How long does it take to get a kitchen done?

[MistressWeatherwax]

Never done this before and really am basically flying blind. Here are my probably basic questions:

• I don't really understand the process/sequence you go through to get a new kitchen. What do you do first? Budget or design?
• recommendations for kitchen design firms? Are Ikea any good?
• what would a realistic budget look like - nothing top end but functional family kitchen
• how long does the actual installation process take? Weeks or days?

Thank you!

Well..I am sure there are different ways but we used that Rated People site to advertise what job we wanted then we got 3 people who put themselves forward for the job. Had to list out what we wanted them to do (ie source and buy materials/units/worktops/white goods, rip out old kitchen, fit new one, tiles, flooring, gas and electrics) and give a budget - so ours was £10k. They decide if they think they can do it for that budget and give you a proposal. We had 3 different people come round and 'design' the kitchen - they gave us a drawing of what should go where and discussed different configurations etc. Once we picked one we liked and had checked the references, they told us to go to Magnet and pick the units and worktops we wanted and tiles etc then they ordered them though their trade account so cheaper than buying them yourself. Different fitters will work and favour with different suppliers. They then ripped out our kitchen and fitted a new one over the course of 4 days. I think we got a bargain and paid extra for glass splash backs so was £12k in all. Really pleased with final kitchen - is medium sized. We were quoted £12k to £17k from Rated People and £24k from a proper kitchen design place! From advertising in the first place to completion took about a month - the actual disruption phase was only 4 days.

My neighbour did it through a well known DIY type store and let them so everything...is currently having it ripped out for the second time as they keep messing it up - it cost them well more than the £12k we ended up paying. I would follow our approach again as long as you can get comfortable with the references.

Good luck!

I just had mine done. Got 3 local firms to quote. They all did the design with my input. Tbh they were all the same layout as it's a bog standard space.

It was 12k all in with flooring, dishwasher, hob, oven and fridge.

Rip out first. Then plastering. Electrics. Fitting units. More electrics. Decorating. Flooring.

Took 2.5 weeks and I love it. I went for handleless units in a champagne colour. Satin finish. Lovely.

Thanks both. So your figure of £12k includes labour costs as well?

My new kitchen took 3 weeks at 17k including labour

Pick your budget first, then look at designs.
Get 2 or 3 places to give you quotes

OP - yes £12k including labour. I would imagine location will play a part - we are Scotland so would expect London/SE to have quite a premium on that.

Our new kitchen took 2 weeks from when the old one was ripped out, to when the new one was useable. Had to add an extra week on for the floor to be done and the washing machine plumbed in after that. It was just over £10K with labour, flooring, appliances + new boiler included.
Do decide on your budget first as then you've got something to work towards and keep an eye on. We're in Surrey.

Our last one was a couple of weeks of having the fitters in, and a bit of DIY time after that for painting, fitting the flooring and tiling which we decided to do ourselves. That was a pretty small kitchen.

We'd moved the fridge/microwave & kettle into the dinning room so we did have minimal cooking options.

What I hadn't really thought about was how much space all the flatpacks took before they were fitted, we ended up with them stacked in the sitting room. Also as the fitters used the garden for building/cutting worktops etc. We couldn't really use that in the day much either.

Sorry, yes. The 12k included labour. I'm in NW England.