Choosing a new kitchen, where do you start, help please!

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I'm looking at new kitchen for my forever home which is being completely renovated.

There isn't a huge budget, and I want it to be a classic design as I don't want it to date. I'm leaning towards a shaker style but can't decide whether to have cream or white, I love stark white but so many more colours go with cream.

Also should I have tiles on the walls or upstands, what colour worktops, I'd love granite or quartz but not sure the budget will stretch.

Also where should I get it from, I've looked at Howdens and Wickes, are these a good bet, or should I look elsewhere.

Exciting!

I love Shaker - I think it gives huge potential for change as it’s like a blank slate. You can keep the walls neutral and calm or go for a really bright distinctive colour if you fancy a change. It can look very modern with simple handles, and very country/farmhouse with a more old style handle.

Looking at furniture trends, unpainted wood is starting to make a comeback and my guess is that cream tones will be popular in a year or two. But white will always be classic. I can’t think of a time when it’s not been style - sometimes paired with red (60s), blue (90s), black (00s) and recently with grey. It’s very easy to update.

I’d think about whether you’re more drawn to warm tones and go from there.

I’ve gone with an up stand in my new kitchen (in progress) I decided to avoid tiles as I’m fed up of scrubbing grout but now I’m worried that it’s going to be a bit boring. After not being able to find anything I like, I suddenly keep finding lovely tiles. I’m no help!

Have a good think about what kind of things are important to you. If you like being on trend it might be better to spend less now with a view to updating again in ten years. Or if you want the kitchen to outlast you you might want to put money into quality cupboards now and have a cheaper laminate counter until you can afford to upgrade it. Painted wood is very popular now, but if you want a very long lasting kitchen unpainted wood is very forgiving. My mil’s kitchen is 28 years old and although it looks dated, it is like new.

Chat to a few different kitchen designers. I got great ideas from different ones I spoke to, and even though I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, I think what I’ve ended up with actually meets my needs more effectively.

Good luck- planning is such fun

We've got an appointment with Wren next week for them to come and measure up and do some design ideas with us. May do the same with someone else like Howdens or Kutchenhouse.
Ours is a small galley style kitchen with smaller utility room ( victorian terrace). Utility room is by back door so collects a lot of shoes/ bags/ coats. It is tricky to get the optimum design. DH is after a tall fridge, but Im worried about the loss of worktop space. Is it weird to have a tall fridge next to the oven? This would leave the biggest worktop space free.
Also considering sacrificing the second sink in the utility room for an extra worktop, but this would mean using the main sink for hand washing clothes, and washing hands after gardening.
Have you found any good websites to help with all this?

We had a local company and Magnet do designs for us. We loved one of the three designs Magnet came up with, but their pricing was insane. They brought the cost down by removing things, like the island work surface?! Crackers. We recreated the Magnet design in a DIY Kitchens kitchen instead. Yes, we had to juggle trades ourselves and find a kitchen fitter, but we got exactly what we wanted and were able to do some things we wouldn't have had the money for had we had Magnet supply and fit the kitchen. Two of my friends have since ordered kitchens from DIY as they are so much cheaper for excellent quality.

Empathize with you OP, we're also starting the process. It makes you think about things you're barely aware of eg 8 different types of drawer handles?!
We've had an online consultation with Magnet, & John Lewis so far, & another planned with Wickes. We have friends who've used Magnet & Wickes & been happy with them .
JL seem ridiculously expensive.
Wickes asked us if we wanted flooring & redecorating included, which we do, so that was a positive.
Tbh we'd prefer to deal wit one company for the whole thing, CBA finding different people for each bit & trying to schedule them all in together.
Interested to see who you go with & how you get on, good luck!

Benchmarx sell the same products as Wickes but you can register for a trade account and get a discount. You also pay a deposit and the balance after delivery, which can be useful. They will also price match appliances to companies like JL and AO so you can order everything together.

We’re just renovating a flat for my DM. We’ve had plans drawn by Benchmarx and Howdens - the Benchmarx designer was much more helpful and we had an online consultation with her. In the end we’ve gone with a Crown Imperial kitchen though as the quality is better and they gave us a good discount. But we’re going to get the appliances through Howdens because of the trade account prices. In our kitchen we have a quartz worktop and upstand with painted walls. The benefit is that you can change the wall colour. But in this one DM wants tiles so I’ll probably chose metro tiles. The doors are pale grey gloss slab style as they’re easy to keep clean. @pourmeanotherglass The tall fridge freezer will be next to the oven/microwave unit and apparently that’s perfectly fine.

We priced ours on diy-kitchens too and used that to get a bit more of a discount.