About the price of kitchen fittings?

[Albadross]

Quote for our new kitchen. The guy came over to ask me what we wanted, but refused to discuss prices so I had no idea what we'd be able to afford from what I chose.

He comes back with a price of £12K just for the fittings - no building work/floor/tiles etc!!

He then sends over a breakdown of the costs, which shows that one small section of 2 cupboards with curved ends came to 5K on it's own .

Is it beyond the realm of human capability to make a curved bit of wood that doesn't cost more than a fucking small car?! Even the tall cupboard for the fridge to go in costs more than the fridge itself. A cupboard vs something full of technology... I just don't get it.

DIY kitchens here also. Best quality kitchen we have had. All friends and family are really impressed with the quality and a massive range to chose from.

Benchmark is Travis Perkins own brand fitted kitchens.

We found Howdens cheaper but their "kitchen designer" was fucking shite. Mismeasured and told DH (thinking he was just the fitter and not my husband) that I specifically told him we had a large American fridge freezer. Luckily our chippy sorted it all no problems.

Is there an Ikea near you? I have one of them.

Yes from what I remember from my kitchen research a few years ago Benchmarx is Travis Perkins. It is identical though to Wickes. The difference is Wickes is consumer and Benchmarx trade. You can buy directly from Benchmarx.

When I was looking into things out would have been cheaper to buy directly from Benchmarx. If you go via a builder though they may add their own mark up or not be transparent. Could you go and get a quote direct from Benchmarx?

We ended up using ikea units. DP made the fronts from painted mdf. Very cheap but time consuming. Looks good though and exactly what we wanted.

Another vote for Ikea. Excellent quality for the price.

Ours cost around £8k for everything including fitting, flooring from B&Q, two built in ovens, the lot. We have a big island unit with a stupidly expensive extractor over it, 6 floor to ceiling cupboards and about 10 other units. £12k for half a job is ridiculous.

We had a quote from Wickes for the Heritage kitchen for £12.5k...9k without tiles or fitting...B & Q have a very similar kitchen for a third of the price. Wickes might be better quality technically but I can replace my kitchen three times over at B & Q if necessary.

That maybe so but who wants to keep replacing kitchens.
Surely once every 10 years is more than enough.

Maybe the saying is true,
Buy cheap, buy twice.

Brug we did go direct to Benchmark

Barbara that's amazing value!

Sorry, the impression I got from your post was the builder put the quote together, ie. He acted as the intermediary between you and Benchmarx. Some trade places make you do that, eg Howdens. With Benchmarx you don't have to have a builder involved.

Also when I went to look at Benchmarx a few years ago and told them we wouldn't be using a builder and would only buy from them on a diy basis I got given a clear price list up front. This was about 3 years ago.

I've just got back from wickes after sorting out what we want and have a quote. I hope you don't mind me attaching photos. We are getting it installed by a friend for £150 a day (expect it to take 3-4 days) so the fitting costs aren't in this quote. We are also going elsewhere for the appliances and taps, they for some reason put on a £700 washing machine

We are getting 14 units and expect it to come to 5k from wickes but we are going to try get it cheaper when we go in to pay. They do let you barter the price down if you have the cheek.

Maybe go to a few different kitchen providers even independent ones and get different quotes. Watch out for the appliances and taps etc. they are often way more expensive from kitchen providers even though it's a generic basic model. Worth doing research online to see if things are available cheaper elsewhere.

The builder is linked somehow but works with a few suppliers I think. Can you tell I have no idea what I'm doing?