Anyoune bought a used kitchen?

[GreyDuck]

Has anyone bought a second hand kitchen?
There are internet sites where you can buy kitchens which are being taken out of other people's houses.
I like the idea, both environmentally and financially, but I'd be interested to hear positive and negative experiences.

Yes, but not from someone's home, I bought an ex display kitchen and a carpenter installed it for me. It was gorgeous. I was lucky to find one that would suit my kitchen at the time. Would absolutely do it again.
You need to be happy you can make it work, right number and size of cabinets etc. and take a good look at it in person to check for damage before buying. Getting them out without damage can sometimes be tricky too.

Yes! I did it. I bought a kitchen from someone nearby on gumtree. I ended up replacing the cabinet doors and buying extra end panels, but we got a lovely granite worktop and Belfast sink not to mention solid carcasses for a fraction of the cost.

I will say it required a lot of planning and preparation. If it gets messed up you could end up buying a new kitchen or it costing more with a carpenters time trying to make it work!

definitely get the carpenter/joiner on board with the plan before you commit.

we’re about to do the same again, except the same as the poster above, it’s an ex display.

good luck!

Yes we did. We bought it and then once the builders worked out if they could fit it then they said it would cost and arm and a leg to fit into our kitchen space. So it went in the skip. A waste of money and a steep learning curve.

Thanks, good to hear positive experiences @ShittyGlitter and @OttersAreMySpiritAnimal

I was worrying about it still looking good after being dismantled and refitted, but it seems that the bigger issue is the compatibility with our space.
I quite enjoy planning and shuffling around, so hopefully we will be ok, if we're careful.

My DH would fit it, so time spent making it fit isn't too much of an issue.

@Mikebarnes that's a shame, thanks for sharing. Was the kitchen different to what you expected to receive, or was it the fitting process that you hadn't anticipated?

Yes but it was for a utility and cost less than £500 including van hire and petrol. I used the extra units for my craft room and my parents utility room too. We went with a range we knew the quality of and that we could order extras for but didn’t end up needing anything else.

We did. I managed to source some oak (already painted which is fine as we always planned to hand paint whatever cabinets we had), rigid, in-frame units for less than £300 on eBay. There were only five units plus a double width end panel, but as our intention was to combine with some reclaimed 1960s cabinetry from the kitchen we inherited when we bought our cottage (plus it's only a small space), that was sufficient for our requirements. Total cost including van hire etc was under £400.

We salvaged a couple of in-frame shallow drawer units from the existing kitchen but can only fit one of these into the layout. To complete the kitchen, we also picked up a couple of wall units including a plate rack for less than £200 on marketplace/eBay.

We're adding solid brass handles/knobs and aiming for a deVOL look on a tiny budget. We were lucky in that two of the units we purchased were lovely wide, deep pan drawers with soft-close runners.

OH is installing them himself and fortunately it all fits perfectly. By the time he's finished it's going to look just as good as the Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch kitchen we fitted at our last house - but for a fraction of the cost!

Yes. I bought an IKEA kitchen off a friend of my mums for my first house 10 years ago for £200. Its still going strong. I have vinyl wrapped the cupboard doors and changes the worktops during the time we have had it.

Yes, and saved an absolute fortune! our very clever carpenter made a bench seat/shoe rack out of the leftover worktops. Everyone asks where I got it from 😆

Yes recently bought two second hand kitchens for two properties, very happy although you need to do the work rather than just getting a designer to do it for you, but that is where the savings are to be made.

Then need to be transported from original site, fitted and painted.

Look at companies such as Rehome and Used kitchen Hub as they detail the individual cabinet sizes and so you can sketch and plan to ensure the kitchen will fit into the space you have available.

Yes, we bought a hand made solid oak kitchen that had been taken out of a massive country house. We used about half of the cabinets, so we had plenty of bits to make it work.
DH fitted it, and I absolutely love it.
It cost us a £200 donation to charity. (Chosen by the guy selling it).

I haven’t but have heard it is regularly done in Germany.

Some older ones are better. For example some IKEA from 30 years ago are real wood.

We used rehome for our kitchen. I would say a) their website and service is shocking, tho’ well intentioned b) you will need to draw it all out as no grid info on the website c) budget a lot for a good joiner, our builder was keen to do it but wish we had recruited our usual carpenter d) consider respray or repaint before it’s installed. Have a plan with what to do with leftovers- we had an old quooker, a lot of sinks and taps and granite worktops plus a dishwasher (rehome often include all appliances in the cost). I would say the earlier you start looking the more chance or scoring a real bargain. We only thought of it a few weeks before work started.

Yes my brother bought a fantastic used kitchen from a used kitchen seller on eBay. Paid around £1500 for the kitchen and about the same again for them to take it out and deliver it. Whilst that initially seemed a really high charge, you could see on arrival how it could have gone really wrong if they didn't take enough care.

There were marble worktops, quooker tap etc. It really does need to be done by the professionals. His kitchen looks amazing and was a fraction of the new price

I bought on Ebay for £300, out of a farmhouse, had loads of different units, worked out what would fit where and used what was left over as storage in the shed. Quick repaint and it was still in place ten years later when I moved house.