Total Kitchen refurb (on a budget).......

[BellMcEnd]

We had hoped to limp our decrepit kitchen on for another couple of years or so but unfortunately it would appear we'll need to sort it a lot sooner.

It's a large galley kitchen and we're pretty much keeping the layout as it is. We'll also need to replace all the appliances and the flooring plus lights. There's no actual structural work involved. We're probably going for cream / white shaker style cupboards with laminate counters - I'd love Corian or Quartz but doubt our budget will stretch to that!

As we're on a fairly tight budget so I'd love some advice on what we can do to make our kitchen look really great plus any suggestions on what we can do to keep costs down. DH and I are already planning on ripping out the old kitchen ourselves and decorating the finished one.

If anyone has recommendations for the actual kitchen units / appliances / lighting etc themselves then that would also be very gratefully received! I'm prepared to do a lot of trawling around various show rooms and haggling.

BTW - those boiling water tap things - what do people think of those?

Thanks!

We fitted our old kitchen when a builder/joined let us down last year....

Cream gloss ikea doors. White carcasses. Brown laminate worktop.s.The end units had a dark brown end so they weren't white(the carcass colour). New hob and oven. New sink and taps. New splash backs on hob and sink. New edging between the worktops and wall (same colour as worktop). New door handles.

11 units. 2 sets of 3x drawers. A double sink unit.

We had to do it in the evenings when my dh finished work. Took a few hours to build all the carcasses. Easy as pie ripping out units and worktop. Sink was trickier.

The thing that took the longest was measuring where the units go when hanging/attaching and fitting the worktop/cutting out the sink space and hob space.

There's some great you tube videos and tips. I used one on YouTube that used masking tape and pencil to mark out the cutting areas rather than marking the worktop itself.

It's a messy job. But doable.

We had pets and young dc in the house too so if we can do it anyone can! Took around four evenings for the main part. Painting and cleaning extra time. Cost us definitely less than 2k probably more like £1.5k.

B and q were great for the worktops (we needed 3m long ones)

Builder/joiner!

Actually my memory is wrong...2 drawers. One slpashback. 12 units. We sold the house....

Have a look at DIY Kitchens and Units On-lIne. The prices are way cheaper than Wickes, Magnet, Howdens etc.

We did ours last year on a low budget - went for ikea units and doors but decided to spend more on the worktop. We initially looked at Corian/quartz, but I popped into our local granite/marble showroom on a whim and was pleasantly surprised to find it a cheaper option! Have had it a year and love it! We fitted everything ourself except the granite worktop/splashbacks

Really, Islets?(great name, BTW!). That's really interesting. The whole counter top issue is giving me a bit of a headache. I'd not really even considered granite as I just assumed it would be ££££. I'll have a look and see if we've any granite places locally.

Thanks every one! This is all very appreciated. Please keep your suggestions coming!

I've just had a quick look at the initial email quote I received for granite and quartz. We paid £1800 for ours which included 3m of worktop, an island measuring 1.5x1.5, upstands and a windowsill. It also included an under mounted sink, hob cutout and all laser templating and fitting. The quartz quotes came in at £2200-£3800. The company were excellent if you are in Yorkshire area?

Wow! That's fantastic! Sadly we're south so very far from Yorkshire. A builder friend has recommended a tiny but v competitive family firm specialising in granite so may go and have a poke around there

if you're on a budget, a boiling water tap comes at the bottom of the list, just above granite and downlighters.

To keep down costs for the cabinets, check eBay/gumtree for ex Display kitchens being sold off-you can save thousands

Islets - are you talking about a company from York called Set in Stone by any chance? We are on the south coast and they travelled to us. 7.5 m of Quartz, cutouts, up stands etc £2,300 fully fitted.

We used Paramount marble in Hull - highly recommended them if anyone local is looking for granite/quartz etc.

Internet and local budget tile stores is always a good place to start.

On the plumbing side, I would use compression isolation valves to isolate the water supply. You would spend a lot less time without water and, if a tap washer goes, you wouldn't need to drain all your taps. Try not to use flexible hoses, as they can rot and cause you problems in the future. With compression joints, use a metal file to file off any sharp burrs before putting the olive on the pipework.

If DH is good at DIY, this shouldn't be too big of a job.

For appliances, AO are quite good.

Good luck.

I'm totally in agreement with PigletJohn. I thought this thread was about a kitchen refurb on a budget. Now it's about granite which even when found at a good price is still way too expensive.

I got cheap Homebase units. I know I should have got Ikea instead but I have a really awkward kitchen - no flat walls and lots of awkward pipework and metres etc.

What I did do though was to get good appliances (Neff), sink and tap (Franke). Read reviews and searched for best price and if Homebase had it got them to price match (or near enough).

Also went to a local electrical trade counter which anybody can go into and got fire rated downlighters (at such a good price that even surprised my kitchen fitter) and sockets and under cabinet lights too . I remembered PigletJohn that you can never have too many sockets in a kitchen!

Got another good deal on kitchen floor tiles by looking in odds and ends section of local tile company and finding they had 5 metres of floor tiles that was perfect for my small space and at a knockdown price.

The OP mentioned a 'tight budget', but didn't specify what and also mentioned quartz worktops, hence a discussion following on about granite potentially being a cheaper option, as people can assume it's out of reach. We did our kitchen on a tight budget but managed to buy granite - we designed the layout and assembled everything ourselves, upcycled old flooring and other features to keep within the budget. You can have 'nice things' on a budget - it's just a case of compromising.

We're just starting out with our research and I've no idea how much stuff costs! I probably should have specified budget - it's £10K which to me is loads but DM has said is not much for a kitchen.

ALL suggestions are gratefully received. I had assumed that granite was out of my league but as Islets has so helpfully said, hunting around and compromising on other areas can make all the difference. We're not changing the layout and although I like the integral look, we don't technically need to replace the dishwasher and washing machine. Even if we do, they're relatively new so we'd be able to sell them.

Absolutely YY to soviets. We have loads at one end and one at the other. V irritating.

£10,000 . And that's a tight budget? Well I suppose it's all relative.

Hope all goes well with the kitchen planning. That's the nice bit. The actual renovation work is the bit that I don't ever want to experience again.

if DH is good at DIY pleeease

I'm not sure £10k would stretch to granite worktops, to be honest. I'd rather spend money on good oven, easy to clean flooring, decent taps and interior fittings.

For example you might break it down:

Units and laminate worktop £5K
Fridge, oven, hob, extractor £1.5k
flooring and tiling £1k (inc labour)
Fitting £1.5K (ten person-days)
Electrics, lights, plumbing, sink & tap etc £1k

Kitchen companies advertise the price of their units prominently but you can buy branded appliances, sinks, etc cheaper almost anywhere online. Screwfix are good for bits and pieces, lighting, fixings etc. Ikea are great for accessories even if you don't have their units.

DIY Kitchens are excellent quality for a trade price but you have to design and order it yourself. TBH you would save so much over Wickes etc , it would be worth a few hundred to get someone to design it for you.

We spent £5-6k tops on our kitchen - granite worktops, new oven and hob (Siemens) extractor and integrated dishwasher (Bosch). Amtico flooring, ikea units and doors. We installed it ourselves (2 weeks with microwave teas and washing up in the bath). My clever and very practical husband made shelving using old pine drawers and used offcuts of oak flooring to make under cupboard plinths. We paid for professional floor installation and a plumber for the gas hob.

Oh God NO!! DH is not a DIYer and nor am I! We're happy to rip the old one out (it's practically falling apart anyway) and paint the new one. That's about it .

We've scrimped and saved for ages for this kitchen - £10K for us is ££££££ and this kitchen needs to be functional, practical and last. Obviously we would like it to look as good as possible, too. I've had a few people in RL say it's v little for a full kitchen refurb hence my tight budget thread title. We had hoped to limp it on for a couple more years but that's very clearly not an option!

Thanks again for all your suggestions - loads of hugely useful points

OP, depends how big the kitchen is but consider drawers - really practical. If you go for wide drawers (maybe 90cm or 1m wide) you obviously need less of them than standard 60cm units. I've had IKEA / DIY kitchens / units on line carcasses and all better quality than standard high street stores (current kitchen is Units Online and love it).

Do your research about what appliances you want then do your leg work - comparison of internet sites then take best price to local electronics store and see if they'll match it. Look at decent brands - but discontinued lines or maybe reconditioned models.

Lighting - again look at styles you like then look for designer inspired alternatives copies on Amazon or Ebay.

And top tip - go and visit your local granite / quartz suppliers. Depending on what sizes you require, they often have offcuts. We got quartz for our island in our old kitchen as an offcut and it was only a £100 more or so than good quality laminate.

We used IKEA and an amazing joiner which made such a difference to the finished fit

For your budget we could have got all our units, appliances and then put in granite and a boiling tap

If you go to somewhere like b & q they will send someone out to design and measure for you for free.
They give you the pictures of the plans - they don't give u the ones with the measurements on though until you purchase the goods.
So you can either use the ideas and go elsewhere or in our case we did buy from them but paid a local joiner to fit it which cost £500 instead of the £5000 that b & q would charge! Also our joiner had the experience to be able to advise us that £1500 worth of the stuff that b n q had sent us we didn't need and we returned!!

2017. The year of the Kitchen. I'll be back to join in the 'fun'.