Buying a second hand kitchen

[Hullabalooo]

I'm thinking about buying a second hand kitchen to replace my really nasty one that was already there.

I don't have the funds for a new one but thought i could find a good quality second hand one made of oak or similar on eBay.

The thinking is that a good quality second hand one would probably offer more value for money than a new ikea one and be more durable.

Has anyone done this? Any positive stories or things to avoid?

I have done this twice from Ebay and it was very successful. The 2nd one even came complete with brand new appliances. Someone rich had moved into a house and did not like the kitchen I got approx 12 units a glass display cabinet and washing machine, fridge , freezer and dishwasher for 1200 plus delivery. You obviously must measure your own space accurately.

I've been looking at this. There are also some specialist websites for buying used kitchens, which act as brokers. Lots of ex display ones abiut as well although these are more expensive than second hand.

I'm having trouble finding a suitable one within my (small) budget- either they are just shy of the number of units I need or I'd need to go overboard and get a massive one and give myself a problem with disposal. Lots do come with appliances but again there is often a mix of useful and non-useful stuff involved.

It really appeals to me as an option but I'm at the point of looking at DIY kitchens/Ikea to get what I need on the units front.

There are some great pictures on some of the websites of before and after of kitchens though- it's amazing how different they look once they've been reconfigured into a different space.p

We did this, very successfully. The second hand kitchen was bigger than the space we had, which meant we could pick and choose the bits of it that we wanted. Solid oak and cost a fraction of what even a new MDF one would have cost. We did get it professionally fitted by a good team of workmen.

That's great to hear you've had successes with this!

What are the search terms you all used? I've put in things like solid oak kitchen and wooden kitchen units but wondering if there's a better phrase i could use?

Try Google and terms like used kitchen exchange/used kitchen hub to see the specialist websites. There seems to be a lot more on these sites than gumtree/eBay from what I can see.

Generally more expensive than pp above was mentioning, especially if you are after the solid wood ones.

Thanks. That's helpful to know

We got ours locally from Gumtree for a few hundred pounds, just by keeping an eye out and then swooping when one appeared that we liked. It was still in situ though - we helped the owners to take it off the walls and then DH drove it home in a van (took a couple of trips). So that obviously kept costs down - I assume it would be more expensive if you're buying from an actual 2nd hand kitchen dealer.

That's a good idea. Did you set up a gumtree alert? what search terms did you put in?