Should you respray your kitchen or replace it? An honest 2026 comparison — cost, time, disruption, results, and when each option makes sense.
You are weighing up two options: pay £8,000–£25,000 for a brand-new kitchen, or pay £1,500–£2,500 to respray the one you have. Here is the honest comparison.
New kitchen: £8,000–£15,000 for a mid-range fitted kitchen (Howdens, Magnet, Wickes), £15,000–£35,000+ for a premium brand or bespoke (DeVOL, Tom Howley, Plain English). Add £2,000–£5,000 for a fitter, plus electricals, plumbing, plastering, tiling and flooring. Realistic total: £18,000–£40,000.
Respray: £1,500–£2,500 for a typical Plymouth kitchen, all-in. Save 80–95%.
New kitchen: 6–10 weeks from order to finish. 1–2 weeks of installation. Kitchen out of action for the full install period.
Respray: 5 days door-to-door. Kitchen usable throughout.
New kitchen: Major. You will live without a kitchen for 1–2 weeks. Multiple trades through the house. Dust everywhere. Often needs plastering, electricals, plumbing.
Respray: Minimal. Doors come to our workshop. Carcass sprayed in one go. Water-based paint inside. Kitchen still functional. Family stays put.
New kitchen: A new kitchen. New layout if you change it, new appliances if you spec them. New doors, new units, new handles. Substantial visual change.
Respray: Same layout, same units, same appliances — but it looks brand new. Different colour, different style, different feel. If your existing units are sound and the layout works, the visible result is identical to a new kitchen at a fraction of the price.
New kitchen: Old units to landfill (a typical fitted kitchen is 200–500kg of MDF, plastic and metal). Embedded carbon in new manufacturing and shipping.
Respray: Almost zero waste. The substrate stays in your home. Just a few litres of paint and primer.
If a respray won’t work, we will say so up front rather than take a job that won’t make you happy. In some cases a hybrid is best — respray the units, replace just the doors. We can advise.
If your kitchen is structurally fine and the layout works, a respray gives you 90% of the visual outcome of a new kitchen for 10% of the cost, in 5% of the time. For most Plymouth homes, that maths is hard to beat.