If you had to shave off your (new) kitchen budget, where would you shave it off?

[gobblygook]

Exactly that. Trying to get the spend down...but we have to buy everything new. Things that are important to me:

• A good single oven. Thinking of a Miele because it has 10L more capacity than any other under counter single oven on market (like a neff) But will I care? (Difference in price - extra £400)

• Cupboard doors - having those made in MDF and spray painted, carcasses from Howdens

Trying to buy good other appliances but can see how quickly it mounts and have no idea where I can make savings

Advice? Thoughts?

Ikea significantly cheaper than Howdens and look the same to me when fitted- worktops/sinks not so good though so get those elsewhere. Don't get Neff hob - I hate it cos its impossible to clean!

I have a NEFF oven and have never had a problem with capacity. I also have aprayed MDF cupboard doors, but a warning - these DO chip especially along the bottom and top edges of the drawers where I have banged them with saucepans . They looked fantastic for about 2 years. In theory I could touch them up, but the surface is so smooth that I think a touch up might be worse? I also never tiled (meant to get glass but could never decide on the colour...)

I have a granite top (Not black which just reflects the underside of your cupboards and shows every crumb) that I got from an import warehouse (yellow pages) and then got a stone mason to measure and cut (never do your own measuring) It was about a third of the price that I'd been quoted in ktchen shops. I have a 10cm upstand at the back which catches any splashes and then the walls are fine. I've had to repaint them once in 7years - a chance for a change of colour!

I love mumsnet at times like this!

Good thoughts.

The builder got a massive discount at Howdens so actually, the supply of the carcasses is not a lot.

Interesting about the NEff hob - ie cleaning. Will bear this in mind.

Keep 'em coming!

We splurged on the carcasses in order to have drawers rather than cupboards throughout, which is much more space effective for our layout. We also splurged on the doors and the handles, because we fell in love with a particular look (1950s retro - very cool) and colour.

We saved on the oven and dishwasher (reused existing ones), the fridge and saved massively on the worktop. DH would quite like to replace the laminate worktop with corian at some point, but there's no rush.

Have you looked on ebay for the appliances?

I got all our appliances (brand new) at significant savings including our lovely lovely oven for half price still with full warranty!

Might be worth seeing how much the ikea carcasses are - even with builders discount the ikea ones were cheaper for us. The builders like them as they are pre-built, we decided to build the ikea ones ourselves ready for the builder and that made a significant difference.

An old thread- but just wondered where you got your mdf doors from and how the kitchen looks?