Kitchen recommendations please

[AddictedtoCrunchies]

I have bought a 1960s bungalow and should complete within the next few weeks. It’s very solid but needs renovating - lots of woodchip wallpaper, polystyrene ceiling tiles and an avocado bathroom suite. This is all fine and I’m looking forward to making it mine. However it also needs a new kitchen and I’ve never bought one before so I need some guidance. I’ve narrowed it down to:

Wickes
Howdens
Ikea

but I’m not sure how I’d know which one is best. My budget is £5k max. Kitchen is quite small (I plan to extend at some point to add a dining space) and currently has pine units and no oven or hob. I thought I’d wait to buy in the January sales and hope I could get a good deal but I’ve started my research now. So could you tell me

• have you any experience of these companies, good or bad?
• would you use their fitters or find a carpenter?
• any advice for refitting a small kitchen?
• any advice on what process to follow as I don’t really know where or how to start

Link to the house here. In the photo of the kitchen, the fridge freezer space isn’t shown so that’s excluded from what I’m buying. I will need hob/oven, washing machine space and (hopefully) a dishwasher even if slimline.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54710685.html

Thanks to anyone who replies.

Check out diykitchens, they were excellent for us and lots cheaper for the materials than others. We did a lot of our own fitting though, everything but surfaces and sink.

MIL has a Wickes kitchen being fitted end of next month, after a friend had hers done - it would be in already but MIL asked for the same fitter team as friend had, can't beat a personal recommendation. Friend was obviously very positive about Wickes.

Howdens are reportedly competent but more expensive.

DPs have Ikea - not overly impressed tbh, it hasn't stood the test of time well and all the cupboard door mechanisms needed replacing (and now they've stopped making that model).

That doesn't seem too awful in the pics... do you have a plan for what to change? Is it a plan that could adapt to just changing/painting the doors/tiles?

Hmm. Squeezing a washer and a dishwasher in there is going to be hard however you restructure, thanks to the short outisde wall with the sink. Doesn't look like you can put the washer elsewhere, there's only the disconnected garage... Can the (presumably boiler) cupboard wall be removed to add another ground-level space under the boiler, or is it full of gas/electric etc?

Spoonblender
Thanks ever so much for your comments.

The tall cupboard in the corner has the boiler in the top and just shelves underneath. So thought I would take the cupboard out, put the boiler in a wall cupboard, then have an extra bit of worktop and the dishwasher underneath. I thought about have a tall ladder style cupboard at the other end by the door to the hall.

I went to Ikea last week and was quite enthused by their show kitchens. But I feel like I should go to a proper kitchen place. I’ve not heard of DIY Kitchens so will take a look.

I think I will manage with the kitchen as is for a while, using a microwave and George Foreman grill but I’d like to get a new kitchen fitted soonish in the new year.

Sounds like a plan. Taking down the cupboard will be excellent but a bit of an arse, replastering and boxing needed, but so worth it. Just hope you can do it without having to unhang the boiler... it's not the season for it, and it'd add another few hundred quid to an already tight budget.

The Ikea stuff looks excellent, but doesn't seem to wear well - keep that in mind.

One thing I'd really recommend is having mostly drawers rather than cupboards at the ground level. There's a trend to having drawers that are fifths of a unit now, so you can have two double-talls and a shallow, or one double and three shallows, gives excellent pot/pan storage under and cutlery on top. Far better than dark cupboards you have to scrabble about in.

Another vote for DIY Kitchens. Lots of choice, good prices too. Plus remember when you compare them their units are sent out ready assembled, not flat pack. They've got an online software designer.

It's a good idea to live in the place for a while, find out what works for you. How the house 'functions'. You might want to move the sink to under the other window. Or even change windows and doors.

I’ve been on the DIY Kitchens website since I posted up there and it’s great. Really intuitive and I’m playing around with lots of different comb8nations so thanks for the recommendation.

@AddictedtoCrunchies I think that I remember DIY Kitchens had a 10% off (doors or carcasses or both? can't remember) around New Year. There's a post from 29 Dec 2017 on MSE forum saying they'd 10% off until mid-Jan. So it might be a regular thing. They've a Facebook page too.

DIY Kitchens are excellent. You'd need to plan it out and buy the units yourself, and then get a kitchen fitter, but that's no more work than IKEA and the quality is far far better.