Kitchen for 10k

[Helpwithdilemma101]

We've had quotes back from our builders for our house reno. In total it's an enormous amount of money and we are looking at cost savings. Our budget for the kitchen is £10,000 and £2000 for utility room.

I already have a dishwasher and fridge but the price will need to include oven and cooker. It's a pretty big space and I am aware that it's going to be pushing it to try and get everything for 10k. I've attached a very rough drawing of the plan but you can get the idea of dimensions.

I think I need an idea of whether it's achievable and maybe some tips on where I can go to get a lot of kitchen for my money!

Your builders should definitely be able to get a trade kitchen from howdens or magnet for that price. Ours was a similar size and I think we spent £7k in total 9 years ago, including all new appliances. I sourced our granite worktops included in that price.

£2k budget for a utility room sounds high

Thanks, that's reassuring that you were able to get a kitchen within that amount. I think I've been reading too many magazines with crazy kitchens in so my perspective on costs is skewed!

I agree re. Utility, I think the amount for that is high so perhaps I could budget 1k for that and put the other 1k to the kitchen. Oh and also, plumbing and wiring costs are accounted for elsewhere in the build.

@HermioneWeasley NINE years ago?!

Try ikea OP.

Get a good fitter. Guy who did mine said all the kitchens are pretty much the same. Ours was from Magnet Trade but there was one the same in Wickes. Our fitter said it’s the fitting makes the difference

Try DIY Kitchens - I have a set up not dissimilar to yours (perhaps 10% more cupboards, it’s hard to tell from your plan) and got mine for £8,500 about 18 months ago.

Units come ready assembled so will save your fitter time. Quality is very good too.

@MrsKipling16 thankyou, I have heard of these guys before. I am nervous of ordering and not getting the right things! Were you able to plan the layout properly on their website?

We got our kitchen from DIY. Get a plan you are happy with then price it up with DIY. You can ask them to sense check your shopping basket. They also now offer a design service for something like £120 which they knock off the price if you buy your kitchen from them. We saved a fortune by using them. A friend used them after seeing our kitchen and another is about to use them.

You need to break down your budget - e.g

£10K budget
Double oven & hob/extractor = £2K?
Quartz/granite worktops - £2- 3K?
Which leaves you £5- 6K for cabinets.

Ikea is your friend especially for pan drawers.

What about flooring, wall tiles, lighting, electrics, plastering, decorating?

Tips to save money.

Source your own appliances. Source most things yourself - taps/sink, etc - you retain control of your budget better. Just pay someone to fit/install it.

Or give them the option to supply at an equivalent price.

I got all my appliances from AO, inc built in dish a washer.Had a long list and all arrived on a day that I wanted. Couldn’t fault them.

I used Which? To find best buy recommendations then shopped around. Bought the range cooker from a small retailer with an eBay shop for £400 less than anywhere else. Don't buy handles or knobs from the kitchen company as they put their mark up on them. I used Handles4U and ordered online - they have a huge choice.

We bought our kitchen direct from diy-kitchens.com, much cheaper than magnet etc. We went to wickes to get the plan and a quote (for free) then using that bought all the bits from the diykitchens website and paid a fitter to fit it. It was more time consuming but saved us a ton of money.

Oh yes and as others said we then sourced out appliances from online and shopped around to get good prices.

Helpwithdilemma101 I did my plan using their square-paper and cut out cabinets planner - it worked fine!

I also decided to make the long trek to the showroom (I live about 3.5 hours away) because I wanted to see the cabinet quality, styles, colours, etc for myself - it was well worth the visit. Whilst I was there, I did sit with one of the staff members and he went through my square paper cut outs with me; if I recall correctly he suggested I’d missed off one end panel and he calculated how much plinth and cornice I would need.

Actually visiting the showroom helped me make some “design” choices - I have more pan drawers than cupboards (drawers are more expensive ) but I am never short on storage space! I could have had a bog-standard island, but I saw a design feature there I liked, so copied it!

Curved units are —a lot— more expensive than square, but having seen both, I knew I didn’t want to compromise! The showroom guy saw the look on my face when he showed me the 3 different options for inside my pan drawers - yes, you guessed it, I went for glass which is the most ££££.

All of the above said, I love my kitchen and genuinely smile every time I go in there! Plus, I get lots of compliments from friends and family.

Since I used them they now have this online planner that you could try?

Before I ordered, I read that a lot of people had emailed them plans from elsewhere, e.g. Wickes or Howdens and that they can price up what you need based on those plans, but I didn’t try this myself.

wowfudge also mentions something else that wasn’t on offer when I was looking - £120 for planning that they deduct if you order - sounds like a good deal to me!

A couple of people have mentioned AO for white goods, etc - I’ve used them with no issues and would recommend. Flexible delivery slots, lots of choice and competitively priced.

Happy planning!

DIY Kitchens here too. Fortunately DP did the planning but the actual kitchen and appliances came in around £4000. That doesn't include the worktop or plumbing / electrics.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm going to give DIY kitchens a bash and see how I go. May look into the design service they offer.

I have had an independent local kitchen company over and am waiting for their design and quote. It will be really interesting to see what they come back with.