AIBU to spend this much on house renovations.

[Usernamesonly]

Just for some back ground info, me and my partner have upgraded to a lifetime family home. We're on a budget which I think it's pretty healthy and we have worked hard to save (although nothing left by the time the works below are completed). I've tried doing everything cheaply while maintaining as much quality as possible . Family think we have overspent massively and need to rethink our expenses. Parents are horrified at how much we have spent on the kitchen and think we should have gone Ikea (and now I'm paranoid I've spent too much to!)I was so excited by the whole renovation (whole house needs doing) but wanted to make heating, windows and the kitchen a priority. So far we have estimated to spend -

Kitchen (Howdens) £6500 to include -
Solid oak worktop
Base and over head units
under counter sink
fridge/freezer
gas hob
double oven
dishwasher
under unit and kick-board lighting

Windows and doors - £6500
10 white UPVC windows
1 composite front door
1 UPVC back door

Heating £3000
removal of back boiler
installation of gas combi boiler

Have I been totally irresponsible? I'm doubting myself now, and every penny saved really does count. I thought the above prices were "good", especially as everything is now so expensive but I'm worried I've been taken as a fool!

We (sadly) had an inheritance a few years ago and we spent £75,000 on a small extension for a downstairs shower/utility room and a complete revamp of our kitchen which included knocking down a wall and putting in a window. We decided that we weren't going to be moving out of our house so the kitchen had to work for us and that's the way we designed it. The units themselves were not the most expensive, but we had the top units going up to the ceiling and nearly all the bottom units are drawers. We also had a couple of full height cupboards with pull out larder shelves and the BIG expense was the beautiful silestone work surface we had fitted. We won't do anything else to the kitchen now except to give it a coat of paint in a year or so. Your kitchen sounds positively cheap in comparison! If you are intending to stay in your house for quite some time and you can afford it you should definitely have something you like and that works for you.

Seems a reasonable budget to me. With the kitchen a good way to do it can be to go ikea for the cabinets but get really nice quality countertops separately, ikea is good because it relatively cheap to change out damaged doors or shelves etc in future so you can keep it looking fresh, but the countertops there can be both a little cheap looking and quite expensive for what you get.

I think you’ve seriously underestimated your budget, I think you’ll struggle to do all the things you want to do for that budget: I’ve just upgraded my kitchen doors, kept the carcasses and work top. I’ve added a bit more lighting, another fridge, tiles, changed the extractor and added another run of top cupboards and that was £10k albeit including fitting. My hot tap was £850 alone so I’m amazed you can do all of that for so little

This

Some kitchens are £50 - 100k
so £6k is very reasonable

This doesn’t sound expensive and it’s worth it, it will add value to the house.

If you can afford this it all sounds pretty reasonable to me.
my husband and I are about to move into the house we’ve renovated, our renovation has cost about £800K.

Sounds super reasonable! Enjoy what will surely be a lovely home by the time you’re done. Ignore your parents because they are way out of touch with today’s prices!

Last year howdens £12.5k without any appliances or fitting, no sink or taps cos did not like the ones they had

You say the whole house needs doing... Any chance it needs a rewire as well? Asking because even though the kitchen quote sounds reasonable, it will be a waste of money if you have to do a rewire in a few years time!

This sounds incredibly reasonable to me! I wouldn’t be sharing so many financial details with people who aren’t actually paying for things but are just curious - it’s not any of their business! The best way to know if you’re being ripped off is to get quotes, not to ask family. We got six quotes for our kitchen. The sixth quote was the one we went with, and we considered both costs and rapport with the workmen, so it paid for us to be thorough.

Also, I genuinely don’t know how they can expect you to get a large kitchen for £2k. Nowadays, that wouldn’t get you anymore than about a dozen mdf cupboards fitted, let alone worktops, sinks, taps, appliances, tiles, plumbing, lighting etc. They aren’t up to date with pricing at all.

We're currently renovating and have spent 10k on our kitchen which includes a granite worktop, we've gone through an independent kitchen company and this is very cheap, wren & magnet both quoted 17k-20k.

We've had a whole new central heating system put in and that cost us 7k (3bed semi)

No new windows but we've paid 2k for a new door via safestyle and we haggled them down from 4K.

For context we're in the West Midlands.

Don't listen to whoever is saying you're paying over the odds, I'd like to see them get the bargains you have! Also don't compromise on the quality in your kitchen, you only want to renovate it once!!

I'm another who was wondering if you missed a 0 off the price of your kitchen.
We spent £10K on ours 18 years ago, and I generally spend FAR less than most prices quoted on MN for any job.
Same with your windows and heating. You've got some excellent prices there. Your Mum is bonkers.

Not at all, this is the most mumsnet thing I'll ever say but we just spent £30k on a kitchen including some structural work, bells and whistles. If my mum asked I'd easily knock £10k off that, if my in laws asked £20k!

Budgeting £10k for the bedroom, bloody artex removal, outdated fitted wardrobes and massive bay window...

Builders can be the worst, I think they think about the then and there cost of what looks good not the overall cost of something you want to look good for 20 years. IKEA kitchens are a bit crap. See above!

Enjoy your Howdens kitchen they're lovely

Builders can charge what they like atm and I really can't see that changing anytime soon. Materials are scarce and expensive. Do it while you can.