new kitchen, where do we start?

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We desperately need a new kitchen. Current one is 20 years old and not even on its last legs anymore, with doors hanging off etc. We have been a few places (John Lewis ££, Cambs Kitchens ££££), looked online at more (ikea, magnet), but now i am getting a little overwhelmed.

We'd like a shaker style, painted (like: john lewis leckford) with quartz work tops, but would prefer not to break the bank. This is forever house, but perhaps not forever kitchen. Would it be possible around the £12-15K mark?

Would be grateful for any suggestions.

We've just had our very first ever new kitchen installed, so we had no clue what to do!

I've learned that the first price is just a starting point in most places. Small local showrooms can be just as cheap as the big 'sheds'. Buy appliances yourself online. Get quartz worktops straight from the trade fabricator near you. Google is your friend. Source everything yourself, even sink and taps, you will end up with top quality for the same price as high street stuff. Barter with everyone! Ask for a trade price, you've got nothing to lose by asking.

In the end I got the units online from diykitchens, and everything else from other websites. Get brochures, millions of brochures! There are loads of direct websites for kitchens, I had a modern style but they have shaker style too, there's one call something like diy handmade kitchens direct.

Sorry for rambling! Good luck with the kitchen, hope you get what you're looking for

It is do-able with your budget. I have a large kitchen with quartz work surface and it is just a little under your budget. And I have the most fabulous larder cupboard with sturdy drawers, and decent tap/sink. But I kept my oven and hob ( they were only a few years old)

We looked at John Lewis/Wren/Wickes/Ikea/Magnet etc.... And then tried several independent places.

You might find a builder/kitchen fitter who has an account with Howdens and give you some of the discount?

We went with an independent as we have an odd shaped kitchen and it needed some clever fitting. Their first quote - I said "no we cannot afford that" but we got there with everything I wanted. I think the owner kind of saw us as a mission and was determined to get it right - he was brilliant and so were the fitters.

Write down what you want - larder cupboards, what sort of drawers ( the big ones you can stack plates etc)..

Higham Furniture. Beautiful kitchens. I've got one. Here www.higham.co.uk
Not too expensive either. Fully bespoke and lots of options to have it done any way you like. Lovely people to work with too.

Devol Kitchens. Lovely as well. www.devolkitchens.co.uk

If you want painted shaker, then a cheaper option is painted MDF rather than painted oak. We have done this and had granite worktops plus sourced our own appliances and kitchen was about £13.5k so doable in your budget.

Thanks so much for posts so far. Yes, much prefer painted over foil. Have bad experiences with foil. that sounds kind of funny...

try 'unfitted kitchens' who make hand built in-frame kitchens and paint them for you, but they don't fit them. A lot of their furniture is free standing. I've mixed my country look kitchen with cheap butchers block from Ikea and antique pine cupboards to give an eclectic look as well.