How to make a budget kitchen look expensive

[Kr1st1na]

DD has just bought her first flat and it needs a new kitchen. Limited budget means one from Ikea / Howdens etc. Any tips for making it look a little more stylish ?

I’ve looked on Pinterest etc and it’s full of helpful suggestions like

Install a marble workshop
Fit designer taps and appliances
Here’s this lovely custom made glass splash back at only £100m2
Buy handcrafted doors and hardware from superfront

Sadly she doesn’t have that kind of money. So low to moderate costs ideas please .

I would advise against ikea as the unit sizes aren't compatible with other kitchen ranges so if in a few years she wants to update the doors she's stuck with ikea.
If you have time ebay can be good, I once spent £40 on an estate car full of oak kitchen doors.
Worktop wise if it's a small kitchen granite might be doable. For a simple rectangle slab with no cutouts or draining board grooves etc it isn't that expensive and is pretty indestructible.

oh, and open shelving

Really? Isn't the point of Ikea to pay nothing for the carcasses and then pay to have bespoke doors made so it looks like a truly bespoke kitchen.

I would advise against ikea as the unit sizes aren't compatible with other kitchen ranges so if in a few years she wants to update the doors she's stuck with ikea.
Piffle
Ikea units are the same sizes as everybody elses
which is why non Ikea bits fit onto them

Same as the old canard that Ikea units do not fit standard plumbing - again hogwash

You are right ta1kin but with the exception Ikea haven’t found a good solution to integrated dish washers from any brand other than their own. The parts are difficult to fit and difficult to obtain.0

Honestly Ikea units were never quite the same size and since they brought in the new range they are very different to standard 72cm uk units. Both taller and deeper.

"standard 72cm units"
My ikea units have six widths, three depths and three heights
which one should be 72 cm ?

I was scouting in Wickes the other day for the cheapest floor tiles one can buy and came across solid laminate worktops. Think the laminate without the woodchip but in the middle. Super slim modern profile, apparently a bugger to fit yourself but not much more ££ than normal laminate. Was well impressed.

I would agree about design and fit. Also the right worktop and sink can upgrade more basic units. I installed a used kitchen but with new acrylic worktops and integrated sink and drainer. I notice some laminate look better than others and some inset sinks are very flush and sleek compared with others which can cheapen the look. Also wood worktops are affordable and can make a difference over standard laminate.

@pumpingRSI

I can’t find them on the Wickes website, do you have a link please ?

Ikea kitchens are great value for money and their website planner is also very good.

They sell beech worktops [with care info also online] which looks very effective if you order extra and run it down the end of a line of units similar to this.

@sandrasannoyingfriend your kitchen looks stunning. I’d like to do something similar.

What sort of worktop is that and where were your handles from?

Don’t put in open shelves! Looks messy (unless all you have is a lovely set of display china), space inefficient and a PITA to clean. Total false economy.

Honestly Ikea units were never quite the same size and since they brought in the new range they are very different to standard 72cm uk units. Both taller and deeper.

Perfect. ‘Normal’ uk units aren’t deep enough and people put freestanding appliances that poke out. That makes me sad.

Aha,
yup, my freestanding dishwasher and washing machine fit perfectly and snugly into the line of my ikea units
hence why I never worried about integrated
and my built in stuff (oven, hob, hood) all fit perfectly into the ikea units

I hesitate to contribute more piffle and hogwash to the thread but,
72cm is a standard base unit/door height (excluding plinth /legs). Ikea are 80cm that's the difference.

How come my non Ikea dishwasher and washing machine fit perfectly under the worktop that sits on them then ?

If your kitchen is 8 yrs old Talkinpeace, that may account for it. The Metod system (which I think is not 8 years old yet) is definitely different to 'standard' UK units - I think off the top of my head they are deeper than standard UK units and the height is different - think the kickboards are higher and sit further back.

Nope, sorry, does not wash

I was told the same bilge by people when I was buying the kitchen
but my fitter and Ikea confirmed that the overall dimensions of their kitchens are absolutely standard so that anybody's washing machines / dishwashers / sinks / cookers / cooker hoods fit into the gaps

My worktops are not Ikea but they magically fit after all ....
despite all the horror stories I was told

We did our kitchen from ikea and had the solid beech worktop. It got water stained quite badly and quite easily.

Howere we got white cupboards and the internal fixings were superb with lots of great insert ideas.

We did for for a solid oak deep open shelf which was custom made and look the TITS and with all our stuff on it was very good looking.

Have a really good play around in some showrooms and get the details right.

Talk in, If your kitchen is pre 2014 - which is when I think Metod came in - you're right that there wasn't much difference. I had a Faktum kitchen myself in a previous house (the Ikea predecessor of Metod) and it was fine.

However the Metod measurements are different - Ikea themselves confirm there is no comparability between the old Faktum and new Metod. One thing is as previously said the assembled depth of the unit is just less than 62cm (which means you need a deeper worktop) and although the overall cabinet height is similar to say B&Q or somewhere the plinth sizes are different - have just checked and they're only 8cm at IKEA whereas most are 15cm - meaning there would be a difference in the door height (the Ikea one would sit closer to the floor than a non Ikea one).

Like I said, I loved my previous IKEA kitchen and the new METOD range is great, but it's correct that you can't mix & match it with non-Ikea kitchens.

This article explains it Talk in

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=moregeous.com/2014/02/15/farewell-faktum-hello-marvellous-metod-new-ikea-kitchen-range/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwjnrqX81O7XAhUmKcAKHUNiBR4QFghJMAs&usg=AOvVaw14ySR-E5arHVyjDspBwdkk&ampcf=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Metod article

well that's interesting

if I understand it correctly, as well as not doing 720/900/1940 heights, they don't do 300/500/1000 widths.

OK, stand corrected,
had not realised that Metod was so much more limited than Faktum(I have 20, 30, 50, 60 and 100 wide units in my kitchen)
odd move on Ikeas part

We had a cheap IKEA kitchen and then made it look more expensive with fired earth tiles which cost a bomb (and almost as much as the kitchen) but if you only need a small area doing they are worth looking at IMO.

I loved those tiles SO much and hey really made a basic kitchen stand out.

I hate my current kitchen which is probably not cheapy IKEA but just is badly planned and has cheap laminate worktops. So want to replace.