot of money,’ she advises. A local firm painted the cabinetry in a deep grey-green shade, which gave it a new lease of life – Farrow & Ball's Treron, available on B&Q, is similar.

Working with a local artisan joiner, Claire mapped out the kitchen layout, placing the range cooker in a central position on one wall and the sink under the window. ‘Then we were able to move around the room and create a layout that was practical and balanced,’ she explains.

Claire bought a second-hand dresser on Facebook Marketplace to add some additional kitchen storage. ‘When it arrived, my heart sank – it just didn’t work in the room,’ she recalls. ‘Then I realised that the dresser top would fit on a section of the kitchen base units – it looks more balanced and works beautifully.’

She had the top section spray-painted to match the base units and added brass pulls –elevating this budget kitchen idea. She then curated a display of crockery and glassware, so that it looks attractive when viewed from the dining area.

Unable to find splashback tiles she liked, Claire was reluctant to spend significant sums on a choice she didn’t feel confident about. She was also under time pressure, as her builders needed to complete the project.

Her speedy and cost-effective solution was to channel country kitchen ideas and opt for tongue and groove kitchen panelling, bought in sheets from a local timber merchant, to add traditional character to the room. B&Q stocks a wide range of MDF tongue and groove sheets that are easy to install DIY.

The choice of tongue and groove wall panelling was perfectly in keeping with the classic style of the cabinetry and painted to match. The finished green kitchen beautifully harmonises with the rest of the 1920s property and is a world away from the compact, dated design that greeted Claire and David when they first moved into their home.

‘I am always recommending people buy a pre-loved kitchen,’ says Claire. ‘Not only did we stop perfectly good furniture from ending up in landfill, we also got the kitchen of our dreams for a fraction of the price.’