SERVICE 13 · SELECTION ROOM · MALVERN
A kitchen makeover keeps the boxes and changes everything you touch
Plenty of Malvern kitchens are structurally fine and visually tired. The carcasses are square, the drawers still run, the plumbing sits where it should — and the doors are dated, the benchtop is chipped at the sink cut-out and the splashback belongs to another decade. A makeover replaces the visible and the handled layers while the sound framework stays put, which keeps the work confined to surfaces rather than walls.
Changing where the sink or the island sits? That is a remodel, not a refresh.
SCOPE OF A REFRESH
Doors & drawer fronts
Remeasured · rehung · new hinges
Benchtop
Templated · new edge profile · new cut-outs
Splashback
Tile · slab · glass · full height or set height
Hardware
Pulls · knobs · soft-close runners
Sink & tapware
Undermount or drop-in · mixer · water filter
Carcasses, layout and the position of services stay as they are.
Reference photograph · Raised-panel fronts, matt black bar handles and a tiled wall — the parts a makeover replaces.
ASSESSMENT
Is the existing cabinetry worth keeping?
This is the first thing checked on site, because everything else follows from it. Five things are looked at, and any one of them failing badly usually points toward new joinery instead.
01 Board condition. Swelling at the kick, soft corners under the sink or delaminated edging means the box has taken water and will keep taking it.
02 Squareness and level. Cabinets that have dropped or racked will not hold a straight line of new fronts, no matter how the hinges are adjusted.
03 Fixings. Wall cabinets need sound anchoring before a heavier door or a stone return is hung off the same run.
04 Internal usefulness. Deep blind corners and fixed shelving limit what a refresh can improve; some of it is recoverable with internal fit-out.
05 Module sizes. Existing widths set what new fronts can look like — a handleless run needs consistent reveals across the whole elevation.
01
What changes
Every surface in view and every surface in hand: fronts, finish colour, benchtop material and edge, splashback, handles, sink, mixer and under-cabinet lighting. Drawer runners and hinges are usually renewed at the same time, because old hardware undoes the look of new fronts within a year.
02
What stays
The carcasses, the footprint and the bench height. Waste, water and power stay where they are, so walls and floors are largely left alone. The existing floor tiling generally remains; if it is lifted, the job has stopped being a makeover.
03
What a refresh cannot fix
A cramped work triangle, a bench too short to prep on, a fridge that blocks a doorway, or the absence of a pantry. Those are layout problems, and they are solved by remodelling or a complete renovation — new fronts on the wrong plan only make the wrong plan look newer.
Reference photograph · painted front · timber knob · terrazzo-look top — three separate selections read as one decision
THE COMPRESSED SEQUENCE
The same twelve stages, with the middle ones taken out
A refresh runs on the twelve-stage process with demolition reduced to a strip of fronts and tops, and services preparation limited to isolating the sink and any circuits touched. The steps below are the ones a makeover keeps; the stage numbers stay with the full process.
Consultation and condition check of the existing joinery
Measure — every module, reveal and bench run recorded
Design: elevations showing the new fronts against what stays
Quote against that drawn scope
Material selection — front finish, top, splashback, hardware
Strip-out of old doors, tops and splashback only
Cabinets levelled, refixed and templated
New benchtop fitted, then splashback measured to it
Fronts hung, hardware set, sink and tapware connected, handover
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions worth settling before selection day
Can new doors be matched to cabinets from an older kitchen?
New fronts are manufactured to the measured openings rather than to an old catalogue size, so the match is to your cabinets specifically. Hinge positions are reset as part of the work. Door styles and finishes are covered on the cabinets page.
Can the kitchen be used while the work runs?
Partly. There is a period between the old benchtop coming off and the new one being installed when the sink is disconnected, because stone and porcelain are templated to the cabinets as they stand. Planning for that gap is the single most useful thing to arrange in advance.
Is a makeover worth it in a small kitchen?
Often, provided the layout already works. Where a compact kitchen is failing on circulation or bench space, the fix is structural — see small kitchen renovations instead.
Can appliances be changed at the same time?
Yes, where the replacement fits the existing opening and the services already present. Changing from a freestanding cooker to an integrated cooktop and wall oven, for example, changes the cabinetry and usually shifts the job into remodelling territory.
Send through a photograph of the kitchen as it stands
A wide shot of each run, your suburb and a note on what bothers you most is enough to say whether a refresh is the right scope for the room. Makeovers are carried out in Malvern, Malvern East, Armadale, Toorak, Glen Iris, Kooyong, Prahran, South Yarra and Caulfield North.
IF THE SCOPE IS LARGER
Guide: doors, finishes & hardware
Prefer to ask a question first? Use the contact form.