Christmas is flying towards us at an alarming rate – the one time of the year where you and your guests spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else. Yet, as the busiest room in the house, it’s also often the one that ends up neglected. If when you look around your kitchen you’re left feeling uninspired, don’t despair. There’s still time to freshen up your kitchen and give your festive guests the Christmas you’ve always dreamed of – even with just 6 weeks to go! Here’s how in just 5 easy steps.  

1. Carry out any repairs 

Nothing says old and outdated like wobbly cabinets or disconnected kickboards. So, first thing’s first, fix the fundamentals. Replace any broken hinges. Replace any cabinet legs and adjust them to ensure the cupboards and units are stable. Ensure you buy the right width and height cabinet legs, or plinth legs you need for your cabinets and once fitted, ensure they are adjusted properly for stability.  

It’s not uncommon for plinth clips to become damaged or broken over time, but that doesn’t mean your plinths need to be left free range. At BPF Online, we have a range of plinth clips and connectors that can be bought individually or in packs.  

2. Choose your paint 

The paint you need will depend on the type of cupboard doors you have. Most kitchen cupboard doors are either wood or laminate. It can be hard to know which doors you have, but some tell-tale signs can be seen around the door edges – laminate cupboards will not show a grain on the edges of the door. Another tell-tale sign is the type of corner – if it’s angular, it’s likely to be laminate whereas a rounded or shaped corner is likely to indicate a wooden door. Finally, if you have any nicks or chips in the door, you’ll see a different texture like ply board beneath if your cupboard is laminate. Once you know what type of cupboard doors you have, you can set about choosing an appropriate paint.  

3. Select your handles 

To keep your workload as low as possible and keep tell-tale signs to a minimum, choose handles that can be fixed with the same attachment holes already in the doors.  If you have handles attached to the doors in two places, ensure your new pull handles have two fitting holes at the same distance apart. If, however, your current doors use single hole fix knobs or cabinet pulls, these tend to be attached with one screw. Therefore, you’re in luck. You can choose a single fix knob or cabinet pull, but you could also select a bar handle or a dual fix bow handle and ensure one of the holes attach at the preexisting hole.  

If you previously had a dual fix handle or a bar handle and really don’t want to replace with another handle with two attachments paces, an alternative is an inset handle – these are more work, as you’ll need to carve out the door to fit the handle and aren’t advisable for laminate cupboards.  

4. Plan your tech wizardry 

The way we use the kitchen and how we use technology have changed dramatically since our kitchens were installed. Therefore, we can find ourselves hunting for an available charging socket or power point to plug in a processor or a coffee maker. If you often find yourself short of power points, now is the time to do something about it.  

If you have a laminate worktop, pop-up sockets provide a really smart, convenient and easy to clean way to deliver power where you need it, retrospectively, without employing costly electrical professionals. You can see more about how easy these pop-up sockets are to install in our blog.  

5. Create ambience 

Add under-cabinet lighting and even plinth lighting to create real ambience in your kitchen. At BPF Online, we have a wide range of cabinet lighting – some that are easy to fit and others that will require a little more effort.  

These triangular under cabinet lights, have sensor technology built in so, when a person arrives at a workstation to prepare food, the light automatically turns on offering an environmentally friendly, convenient and hygienic lighting solution.  

Comparatively, if you’re into your DIY, or know someone who is, these circular under-cabinet lights fit flush with the cabinet. You’ll need a hole saw to drill a hole the perfect size for the lighting to be mounted into, but the result will be worth the effort.  

For more information about any of these products, please chat with our team of experts at BPF Online through our website.