It probably only seems like yesterday that you were remodelling your kitchen. You remember clearly all the cabinets being pulled out and the ceiling is painted. But when you look at the calendar, you realise that you last updated your kitchen over a decade ago. During the intervening years, it’s slowly fallen into a state of disrepair. And now you’re looking at a kitchen that is a shadow of its former self. The following are some tell-tale signs that you need to get a new kitchen.

The Cabinets Are Falling Apart

New kitchen cabinets are great. They’re clean, sturdy and have a mechanism that feels great when you open and closes them. But over the years, they start falling apart. To begin with, it’s usually only small things. The little plastic contact between the door and the cupboard shell falls off, making the door slam. But over time, more serious problems creep in. Eventually, doors can fall off, and skirting boards come out of place. It’s a nightmare.

Fortunately, it’s something that’s easily rectified. You can replace all of the cabinets in your kitchen. Or you can simply have them refurbished with new fascias to save on cost. If you’re in need of inspiration, the Sheffield kitchen company Xclusive Kitchens have a beautiful gallery of modern, traditional and luxurious kitchen designs on their website that may just help you choose the cabinet design you desire.

It Looks, Bland

There’s nothing worse than walking into a kitchen every day that looks decidedly bland. There’s nothing offensive about the design. And everything is relatively clean. But you can’t help but notice the fact that everything is either beige or white. It’s boring and does little to inspire.

There are, however, some simple solutions. First, think about whether you’d benefit from decorative paint from a company like Paints4Trade. Perhaps you could repaint your kitchen ceiling to lift the whole room. Next, experiment with lighting. Are there any opportunities to light preparation areas or key features in the room? Finally, ask yourself whether your kitchen could be lifted by switching out the floor. If you’ve got some dull vinyl on the floor, but you prefer it ask yourself whether modern vinyl tiles would make the room more vibrant.

Your Refrigerator Is Constantly Overflowing

Keeping the fridge organised is difficult at the best of times. But if you’ve kept the same kitchen you had before your family arrived, things have no doubt gotten worse. When your fridge is overflowing on a daily basis, it’s time to accept you need a kitchen rethink.

Of course, you can pick up bigger refrigerators rather quickly. It’s just a question of where to put them. Thanks to things like cabinets, installing larger fridges is a challenge in most kitchens. That’s why, if you do decide to get a new fridge, it’s probably best to get a new kitchen too.

If You’ve Run Out Of Space

Small kitchens are great when just one or two people are using them. But when there’s three, four and five, it soon gets cramped. Of course, making your kitchen bigger isn’t the cheapest option out there. But it’s a great way to grab back some of the domestic bliss.

At the moment, the fashion is for open-plan kitchens. So extending your kitchen could be as simple as breaking through into an adjacent room.