New kitchen.. where to start?

[Jelouscat]

I want to knock down a wall between my small kitchen and dining room and and make a kitchen/diner. My kitchen is very old and so I’d like to just get rid of everything and start again.

Ive never done any house renovations before.. where do I start? Who do I call? What companies are good for buying kitchens from? Do I get them to install or do I use a builder/fitter?

I guess you’ll need to find out first of all whether that wall is supporting wall or not. You’ll know for sure if it isn’t, if it’s ‘hollow’ sounding when you knock on it. If it’s a solid wall then there’s a much more higher chance that it’s a supporting wall, so would need a builder.

You have a couple of options, depending on how involved you want to be.

You could

A) Find a reputable kitchen designer and fitter - they will do everything for you from the design process to fitting it. By far the easiest but costliest version. Handy that the fitter and supplier will be the same people, so warranty should be easier.

B) Find a kitchen supplier and pick out what you want yourself. Then hire a builder or kitchen fitter to sort it out for you. Probably a bit cheaper this way, but then you’ll have to manage ordering the parts and sending back anything that’s naff.

Best thing to do I suppose is get some quotes from various places, there’s obviously the big names like Wren kitchens etc but you can check out your local places too.

Get in touch with some local builders, preferably recommended ones. Ask them to quote for their part of the work, then you'll have an idea what costs you are looking at and can then decide how much you have left for the kitchen. Our builder fitted the kitchen for us and also kindly passed on the discount he got from the company which saved us 40% also consider hiring a decorator for any repainting etc. You could do it yourself but they will be covered for any accidental damage to the new kitchen.

We used Howdens for out kitchen, I would highly recommend them

Lots of kitchen places can do a visualisation of how your kitchen might look if you give them v detailed measurements. I used Wren and although the appointment went on a bit, I ended up with a set of pictures that look exactly like my kitchen did post fitting!

I went with an independent builder I'd used many times. It was more expensive than the Wren installers but he got rid of all the old kitchen, arranged electrician/new lighting/plugs, fitted the tiles, painted, arranged the new flooring, fitted all our appliances back in etc.

You need to find out about the wall first.

ofnyou have your measurements Diy kitchens a free planner to visualise your kitchen

Go to somewhere like homebase and ikea and get some plans.
Once you start getting a feel for it all, go to diy website, choose a kixthen and compare it prices.

Before you start talking to anyone who wants to sell you something, think very carefully about what YOU want for your kitchen: where you want appliances, what each cupboard will be used for, where you would like to locate a table/breakfast bar and seating etc. Kitchens are very personal so in my opinion you need to be clear in your mind first, because others can befuddle you with hard sell!

Do remember that if you knock a wall out that you will a lot of cupboard storage/worktop space. Can you afford to loose it?

I used Howdens. They took all the measurements and created a design that worked best with what I wanted and the space available

Sorry should have said first I had a local builder to take out the old kitchen out and build a small extension.

He then fitted the Howdens kitchen for me.

We did exactly the same. Howdens were brilliant and came up with loads of cool space saving and storage ideas.

Thank you for the brilliant advice everyone! I was thinking of a kitchen island as a way to retain storage space/surface space BUT then a separate dining table might not make sense. Perhaps I should keep the rooms separate after all.

Have you considered a peninsula instead of an island? It could act as a dividing line between cooking space and dining space. Provides work surface and maybe a breakfast bar. It's what I'm considering when I remove wall between kitchen and dining room.

A peninsula! Off to google this. Thanks

@Monkeybutt1 can a customer go direct to Howdens? I thought it was just trade

I'd go for a peninsular option. But do check if the wall is a supporting wall or not and bear in mind any radiators, electrics and pipes that might need relocating.

I think it's just trade but most builders/joiners can use them.