The Telegraph finds the best budget makeovers  

A couple of months ago I wrote about Barbara Elsmore, a reader from Hampshire who saved a fortune on her kitchen with a few simple DIY techniques. She’s not the only one, it seems. Our search for Britain’s best budget kitchen has provoked many brilliant responses from enterprising home owners around the country.

Frankly, your carpentry, painting and sourcing skills really put the designer gang, and their £80,000 refurbishments, back in their box.

The most impressive makeover came from Tracy Dodds, who revamped the kitchen in her Northumberland cottage for just £600. “The units were not damaged, just out of date,” she says. “So we took them off and pre-painted them with paint for plastic-coated doors. Then we put rivet lines into them to create the Shaker look.”

By twice sanding and painting with eggshell, Dodds achieved the required effect. She bought one set of drawers, new Shaker-style knobs and handles for the units, a “fisherman’s drop” pendant light and under-unit lights from Ikea. A slate-coloured floor completed the whole room.

The photographs reveal that the changes are more Botox than facelift, but the kitchen looks more cosy and contemporary than it did.