If you had £40,000 to spend on a kitchen ?

[sosew]

Where would you go ?

Excluding appliances, floor and any building work. It's not a huge room (3.3M by 5m) basically a large galley so no room for an island. I was thinking we would look at a local firm (we're in London) as we'd like deeper than normal cabinets so we can add in a larder area and make the most of the wide space, but I'm nervous that this will blow the budget.

It is definitely baffling to get a downstairs refit done for 15-20k in London.
That’s peanuts for London.

Tom Howley.

Thanks all. To answer a couple of questions, we're probably looking at a modern style rather than shaker or traditional as the house is quite modern.

The room has a large opening at one end into the dining room, which were going to open up further and put in a breakfast bar. - hence for a small room it's worth the investment. At the other end is the door to a playroom, so we spend a lot of time between the three rooms.

Because of its slightly odd size (a wide galley) we're keen on someone who can help bespoke this but also happy to use of the wrack carcasses etc

I love the threads in what would you change in your kitchen if you could do it again so thanks for the reminders !

Honestly, for now I would focus on spending money on good kitchen design. I would also have a go at some of the kitchen ‘sheds’ because both of the kitchens we have fitted have been amalgamations of different designs. Since you have ample budget you could really spend some money getting the layout right (often people are stuck with positioning because they can’t re-route drains etc). For a modern style I probably wouldn’t go full bespoke to be honest, I think that only really comes into its own on a shaker style.

Someone upthread mentioned the company that John Lewis buy kitchens from - they also supply independents. And some independents use a company called Ultima - which are just DIY kitchens trade arm.

If you do your homework re: suppliers you can still have a wonderful high spec kitchen and have some of your £40k left over.

I wouldn't .
Our last one cost about 3k.
It doesn't matter what you go for, they'll see you coming. lol
Just get a cheap one and give then 30k for nothing.

You don't need to go full bespoke for a fancy larder. Mine is based on a standard 1000mm wide full height unit and standard internal metal drawers. 170 degree hinges make the difference. Plus a bit of creativity from the fitters who did the lighting

@Decentsalnotime

* Bloody hell! My flat cost £35k, last year!*

Flat?
Did you make a typo there?
My garage has been valued at £32k!

Not a typo.

If I had that budget, I would 100% go for Herringbone Kitchens.

I've been lusting after their kitchens but sadly out of our budget: www.herringbonekitchens.com/

They have a really good Instagram page (where I do most of my lusting) and the blogger Lily Pebbles used them so her video is quite helpful and is where I first heard of them:

Just get a cheap one and give then 30k for nothing.

Weird 🤔

I love the look of www.pluck.kitchen

I’d look at davidhaugh in tunbridge wells or four corners in Stratford upon Avon.

@AldiAisleofCrap

20 hours a week in a room 16m2 doesn’t sound like fun even if it cost £40k!

It's a fairly standard sized room. I spend more time than that in my larger than average for a 3 bed semi lounge which is about 18 sq m. Even longer in my 14 sq M bedroom. The vast majority of houses in this country are 100 sq m or smaller.

Naked Kitchens and Plykea both have a cool modern look without being all glossy looking.

For a modern kitchen, I’d probably go with a German brand. Even if more mid range than high end, they’ll do amazing quality, a vast range of finishes and very clever solutions and gadgets.
If you really want to blow that 40k, then Porcelanosa kitchens are really cool.

[quote TaleOfTheContinents]If I had that budget, I would 100% go for Herringbone Kitchens.

I've been lusting after their kitchens but sadly out of our budget: www.herringbonekitchens.com/

They have a really good Instagram page (where I do most of my lusting) and the blogger Lily Pebbles used them so her video is quite helpful and is where I first heard of them: [/quote]
I need this wine rack. The vacuum cleaner can live next to the dining table, where it spends mostly of its time, anyhow. Might need to sell a child, first, though.

@MsRinky

I love the look of www.pluck.kitchen

If I could see enough clear worktop to plate up a meal for 4 then I might believe the first line.

We used British Standard and had our joiners for the walk in larder and some additional cupboards. I’m very impressed with the quality.

I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned this already but I’d also recommend Edward Collinson. We have some very beautiful shelves for our office but he specialises in kitchens.

www.edwardcollinson.co.uk/KITCHEN/

Suggest you go to an independent kitchen studio and have a look at the bespoke ranges. Ours is handmade in maple and this has meant we have had doors and cupboards made in odd sizes so it actually fits the kitchen. The price will depend on type of wood/finish, handles etc. Ignore people telling you to go to Wrens etc - go and choose what you like!

If anyone reads to bathroom thread it’s quite clear that opinion is ‘buy cheap, buy twice’, but there is some weird reverse snobbery about kitchens.

@JoJoSM2 I don’t mean a pretend stainless kitchen: www.cavendishequipment.co.uk/gallery

Spending £40k in a kitchen that size is lunacy unless you have so much money it doesn't matter. Plenty of other good quality options

@intheningnangnong I think that’s because they are perplexingly different markets. I found buying our bathroom suites bewildering because of the sheer volume of choice out there and the fact that several different brand names are actually made by one parent company (eg Hudson Reed is made by ultra, which also make brassware for all of the big/cheap sites).

With kitchens it’s really quite different, you’re either looking at off the shelf or bespoke. Off the shelf again is made by a handful of different companies but sold by many. Wren etc do make their own, but once you go to an independent kitchen retailer, or John Lewis, those kitchens can often be bought direct from the supplier of you know how.

The bespoke stuff is great, some of it is very beautiful. But again I’d recommend going smaller and dealing with the cabinet maker directly if you can. That way you tend to get a better understanding of what you’re paying for and you’re not paying out for shop frontage in a prime location.

But ... a kitchen is a fairly big depreciating asset. It’s only worth spending £££ if it’s a long term house, or a very high value property. If it’s a normal family home and there is any chance you might move in 5-10 years then it’s a bad spend. Thankfully I only put a (top range) high street kitchen into our old house because we moved 4 years after completing it. Which was unexpected.

Go and visit some local kitchen designers. Not any chains. They’ll give you some great ideas tbh.

@Flamingolingo - agree that it's very confusing. I also find it confusing the way that there seem to be no one stop shops - some people do the cabinets but not the worktops and not the installation or tiling or flooring... I don't really want to go to 6 different companies and try to sequence it all but there don't seem to be many options!

I have been eyeing up this company www.westandreid.co.uk/

@intheningnangnong

I don’t mean a pretend stainless steel kitchen either. Ikea does actual stainless steel fronts (with their standard carscasses).

@JoJoSM2 oh that's cool, but it's still only the fronts. It's not a stainless steel kitchen. It is a door.