£25k for a kitchen...fucking hell

[DangerCake]

Always inherited a kitchen.

New kitchen in new extension, if we can ever get a design that works we appear to be looking at £25K, and that doesn’t include flooring.

We are a bit limited as due to location, No Ikea or DIY kitchen option.

Is that just what they cost?

We got bespoke oak kitchen units for our odd house. Slide & hide oven, F&B paint, etc etc. Did the tiling & painting etc ourselves.
About 8K all told.
My dream kitchen was from a company who told us they don't even bother to discuss anything with a budget below 25K.
Our kitchen is lovely, it's not perfect, but then we don't have much money. I'm not going into debt for the sake of smooth walls.

Surely most people can evaluate the finish of units, cost of work tops and how the cabinets are made and whether they need bespoke and then make a decision? If you sell tat for too much money, you won’t sell. It’s a competitive market. When you buy a kitchen, most people evaluate what they want and then look at value for money and quality and what suits their house.

I would not find an oak kitchen lovely. So it’s all down to what you like and are prepared to pay for.

Few posters have talked about ultra expensive kitchens. Most talked about way under £10k and that’s virtually impossible unless you DIY and your house is low in value. Money doesn’t always buy taste, but in an expensive house it needs to!

@donquixotedelamancha your kitchen is tiny though. Few people have a space that’s only 2.5m square. A normal kitchen in an average semi is double that size, a detached would probably have at least treble that floor space. So if you paid £8600 then a normal size kitchen would be more like £15-25k.

donquixotedelamancha your kitchen is tiny though.

Sorry, you are right. I checked the sizes and it's 4m by 4m.

We were quoted pretty much that for a kitchen from wickes/howdens etc.
We used a kitchen broker (free service) who recommended a couple of independent places near us who were so much cheaper and better quality. We went with one of those and I love my kitchen now. We ended up paying about 13.5k.
I would definitely contact a kitchen broker.

What's a kitchen broker?

Bit naughty but we got a design drawn up by Howdens and used it to buy a kitchen from DIY. Saved a small fortune (to us anyway) and have a much better kitchen.

Integrated appliances are fine until one breaks and you cannot get a replacement to fit ...
I've never wanted them for that reason.

My units are IKEA
My worktops were from a specialist
My appliances are all graded stock Neff and Bosch (saved a fortune that way)
Fitted by an independent chippie.

My kitchen is for cooking not looking.

Fitted appliances are a standard size. You will always get a replacement. Just don’t buy anything that’s not standard. We have had a new dishwasher and single oven and no problems whatsoever. DD replaced built in fridge freezer. My built in fridges and freezer are over 25 years old but they are standard sizes should they fail. Ditto hob. Only difficult size is my wide oven and coffee machine but they can be avoided! Don’t be afraid of built in. Again buyers expect certain standards in fairly expensive houses. And you do leave them behind when you move!

A kitchen broker basically finds you the best supper/fitter of kitchens near you that match your specification/budget.

I'll message you details of who we used. He works all over the country.

@donquixotedelamancha Can I ask what suppliers/firms you used for your kitchen? Sounds like exactly what we are looking for and about what we have to spend!

Can I ask what suppliers/firms you used for your kitchen?

DIY kitchens for the units- very good quality.

Worktop express for the worktops because we wanted iroko; if you want granite I'd just shop around but for wool/laminate they are fab.

AO for the appliances.

Belfast sink was just an internet search although the ones from DIY kitchens are good value too.

Handles bought online (etsy, I think) because we wanted something a bit different.

Wineware for the custom rack then unit built round it.

Local carpenter, tiler, painter and plumber for the fittings, shelves etc.

I did plan carefully (things like appliances in sales and haggling with people, looking at 5 million door knobs) but could have done it for about 6K if we weren't such fusspots: bespoke colour, in frame doors, bespoke units then needed colour match spraying, hand made tap FFS.

If you weren't bothered about something unique on a tight budget you could organise it much easier than I did. It's the difference between making decisions sat in B and Q then ordering or making them at home then ordering them from a few companies. We've never bought a kitchen before so went a bit nuts.

If you do decide to do it that way, feel free to PM me.

Thank you so much @donquixotedelamancha
So good to know that it can be done. Will have a look at your suggestions!

Do consider graded stock
eg this oven
www.theappliancedepot.co.uk/graded-neff-b57cr22n0bb-60cm-stainless-steel-slide-hide-single-pyrolytic-oven-b-4126
has a dent in the top
which will not show when its fitted ....

My oven has a dent in the side which has not been seen since it slid into its cabinet a decade ago

20% cheaper than normal ....

That’s not a normal price for a kitchen at all, you’ll only pay that if you get chipboard or an ex-display kitchen that’s wonkily fitted by your husband.

No, no snobbery here.

Do some people who post on here (and elsewhere, presumably) not read back what they've written and realise just how much of a dick they sound? Everyone doesn't have £60k to spend on a kitchen.

Like I said earlier, people who act superior because they have a 60k kitchen don't necessarily have the best kitchen. They might have bought from somewhere that puts a huge markup on the product knowing people who don't know better will pay.

I had a quote for similar but got a large hard wood (tulip) kitchen made by a carpenter, plus an island, and with granite worktop, and painted, for under £10k.

My 14 year old kitchen is howdens. The doors (ye olde gloss) are much nicer quality than ikea but the actual cabinets are absolute shite.

Definitely try Howdens. Get their quote via a builder. Then go to Wren (it should be less). Then go back to Howdens and ask them to beat the Wren quote.

We were quoted 27k but the independent shop a builder recommended.

Then 15k by Howdens.

13k by Wren.

Then 12.5k with Howdens wfh gets we went for.

@onelinelinda did that include fitting and time?

do it the other way round.
figure out your budget and go to several places and ask:

'my budget is ££££, layout/size of the room is xxx: what can you offer me?'

Our cabinets were in good condition so we replaced doors and worktop, new sink and taps, they were odd sizes so we had to have them custom made. We were on a budget but it was around 2.5k. It made a huge difference. My ideal kitchen would prob be 20k but we got the best we could afford

@DangerCake yes.