Buying a 2nd hand kitchen

[thisgirlrides]

Anyone done it? Ours is really old and the units knackered, they don't fit modern appliances and there aren't enough units. Things are a bit tight at the moment but we do have a tax rebate coming our way of c.£2k and DH reckons we should buy a 2nd hand kitchen off eBay or similar and he'll fit it, paint the doors etc. He's quite capable of doing the job (finding the time is another matter ) but I'm struggling to see how you can buy a used kitchen and fit it unless the layout is exactly the same. It's a fairly standard U shape but we don't want to start moving pipes or masses of electrical work etc so are we limited to finding one with the same footprint or am I missing something?

I would do it, you will save yourself a fortune. If your DH finds he isn't up to it, a decent joiner will be able to do it for you. We recetnly moved into new house and changed the layout completly. The sink and dishwasher stayed in the same place so it was just a case of re-jigging the electrics so we could move the cooker and the joiner cut the kitchen up and re-fitted it for the new layout. We took a wall down, put a wall up and re-fitted the kitchen for 2k. I am upgrading it with Corian worktops, metro tiles, slate floors and chrome handles and painting the units, which is costing about another £3000. Re-using the old kitchen meant I could splash out on an expensive worktop and real slate floors! I would check out free cycle as well, you would be amazed what people get rid of.

Keep an eye on free cycle.

Have a look too at exdisplay kitchens.

I've designed second hand kitchens for expats in Spain as lots of people upgrade and sell their old kitchens and it seems to be a big market over there! The key thing is to be sensible and plan if it will fit before you actually buy it - the cabinets should come apart into separate cabinets - sometimes you can change the handing of cabinets - it's easier if there's no top and bottom difference to a door - ie not arched top doors. Usually the worktops won't fit unless the kitchen was bigger than yours is - but even then it's not a guarantee !

We got an ex display one from eBay for a song. However the range was still available so we were able to order a few units to complete it for our space.