Would you spend 30-40k plus on a kitchen?

[crystalgall]

We are in the process of buying a house. The needs to be completely rnovated which I am excited about including a new kitchen.

I really love the grey/blue shaker kitchen look but my god some companies are so expensive. However it doesn't seem like you can get the same look with IKEA/howdens etc. Also we are utterly inexperienced in building works/DIY so want someone to come and do all the measurements/design etc and just have it fitted. Minimal faff on our part.

I want to know if it's worth it? It's our forever house pretty much and I cook everyday. The kitchen will be part of a big open plan space too. These are some of the companies I've looked at. Bloody gorgeous kitchens.

Sola
Devol
Tom howley
Harvey jones
John Lewis of Hungerford
Second nature kitchens

So would you spend that much on a kitchen? Have you?

Although 5 percent of a house's value is an awful lot of money if the house is an expensive house. I don't think that works for more expensive homes

If you want it and have the money then go for it OP!

Here's the British standard cupboards website if I can get it to work

link

The good think about shaker solid wood is that it can be painted to keep on trend. So my mums solid stained wood kitchen was then painted cream when stained wood was over. Now all the posh kitchen shops have flat grey/ dark blue shaker style kitchens in their windows around here.

You need a carpenter who is willing to do it for you. Then you order the carcuses from IKEA or the like without all the extras and then get your carpenter to do all the bespoke stuff with a material of your choice I.e plywood, solid wood etc.
Check out this London based website
bespokea.london/what/

painted wood units aren't timeless though. For example at the moment if you had a wooden kitchen circa 1980 there would be curves on the edging, possibly some lovely countrified carving etc. Everything dates to an extent. Clearly there are styles you can go for which are less/more likely to date quickly.

That's a lovely kitchen. I think it will date pretty quickly though.

To spend £50k on a kitchen would depend on how much my house was worth/size etc. In a normal 3 bed semi worth £350k probably not no, in a £800k house, then maybe.

Navy and dark grey kitchens all over the interior design sites atm. Lots of gold handles too. Looks lovely.

IDIC. Vulcan saying. It means infinite diversity, infinite combinations
So what's right for you may not be for someone else.
We did our kitchen 8.5 years ago. Ripped everything out, rearranged units. Total cost? £1,300.
We're just now replacing the doors and work tops. That'll probably cost £800 including labour.
Our kitchen will do. It's functional, looks ok and is easy to maintain. If I can get another 8/9 years out of it, I plan to spend a bit more then.
Have fun! Find something you love.

Yes I would and have. It's a very small percentage of what our house is worth, so makes sense. I wouldn't put a £50k kitchen in a house worth less than £500k.

My new kitchen will be fitted in about a month, now at the survey stage having finalised the layout. It's a Second Nature Mornington shaker style with painted Ash doors in grey. I wanted something to last a lifetime which hopefully this will. My current Ikea kitchen has done well to last 22 years but has looked worn and shabby for quite a while.

I have no intention of moving from this house so have given the new kitchen a lot of thought. My small kitchen is costing just over £10k excluding appliances which I will supply so I can see how a big kitchen could cost so much more. Worktops can be a fortune, mine is a quarter of the cost and that was with a discount.

Like you I don"t want the faff and just want them to come in and do it all but I have found it crucial to meticulously pore over the plans until completely happy with the design. All the extras like the whizzy pull out cupboard inserts are important to consider too.

We have a beautiful second nature 1909 kitchen - it cost £15k including appliances.

I like the idea of custom doors on standard carcasses - indeed, DH has an appointment with the aforementioned bespokea today - but not sure how easy/possible it is to get an 'in-frame' design that way? And that is what I particularly like about the look of shaker kitchens.

So is 25k acceptable on a house worth 650k?

Thanks for the links.

You can fake an in-frame look by using panels between each unit. Google it and you'll see what I mean. You only get the frame along the edges of the carcass rather than between each drawer but it is still a good hack.

It totally depends on how much money you have and how much your house is worth. But the more up to the minute the kitchen is the more chance it will look really dated in a few years when the trend has changed. I don't think I'd cut back on holidays and so on to have an expensive kitchen. But if I could afford both then I might.

Once your kitchen is in nobody will be able to tell whether it was 25k or 35k. They would probably be able to tell whether it was 5k or 35k

Thanks redhat will have a Google

A good rule of thumb is to spend in proportion to the value of your house. A relative is planning a new kitchen and so are we. Having spoken to them, they will probably be spending at least double what we will, however their house is also worth double + what ours is worth.

I might put a very expensive kitchen in a very expensive house because it would add value. It wouldn't be worth it for our house.

You see j just looked at the British standards cupboards website and my eyes glazed over on the measure out your kitchen on graph paper stuff! Nope can't do it. Just want someone to come in and do the job for me.

In terms of what we can afford. We can probably afford a 40k kitchen. I'm sure DH would prefer we not. I am happy to skimp on other things for example having IKEA furniture in bedrooms and cheaper flooring but at the same time I'm hearing what people are saying about looking dated in 10 years time.
Although if it was a solid wood kitchen I could just te paint couldn't I?

*repaint

So does 25k seem acceptable for a 650k house or it is just relative

Personally, absolutely not, no way in hell.

To me, it's such a boring way to spend that money. I would put in an Ikea kitchen and have a sabbatical off work for that, and see some amazing places and do some life-changing things. What are you going to remember on your death bed? A £2k tap or a trip to somewhere astounding?

If you love it, can afford it, can upgrade it when you come to sell (painted cupboard or new fronts) and is sensible relative to the value of your house which is sounds like it is, then why not. I do think you can spend a lot less and with clever carpentry & accessories get the same look, but unless you have the time, inclination & creativity it's definitely easier to get the finished article from one company.

650K house!?
Yes I would definitely invest in a good kitchen.
I hope I'll be spending that on my new kitchen in a year or so.
Although that will include an extension!

No, I wouldn't, I don't think it's worth it unless you have a million plus house.

My house is worth about 250k and it has a massive kitchen diner which I love. It's my favourite room in the house and I love it. It's Ikea stand alone units, a range cooker, an island, plenty of room for my Kmix and coffee machine and nice kitchen things. It wasn't expensive and but I think it looks stylish. We get a lot of compliments about it and it's often described as a dream kitchen.

We did (total cost came in at £65K though part of this cost was building an extension).
completely worth every penny for us, if we aren't in our bedroom, we're in the kitchen.
It will look dated in the future, of course it will! But we have built it to please anyone else, only ourselves. When we're bored of it, we can replace it.