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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

143 replies

smeerf · 22/08/2019 20:26

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?

OP posts:
katseyes7 · 22/08/2019 22:30

JudgeRindersMinder l have an lkea kitchen and it's fine. Decent quality and the pull out larder unit is my favourite thing. l'm in a rented place so l don't know how long it's been in here, but it's certainly not the worst l've ever seen!

Original poster
smeerf · 22/08/2019 22:31

I can lose the boiling water tap, no problem. I can also save maybe a grand by getting rid of my lovely pullouts on either side of the oven and the corner carousel. And I don't NEED a £300 copper sink. And a laminate worktop will be half the price.

But then it'll still come to over £20k. And I'll have got rid of all my favourite bits of the kitchen. If I'm spending this much, I want to really love it!

I think I'll get a few more fitters in. Shame, I really liked this one, but if he's ripping me off loads, he can't be that nice.

OP posts:
PrtScn · 22/08/2019 22:31

Holy shit, reading this thread and I'm like Shock
Never knew kitchens were that expensive. I've been in my house nearly 20 years and I'm still using the kitchen that was there. I've just laminated over the worktops and painted the doors and tiles. No chance I'm going to fork out that kind of money!

73Sunglasslover · 22/08/2019 22:38

and some kick ass work in the hallway (10 grand?? What are they doing??)
In the hallway: Rremoving a door frame and making good where the architrave was.
Tiling the floor.
Few metres of skirting.
Bit of snagging the bannisters which were not finished when we put them in last year (due to baby arrival), this is itemised out at £350.

10 grand for that? That seems mad! Does this include buying the tiles? And area they gold plated?

Mum2jenny · 22/08/2019 22:39

Please don’t touch Wren, they seriously fucked up a friend’s kitchen

Fleetheart · 22/08/2019 22:43

I got a v nice kitchen from howdens
I did not get quartz worktops, that adds a lot on, not just for the worktop but for the labour to fit. The boiling water tap is an extravagance. You can get much cheaper appliances. Mine was a bigger kitchen and cost around £10k including fitting (through my own builder).

BearFoxBear · 22/08/2019 22:43

Don't think that sounds outrageous. You're having a lot of work done. We've just spent £25k doing our kitchen, albeit a bigger one than yours. But we are lucky to have tradesmen in the family or it would have been more!

Choclips · 22/08/2019 22:43

The price variations are mad!

Original poster
smeerf · 22/08/2019 22:46

10 grand for that? That seems mad! Does this include buying the tiles? And area they gold plated?
It include the kitchen fitting too 😂 I was just detailing the hall stuff as it's not standard (kitchen stuff is normal electrics, plumbing, dispose of old kitchen, plastering, tiling etc)

OP posts:
twolobsters · 22/08/2019 22:46

We had similar size with Wren, 13k. Quartz tops, marble tiles on wall. 25k seems insane (13k still does tbh)

friskybivalves · 22/08/2019 22:47

We went DIY kitchens - went up from London to South Kirby on a train (v cheap advance Ticket) to see the showroom (fab croissants in the kitchen upstairs). They picked me up from the station in a Merc. I threw myself on the mercy of one of the designers and he basically did my plan for me - I had measurements. It is BRILLIANT and so much cheaper than Howdens and Benchmarx quotes.

Don't give up on boiling water tap. Ours is a 4 in 1 by Qettle - cheaper than Qooker and amazing customer service - and the tea does not taste funny. It is possibly my favourite thing in the entire house.

twolobsters · 22/08/2019 22:48

Also Wren were a nightmare, do not recommend

Fleetheart · 22/08/2019 22:49

Also I got a new boiler Worcester greenstar £2.2k including fitting

Pomegranateseeds · 22/08/2019 22:54

Our quite large, big enough to have a big kitchen island and a dining table, IKEA kitchen cost £4,000 for the actual kitchen, about £7,000 for the fitting (which included knocking down a wall using joists etc) and flooring and tiling on top of that. I don't think there's anything wrong with an IKEA kitchen - my builder tried to persuade me to use Howdens but I wanted the IKEA one. It's 3 yrs old now but seems good quality - doesn't look cheap and isn't flimsy.

BitOftheSea · 22/08/2019 22:57

Which Howdens range is it? If you’ve gone for the Tewksbury you could save a fair bit for going for one of their lower price ranges.

Solo · 22/08/2019 22:57

Ikea kitchens do last. My friend has had hers for 15 years and it works very hard and looks like it was just put in.

crazycatgal · 22/08/2019 22:58

IKEA kitchens are good, DP works there as a kitchen planner (he's leaving so I'm not just saying this because he works there.)

A lot of people find that their own fitters mess up the fitting of Ikea kitchens so I'd definitely recommend going with their own fitters if you ended up getting a kitchen from there.

I'd at least go and make a planning appointment and see what you could come up with. I wouldn't fork out 25k without looking at any other options.

Preggosaurus9 · 22/08/2019 22:58

We paid £4,800 3 years ago for Ikea kitchen including Ikea fitting service. Included some electrical work. Didn't skimp on the appliances or sink! Was amazed how much you get for your money at Ikea, other quotes were double that without the fitting, never mind the naice composite sink and feature tap etc.

Original poster
smeerf · 22/08/2019 23:00

Which Howdens range is it?
Clerkenwell Matt on the bottom, Concrete effect on the top. I think it's mid range

OP posts:
Original poster
smeerf · 22/08/2019 23:01

Do IKEA use local firms for fitting? Wondering if they'd do the extra bits if I asked.

OP posts:
gilliansgardenbench · 22/08/2019 23:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NightFever · 22/08/2019 23:04

It's true the builder could open a Howden's account and get it cheaper.

Don't get rid of the copper sink & pullouts or the quartz. The quartz is a good price.

terraform · 22/08/2019 23:08

I got a Magnet kitchen + decent amount of work done for about a quarter of that by cutting the expensive bits and looking for bargains. A bit more time consuming and the kitchen doesn't have fancy stuff but it looks fab. So

  • under cabinet lights can be done dirt cheap- LED strips from Screwfix, get the sparky to source and install these rather than using the ones from the kitchen company, saved £££.
  • standard worktop rather than granite, not as fancy but I think it saved more than a grand. I sold the unused offcuts
  • Magnet Sale units, I spent ages with them on the design. Fewer, larger units cut costs a lot. My original prices were coming in about 4500 but I got it in the end for 1750. Worth waiting for a sale. Things like corner carousels and all the fun bits are £££ but you can probably do without.
-integrated units are expensive but I got cheaper using eg Bosch - good quality but inexpensive, clean minimal design. Other stuff I got cheap cos it was scratched but that was hidden when it was fitted!
  • I shopped around independent suppliers and got some as new ex display stuff including a granite sink + beautiful brushed steel tap worth £800? for £170. Well worth looking round places in bargain corners etc. I also had NO shame in asking if places could get the price down a bit and they nearly always agreed!
-do your own painting and decorating if it's a small kitchen?
  • boiler price sounds right, fitting is expensive but London prices perhaps
Coquohvan · 22/08/2019 23:09

As you’ve a small kitchen best to forget about hot water tap. They take up around half an under sink cupboard.

Love ours thought got a huge kitchen, only thing on our worktops is a toaster trivet & spoon rest.
Had a Worcester boiler plus fitting new kitchen fancy radiator, existing boiler removed repositioned in pantry plus old water storage tank in loft taken out £2000.

GinisLife · 22/08/2019 23:10

Sorry, I've not read all the replies so might be repeating what others have said. I'm where you are and I've had 3 quotes. Magnet, Howdens & local independent. Howdens you need to have someone whose account you can use to get their discount - your fitter ? However every branch of Howdens gives different discounts so you need a fitter who uses a branch with a generous manager. Best time to buy from them is October when they have their sale.
I also sent my Howdens £12,800 quote to DIY Kitchens for them to price like for like and it came back as £6900 (but that doesn't include the quartz worktop). Everything else is there. Magnet was £14k for the kitchen I like, local independent £16.8k ! My budget is £15k to do the lot including fetch down a wall and a steel, bricking up a door, a window put in and patch the floor.