Fitted kitchens, where to buy?

[Notnowcato]

Finally, we have a house which comes complete with an original 1970s kitchen. Even the surveyor says it needs to go, pronto. Yipee, I get my first new kitchen. But, having never done this before, I need advice as I am quickly getting confused. I have had recommendations for IKEA and Howdens, but am also thinking about Magnet, John Lewis (plc, not of Hungerford)? We have about 5k to spend (including appliances) so I can't go for the top end, much as I'd love to. I'd like some thing modern and minimal with the idea that we can then add three children's worth of clutter and still come up smiling? . Does anyone have experience of any of the above? Or any other recommendations? Or just any hard-earned advice as I start on this process. Thank you for any words of wisdom

Does the 5k budget include fitting or are you expecting to fit yourself?

My husband is strangely keen to fit it himself! (He is the sort of man who loves IKEA flatpacks. Odd.) He entirely refurbished our current house so is very handy and loves a challenge. Chalk and cheese, we are.

We fitted our kitchen ourselves, it was one of the most straightforward things we did DIY wise.

Howdens only technically deal with trade so if you want to fit it yourself you might need to find someone who can get the units for you. Units from Howdens come preassembled.

Our kitchen budget was a little bit less than yours and we went with Ikea as the units were half the price of our next nearest quote (Homebase). This meant we could afford to upgrade some of the appliances we got. Ikea also do tall wall cupboards across their entire range, many others don't have these as options in the budget ranges.

Units, including dishwasher and fridge from Ikea came to 2k, another 200 for the worktop which we sourced elsewhere and we spent a further 1000 on oven, hob and extractor.

Kitchen being fitted

I think for your budget you may be best going to IKEA for the units and maybe the worktops and spending a bit on the appliances, source them on-line.
They have lots of good storage ideas such as pull out recycling bins, drawer dividers, racks/rails etc which will help conrol family clutter.
There is a kitchen planner on the IKEA website and lots of advice on IKEA kitchens on here if you do an archive search.
Does your 5K include flooring as well? Something to bear in mind at the start.

When you deduct the cost of the appliances, wall tiles, flooring, lighting, any other extras, what is your budget purely for units and worktops?

I am amazed that we just spent £1100 on Howdens units for a rental house. It was the cheapest plain white units and worktop, no tall units or wall units, nothing fancy - just a sink unit, an oven unit, 2 corner units, a drawer unit and a double unit.

Another £1k for removal of old and fitting of new, £100 tiles, £100 lino,
£1k appliances, £300 sink, taps and a really small, low spec kitchen has cost £3600.

The 5k would ideally cover flooring and fridge/freezer and possibly oven and hob. (We are taking our relatively new washing machine and dishwasher.) Our current plan is to leave our range-style cooker because I am undecided about going for integrated ovens with a separate hob, or having a new freestanding oven. If we decide on the latter, we could take our Smeg with us and then save up for a new oven later on. The flooring would not be tiles but might be wood if we can afford it, or marmoleum/lino if not.

Tizwozliz: love the look of your kitchen :). Good tip about the units from IKEA and then upgrading the appliances. It also means we could add them as and well we can afford them. So, maybe, get two tall units with spaces for integrated ovens, but start with just one?

Sunnyshores: that is really useful to know ? yes, maybe I need to go back and see if I can persuade my husband to put a bit more in the kitchen budget. (The 'new' house, as a whole, has been neglected for about 20 years, so there is lots to be done!)

IKEA does seem to be my best bet, and I do like the style of their kitchens.

Can I slightly change the question and ask, if you had more to spend (20k), which brand would you go for? (Our other option is to patch and mend the 70s kitchen, save for four or five years, and then put in a more expensive kitchen. But we'd have to closely inspect the existing one to see if it can be made to last for five years.)

If I had more to spend I would get a kitchen made by a joiner so you could have units made to fit your space.
But IKEA is great for well priced units and accessories.
I will dig out some links I have saved on how to beef up their kitchen to make them look even better.
BAck in a mo...

carolreeddesign.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/why-i-love-ikea-kitchens.html

aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tips-tricks-for-buying-ikea-kitchen.html

do you live down south? here, oop north, you can get a perfectly decent kitchen for a couple of grand, (local, independent, or ikea, wren, b and q) fitting for 500 if straightforward, leaving plenty over for flooring. the big companies often screw you on fitting. on a 70s kitchen you need to factor in the hidden stuff - might turn out the electrics or plumbing are dodgy for instance.

How much would a joiner work out per average unit? How much does wood over mdf/chipboard cost per unit compared?

I am fed up of mass produced units and quite fancy my new kitchen being made of wood and painted.

How do you find joiners?

We live in 'the most expensive city' in the country [sad[. But I am from the north and I mourn, on a daily basis, for my homeland ?

Ask around for joiners. What they charge depends on where you live and their overheads but often minimum of £150 per day.
Not sure re price of wood versus mdf etc, but joiners will work with both to keep costs down, ie mdf inserts within a wooden panelled door.

You can paint IKEA units to make them look less mass produced, see the first link I posted above.

Ask who about joiners, moving to a new area.

for my example of the kitchen units above, Wren kitchens were slightly more expensive, BenchMarx were a few hundred cheaper and looked as good as Howdens (longer lead times was prob for us).

£20k, now you're talking! I've spent a couple of years looking for our new kitchen and am spending that sort of money with www.kitstone.co.uk
Unit wise, it will be 3 door larder unit, single oven unit, double sink unit, Aga hood, 2 drawer units, 2 corner units, 2* double units,

not sure what happened there.....

worktops, island unit. No new appliances.

MrsJRE feel free to ask who you like, I'm not a yellow pages service!

I don't know why but I thought howdens were expensive. Am also looming to replace a kitchen, so watching with interest. I thought we'd be looking more towards a£10k budget, but pleased to see we could hopefully do it for less

I think we had a misunderstandi ng there. I am sorry if I came across as rude. Was just wondering where to ask around if you can't get word of mouth, would it be worth asking in local building suppliers gor example?

"Can I slightly change the question and ask, if you had more to spend (20k), which brand would you go for?"

I'd spend 3k on an Ikea kitchen and go on a very expensive holiday

More seriously if my overall budget was 20k in 5 years time I'd spend 5k on the kitchen now and 17k later on. Don't underestimate the effect of living with a kitchen that you hate/is falling apart/is badly designed for 5 years.

No worries MRSJ, yes builders merchants a good place to ask (or timber merchants ), any neighbours having work etc.

Iz I agree re the IKEA kitchen and expensive holiday! Also the advice about changing it now even if you plan to upgrade it later.

Pannacotta: Fantastic links ? I am inspired :)

Sunnyshores: Also loved the link to Kitstone.

Tizwozliz: I love the idea of the expensive holiday too. Possibly to research new recipes?!! But it's a good point about living with a wreck for 5 years. That's how I feel too. My husband is of the view that it is good to wait and get the best you can possibly afford but my point is that in five years time, one of my three children will be on the verge of leaving home (or maybe not) and it's a long time to be coping with horrible, ancient stuff.

I think I am convinced by the IKEA votes but any further comments welcome. I just knew Mumsnet would guide me well.

The second of Pannacotta's links (this one) uses the same doors as our kitchen. I think it illustrates nicely how you can get quite a different look to a kitchen by choosing different handles, worktop, tiles etc.

Oops, I thought I had a kitchen photo on my profile but I don't. Ignore me, it doesn't illustrate anything!

Heya.

I've just ordered my kitchen from this chap. www.evokitchens.co.uk/

I initially got a quote for 5k for the wicks heritage kitchen not including appliances or fitting!!

Began to look around and get other quotes and found Paul at Evo. He has been brilliant! Found me my dream kitchen (painted wood shaker style in a beautiful pale blue) azure the colour is called.

My qoute came in on budget and includes fitting and appliances and oak worktop.

I haven't got tons of money and thought that I would be wasting his time by getting a quote from him but I was really surprised to get the price.

He also put up with my endless questions and worries and provided loads of visuals. He also gives honest feedback too. Wicks included stuff in my quote that wasn't physically possible and would have actually looked stupid if I had gone ahead with them.

He has a really good rep on here and although based in Manchester has fitters all over the country.

I can't wait to see the finished article in a couple of weeks!

Just tiles to decide on now. It's so blinking stressful

Chihuahuas: some of those kitchens are gorgeous. Thank you for that link too.