So what do I do now?

[Twiglett]

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Just get them round - I would. How many sale people have wasted your time before!!! It's about time the british public got their own back.

twiglett - try Harvey Jones - kitchens start at about 6k, and they will come and do a free consultation, and leave you a proposed plan. Smallbone sound fantastically expensive!

Just found Smallbone's website . Kitchen's look fantastic - but huge prices. These must be way out of most people's budget, surely?!?

We have budgeted no more than £10K including all appliances and fitting for a new kitchen if we buy a house that needs a new one.

My neighbours did exactly this - they said they had found the money and got them round - they gave them a fabulous design... and now they have got a local company in to build the design for 12K!! Cheeky but that is business

Harvey Jones won't come round without a deposit!
You could always employ an independent kitchen designer - they would then be designing to your spec and needs not to try and sell as much as possible etc.

Do you have a Howdens near you? They are the suppliers to MFI, B&Q, etc. They will send someone round who will design and measure up for you. You then order what you need and employ a local builder/kitchen fitter to do the actual work. They may even be able to give you the name of a reputable fitter.

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twiglett try www.unpaintedkitchens.co.uk

Very good value. You have to design yourself or get a designer though.

(we did whole kitchen incl granite worktops for about £6k)

you'd be amazed how many people spend 40k on a kitchen. my particular pet hate is mark wilkinson - overfussy overworked designs, and ridiculous prices.
if you are in london the kitchen clinic is very good (there is one on shepherds bush road and not sure where else) and will come around a do a design without a deposit. I must say I thought smallbone charged around £200 for a design but I may be wrong.

Howden's belongs to MFI rather than the other way around. SIL works for MFI and has had 2 or 3 of their kitchens, obviously she gets a discount but has been very pleased with them - she uses a local joiner to fit them for her.

I like Mancsmum's idea, if you think you could brazen it out! Then you could troll round all the big DIY/kitchen places - Magnet are supposed to be good quality too I think? - choose your kitchen and get good local person to fit. (Do you know anybody who has had their kitchen fitted independently?)

where do you live Twiglett?

We've just finished our kitchen, hand made units (made by local, one-man-band furniture maker/craftsman) all new appliances plus granite worktops, tiled floors, etc and we kept to our budget of £15K (well almost!!). I too was amazed at some of the prices we were quoted including one designer who quoted £28K for the units alone - and my kitchen isn't huge. My advice to you Twiglett, shop around and don't use someone like Smallbone or Mark Wilkinson unless you've got an endless budget. Another tip, if you can deal with the other suppliers yourself, such as the tiler, appliance retailer, worksurface people, etc, because the kitchen company will mark-up these costs. HTH

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twiglett unpainted kitchens have a showroom in Battersea if that helps. They are lovely people, sent several extra bits that I had got wrong free of charge, plus you can specify exactly what you want as they make them all to order. Only any good if you want the painted shaker look though. The actual cabinets cost me £3000 from them, worth a try if that's the look you want.

I had mine fitted independently, which is why I suggest Howdens and a kitchen fitter. Had KitchensDirect round and then Moben. They came up with a basic design. We twiddled with this a little and then bought in the units separately, getting a kitchen fitter to do the work. The lowest quote we had from a design company was over £10K. We ended up spending less than £6000, and that was for a heck of a lot more work than the kitchen company would have done, e.g. electrics, stripping out old kitchen, putting in new ceiling, etc.

Freckle - you are good advice guru! Given that you live near me I think we will be doing what you've done - I was beginning to think a new kitchen was totally out of reach for us with the small budget we'd have, but it seems all things are possible after all!

Unpainted Kitchens are just round the corner from me, walk past them everyday and they look really nice. Planning a look in there when we get around to new kitchen stuff. Nice to know they're good value CD.

£40,000!!!? Taking the mick, surely ? my builder said he'd do me an extension for that!
My sister's boyfriend is a cabinet maker (based in Northampton) ? happy to ask if he'd quote for a job in S London. Apparently he's fed up with his business partner because they don't charge what their job is actually worth, time spent sourcing materials etc., so could be quite cheap .
He's very dismissive of the quality of work you get with fitted kitchens from big companies (ah, what it is to be a proper craftsman...).

in some parts of the UK you cna still buy a whole house for that!
We got top of the range B+Q kitchen fitted and appliances and new laminate oak flooring for £7000
What a RIP OFF

40K......Do you get Gordon Ramsay with that ??

Aero, when you decide to go ahead, I can give you the name of my builder who coordinated the whole thing. He's very helpful and definitely not a rip-off merchant.

You star Freckle! Cheers! It's a little way off but definately in plans for the house at some stage or other. We finish paying off two loans early next year, so should be easier to manage then!

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