First world problem - new kitchen

[WestwardHo1]

I have decided to finally seize the bull by the horns and getting myself a new kitchen, after a decade of an unspeakably ugly ice box since I moved in in 2014. Budget is pretty limited compared to what people spend - am aiming for a max of £6000 including fitting, flooring and an electric radiator (there's no heating in there currently). I'm told this is doable. Am in the process of trying out ideas at Howdens and Wickes with their design service. The fitter has already given me an idea of fit cost.

My issue is my indecisiveness and total lack of trust in my own taste! There's only me so I have no one to bounce ideas off and I lurch from one idea to the next. I want fairly traditional, as it's an old house, and I want something which won't scream "mid 2020s" in a few years, but I also want to incorporate some colour and quirks.

What do you think will date really quickly, and what do you think will stand the test of time? What is worth spending on, and what can you make do with. Splashbacks or tiles? Etc? I think I am decided on navy units, but can't decide on a marble or wood worktop. I have decided on a white composite sink - I think! I like "warm" rather than cool and clinical. It's a small galley kitchen with no room for an island or breakfast bar or anything - it honestly should be the simplest of kitchens to choose and design.

Sorry for sounding rather pathetic. I have been through a torrid time lately and it seems to have affected my decision making ability and confidence.

@Hedgesgalore Which supplier did you use for your 3 year old kitchen?

Our experience of a Howdens kitchen has been good. We’re 8 years into a light grey/green shaker style kitchen with oak worktops. The worktops need upkeep and not sure I would make the same decision if I’d known that, but they look lovely. We have lamona oven and hob, microwave, fridge and freezer. A few years ago we had to replace the element in the oven and a freezer drawer cracked last week. Other than that the appliances have been fine.

I'm another fan of DIY-Kitchens.

When we were looking, about 18 months ago, they only had the one showroom in Pontefract, so we booked a Premier Inn and made a weekend of it and spent almost two days going around the various displays. (They've since opened a second showroom in Oxford.)

We had a plan from a local independent kitchen company which we liked, so we were just looking for the style.

We went with our hearts set on a slab door in navy, but once we saw it up close, we felt it would just be a large block of dark coloured floor to ceiling units.

We went back the second day, and changed our minds completely, going with "Cornflower blue" (it's not what I would call Cornflower blue) with doors that were "broken up" a bit with panels.

The independent company quoted £33,000 including worktop, but with no appliances.

Howdens/Wickes were in the high £20,000s, again without appliances.

DIY came in at £16,000 including 8 appliances. We went elsewhere for worktops (quartz, with a subtle sparkle) which was a further £3,500, and we paid an independent fitter £2,500 to fit the kitchen.

I know this is way above your budget, but our kitchen is a big space. But it'll give you an idea of the savings you can achieve with DIY.

(Photos pending)

Colour wise id be leaning towards cream or sage. What about cream above and sage below if you want to inject colour or any other pastel colour.

I wouldnt go with marble, chip it and its expensive to fix. Wood is more traditional anyway.

Personally love DIY Kitchens I have moved a few times and this will be my 4th kitchen.

We aren’t exactly careful about our kitchens and my first one after 5 years didn’t even have a single paint chip. It looked like new.

Do shop around.

I was trying to find a cheaper alternative to quartz and saw a non quartz/granite worktop in the window display of Magnet
Asked what the design was called and the price of the lengths I would need. (3m and 1.7m small galley kitchen. Apparently that amount of worktop will cost £5k!!!!

My whole kitchen that I have in my basket at DIY plus sink taps and all built in appliances from different suppliers (washing machine, dishwasher, fridge freezer, oven, hob, sink and taps.) is less than £4k

Going to shop around for quartz as not seen a laminate I like and also afford.

I'm getting this IKEA Akersund kitchen and they do online design appointments.
Total price circa £8,000 (£6000 for kitchen and appliances and £2000 fitting)

I’d go for plain neutral doors I like white introduce strong colours with worktops , splash back and flooring

then in a few years it’s a fraction of the cost to change the worktops to get a new look

Ikea recommended a local fitter

Another vote for DIY kitchens (they recommended a fitter btw, I couldn't have fitted it!) Great quality. I went for a very slightly greenish grey/neutral shaker cabinets and splashed out on a composite marble look worktop. I also went for the wood effect inside the units which altho obviously fake actually looks much nicer than the plain white option. I live close to their main showroom so I was lucky but you can do virtual walk arounds and they're really nice and helpful. I'm v happy with my design nearly 5 years later.

Edit: L shape kitchen, total price including worktop but excl appliances was 4.5k

For my first kitchen (quite a smallish kitchen) I had shopped around and found the prices I was quoted ranged from £6,000-£12000 just for the cupboards. One company who sold the Ultima Brand wouldn’t even entertain me as apparently I couldn’t afford them

Got all the cupboards from DIY, quartz worktops from a local firm. And appliances from IO. Large detachable hose type tap from the centre aisle of Lidl and my sink came from B&Q. In total with fitting I spent just under £5000 (handles came from someone selling their excess door handles on FBMP. I paid £10 for 20 chrome cup handles)

Bnq did a kitchen design session for free. And with some prompting they provided coffee.
We went round lots of kitchen salesroom places (Indy and Wickes etc) and picked handles we liked and looked up the name to avoid showroom prices. Much easier now with Google lens.

We bought everything online apart from taps. Husband fitted it all.

I got mine from DIY kitchens, it was virtually identical to one from Howdens but half the price. Units come fully assembled since very easy to fit. Not at all difficult to design it using their on line design tool. I am a single female with no ability to complete household jobs and I managed it.

Go for a white simple shaker design, it will never date and tiles / work surface / flooring / handles can be changed to up date when necessary. Any coloured kitchen will date including navy, sage, grey.

You’ve had so much good specific advice here, I just want to add a more general thing, as someone with no taste or style who has just remodelled an entire house (not by myself, obvs, builders did it). So here it is:

Over the past year I have agonised over every single tile and door handle and skirting board and light switch, second-guessing myself at every turn, convinced I would balls it up in some way. But you know what? Now it’s finished it looks perfectly nice. And I’m sure that if I’d made different choices it would also look perfectly nice. So just to say really, it will be lovely. You will agonise over it, but when it’s done I bet you love it, whatever you choose.

Thanks for your contribution. AIBU is over there if you feel like being a twat having an argument.

@Hedgesgalore thanks, your kitchen sounds lovely.

I have been looking on the DIY website. It seems their units arrive ready built rather than flat packed - can anyone confirm?

Edited for messing up the strikethrough

We put a B&Q kitchen in a previous house 19 years ago. That house is on its third owner and the same kitchen was still showing on Rightmove about 5 years ago.

Thanks so much for your advice everyone. This is really useful stuff.

I am on the verge of changing my mind about Howdens even though the woman was so helpful and a friend of a friend which could be awkward. However never mind. The appliances sound like shit.

Splashbacks or tiles?
We went for a glass panel behind the hob as a splashback, so the wall colour shows through and you don't really notice the splashback without looking for it IYSWIM.

This only works well if your wall is absolutely even so that the glass can sit perfectly and there is no possibility of, say, dust or grit finding it's way between the glass and the wall and looking really really obvious every time you use the hob. Suffice to say, our house is old and the walls are not perfectly even.

Just something to keep in mind - the state of your wall might push you towards tiles.

"an electric radiator (there's no heating in there currently)."
Our kitchen had no heating either, we put in a plinth heater. It sits within the plinth under a kitchen unit, taking up no wallspace - that might work well for you in a small galley.

"I think I am decided on navy units, but can't decide on a marble or wood worktop."
Personally I think navy doors would look good in a galley kitchen. Worse case scenario, you do feel they date - well, you won't feel that for a few years yet, and given it's a "small galley kitchen", it shouldn't cost too much to replace only the doors a few years down the line. (I'm forever seeing adverts for door replacement.) I would go for the navy doors you want.

Wood worktops do take a bit of care, I only have wood on one wall of cupboards where there is no water. The run where the sink is gets splashed/wet regularly and I felt I'd have to be forever mopping, so those units have a granite worktop. Granite/marble also have the advantage of being good for making pastry on, and an unexpected bonus I found to the granite was that things seem to defrost so much quicker on it; I suppose it's the same thermal properties that make it so suitable for pastry-making. Anyway - maybe you don't have to decide on marble or wood, maybe you can have both; one on either side of the galley.

Wow thanks for all the detail @WhereYouLeftIt and the lovely post.

I do actually have one of those little plinth heaters currently. I find it noisy and the heat lasts about 2s after you turn it off, but it can take the worst of the chill off while you are cooking. Re the wood, I don't think I would go for real wood. The upkeep of it would put me off, and also the expense. But you can get some really realistic wood laminate. I am inclining towards that rather than a marble effect now. I'm not too worried about the pastry 😁

Currently watching the videos on the DIY site. I really wish I had someone to talk this through with. I have got my ex a friend coming with me to the next store appointment tomorrow. He has taste, whereas I have very little.

PS I LOVE the floor! Is that a real tile or something else? Looks lovely.

Please avoid Wickes. My brother recently bought a kitchen from them, they started and stopped halfway through, he was without running water in the house for six months, they broke his boiler and he had to get a new one, and those are just a few things that happened.
If you want a source beyond an anonymous secondhand story on the internet, please check out the groups on Facebook for people affected by Wickes

My dad lived by the sea and his kitchen was a lovely pale sky blue - room has a high window but not facing the sea, although the room is also lit from the door if open which does face the lounge which has floor to ceiling sea view, I saw from sales particulars recently, that's 20 years on from when it was done, the kitchen has been kept although repainted walls and new tiles, (it was a Poggenpol kitchen)

https://www.acdistribution.com/

Sorry, checked my invoice (to get the name of company) and it was £13,007 not £12k

No appliances included in that price.

They are in Pontypridd, not sure how far they go though. I gave them my own design of what I wanted. They measured and drew up what would fit where for me😀

I wanted to use them instead of howdens for the more recent kitchen but my fitter said he could get a better price off howdens, not sure though but it was easier to go along with him

For a more timeless look I would go with totally neutral kitchen unit, off white/cream. Then Colour can be introduced via wall paint, blinds/curtains or even splashback/tiles which can be replaced reasonably easily.

We have shaker style doors. I find the little ridge holds so many crumbs???

Do NOT get a composite sink, whatever you do. It stains and is impossible to clean. Aim for stainless steel or ceramic.

If I was going for a traditional kitchen I'd get blue or yellow.