How much to spend on a kitchen?

[BurningTheToast]

We've recently bought what will hopefully be our dream 'forever house'. Seriously, it's amazing with the sea lapping beneath the windows and a folly in the garden. With covid and the amount of work that needs to be done, we got for a pretty good price, comparatively. We're very lucky.

However, it is possible, though not likely, that we may sell it in a couple of years, depending on family needs, caring responsibilities and so on, and move back to the city, so we're renovating with a bit more of an eye on resale that we would otherwise.

Without getting into prices, is there a ballpark percentage of house value that we should expect to spend on the kitchen? On the one hand, I could install Ikea jazzed up with good sink/taps and worktop or should I venture into seriously fancy bespoke territory? If we're looking at the middle - most likely - the only thing I've decided is that I won't be letting Magnet fitters through the door after the last time!

Any thoughts? Thanks

If you're proposing a sale price of £750-800k for the house, I would say £30-50k for kitchen. My flat was £315 and I spent 12k on my kitchen.

Neptune, Tom Howley, De Vol et al are lovely but for a fraction of the cost you’ll get the same build quality from a company like Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch! We did a lot of research before going ahead and ordering.

Btw - our property is worth about 1 and a half times the OPs and there is no way a property like this would have a Smallbone or De Vol kitchen. Houses around here worth possibly £2m plus might have them but even then unlikely.

There’s a beautiful house renovation in SE London where I read the complete renovation blog on Pistonheads - this is the thread where the chap says where he got his kitchen www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=207&t=1713160&i=20
This is the company www.solidwoodkitchencabinets.co.uk.

Just get something you like, the first thing list people do is change the kitchens!

And it's utter rubbish that people "spot" cheap kitchens only total snobs, end of the day it's a bunch of cabinets with doors on and a plank on top, seriously people loose all sight of what they are actually buying when it comes to kitchens.

Our kitchen is magnet and it sits proudly in our 1m home.

I'd be looking cat what you like, styles on Instagram, so many different ideas and just narrow down the look, then start looking across brands.

Maybe Howdens would suit budget and building.

@PucePanther

I’d probably spend 40-60k on a kitchen for a house that price. In terms of brands I’d be looking at DeVol, Smallbone, Tom Howley, 1909, etc.

Do not use smallbone or Tom howely though

Both overpriced tat

Much better quality using a decent independent cabinet maker and it would end up costing less too

It also won’t look like a copy cat of a kitchen they just repeat for everyone as they’ve seen it in a posh magazine

@dhisreadingmypostsagain I actually agree. There's a lot of snobbery on this board for Ikea kitchens for example, but I actually think they are excellent quality and can look very high spec, depending on the worktop you go for etc

We've put Ikea in houses and flats before, just sold one for 470k in fact and the buyers absolutely loved it. A lot of it is down to making the fitting is immaculate and that you've paid attention to the details, upgraded the sink, worktops and so on. At the end of the day, they're all just cupboards whatever the price tag!

I'm not at all snobbish about Ikea but I fancy a change, something painted maybe and so on. Handmade Kitchens look nice but don't deliver as far as our village in Bonnie Scotland. I think Neptune might be worth considering and I'm going to have a mooch around Wren next time I pass the showroom.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I have enjoyed my kitchen browsing as a diversion from looking at the planning guidelines on windows!

We did a lot of research and went to various kitchen showroom and that have been mentioned. We went to Handmade Kitchens a few times and I have to say I felt the quality was not great. The finishing in the showroom should be immaculate and I found it clunky and the wood quite rough. We went to both showrooms.
We bought from a small independent bespoke kitchen designer. It was quite expensive for the full package but we bought just the cabinets and then organised everything ourselves, painting, fitting, appliances, etc. We saved a considerable sum this way.

Wren? Bad reviews everywhere! Just avoid. DD has John Lewis. They have a decent range but it’s not fully bespoke at the cheaper end. However the finishes are good and most buyers recognise the brand as solid. They arrange everything so not cheap. However you are not contacting different trades so if you are busy it’s quite a good service. Are they in Scotland?

You will notice a difference between better brands and Ikea! I have Ikea in my loft flat above our garage. Ok but nowhere near the quality of my kitchen. You are right about sinks and equipment - but worktops are expensive for any kitchen and I would be loath to put in decent worktops on a cheap set of cupboards. Mine, for example, are oak
lined. I have a larder cupboard with oak shelves and drawers. It’s those details and finishes that tell you it’s quality - and hinges!

Herringbone kitchens also worth a look. It's a huge risk to assume a buyer at that price point doesn't understand quality or appreciate aesthetics. There are very obvious visual differences to the styles etc. I think it's less obvious if what you want is an ultramodern high gloss flat front. If you want an in frame traditional look then it's glaringly obvious when it's one of the cheap brands.

If it's your forever home you should spend as much as you want to and can afford, surely?

Our house has just sold for a little bit more than that and the units themselves weren't at all expensive, but we splurged on the worktops, appliances, taps etc, and our kitchen fitter was an absolute perfectionist. When I can afford it I'd look at Devol or Plain English etc, depending on the period of house.

Well I'm obviously not the target market as my house is nowhere near £800k but I'm astonished that people can tell what brand of kitchen you have, or that they would care...or that anyone in their right mind would spend £40k on what is essentially a bunch of cupboards for storing jars and tins, and some surfaces for keeping your toaster and kettle on. I also never understand why people rip up perfectly good, normal kitchens just because they look "dated".
But, each their own.
If money is no issue then just pick the kitchen you like. As with anything, you could spend a lot or you could spend very little.

It’s dependant on location I mean 800k up north buys you practically a castle and in London a shoebox.... if the house is very large I would expect a high end kitchen with a pantry and at least 2 cookers, if it’s a modest size home any built in modern kitchen would be acceptable, for a rather small home a flat pack kitchen is fine, if i personally brought a 800k home I would be spending minimum 50k that is if you a ripping everything out and starting again, just worktops and an oven can cost 10k

Well on an £800k home that’s a lot for work tops and ovens but it depends on size of kitchen.

I think op was thinking about selling in the future. So getting a decent kitchen you live is also a bonus. Enjoy it!

£30k? For that you should get something pretty nice.

And it's utter rubbish that people "spot" cheap kitchens only total snobs, end of the day it's a bunch of cabinets with doors on and a plank on top, seriously people loose all sight of what they are actually buying when it comes to kitchens.

You got there first! I couldn’t agree more.

Or, maybe, people care about the quality and how it looks? You could say a car is nothing more than transport so why not buy the cheapest one going. Does the job. Lots of people would disagree! Kitchens can make or break a house sale. The OP is wise to choose carefully. Why insult people and call them snobs just because you don't agree and could care less. The many many mid range and high end kitchen companies wouldn't exist if people didn't care!

Why insult people and call them snobs just because you don't agree and could care less. The many many mid range and high end kitchen companies wouldn't exist if people didn't care!

You misunderstand. I care very much about having a well designed, attractive and functional kitchen. The many high end kitchen companies exist because of the snobbery demonstrated on this thread. However much a kitchen costs, it’s going to look dated a decade or so down the line and the more it costs, the greater the waste when it’s inevitably replaced by a new owner who wants whatever the latest incarnation in kitchen designs is.

Some of us do care and plenty of kitchens these days are fab. Ikea kitchens might be just cupboards with a plank on top but bespoke kitchens are not. The finish of bespoke is totally different and so is the cabinetry. I guess people who think they are the same haven’t seen a higher end kitchen to compare.

In an area of the uk where property isn’t that expensive, and £1m goes quite a long way to a very nice house, you get a premium if the kitchen and bathrooms are great. If I came across an Ikea kitchen in a house of over £2m (expensive area) I would try for a price reduction. It’s perfectly ok in a standard house but not in a more expensive house. In some areas of Scotland £800k buys baronial splendour.

My daughter spent a lot on a John Lewis kitchen. They outsource the fitting. The guy that did hers made a complete balls up. He didn't do what he should have done with the built in appliances and they nearly all went wrong. It was a huge amount of hassle with JL to get it sorted. I honestly think it was only because she was a lawyer that they put it right in the end.
It was such a shame as it was her present to herself after a divorce and it took all the joy away.
So fine if you get a good fitter but otherwise beware.

In an area of the uk where property isn’t that expensive, and £1m goes quite a long way to a very nice house, you get a premium if the kitchen and bathrooms are great. If I came across an Ikea kitchen in a house of over £2m (expensive area) I would try for a price reduction. It’s perfectly ok in a standard house but not in a more expensive house. In some areas of Scotland £800k buys baronial splendour.

Nonsense. If the buyers were not planning on replacing the kitchen (as a fair few buyers tend to do) it's probably because the kitchen is to their taste. I doubt they'd push for £10k off the sale price of a £2m home.

even at the lower end of prices a high street kitchen can end up being double the price youve paid for the units we moved in here last year kitchen was useable but horrible, when we took the cupboards out found an advert for a local nightclub dated 1987 and when we took it out all of the plaster came away with the units, and there was a 1940s chimney stack in one corner , so our kitchen units and worktops came to £3000 the plasterer, electrics, fitter, plumber tiles and flooring have added another £2500 on top i have gone for high gloss light blue because our modest little two bed semi in Yorkshire is in the £130000 price bracket

I agree, go independent and avoid fancy brands. Go for quality units over gimmicks. But above all just get something you like. I would try to bring it in for less than 20k and go on holiday with the rest! I have also just sold a London townhouse for 1.2mil which had a beautiful kitchen from homebase (top end Homebase- which incidentally lasted well and looked great for the 10 years we had it).

Who said a £10,000 price reduction? More than that! It’s interesting that in all pictures of super houses, the kitchens are featured. If they are not, you assume they will need replacing.

I specifically didn’t mention London because the property market is totally different. It’s clearly not the same as some areas of Scotland. When you sell a house with a bog standard kitchen you have no idea what price the house could have commanded with a better kitchen.

Yes, John Lewis outsource fitters. So does everyone else at that price point. DD also had to chase them up to finish and she’s a barrister. However the product is good and it’s a brand that isn’t greatly over priced and indicates something about the owner. I am sure there will be howls of derision but consumers have views about companies. They are also a Which Best Buy. Some people prefer the one stop shop idea because they are busy. The DIY model simply doesn’t suit everyone so I was giving the op ideas. They don’t have to be followed up!

I can’t really understand spending 30-50k on a kitchen

Or people not liking Ikea

But what do I know

I guess if you have the money, spend it?

On the other hand, if people are so particular about kitchens they may want to put a new one in anyway

Do I’d go for one you like yourself

Our house is worth about 800,000, possibly more. We spent 23,000 on a kitchen from a local well recommended kitchen shop, painted units, corian worktops, neff appliances, under unit lighting, glass splasbacks, fitting, just not the flooring, no building works. That works out at 3% of value, I think that's a sensible amount for our value of house, it's what friends in similar houses seem to have in terms of quality. I think we got a very good deal from our suppliers.