Kitchen remodel

[LagoDiComo]

Hi all,

Our kitchen is tired and dated (think fake Spanish tile lino and tiles with food motifs) and we would like to replace it. It's open plan in so much as the front door essentially opens onto it, so it's a combined kitchen/hallway/landing (our stairs go down, not up) and as a result quite a large space (albeit it's a two bed maisonette).

Having lived here for about 6 months, the kitchen layout works quite well so I'm basically just looking for a remodel (white/wood worktop/colourful tiles or splashback, nothing unusual). However, we do need the ceiling reskimmed (to get rid of meringue style peaks) and the entire hallway/stairwell/landing area stripped and painted. So in short, it's slightly more than a straightforward kitchen replacement but not enough that we need a major redesign.

What's the best way of going about this? We have a reasonable budget but obviously don't want to overspend - it's not a grand property so the kitchen doesn't need to be super high spec. We are not at all DIY savvy so can't do any of it ourselves and are a bit nervous about online ordering of all the bits, and in any case then we'd have to find someone to put it all in. There also seem to be a lot of mixed reviews about all the kitchen companies. We do have a Howdens literally round the corner though. Any ideas or advice welcome as we are getting nowhere fast and would ideally like to get it done this spring/summer.

[lalalonglegs]

Howdens certainly used to, and as far as I know, still do, sell only to trade customers so you would only be able to order their kitchens through a carpenter/kitchen fitter etc and it was all a bit smoke and mirrors about how much you would end up paying as the tradesman would be given a price which he might or might not pass onto you uninflated.

I really recommend Ikea kitchens - they are very robust and have great storage solutions - my only complaint is that they only go up in 20cm jumps so, if you have a gap of say, 50cm, you can only buy a 40cm cupboard and a filler panel. However, they are very good value and have some very nice door fronts. I believe that Ikea also provide a fitting service although I have never used this - I would recommend finding someone local to do the job which shouldn't be too big a deal if it's like for like. I would also recommend assembling the units yourself to make the budget go further, it is really easy once you have done one or two.