Help me choose a kitchen

[Cheekychip]

We are due to complete on our house the end of April and we plan to continue renting until we have put in a new kitchen and bathroom put in.

Basically I wasn't really relishing the idea of selecting a kitchen as I'm not very good at these things (not great at selecting/putting things together plus very indecisive!) and recently we have decided to start a therapy programme for my autistic son so much of my energy and resource is directed at that.

I didn't even know there were different types of kitchens until my friend told me the other day ie. fitted and freestanding. It's overwhelming me now but it does need doing so........

It's a Victorian 4 bed semi with many original features
It is only 4 x 3 metres
Budget Max £20k but would like to spend less if possible
I like the look of Higham kitchen but they are out of our price range plus you have to order weeks ahead, we'd like our kitchen to be ready to fit by the beginning of May.
I think I'd like white(ish) units, wooden floor and quart/stone worktop
We live 2hrs away from the new house so I'm not going to be around much so would ideally like a builder to project manage, does that sound sensible?

Thanks, I know there is tons of experience out there on mumsnet

I forgot to say that although small it is open plan to a dining area so the whole space I'd sort of L shaped

Following!

In a Victorian property with lots of period features, I'd opt for something very, very modern as a contrast. If you go for a kitchen that looks a bit 'period', it often ends up looking a bit cheap and fake, unless you have serious money to spend to ensure you get a top of the range kitchen.

So something minimalist and very modern might give you a fresh, contemporary look without competing with the beautiful period features in your house. Think plain doors, no handles at all, really smooth finish. Maybe like this: www.magnet.co.uk/kitchens/all-kitchens/integra-astral-white/. I don't know if Magnet Kitchens are any good though!

And if you have high ceilings (thinking you might in a house of that period?), you could get full height units (i.e. ones that go all the way to the ceiling) for extra storage space. I'd love some of those!

I want a new kitchen now, too....

I would be inclined to go with something that is sympathetic to the style and age of the house. As a buyer, nothing puts me off a period property more than walking in to find every last bit of 'periodness' has been wiped out of it inside. So I would not go with something uber modern and trendy (apart from anything else, trends change and if you spend £20k on your kitchen you're not going to want to rip it all out in 3 years time if it looks dated by then). I'd suggest cream units with either black granite/quartz or oak worktops if you're energetic enough to keep them well maintained. Something stylish and contemporary without being too 'now'.

Normally I'd suggest Howdens or Benchmarx as the quality of their kitchens is great. If you can find a good builder or joiner with an account with them who can project manage the whole thing for you then I'd go for that. If not, if your own time is limited, I'd highly recommend Magnet. We went with them a few years ago and although they were on the pricey side, they managed everything for us and the quality of fit was fantastic. We paid about £17k all in for a similar size to you.

I hadn't thought about very modern, not that I don't like the look of them but more because I feel myself gravitating towards kitchens with plenty of natural materials like wood and stone.

I just saw a lovely deVOL kitchen with freestanding units and a dark wood floor and dark wood worktop too.......expensive tastes Would a dark wood worktop be harder maintenance than say a quartz? I'm not that keen on the black granite but I think it does come in more colours.

Good to know Magnet should be in budget for us. Might also see if I can find a builder on checkatrade who has a trade account.

Also need to mention that there will be no utility room so will probably need to have inbuilt space for appliances.

Following!

I think black granite looks nice with white or cream doors but can be a bit of a bugger to keep clean.

Re the wooden worktops, I think they look beautiful instore but IME once they're installed they need quite a bit of upkeep and maintenance (more than a quick wipe anyway, which is all I can usually manage ).

We have a wood worktop at the moment and I hate it - I would definitely go for something easier to maintain next time round. Quartz sounds good to me!

Fair enough if you prefer a more natural look - I think in a Victorian property you basically have two options: either a traditional style that's in keeping with the period, or super modern. Just make sure you go for the best quality you can afford if you aim at 'period' - I really hate the 'almost period, but got it wrong' look that some of the larger DIY chains are selling en masse!

These look great to me: www.harveyjones.com/our-kitchens/shaker-kitchens

Personally, I would avoid the colour cream (it's a bit like magnolia...) - I'd look at whites and greys (a very light grey with a darker stone worktop?), but again, that's just me.

Enjoy!

I have never chosen a kitchen before (in every house we've lived in, the kitchen has been good enough for us never to feel we can justify replacing it), but I know we will replace ours within a couple of years.

Our house is Victorian with high ceilings too.

This is what I have decided on so far:

Units that go to the floor (so a kick board) as otherwise crumbs and dust accumulate underneath and it is more time consuming to clean and I know I wouldn't want to bother getting down and dirty

No gloss. I think it would mark too easily. I have two small DC who are into running trains and cars over everything and I think gloss would be unfortgiving

As practical a work surface as possible. I think that this means quartz. I want one that withstands heat, doesn't scratch, doesn't show water marks and is long lasting. I will compromise on what looks good to get this. I really wouldn't want wood (it si the last thing I would want) as it needs maintenance, is far less practical and is very easy to mark with water or heat

I think we could be happy with something on the cheaper end, as I don't want any built in gadgets or strange sizes drawers or cupboards or slots or anything

A light coloured floor makes a room look bigger and lighter

I would want a gas hob and an electric oven

I am happy for my freezer to live in the pantry so that doesn't need to be accommodated

I like having one and a half ovens which are raised so that little fingers cannot open them

I like having a drawer for pans, but don't want a drawer for anything else (save for the normal cutlery and implements drawers)

I also dislike open shelves as things on them just accumualate dust. I only need one open shelf for cookery books. Just having one stops me just accumulating lots of crap around the kitchen, and I don't need to dust or tidy them up

Each to their own, obviously

Given the size of kitchen, I do think both Higham and Devol are well within your price range.

If you've already had a design done by them and it was too expensive then look closely at the design and cut down on things like expensive drawers and extra larders and drawer inserts which seriously add up.

I'd be vary of letting your builder at it. You'll end up with something very bog standard and laid out to suit the builder and not you. And you'll end up overpaying for it.

A decent cabinet makers should be able to draw designs up your builder can read and install water and electrical services as needed.

Avoid Howdens. Cheap but awful quality. Have some Howdens in my utility room. It's 3 years old and completely falling apart. The doors and carcasses are of such poor construction that the screws fall out. It will shortly be going on a skip. So yes it was cheap but considering I am replacing it less than 4 years later, it was actually very expensive.

Does your budget includes appliances, lighting, flooring, taps etc? These things can really add up so make sure you factor that in to your costings. The £17k I mentioned before included everything except the oven (including the worktops which were about £3.5k).

If you have a good, reputable and experienced builder they can actually enhance the kitchen planning and layout. The salesmen at kitchen companies don't fit the kitchens themselves so they can't always offer you the best options. A good builder can, and a really good one (like ours) can give you ideas you never even thought of. Our builder was someone we'd used before so we trusted him. It's really helpful if you can be on hand while the kitchen's being fitted, there are about 3 million decisions that need to be made every day and the more forethought and input you have into that the better IME.

Sorry but have to totally disagree with MrsFlorrick re Howdens. Each to their own but our experience was completely different. Good quality units which lasted well, good delivery, good service. And saving money on the units meant more to spend on quartz worktops, which don't come cheap (see above).

Vinomum. If the OP is looking at Higham, then Howdens would be a serious disappointment in comparison. Sorry. Not the same thing at all. Howdens are plastic MDF kitchens where as Higham and the like are bespoke solid wood (with solid wood interiors).

Hmmm, maybe it depends on which range you buy from Howdens? Mixed experiences with them on here. And again re: builder having a hand in the design, very much down to the individual builder and unfortunately we don't have that sort of relationship with any builders where we are moving.

Yes, I'd like the budget to include appliances (these need to be good but not top end) and other bits and bobs. Our budget is mid range really. MrsFlorrick, given the above do you think we could afford Higham or Devol?
On the Higham website it says you have to go on a waiting list and then once it's ordered it takes weeks to build. We don't have that luxury of time. Wonder if they have any cancellations they want to off load........might call them

Kentexpecting, point taken. This is why I need advice. Whites and greys with darker quart worktop sounds good. 3.5k of the budget already gone on stone!! The Harvey Jones looks good so I see if I can get an idea of costs.

Welltidy, I love your list. This is what I should have been doing last year when I had more time! Re: light floor - bigger yes AND doesn't show up every crumb. We have a dark wood floor in our kitchen in our rented house at the moment and it's a total nightmare. The is also an open shelf crammed with crap. Hate it. PLUS the inbuilt microwave is set at a hight of over 5 foot and I'm only 5'2". I hate our current kitchen, can you tell?

Along with the new kitchen we are having a new bathroom and painting the bedrooms and putting new carpet down upstairs. Should I be thinking of an interior designer or is that an unnecessary expense plus maybe risk it being over stylised.

www.yewtreedesigns.co.uk

This is nice www.yewtreedesigns.co.uk/gallery-91 but not such dark floors as I mentioned earlier, looks lovely but with 2 toddlers on the go it's a no no.

Any idea of their prices?

I got a painted solid wood kitchen from Poynton Pine last year and love it. Mine has a wooden worktop but you can add your own if you don't want wood.

Also a Victorian house. Total cost with floor, appliances etc was around £10k although mine is a small galley kitchen.

If you're looking for a solid wood kitchen then Yew Tree are one of the most reasonably priced! Ours came to around £10k. The prices are online: www.yewtreedesigns.co.uk/products.php

There's a kitchen design tool on the left hand side of the page so you can design the units and get a breakdown of the costings

Look at Benchmarx framed units.
Better quality than Howdens but cheaper than bespoke.
And classic style.
I like oak worktops and have them in my kitchen. I used Osmo har dwax oil to seal and have had no problems so far (the kitchen has been in 18 months ish).

I would perhaps keep the kitchen simple with some vintage/traditional touches like Shaker doors or wood worktops. e.g. this one colourful and neither too modern or too farmhouse-like.
Practicalities you need to think about too:

• good layout as you don't have a huge space, enough to put everything down, so a person setting the table doesn't have to battle past a person cooking a meal to get the plates out, etc.
• Separate washing-up/drinks/working/serving areas - a bit of worktop for each.
• quiet appliances if it's open plan
• good storage especially in your base units and corners
• choose sink/cooker to be practical and fit in the space
• bright and variable lighting
• flow of colour/flooring/style between the rooms and a few artistic touches

A designer who's any good should be able to sort this for you. You might be better with a company who will manage the whole thing reliably even if you choose a simpler design from their range.

Darker oily woods - iroko, walnut, reclaimed teak are very durable worktops compared to oak, need minimal maintenance.

Traditional/framed/freestanding units are often inefficient on space unless really bespoke and tend to be a bit too twee. Particularly copycat "in-frame" doors bolted onto normal units are awful in the narrower sizes. A friend has a Devol kitchen and it has lovely cabinetry but it's a shame it's badly laid out with not much storage. I'd just go for normal fitted units from a decent supplier with lots of choice.

We are also on a Victorian semi and had a kitchen/diner extension added last year. Our new open plan room is quite big as it also encompasses the old dining room (with its Victorian fireplace and cornice) and kitchen.

We decided on a painted (vanilla) shaker style kitchen and ivory fantasy granite. We have a lightish engineered oak floor though out. We don't have any wall units but do have some tall units and an American fridge. We have brought some colour in with a glass splashback and matching bar stools in a colour similar to that of the tiles in the original dining room fireplace (now in our new snug).

We are delighted with the results. Personally, i would be a bit wary about grey cabinets as I've heard that grey is the "new" magnolia...

Just lost my reply

Poppet 10k is very good, did they design yours too?

Pannecotta, can you tell me how much your Benchmarx kitchen cost?

Are you an interior designer raisingsteam? Some great tips there, wish there were more photos of the kitchen on your link.

I was a bit unsure about the coolness of grey against the warmth of the wood floor. I'd probably go for a chalky white or similar.

Another thing....... All the kitchens I like seem to have a big rangemaster oven. These look great but I'm not sure I need a big oven and the kitchen isn't that big anyway.

Are there any smaller but aesthetically pleasing ovens?

I am an interior designer/project manager at a small bespoke kitchen company and would be more than happy to look over your floor plan to give you some ideas.

Re: oven : if you have he space go for a slightly wider than 600mm oven if going freestanding.
But do NOT go for the range ovens with lots of doors if only 900mm wide. They are useless and inpractical.
If you can only get away with 600mm wide my choice would be a built in oven but if you have spare cash you can get some nicer freestanding ones at that size now.

In a Victorian house you can get away with using quite strong colours.

Recently we have done:
stiff key blue units with white stone work tops.

Light grey units with white worktop but statement island unit in Hague blue.

Mizzle green with grey stone worktop (quite country style)

Dont be afraid of using colour and even using one darker colour for base units and a lighter shade for wall Units.
This can help make a small space seem bigger.

Don't go over the top with wall units.

Wall space is a good thing to have!