Shall I get a free standing kitchen?

[longwigglylines]

We're hoping to sell next year but don't have a lot of money to do up the house.

The kitchen is awful, whoever moves in will definitely have to tear it out but I can't afford to by a new fitted kitchen and have it installed. Plus it'd be a gamble, the new people might want to rip it out anyway.

WIBU to just rip it all out, paint it a nice colour and put a freestanding kitchen in? I was thinking this could be a good solution as I think I could afford it, it'd look much nicer than what we have there s o hopefully increase saleability and if they're just going to rip it out anyway then we could sell it on - or leave it there if they want it.

The current kitchen is a tatty, falling apart 80s number! I always meant to replace it but it's (just about) functional so it never reached the top of the priority list.

A free-standing seems like a straightforward solution that I think I can afford. What am I missing?! Will it put buyers off?

It's a galley kitchen which already has a freestanding range oven. (Which is probably overkill for the size of kitchen by we love it!)

FWIW my house will likely either be bought by a property developer or a young family who want to be near the good schools and can live with this house's off putting quirks to get more space for their money. (That's why we bought it, anyway. Most people moving round here are young families)

The cupboards are similar in style to these, but whitish (magnolia or whatever you call it) not the green in this picture that's actually so awful it's quite interesting!

And, having just googled images I think it may actually be 70s not 80s!

It's tatty though. e.g. the doors don't sit straight. It's just old and rubbish, not "retro".

Thanks for all your comments everyone. This is really helping me think this through.

DP is no use as he just agrees with me! I really do need constructive criticism, thanks

Sorry I've tried to read the whole thread bug has anyone mentioned getting a whole second hand off Facebook or eBay? You'll probably get a few more extra carcasses and doors than you need and if you're handy or have a handy friend you could sort it out on the same footprint. A friend doing up a rental cottage spent £150 on that then only a couple hundred on worktops and builder grade taps and (again eBay) appliances - brought their total up to £850 with specialist labour. I was so impressed!

@MenaiMna

Sorry I've tried to read the whole thread bug has anyone mentioned getting a whole second hand off Facebook or eBay? You'll probably get a few more extra carcasses and doors than you need and if you're handy or have a handy friend you could sort it out on the same footprint. A friend doing up a rental cottage spent £150 on that then only a couple hundred on worktops and builder grade taps and (again eBay) appliances - brought their total up to £850 with specialist labour. I was so impressed!

if you're handy or have a handy friend

I like your thinking but we're not, sadly.

Painting, tiling, assembling flatpacks or straightforward jobs like attaching things to walls we can do. But anything beyond that, we'll need to pay for. We've moved away from our network of old friends which includes some friends who are really handy with this kind of stuff.

If we get a 2nd hand fitted kitchen off ebay, we'll need to pay someone to adapt it and fit it for us.

OP you said that the next houses up are 60k more - that is a significant wack more mortgage and would need to be on 10-20k more to access it.

People go for ex council as they know that you often get more space for your money, and there is a massive difference between them thinking they might need to spend 5k on a new kitchen vs 60k to get a fancy pants one.

Not everyone would be put off, my BIL has a vision when he views a property and he would rather buy something that needs work that he can tweak then something that is perfect. The current house had a red bathroom suite when they bought it last year for example.

Painting, tiling, assembling flatpacks or straightforward jobs like attaching things to walls we can do.

If you can do this you can probably fit a kitchen.

I would suggest that you buy a secondhand kitchen from somewhere like EBay or Gumtree. Take a look and you will see that there are loads at really cheap prices. A lot of them are almost new. My guess is that people have moved into a new property and the kitchen is not to there taste so they rip it out.

Ahh, just saw that someone has already suggested secondhand. It really is the way to go (I have done it myself in a rental). Works out a fraction of the price even with any labour.

@TheGreatWave

OP you said that the next houses up are 60k more - that is a significant wack more mortgage and would need to be on 10-20k more to access it.

People go for ex council as they know that you often get more space for your money, and there is a massive difference between them thinking they might need to spend 5k on a new kitchen vs 60k to get a fancy pants one.

Not everyone would be put off, my BIL has a vision when he views a property and he would rather buy something that needs work that he can tweak then something that is perfect. The current house had a red bathroom suite when they bought it last year for example.

That's for the pretty ones. Sorry I should have been clearer!

Looking at what's on right now, within a stone's throw from me:

There's a house that's a very similar council build, identical layout upstairs. Different layout downstairs but with a little more space. Pretty garden 3 times the size of ours at least. Done up to a high spec, it looks stunning. £240k.

A house 5 doors down from us on the same street. Bigger than ours and a different design, has a bit more kerb appeal. MASSIVE garden. Dated decor. Kitchen almost as bad as ours! But it's large, you could do a lot with it. Overall, the rooms are mostly large and it has a lot more potential than ours. £259k
This has been on the market for a while.

And from then up we're on to the pretty period homes: the next one pricewise is roughly the same size, small bedrooms but nice space downstairs, a large garden and done up to a high standard. £285k

@murmurgam

Painting, tiling, assembling flatpacks or straightforward jobs like attaching things to walls we can do.

If you can do this you can probably fit a kitchen.

Nooo, please don't tempt me!

This house is full of unfinished projects! I don't have the skills at all and it's not really DP's thing. We've been too ambitious in the past about what we can achieve and it ends up not done. I'm sooo tempted to go looking at nice 2nd hand kitchens on eBay and imagining them in my house, but I have to stop myself as I know it's not going happen! Unless someone else does the tricky (for us) bits.

This either needs to be dead easy or I need to pay someone to do it.

We can do the painting and all the prepping/labouring stuff. But anything that involves carpentry beyond putting up a shelf, forget it!

Is it just me that's confused by this thread? You seem more concerned about proving to others that freestanding kitchens are nice, than actually taking onboard the advice just to leave as. You've posted pics of the same kitchens 3 times, all which are going to be far more expensive than a basic fitted kitchen so I really don't get your point?

Either just fit a budget kitchen or leave it as it is and take the hit, as it doesn't sound like any kind of tarting up is going to make your current one more appealing. Paying extra for a freestanding kitchen that the new owners will probably want to keep, at least in the short term, makes no sense to me. Ok, there's a chance a developer will purchase and be happy for you to take it with you but not worth the risk imo.

Op I think you are making a mistake in thinking all first time buyers are short of money. We are recent first time buyers, we were saving loads in addition to paying our rent and then bought as soon as we had enough deposit to get 'something'. We actually have quite a lot of spare cash now we aren't having to save thousands of pounds and are doing the house up to our taste and getting new furniture. I wouldn't bother personally.

@CellophaneFlower not just you, the thread is illogical. The OP seems to be making the following argument: current kitchen is old and tired > house would be easier to sell with a newer kitchen > want a freestanding one so can take it with > showing pictures of hand built kitchens.

@longwigglylines you won’t realistically be able to take the kitchen when you go. If your buyer needs a mortgage the property needs a working kitchen so some of it will need to stay. I think you’re complicating things - either try and put a cheap but better kitchen in or accept the hit on a house that needs a new kitchen.

The OP thinks freestanding will be cheaper than fitted, says they don't have the skills to fit a new kitchen, but presumably thinks this won't matter with freestanding and that they may take a freestanding kitchen with them if a buyer doesn't want it.

I have surmised: the OP really wants a new kitchen and is trying to justify it when they're only going to be there for a short time. It's not necessary to sell the house, which many of us have pointed out.

Ah I see. Might cost less but won’t add any value to the property. A freestanding kitchen is going to be a pain with spills etc, and I would consider the need to replace it. But if buying the house I would expect it to stay so that I could have time to plan the new kitchen, and OP wants to keep it if possible. So it feels like a fool’s errand really. Best bet is to get the current kitchen looking as good as possible, or to put it a cheap but clean looking kitchen.

@wowfudge

The OP thinks freestanding will be cheaper than fitted, says they don't have the skills to fit a new kitchen, but presumably thinks this won't matter with freestanding and that they may take a freestanding kitchen with them if a buyer doesn't want it.

I have surmised: the OP really wants a new kitchen and is trying to justify it when they're only going to be there for a short time. It's not necessary to sell the house, which many of us have pointed out.

This is what I thought. But she's put up with the kitchen for 10 years, why suddenly want a new 1 when she's thinking of moving within months? Surely she should be obsessing over potential new houses, not kitchens that she may only own for a tiny amount of time

I agree - she's worrying about something that won't stop the house from selling.

@wowfudge

I agree - she's worrying about something that won't stop the house from selling.

It may actually help sell it. A kitchen that’s crying out for replacement is my idea of heaven.

Mine too, as long as it's priced with this in consideration. My worst nightmare would be buying something with a beautiful kitchen that wasn't to my taste

VinylDetective - yes, sometimes places needing a total refurb go for more than the ones needing no work as some buyers relish being able to make a house completely their own.