What should a kitchen cost

[TorringtonDean]

I’ve been getting quotes to replace my kitchen. The existing one is 30plus years old and needs to go. But quotes are so variable - from £10k before lockdown to £43k this week from a local supplier. The £43k quote was no different from a £12k Howdens quote. I feel angry and a bit humiliated by the very high quote. It felt like being ripped off by a conman in a bazaar - for example no choice over tiles, just very expensive ones included in the quote which were not even to my liking. My true budget is around £20k. I want to treat myself and get something nice but not to pay over the odds. I have savings. There is no way on earth I would pay over £40k for a pretty ordinary horseshoe shaped kitchen - no island etc. Who is paying that money? I don’t live in an expensive area, average salaries here are not high, I am baffled. Are interest rates so low people just whack it on the mortgage?

I’ve just tried the DIY kitchens planner - £2,635 for the units seems so much more reasonable. I don’t have space for an island or built-in larders. I’m just amazed at what some companies think they can get away with!

There’s not much point saying what people paid as kitchens vary massively. I’ve got a massive kitchen with a huge island on the middle, several centuries, warming drawers, hot water tap etc. It gives you no indication of you have a small kitchen, one oven and a 4 burner hob

Several ovens not centuries

I think you need to try and detatch a little because you’re taking it personally and allowing it to hurt you, when it would serve you better to see that man as a dick, and be glad you’ve had a lucky escape
Honestly though, the guy isn’t a conman or a dick just because he sells expensive kitchens that are our of OP’s budget. Cartier aren’t conmen or dicks just because they sell jewellery at a higher price than H.Samuel. It’s probably a higher quality product and it’s ridiculous to feel humiliated because a quote is higher than you can afford. You just say no thanks and look for a cheaper/lower quality product elsewhere.

Cartier advertise their prices. I think that’s my issue. It would be nice to know what it’s going to cost before going down that route. Of course a Ford Fiesta gets you where you need to go just as well as a Rolls-Royce! So why waste the money?

Ours was £20-25k but included moving electrics and plumbing, as well as replastering all walls and ceiling and floor tiling a very large kitchen/diner.

we went with DIY kitchens Wickes qoute £4900 DIY £3000 that was for units, sink, taps, worktops, handles, end panels, kickboards etc, we bought the cooker seperately , and kept our fridge and washing machine, (no Dishwasher) then the electrics, knocking out a chimney breast plastering and painting the walls came to around £1000, and fitting just under £1000 as my son in law is a qualified joiner , so all together a basic £3000 kitchen became £5000

I think the problem OP is there's such a huge variance in what is included, and in what people want.

So: take construction of units. Some people want timber, most people think MDF as well as being cheaper is actually more durable. If you compare the same size MDF cabinets, you probably have a decent comparison.

But: there's a cost to all the different components, so if you have different designs - say, one has a twirly corner unit, the other a pull-out - you're suddenly not comparing like with like.

I think first, narrow down what you want in terms of design. Be open to people's suggestions, and think about how you want to use and live in the space. Once you're clear on design, you can see what companies do what you like.

Personally, I found the IKEA kitchen planner, and IKEA kitchens great. There are lots of companies now that do bespoke kitchen fronts. You would be paying extra for a fitter, but I think their basic units are really versatile. But you might not agree at all.

We decided we wanted wood countertops, if we'd gone for composite or marble it would have been thousands more. If we'd gone for a fitter, rather than DIY, it would have been at least a grand more, I actually think we were quoted 2,500 for fitting. So there are a lot of different components.

We also sourced our own appliances - I genuinely don't like the look of built -in fridges and dishwashers, which I know is what's popular, so that just meant leaving the right sized gap. An IKEA kitchen planning appointment was good, but we went after we'd done a lot of playing around with the website. I think the problem in, it does take a lot of thinking about what YOU want, and then you have to make those options clear, otherwise you do get lumbered with someone else's tile choice etc.

For houses I buy to sell on I use Howdens with all built in appliances including washing machine. Kitchens cost around £6.5k and fitting £1200 including plumbing but not gas connection.
For my higher end London flat, I used John Lewis of Hungerford. Solid wood and stone counters, f/f, washer/dryer, built in microwave stove and oven, dishwasher, quooker tap - in all £27k installed.
But I know the price range of each firm - it's not hard to do some research online to get an idea.

Mine was about £10k 3 years ago. It's a biggish kitchen with real wood worktops. I love it. I thought £10k was a lot though 😲

We’re just having our kitchen fitted at the moment from Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch - beware they have a long lead time. They have an excellent reputation and their units can be made in any size without adding to the cost - it could mean you need less units.

We have a larder, pantry, larder top, base unit fridge housing with cupboard over, pull out bin cupboard, a unit for a Belfast sink and 4 three drawer units - all of these apart from the bin and sink units are 1 metre wide. That cost £7005 and included spice racks drawer inserts etc. On top of that the fitter cost £1000 (4 days fitting as the come already assembled ) and painting will be £2880 which includes the materials (little Greene or similar) and also the topcoat on the walls (55 sq m room). I am not including appliances or work top as they can vary so much - our work surface is a quartzite which is a natural material similar to marble.

So for an in frame totally bespoke kitchen constructed of timber and some mdf it is costing under £11,000

How long is a bit of string???

My kitchen cost £9k for the units (solid wood howdens, it's huge though, dad installed) but I local company quoted me £52k including labour

It would be nice to know what it’s going to cost before going down that route
That’s impossible though. I mean they can tell you how much a single door or cabinet costs but in order to give you a full price they have to measure and draw it up with all the components. I don’t see how you expect to get a quote without going through that process?

Of course a Ford Fiesta gets you where you need to go just as well as a Rolls-Royce! So why waste the money?
Lots of people buy Rolls Royces and designer handbags and organic veg etc because they can afford to. Not everyone buys the cheapest - some people have money to spare and they want the nicest not the cheapest. Surely this isn’t news to you?

Ours was £9k 3 years ago including fitting. Excluding an oven/fridge/washing machine as we got these separately.

I designed it on the Ikea kitchen planner then a fitter took it to Howdens for a comparable quote. Howdens was marginally cheaper including fitting as their units come made up rather than flat packed.

I agree @TorringtonDean a lot of kitchen pricing is incredibly opaque, I looked at Howdens, Wren and Magnet before I bought my previous kitchen and how the price had been arrived at really wasn't clear, in the end because I'm happy to do the layout, design and sourcing for myself I went with DIY Kitchens. Howdens are the most opaque as you have to go through your fitter and they have a level of discount you're not aware of plus you don't know how much they are charging on top of the price of the kitchen.

I've recently used HMKOC kitchen too. Costs were roughtly:

7k for units including delivery I have 2 x 3.6 meter runs of units including drawer units, two fluted glazed dresser units a spice drawer, built in bin unit and a cutlery drawer.
3k for worktops quartz
3kish for appliances
2k (I think though it was part of bigger work) for fitting and painting not including plumbing/electrics.

I can recommend HMKOC if you find yourself a kitchen fitter.

Hope your installation is going well @Qc16, exciting!!

I'm also using HMKOC and my quote for a large 50 square m kitchen with a very large island is coming in at circa £15k. I've then got to add worktops, banquette seating, flooring, appliances, splashback, sink, taps, handles, painting of the cabinets, fitting, electrics.

I reckon I'll be on circa 30k all in by the time I'm done but it is a large kitchen.

I should add, this is an expensive property. I wouldn't be paying £30k for a kitchen if it wasn't.

@donitta this was a showroom with no prices displayed at all. Just a total waste of time. Even with that quote all he showed me was a door, a worktop sample and a couple of tiles. I really had no idea what it would be like. Quality seemed comparable to Howdens to me.

We’ve just fitted a new medium size kitchen with peninsula. DIY units £4.5k, quartz 30mm worktops £3k, smart fridge freezer, range master cooker, hood, sink and taps about £4K. Reused dishwasher. Extra for flooring, some plumbing and electrical works. DH fitted it and painted. So about 15k. Another 10k to knock down structural wall and make good to make kitchen diner and to enlarge patio doors from 1.5 m to 4m (doors £2k).

How much do you want to spend is the general answer.
The size, shape, quality of your kitchen and the current condition and position of services all will have a massive impact on costs.
I'm an architects have had clients kitchens cost around £5k up to £85k - obviously very different kitchens but all loved them.
Perhaps you need to clarify a budget, exactly what you want and start from there with some clear goals.
I tend to find at the cheaper end of the market IKEA are good balance of cheap and good quality. I've got a client fitting a DIY kitchens one at the moment and so far I'm impressed. I also do a lot of bespoke kitchens which tend to start from £20k but the costs rise quickly with solid wood, German appliances and high end work surfaces.
I have a client that ignored everything I said and ordered from Magnet and it was ok but overpriced and underwhelming for what she go.
Be clear what you want and what you want to included and just talk to the companies, tell them when they get it wrong.

I would also say that due to timber and timber product (mdf, plywood) shortages across the construction sector and massive demand that there may be price increases in the next 12mths, at least unlikely to be many deals.

Everything is ridiculously expensive with long lead times at the moment. I'm almost regretting starting our work. Its taking such a long time due to delays in being able to get hold of the things we need.

I'd really recommend a kitchen broker. We told him our budget and must haves and he recommended a few local places that were great and within budget. Service was free (I think he got a small fee from the place we ended up buying from).
We paid 13k not including fitting/electrics/building work (that was about 7k on top). But that was with all appliances and worked out 5k cheaper than we'd been quoted by Howdens, Wickes and Magnet (for better spec). It was even cheaper than diy options we'd found online.

I agree OP, I found shopping for kitchens really hard. I wanted a ballpark price before getting someone to design and price the kitchen, because I had no clue what it would cost and didn't want them to spend time if it was miles out of my budget!

I had mine done last year, German true handleless kitchen, Siemen's appliances, Elica hob, quartz worktop and backsplash - was £16 k including floor tiles. Weirdly this was my cheapest quote, and I also went to three German kitchen showrooms and asked for the same layout, same units, and the quotes came in at £22k and £24.5k so it is very variable. Was a little independent place in East London, lovely guys, and they let me have the fridge and hob ex display to save a few hundred as it was the same fridge and hob I was going to buy anyway

Its a bit like buying a car though as you can't really say all cars should be the same price. Ours is oak kitchen units, hand painted, many units made to bespoke sizes to fit the non-standard space, has a fitted utility room and a larder, quartz worktops on two islands, Neff appliances, nice handles. This was £30k from a local joinery company. The same one would have been £50k from Smallbone or Mark Wilkinson, equally Ikea do great kitchens and we could have probably done it for £15k. I guess you need to start with what you are willing to pay and work it out from there Don't rule out the small local joinery companies though as they can provide a great result also don't get brand name quartz worktops as local stonemasons can provide equally good products at usually half the price.