Kitchen Corner

[happybubblebrain]

My kitchen has given up on life and fallen apart. It must be older than me anyway, and I'm not young. So, I'm now attempting to buy my first ever kitchen and I don't know where to start. I'll be visiting showrooms in the next week or so, but my question is how do I cut corners cost wise? What do I need to spend ££££ on and what can I get away with spending £ on? Where will I find the best value for money kitchens?

Now for the how long is a piece of string question. I have a small galley kitchen. Are we talking £2,000, £4,000, £6000 or £8,000 for a reasonable quality, no frills kitchen (not included appliances, as I have those). How much should installation cost me?

How do I start deciding which kitchen will look best? One which won't date too fast? Do I just take kitchen measurements and they do the rest for me? I haven't got a clue.

Any advice or top tips will be very much appreciated.

Please share your kitchen installation experiences with me.
Thanks

I always think you should spend the extra for the bits under and over the units, can't remember what it's called.

If you have someone handy, fitting them yourself saves loads.

I think there will be a change soon in kitchens, the black work surface thing has had it's day it must be fifteen years since that became fashionable.

When was your house built?

I think good fitting is a must, an expensive but poorly fitted kitchen will look rubbish. My brother bought a decent looking kitchen from Ikea and he had a kitchen fitter fit it. It looks pretty nice and didn't cost loads.

We always buy the nicest taps we can; figuring you're always using the sink and there's nothing worse than a loose tap!

If you look on my profile, the kitchen I have designed on the Ikea planner would cost about £2k for the units (no appliances)

I like doors without bits that dust & grease can catch on, I don't like cornice/twiddles like that

TheMouse - our house is Victorian. I don't want a very modern looking kitchen. I do like KatyMac's kitchen though. I really like white units and wooden work surfaces. I've never liked black work surfaces. I like soft and natural looking.

I've been collecting kitchens on Pinterest and I really like kitchens which have just floor units and no top units, but some kind of shelving instead for crockery. I don't know where I'll find this though, as must places don't seem to have kitchens like this.

I know a handyman who could fit it cheap, but I'm not sure how professional it would be. So I'll take your advice and find a less expensive kitchen and spend the money on professional installation. Thanks.

If you'd like a little more floor space you can fit wall units as base units...they are shallower (depth) and come in the same height/width as ordinary units

We have done this in my very narrow utility room to get storage.

most important thing is the fitting. Try to get recommendations for a good local joiner and pay his day rate. It is likely he can do a better job than a kitchen fitting co, and also cost less. He might charge in the region of £150/day

Try to get a proper electrician, plumber and tiler in, even if there is less than a day's work for each. Kitchen fitters are notorious for poor quality and non compliant work.

If it was me I would want the extra sockets, lights, and switches for undercounter-appliances put in before the kitchen units arrive, and i would also patch up the plaster and give it a couple of coats of white emulsion to make it look decent. A joiner can also fit laminate or real-wood flooring for you.

Ahhh, kitchens....

We had a new kitchen fitted last year - pictures on profile.

I'd say reasonable quality is Howdens (which we went for), Wickes, B&Q.

More expensive is Magnet, John Lewis.

Less expensive is Ikea.

Homebase always strikes me as a bit crap.

I reckon you are talking between £1500 to £4000 if your kitchen is smaller than mine and depending on whether you go for the cheapest option on everything (Ikea, laminate worktops, laminate floor, cheap appliances) or whether you got for more mid-range / expensive (Wickes, granite worktop, snazzy appliances etc).

Installation was about the same cost as the kitchen.

If you go into any kitchen shop they will be more than happy to talk you through what you do. I recommend measuring your kitchen then playing with the (free) kitchen planner on the Ikea website just to get an idea of what's possible in your space. Then you can take that to any other shop to show them what you are thinking of and get more specific ideas about price and options.

We went with Howdens because it seems pretty good quality, I searched loads of threads here and everyone seemed happy with their Howdens kitchen, and they were very nice and helpful when we went to plan the kitchen - no hard sell at all, just friendly and patient. You need to get it installed by a tradesman with an account at Howdens - they only sell to trade, not the public.

Good luck - it's very exciting if daunting I know!

Your kitchen is lovely Wig, did you do the extent ion at the same time?

Thank you, TheMouseRanUpTheClock. Yes, we did the extension at the same time - same builder built that and fitted the kitchen. We luuuurve it. It has really made the house a home even when the entire floor is covered in train track and children.

Just coming to the end of a similar process. I found it so daunting, just didn't know where to start. In the end we also went for Howdens (burford grey) and am really happy with them, although it's not quite finished yet.
Thought their units are good quality and they had pretty good reviews. We sourced our own appliances and worksurfaces as we wanted a stone of some kind, which Howdens didn't do. Went for white quartz which is so far looking lovely....
The appliances we got through BEMCO, on the advice of a friend. They are some kind of electrical manufacturer but have a domestic appliance department which are excellent value for mid-range appliances, especially the integrated ones such as hobs, ovens, dishwashers, chimney hoods etc.
Also found some excellent advice on mumsnet! Found it very helpful when making decisions and my DH was saying 'just do whatever you think'.
Anyway, good luck!

Just seen that you've already got appliances so my post wasn't that helpful!

Ohhh Wigeon, your kitchen is lovely. Mine is a lot smaller.
I'd forgotten about John Lewis and I'd never heard of Howdens, so I'll have a look at those two as well as the others on my list.
I've booked an electrician to sort out my lights. Now I have to start shopping and make up my mind, and find the best person to do it for me.

It is a bit daunting. I don't want to waste money getting things wrong, or being over charged for things, as I am on a budget. I'm hoping to have it all finished one month from now, I think that is realistic. I'll put photos up when it's finished.

Hello HBB. We have the Borrowdale Grey kitchen from Benchmarx (the same kitchen as Heritage Grey from Wickes but cheaper because B'marx is their supplier). It's painted oak in a lovely greeny-grey. PM me if you'd like pics (with your email address because you can't reply with attachments through MN PM-ing). The whole thing (and I have large kitchen) was 5K. I completely agree with others on here about getting a good fitter.

Thank you happybubblebrain! Do have a look at Howdens. I think you may well find John Lewis too expensive (we didn't even get a quote from them as I'd heard they were pricey).

I rather think that getting it done in a month is a bit optimistic. You need to research kitchen suppliers, research kitchen fitters (eg for Howdens you need to find a builder with a trade account there - Howdens might be able to suggest them), or use the company's own fitters, decide on all sorts of things like the units, lighting, flooring, worktop, tiles, appliances, handles, sink, tap, layout of kitchen etc etc. And some of the larger companies (B&Q, Wickes) might well have a 6 week order time. And a good kitchen fitter will be booked up and may not be able to fit you in in the next four weeks.

Sorry to sound like the voice of doom, but especially if you are on a budget, you will need to research all these things in order to get the best value on everything. But it is manageable and you don't have to feel daunted if you break it down into little chunks (eg first of all decide roughly what style you want, then design it on the Ikea kitchen planner on their website and so on). And it can actually be quite fun once you get into it!

Unfortunately all of this takes as long if your kitchen is small as if your kitchen is large!

I've just bought a new kitchen so done tonnes of research on this... We wanted totally plain white slab doors (not hi gloss, that's a bit too fashion-y for me - plus I wanted something I could paint over in a few years time if it started to look tatty!) and base units only (not a fan of eye level cupboards, much prefer open shelves) and got everything we needed (base units, two corner units, larder, drawers, sink, taps, integral dishwasher) for just over a grand at Ikea. NB this didn't include the oven (we're getting a Neff one from John Lewis (DH is into cooking and fancied something fancy)) or the hob or the fridge. Oh and not the worktops, we wanted nice thick oak and have ordered that from somewhere cheaper off the interweb. Otherwise, all in.

We went for Ikea after we visited all the usual places (Wikes, Howdens, Homebase) and found that the design was much nicer, for a cheaper price. Asked all my friends where their kitchens came from and the only people who had anything good to say about theirs had bought Wikes or Ikea so that decided it for me!

Ikea would have fitted for a grand as well, but since we weren't buying the full package from them (no worktops, not all ikea appliances etc) we decided to let our builder do it instead.

Noclue - which Ikea doors did you go for?

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Nocluenoclueatall - I want something similar to you. I want very plain matt white doors, solid wood worktops, white shelving instead of top cupboards, belfast sink, mixer taps and white brick tiles. I've decided to replace the oven, hob, washing machine, but not the fridge. I went to Dewhirst yesterday (very expensive and I didn't like anything) and Wickes (same stuff as B&Q, but no special offers on and unfriendly staff) and B&Q - where I sat down and to decided everything I wanted. I'm booked in with a planner this Saturday to work out costs etc. So I'm going to see what figure they come up with and then work out how I do it cheaper. If Ikea are much cheaper I will go there, but I've looked at their kitchens online and I don't like their worksurfaces or accessories. I'm also going to a kitchen warehouse at the weekend and I'll give Howdens a ring to get quotes from them. I'm not bothering with Homebase as I went there recently and everything looked shabby.

I have realised that 1 month is completely unrealistic and I'll have to just live with a falling apart kitchen for as long as it takes.

You know you don't have to buy everything from the same range or supplier. I am just having a kitchen put in and I've ordered units & doors from one supplier, worktops another, sinks from Ikea, taps from plumbers's merchant, and it's being fitted by a local carpenter. He is going to build open shelves from MDF or timber and we will paint them to match. The Ikea bits are sized slightly differently, which we can work round, but nearly all other UK kitchen units are exactly the same size and come from a pretty small number of factories.

Many kitchen ranges do extra panels, shelves etc to match the cupboards which your fitter can customise to get a particular look, if you have the ideas, or theres's nothing to stop you just using some "non-kitchen" shelves or accessories.

When I was looking around the most promising ranges for the money were the local Second Nature stockists. IKEA were a very close second, but I was won over by wood-effect carcases in the end.

I would also say that saving money, depends on how much you are prepared either to plan/source yourself or do yourself. For example you can go around getting bargain appliance in sales or ebay, but you have to be responsible for getting them delivered in time and that the units are planned properly to fit them. (at this point I have my fingers crossed about my dishwasher). If you are not too sure about details or measurements, then get a plan drawn up for you but definitely try a couple of different places to compare.

My single criteria for reasonable quality of kitchen units is the back panel. Look inside the units and give it a good push. If it's made of thin hardboard, or doesn't go all the way to the top of the cupboard, walk away!

I take it you dust like a deamon with the open shelving?

I have the plain cheap Ikea white doors & they suit me fine

I don't really like cleaning that much but I think I will polish my shelves with pride when I get them. I have a lot of open shelving in the bathroom which looks really great, actually one of the best things in my house. I'm going to ask the same carpenter to do my kitchen shelves.

Thanks everyone, you've given my lots of great tips and inspiration.

The trick is to use your shelves for things you use frequently so they get washed regularly, then the shelf itself gets a wipeover every so often. It's not like they are crammed with stuff that's what cupboards are for

My cupboards are currently crammed, so I'm going to have a bit sort out and discard anything I never use or which ruins the look of the kitchen. I'm going to be buying lots of new white ceramic to go on the shelves. I'll try and keep mostly with a white theme. I'm really looking forward to this stage. I'll put plates, bowls, glasses, mugs, ceramic oven dishes, cake stands etc on the shelves and pans etc in the cupboards out of sight. It should look good.