To refuse to spend £25k on a bloody kitchen!!!

[smeerf]

I've finally totted up all the quotes for my tiny kitchen and hallway refurb in my little 2 up 2 down terrace. I think it's important to note that I'm not doing any building work other than removing an old door/door frame in the hall to make it open plan, so nothing structural.

Units: Howdens, 7 base units, 4 wall, 2 full height larder (yeah there's a few pull outs in there but only 3).

Worktop: Quartz from local stone cutter.

Appliances: Siemens, sourced myself, nothing fancy except £500 for a boiling water tap.

Floor and wall tiles: Online, not super expensive.

Fitting: includes a new ceiling in kitchen area, plastering, retiling walls and floors, supplying and fitting a new boiler and all the electrics and plumbing for the room (no appliances are changing position though and we ran a new ring in preparation last year).

£25k. How. How is this possible. AIBU to tell everyone to shove their quotes somewhere uncomfortable?

You need to get more quotes. Try Magnet as a reasonable ballpark.

Have a look at diy kitchens- was cheaper than Howdens for us.

Maybe consider a cheaper brand appliances

I would say for electrics, boiler and plumbing etc the cost all in doesn’t seem too bad

25k for a kitchen appears to me to be daylight robbery. Definitely get a few more quotes.

Try a (good) local tradesman. I had my kitchen done through B&Q for £7K, the lovely plumber I get from time to time to sort stuff out said he could have got it done for closer to £4K - and I believe he would. But it needs to be someone you trust if you go that route.

But £25K??? Hell no that's a quarter of what I paid for the entire (3-bed, 2 storey) flat!!

Well anything up to 3k is on a new boiler. Pullout larders and kitchen, with a quartz worktop and appliances could easily be £10. Tiles and adhesive etc £2-3k depending on meters squared could be more or less. Plastering all walls and ceiling, opening a doorway, removal, electrics and plumbing all done with materials included for 9k. If you're I. The south that's all fairly standard.

That's a lot of work. Boiler, floor, ceiling, kitchen....

Can you itemise the quote? How much pipework, plumbings and electrics? What is the size in sq metres? Flooring and tiling is expensive.

I don’t blame you! I had a quote from a friend for the cabinets only from our B&q equivalent, demolish, install cabinets for £25k and that was with an 8k ‘family’ discount!!! was my face. On top of that would have been appliances, lighting, sink, taps, tiling and bench top. If we ever get around to it, it’ll be an Ikea job

Mine was less than 7k, entire gut out of kitchen,plastering, electrics, plumbing, painting, decorating.

Units,worktops,taps,sink etc everything brand new (appliances were already in)

brand new, joiner etc. Shop around!

We used howdens!

I think what really stings is I have the smallest kitchen of anyone I know.

I'll do a more detailed breakdown when I get the toddler to sleep

Look at IKEA? Last year in the which report they were second to DIY kitchens. Ours (much bigger) cost £8k including fitting but not plumbing or electrics), £3k of which was quartz worktop. Did include fridge and dishwasher but not oven, hot water tap or boiler.

That sounds like a normal quote for what you are seeking.

Our ‘cheap’ Ikea kitchen with veneered work top and melamine coated units cost £10k when you put in all the appliances, electrics, tiling, sinking pipes into concrete, re-plastering.

We got our new boiler the year before and that was £3k.

A solid quartz worktop!?! Our veneered one was £1.2k so I’m betting that’s a pretty penny.

If you are spending £500 on a single tap I’m also betting that your appliances bill is high.

My top tip is go to ikea, use their excellent planning tools, then get your own fitter in.

Actually, I'd recommend using the ikea fitters - I had a couple of issues with them but when the right stuff hadn't been sent and an expensive mistake was made by the fitter there was no issue at all sorting it with replacements.

We are part way through our kitchen refurb which included gutting original one (we did ourselves) kitchen itself was £9.5k from Wren including all new appliances apart from cooker which was another £1800 (this was a luxury item!) Tiles were about 1.5k for floor and walls and then we did the tiling (my partner is a plumber/bathroom fitter so that helps!) found our own kitchen fitter and he charged £1250. Plastering was £800 and decorator was £300 (he painted the untiled kitchen and dining area and ceilings plus some fillering work) Electrics needed new ring and board and we are at about £1k for that so far and that isn't including all the light fittings and plug sockets and fronts (we wanted specific copper ones) and boiling water tap for £370 so all in by the time we have finished it will probably be between £15-£20k but we have waited 11 years for this so we're aware it was going to be a big expense and not something we plan to be redoing in the future! I feel your pain though!

That is expensive. I had a quote from Howdens but went to a local kitchen shop as it was cheaper but better quality.

Try benchmark!!
We got our kitchen 2/3 years ago 3600 including butler sink, dishwasher, oven and microwave grill oven, pull out bins and kidney type pull out draws.
I then sourced the other appliances (fridge, waging machine, electric hob and extractor fan) from ao.com got abit 1.2k
Then about 1.5k for fitting.

Howdens was horribly expensive and refused to give us a breakdown of the price so we could see what was making it so expensive and where we could possibly save to make it cheaper!

Benchmarx was great though, we chopped and changed loads and got it to where we was comfortable with but still good quality!

Howdens isn't good value for money.

So to me, everything looks reasonable really except the builder's costs and potentially Howden's. The boiling water tap and integrated microwave is so that we can make the most of what little worktop space we have.

Kitchen: £5,800
Worktop: £1,450
Tiles (14m2 floor and 2m2 wall): £550
Fridge/freezer, single oven, induction hob, integrated microwave, slim dishwasher: £2,100
Tap and sink: £800 (I am aware this is a luxury and we probably have to forgo it!)
Boiler: £1,554
Boiler install: £1,776
Kitchen/hall labour: £10,775
Kitchen/hall materials: £1,356

To everyone suggesting Ikea, I did start there but all three builders I spoke to hate them, said they were crap, would never last.

From your list, Howdens, worktop, appliances and the boiler are probably where the money is.

Second the Ikea recommendation. Excellent quality for the price.

How much is the worktop costing? Which appliances and how much are they? Do you need a £500 boiling water tap?

What's your definition of 'not super expensive' for the wall and floor tiles?

Installing the boiler and the other work like tiling is likely to come to quite a bit, but if that's what you need, there isn't really a way around it.

Definitely get some more quotes, and look at what's pushing the price up and see where you can save.

Sounds like you are paying full retail for the Howden kitchen, builder can probably get 50% off most of it...

Tell your builder you can only afford £18k what does he suggest?

The kitchen price seems high.
I'm looking at just under 5k for 7 base, 12 wall, 1 larder, 2 integrated appliance fronts, worktop (laminate) and handles. From DIY Kitchens. To fit a 3.5mx3m kitchen plus utility.

Fitting also seems high, although you are having some alterations and the ceiling as well.
I'm getting quotes in the region of £3k plus plumbing (which I'm waiting for) for the above.

Boiler, seems okay, depends what it is.

I'm mid kitchen extension. I was going to get the quooker but my husband says 2 places at work have them & all the staff agree tea and coffee tastes unpleasant made with it. He says they just boil the kettle instead. I've decided against.