Pondering kitchen cabinets and countertops in my rental

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Pondering kitchen cabinets and countertops in my rental

Glen E
Savannah, GA · Member since 2009 · 20 posts · 2 votes

I have a medium-priced rental in the greater Atlanta area. 9-yr tenant just moved out and I'm getting the house ready for another renter. This house was built in the 1980s and still has what are probably the original wood cabinets and laminate countertops. They're in decent shape but of course very dated. Perhaps I should upgrade to granite countertops and the modern white-look cabinets, but I'd prefer not to spend that much money if I can avoid it. (Renter demand is generally good in this area and I can probably get a good renter either way - I think!) So:

1) I'm wondering if I can get away with leaving the countertops as-is, and painting the cabinets a white color to (at least somewhat) give a more modern look. Have others out there done that? If so, are there folks with better interior decorating expertise than I have (which is none at all!) who would suggest any a specific brand, shade of white, and level of glossiness of paint for the cabinets?

2) Any other low-cost suggestions to spruce up a kitchen without doing whole new cabinets/countertops?

3) Or do you strongly suggest that I just bite the bullet and pay the money for the kitchen remodel?

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  • Max T.
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    TLDR: For new rental cabinets - go with the cheap option that is either stained or painted. Do not go with cabinets wrapped in facing because they can not be touched up. 

    On my last new kitchen for a rental I was looking for a low cost cabinet option.

    The white cabinets were not painted - they had the facing/wrap (not sure what it is called). If the cabinet facing gets bumped it will scratch and it is not possible to touch them up. I know this because I had used them in my previous new kitchen which was a live in flip.

    And the painted white cabinets were more expensive.

    So I went with a low cost option that was darker stain because it was real wood fronts and doors that were stained, not wrapped in facing material. If/when they get dinged it will be easy to touch up small spots with a matching stain or even a furniture pen.

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  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    6y

    I would not do granite unless you're renting to high-end clients. Go with something of solid construction that can hide damage or be easily repaired. If your tenants are C class or lower, expect they will set hot things on the counter or slam doors and then buy accordingly.

    I agree that the vinyl-wrapped units are awful. Go with something stained or painted that can easily be repaired and touched up by you or your handyman.

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  • Glen E
    OP
    Savannah, GA · Member since 2009 · 20 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    Thank you to the two of you who replied!

    I found this about vinyl wrapped cabinets:

          https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/p...

    There are a mixture of opinions there, but I tend to be wary of the vinyl, as the two replies here have said. From reading about putting vinyl on cabinets, it kind of reminds me of putting wallpaper on walls (although I think the vinyl is thicker, but then again kitchen cabinets get a lot heavier use than the average house wall). And I don't like wallpaper on walls. Inevitably it peels after some time, and once it has started peeling it is pretty much impossible to repair it. Whereas, even though a paint job doesn't last forever, in my experience one can generally do a touch-up paint job after a few years. So I agree that I would rather paint the cabinets than use the vinyl.

    Thanks for the opinion not to put granite countertops on anything except a high-end rental. That was my opinion too but I was afraid that there would be a lot of landlords out there telling me that I needed to have a pricy kitchen to attract good tenants. It's nice not to get that kind of reaction, at least in the replies so far.

    I was hoping for some opinions on cabinet colors, but maybe there aren't enough interior decorating people reading this forum. I did some web searches and I ran across this:

         https://www.countryliving.com/...

    I like several of the choices here, but especially the first three and fifth one. It's nice that most of them are available at Home Depot so I'm not searching for some obscure/exotic brand.

    The article above doesn't say much about the level of glossiness, but a couple other articles leave me the impresson that I should go for a flat paint rather than anything with much gloss.

    So I have a better idea of what to do, but further comments are welcome.

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  • Tyler Groom
    Member since 2019 · 8 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    Looking for some insight into this as well. Only I’m in CA and rents are probably gonna be around $1500

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  • Jessica Franco
    Rental Property Investor · Charlotte · Member since 2019 · 70 posts · 34 votes
    6y

    @Glen E I am also looking at "modernizing" our kitchen. We are living in one unit of our duplex and making some minor changes in hopes that we can raise the rent when we move out and place tenants. Our kitchen has green countertops with light oak cabinets (It's gross) I did some research and lots of Pinterest searching. Looks like white cabinets and dark countertops are popular.

    I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on upgrading the kitchen, so we will be doing the work ourselves since we are living in the unit. From the videos I watched on YouTube looks like a lot of people have had success with Rustoleum countertop paint around $22.00 at Lowes and Behr Alkyd Semi-gloss enamel paint for the cabinets around $35.99 

    We painted the cabinets in our old house white and used a high gloss for the cabinets because it was easier to clean spills from the kitchen. We stayed in the house for three years and the cabinets were still in good shape when we sold it, we didn't have to touch up the paint like I thought we would have had to. 

    Another thing we've done to make the kitchen look more modern is upgrading the appliances to stainless steel. We had white appliances that were so old they looked yellow. We were going to ride them out until they stopped working but I found a local guy that gets brand new appliances really cheap (don't know how he does it, but I don't ask questions) I also browse through the ding and dent sections at local appliance stores. So far we've only replaced the dishwasher and its looking good! 

    I'd love to hear what you decide to do with your kitchen, please keep me posted! 



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  • John Teachout
    Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    We leave cabinets wood colored if they're in good condition. If not, we paint them gloss white. For countertops in rentals we don't change them for cosmetic purposes. If they're in good condition, they stay. If they're messed up they get replaced with laminate countertops. Just put in two countertops on top of repurposed cabs this week. Used stainless steel sink, new Delta faucet with sprayer. It's a rental, not your personal home. It needs to look decent and be serviceable. Rentals will not be treated like you would treat your own home. They should be but rarely are.

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