Kitchen & bathroom on £15k budget- need advice!

[AnnetteTwitcher]

Have bought bath etc from bathstore- whatevs' it's nice enough & we r going to get a fab old stripped pine armoire & cupboard for sink to sit on.
Can't afford what I want in kitchen though.. As hate mdf but its all we can afford. Love shaker style in White but cheapest wooden units I've found cost £5.7k and still need painting on top. Howdens do a design we like but I can't bear the mdf-ness. However price means we can get all the work done + buy nice light fittings/towels/new saucepans etc to finish it all off. It's not our forever house (plan to sell in 5yrs max) so should we just go with the bog standard howdens or shake out every last penny (and then some) for my hearts desire? We are about to pay for 2 lots of childcare (£1800 per month) so don't have luxury of throwing caution to wind. God dammit, all I want is a Plain English kitchen! Anyone who knows of a wooden shaker kitchen company who will make a small no of units for under £5k please share!! Any thoughts on best approach would be so appreciated. Ithankyou.

I think you're asking the impossible, unless your kitchen is tiny.

We have just bought a kitchen - the doors are solid wood but the units themselves are standard MDF. The kitchen alone cost £7k without appliances and worktops. The worktops are granite and cost £2.5k, the ovens cost £700 each, £350 for a dishwasher, same for an integrated fridge, £700 for a hob, £400 for a hood.

Fitting was £900

Our utility room was kitted out with cheaper fittings but still came in at £3000!

I would just say that I put my heart and soul into a hand built kitchen in our last house - I discovered the purchaser had it in the skip inside six months because she preferred fitted appliances. It had a lifespan of three years One persons handpainted charm is another person's oldfashioned dust trap.

If you are set on it, try looking for a local carpentry/furniture company, or how about Handmade Kitchens in Dorset?

I would love a handmade kitchen but I'm not willing to sink that much money so I'm going for standard units, a bit customised, and (moveable) cupboards/plateracks etc to add a bit of character.

I think the budget is enough if you shop carefully.

No advice, but I like the sound of your bathroom sink fitted into an old armoire. I'd be interested to hear more about that....will you be fitting the sink into the wooden top? Does the top have sufficient depth? I'd love to see a pic (impossible I know) of the done thing! I'd love to do something like this in my own bathroom.

Sorry, was thinking an armoire is like a dresser...it's more like a wardrobe. I'm really puzzled now, and can't imagine what you're going to do!

I'm not sure how to do a link but if you google stripped pine armoire you'll see type of thing which we are going to use as a linen cupboard for towels etc in bathroom, going to ardingly tomorrow to look for a base unit of some kind for the sink to sit on. Bathstore stuff is all savoy range and we are doing White smooth brick tiles with grey grout. Idea is sort of period mixed with a bit of modern- also having a wooly pocket vertical wall of ferns. Am happy to spend £ on armoire as we'll take it with us.

Re kitchen I love handmade kitchens stuff but it's coming in at about £1.5k over budget without appliances.. It isn't much but it's 10% of budget which should really be earmarked for contingency. It is a tiny space with only 9 cupboards!

If you do an archive search here you will find some suggestions for how to get the Plain English look for a low price.
It might be worth speaking to a local cabinet makers so see if they can help create the look you want for a low price, perhaps using mdf and having it painted in F&B colours.
IKEA units with mdf hand painted doors is another option, could look good teamed with an oak worktop and metro tiles.

Have a look at these links too
www.housetohome.co.uk/livingetc/forums/showthread.php?6343-Affordable-bespoke-hand-painted-Plain-English-like-kitchen

Try www.diy-kitchens.com

And can i ask where is the kitchen from that you have been quoted for that is over budget OP?

Great links on this thread am bookmarking!

We did a kitchen for £2500 (nice painted style units and oak worktops, already had the cooker & white goods). I would have liked a wooden kitchen but common sense prevailed. I love our kitchen.

Otherwise, if you have a largish room have you thought of buying second hand to make a freestanding kitchen? The kitchen in our first house was the best one ever and consisted of a large butcher's block, a dresser, a table and a Belfast sink on bricks in the corner. We bought all the furniture second hand for £500. That would leave a pretty good budget for a nice stove if that's your kind of thing.

Of course! Is handmade kitchens in Dorset, they are very reasonable and seem v good quality. It's just a bit of a stretch. I love our children but god knows they have put a whopping hole in our disposable income!

Am liking diy-kitchens.com very much though and plan to call them 1st thing. Thanks for that link

Sorry hit send before finished..

Gaelic - where did you get yr £2500 kitchen from??

I wish we could have freestanding poster who suggested but I am in midst of toddler/newborn business and just don't have time or energy to put required effort in to source. Am hoping some nice le creuset pans, lights and decent tiles will make it look considered and not just bought off shelf without the hassle!

I realise we're starting from a very different budget position, but I'm demonstrating hopefully that you easily could get something very nice indeed well within your budget if you're flexible.

If money was no object (ie if we'd had your kind of budget) I'd have thought about these people The Freestanding Kitchen Company. They reckon their average installation comes to around £5800.

X posted lol. Homebase as it happens. Should probably have mentioned that DH fitted it himself which saved a LOT of money. I reckon DIY stores make their money on totally exhorbitant installation charges.

i have a handmade kitchens kitchen (handmade kitchens of christchurch) and have 11 cupboards but my kitchen is quite large. have another look at your design - do you need 9 cupboards? beauty of handmade kitchens is that you can get as large as possible cupboards to fill spaces where a high street design will use 2 or 3.

Love the freestanding kitchen company! Also v nice is trunk reclaimed - on iPhone so no idea how to do a link bit well worth a google!

Herhonesty- it was 12 cupboards and we've cut it right down already, could maybe go to 8. I'll have a look at the plan again later. Thanks!

Neptune worth a look, their prices are meant to be quite good.

www.neptune.co.uk/Neptune/Kitchens.aspx

do try some local independent shops. They might be able to design it so it doesn't cost that much. The costly stuff is fancy insides of cupboards/swinging corners and larder cupboards.

We are just having ours fitted and it is a quirky shape and big. Our cupboards with a laminate was £6,500. And this includes a massive larder cupboard which solid drawers, a huge drawer unit, corner cupboards. And masses of cupboards.And the doors although not shaker are of excellent quality. Then I stuck a quartz worksurface on it and blew the budget.

We did haggle on the price with the shop alot. The fitters have been brill and it looks amazing. Just cannot use it yet as the builders are still in there.....

Also Wren might be worth a look as their prices were cheaper than the Wickes, Homebase, B&Q etc. And Ikea are cheap.

What about the IKEA Ramsjo range? That is painted (white) or stained (dark brown) solid birch. IKEA also do stainless steel legs that can be used without a plinth so make kitchen look free-standing. They do also do a great free-standing kitchen (which you can sell on Ebay if you ever want to change it/upgrade.) Look at the IKEAfans website - it's great for showing you how people have customised their iKEA kitchens.

We've decided to go with the suggestion of diy-kitchens.com as we went to ikea the other day and the service was terrible, only had really cheapo units/ doors on display and it was just really uninspiring. I always wanted to be one of those people who got an amazing ikea kitchen for peanuts but tis not to be.

So far up to £3200 with diy and have 2 more units to add to order as got in a muddle over corner bits which is not too bad.

Hopefully I can post a glowing report when it arrives!

Thanks v much for all the ideas- really, really helpful

Yay

Which doors are you going for?

Thanks Amazonian! I'm ever so slightly nervous about ordering an entire kitchen online (and getting all the dims right!) but I think I've cracked it. Have gone for simple- broadoak painted in 'all white' with oak counter tops.

Our floor tiles are that sort of pale grey/green/blue/browny slate with little flat White metro tiles on Walls.

What did you order from them? Are you happy with it?