Help me get a new kitchen for as cheap as possible

[obsessedwithinteriors]

As the title suggests, we have an incredibly tight budget for this and I can't afford to go over it. So far, it's as follows:

New Kitchen - £3,000 (DIY Kitchens)
Fitter to rip out and install new one - £750
Plasterer two days - £300
Wall Tiles - £60
Floor Tiles - £350
Decorating - husband to paint
Skirting boards - £100, husband to glue
Spotlights x 6 - £150

Still waiting for quotes to disconnect and install new appliances - do I need a plumber for this or would a handyman do?

Waiting for quotes for tiling labour

Waiting for quotes for new wall to be put up and stud knocked down.
Electrician to install new lights.

Is there anything else we can do to save money ourselves?

Thanks very much MN.

I've always saved on things rather than labour - though to modify that, we do all the labour we possibly can ourselves, so there tends not to be anywhere to save on labour.

Haven't done the kitchen properly yet so nothing specific jumps out but going with my usual rules - what are you spending on things like sink/taps etc? Are they part of the £3k? What does that include?

Tiles - have you chosen and purchased? Ditto lights. If not, are they definitely the best options for the price and not available elsewhere more cheaply?

The appliance installation - which appliances are you having installed? You need someone registered to sign off on your cooker. BUT - we had handymen do the install and a guy come round to check and issue paperwork afterwards, which saved money.

How much of the fitter cost is the ripping out? You could do that yourself if you're able bodied, can wield a mallet and drive to the tip, but it might not be worth it if it doesn't reduce the price that much.

You can also knock down a stud wall yourself, if previous body/mallet equation works.

Presumably it's not an option to keep the units and just give them a jolly good clean/revamp and replace doors, handles etc?

Hi Grumble

Thanks for tips. Yes, everything is at a discount - I have no shame when it comes to asking for as cheap as possible....

The 3k is for EVERYTHING for the kitchen, which is bloody good value, can't seem to get it any cheaper. How much did you pay for the sign off for cooker - I don't know if I can get anyone round just to do that.

That doesn't include rubbish removal, I am driving to the tips with the whole kitchen in the boot/backseats of our car!

No, units are 25 years old and literally falling off the walls.

Have you costed an ikea kitchen. It might come out at less than that. We paid about that for a large kitchen and a large utility room. How big is the kitchen?

Rip out units yourselves and make up the cupboards.

Sounds like you're doing well!

Cooker sign off was £50, though that was for the boiler as well - the guys who installed it along with our heating had a friend they used a lot so it was arranged through them. It was really the boiler that was the big deal, the cooker was just him looking at it and nodding and actually that was the second time he came because the first time he came and shook his head and said you need a new cooker. The guys putting the kitchen in might be able to do it, maybe check with them.

Washing machine etc don't need any kind of paperwork and are pretty straightforward to do, just someone who knows how to do it should be fine rather than a specialist. Again - maybe kitchen fitters for a few extra quid!

Kitchen sounds like a good deal but as I said I don't really know so maybe someone else can offer advice there!

Units come already made and I hate IKEA, sorry prepper.

I've told my husband to start googling 'How to disconnect/reconnect a washing machine/dishwasher'. Lol!

No problem, if you do find you don't have the budget though they are well worth a look. Ours is wood and has been significantly hacked. It looks like a £40k kitchen now.

Have you costed in

Taps
Handles
Grout
Tile adhesive
Lighting in and under cabinets

They seem so confusing though, I can't put my finger on it. Also, I'll have to pay the fitter more to build them too as they come flatpacked? What did you do to hack it?

We paid 2k for our ikea units (10 base cabinets, 1 larder unit, 1 wall cabinet) plus dishwasher and fridge, then a further 1k for appliances, sink and taps. This was all Neff stuff and a Franke sink and tap though so could have been easily under your 3k figure. How many units and appliances does the 3k cover?

We had gas pipe moved and fitter connected to cooker for £100 including materials (fair amount of copper piping involved)

Tiling we did ourselves. How big is the floor area?

(photo on profile)

Taps, Handles, Lighting - Yes

Adhesive and Grout need to ask tiler whether that is included in his price?

If kitchen is 25 years old have you got enough sockets?

Do you have fused switches for appliances with hidden sockets.

Paint especially a good wipeable kitchen paint for walls and ceiling will probably be another £100 plus

I did a washing machine on my own so definitely doable. Would assume a dishwasher is the same.

How complicated is the layout? Are there any straight runs that you could fit yourself? We partner installed a kitchen once and it looked good when finished. What type of worktop are you going for? Are there any parts where you could fit that?

Where are the tiles for? Do you need them is for more that just behind the hob?

Well, one way to save money is to not buy pre-made units

You could always assemble the carcasses yourselves?

Making the units is very easy so you could take on that task.

We have a wooden range so its custom painted. We have made different types of cabinets by stacking units. So for example we have units that look like dressers by stacking two base units on top of one another and then using a wall unit on top. The units all reach the ceiling and have trim top and bottom, the baseboards are deep set and we have then added "feet" to each of the units. We have also used side panels to make the units look inset rather than overlay in style.

Staggered the units to get a more custom look. Used non ikea handles.

I literally spent hours and hours on Houzz.com finding out what I like and don't like and then worked out how to get the look for much less.

Yes, we are reusing all the old sockets, I love them, they are of a 'knackered antique look'.

We are just replacing like for like, as we don't have the space to change the layout.

The dimensions of kitchen is 2.14m x 3.55m

We are keeping our dishwasher/washing machine, just replacing fridge freezer (and that only because it is leaking)/cooker and hob.

Paint, I got really lucky - Fired Earth had a 75% sale. I got three beautiful pots of chalky, buttercup eggshell for £36! Ceiling paint is free, left over from my sister's house.

Sadly, we are not talented enough to tile/fit worktops ourselves. I will be happy with disconnecting the appliances!

Ikea kitchens are really good quality for the price. You can build them yourself and then have a joiner fit the worktops, sink cutouts etc.

Your floor tile costs look expensive for that size of room at £46 a square metre. Would have thought you'd be able to get something a cheaper there.

How much of the wall is being tiled?

Your units could definitely be cheaper for a kitchen of that size. Ours is double that plus we did the utility room.

If you are simply fitting dishwasher and washing machine in the same place it is very simple to do yourself, I've always done my own. I've also tiled floors and walls myself, I think it's really easy, quite satisfying actually.

I would say looking at the size of kitchen it is way to expensive. You will be a good bit cheaper with Ikea units, shopping round for appliances (look for ex display or graded ones), ripping out kitchen yourself. Assembling carcasses yourself, saving on fitter, connecting dishwasher and washing machine yourself and cheaper floor tiles. With a small kitchen like that I would have a good rummage round bargain area of local Ikea for doors. Also if you are replacing like for like, can you not keep you carcasses and just replace doors, worktops etc?. There are a make of Spanish floor tiles that look very like fired earth, are good quality and extremely cheap. A lot of the large tile discounters do them. Had them on my kitchen for last two years after salivating over fired earth. Had Ikea kitchens for last 20 years. They are good. Worktops less so.

What type of look are you going for OP? Modern, country/rustic, new england, shaker, mid century retro?

We've just done a similar sized kitchen on a limited budget

The things from your list that stand out to me are the plasterer (we just got bits of ours skimmed - perfectly adequate but obvs I don't know what your walls are like. We paid £120 for that

Floor tiles, bought cheap end of line ones for £100 and did it ourselves after watching lots if YouTube. It's easy but a grotty job. We also underestimated the cost of adhesive and grout which was about £100

Our expensive bits were the electrics so if you can avoid that you'll be fine

We've spent about £3k and have got solid wood cupboards and drawers (second hand john lewis of hungerford bargain) slate worktops (Reclaimation yard bargain) Moroccan encaustic tiles (just a small area, straight from Morocco bargain) and a fancy sink and perrin and rowe tap (eBay bargains)

It's taken AGES but looks like it cost much more than it did, considering half the budget was spend on electrics and tradesmen

Thanks so much for the tips - you guys are amazing. A couple of things to clarify:

We are knocking down the existing stud wall between kitchen and dining room and then chopping living/dining room in half by putting a new wall up. This will then result in an equal sized living room and kitchen/diner, compared to the current set up of a tiny kitchen with large living room/diner.

This results in the kitchen/diner having floor space of 11sqm2. However, the kitchen layout will stay the same - cheaper and easier, rather than extending into dining room.

Floor tiles are these: www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod44655/devon-bone.html managed to haggle and get them down to £350 for 11sqm2.

Grout/Adhesive, I can get 15% off.

Had two labour costs back for tiling the floor and walls - £38 and £40 per sqm2.

Kitchen Walls are 2.586 and floor 11 so 13.6 in total @ £38 psqm to tile =£516! Seems a lot?

However, I can't tile myself and neither can husband - we don't have the tools or skills and I just wouldn't attempt it.

How much would you expect to pay for a sink to be disconnected/radiator capped? I need to have that done before I have the kitchen ripped out? A plumber just quoted me a day to do that - £250!!! Must think I am made of money.....