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?

£30k, bespoke kitchen, large island, marble worktops

We've just had a quote of around 6.5k including fitting and disposal for a fairly simple low/mid range Wren kitchen.

Fairly small kitchen, and no new white goods, though.

Our bespoke kitchen cost £1,000 a metre from memory (about £20k in total), from a local company. For that, you could have any wooden inside you wanted, drawers, shelves, personalisation or whatever. Excluded appliances, granite, splashback, floor, lights etc. That way we had transparency and control over the budget.

Another vote for getting granite separately. We chose our own slab at a local supplier and another company fitted it for us which worked out a fair bit cheaper than going through our kitchen designer for it.

We have priced up ours - mainly Ikea carcasses and inserts (drawers etc) with doors and some cabinets (eg larder) from Naked Kitchens, in total about £12.5k. Worktop and appliances on top of that though we are only replacing the dishwasher, extractor and fridge/freezer.

We like the quality and flexibility of the Naked range, and that we can save money by being 80% Ikea with just enough bespoke elements to make it look more expensive than it is. That's the plan anyway!

Our new kitchen (2020) was about £30k including appliances, fitting and tiling. The units are made in Europe, weren't the top of the range but not the cheapest model either. We have a lot of drawers rather than cupboards which works out more expensive. Quartz worktop.

We bought most of the appliances separately as DH gets them cost price but the kitchen company provided a wine fridge and Quooker as we couldn't get them from the same place.

Appliances we bought ourselves were induction hob, American fridge freezer, one oven and one combi oven/microwave, a dishwasher and we got an integrated bean to cup coffee machine and a warming drawer, literally to keep the line of the appliances across the wall but it has turned out to be brilliant and we use it all the time. We saved a couple of grand on them all compared to retail prices.

The tiles weren't the most expensive to buy but we paid extra for a complex layout.

Forgot to add, we needed new electrics for all the new appliances which was a couple of grand in the end as we needed an entire new board (no room on the old one and some of the equipment needs a lot of power)

I’m dreaming about devol kitchen at some point in life, what do people on average pay for those?

There is no ‘should’ about it for a kitchen cost.

How many units.
How complex?
Drawers v cupboards?
Type of work too?
Amount of worktop?
How expensive for sink, appliances, tiles, flooring?
Lighting?

The sky is the limit. You can spend over £100k if you wanted to.

Or, you can do a small and basic kitchen for

I’m budgeting 20k for my kitchen and I think I’m going to have to do IKEA cupboards so that I can get the good quality appliances and stone worktop I want 🤷‍♀️

I understand what you mean. Sometimes I take high quotes personally as I get angry that the person has somehow mistaken me for a gullible idiot during a conversation about home improvements. Same thing happens with car repairs sometimes.

I paid £15,500 for a kitchen in our last house and that was completely made to measure by a local company. The granite worktops were bought separately from a company on eBay who supply and fit, and were £2.200. They did a fantastic job and at a fraction of the price the kitchen company charged. I really miss that old kitchen as made to measure was amazing - floor to ceiling and no wasted space at all.

Ok, some interesting suggestions, thanks. The £42k quote was ridiculous because it wasn’t handmade, it’s not a big kitchen and there isn’t an island or anything fancy. No wine fridge, quooker tap or whatever. He suggested I cut the cost with Hotpoint appliances but I’d rather have better appliances and cheaper cupboards! There was no choice offered, no cheaper range or alternative layout. So basically a rip-off. Lots of good ideas here, though. I have already had a quote from HMKOC for about a quarter of the cost and DIY Kitchens seems extremely good - I just need to get my measurements spot on!

I'm with you! People have completely lost the run of themselves! I was shown a toilet yesterday that cost £4000!!!! And apparently they've been popular... seriously???!!!

We are about to put a new kitchen into a new extension. By virtue of the fact that the extension/refurb is costing the best part of 200k (all in, including fees, bathroom, kitchen etc) we have to be sensible with the kitchen.

We will be putting in an Ikea kitchen. Mostly because I like the extra space their units offer. I will also buy majority of appliances from them (their most expensive dishwashers are rebranded Bosch and ovens are the same ones rebranded by John Lewis). The appliances also have a 5 year warranty.

We had planned to have bespoke doors, but that is an extra 8.8k that we can no longer afford.

So our kitchen will cost about 5.5k for units, fittings and doors. That is Lerhyttan range which is actually a really nice timber door.

The appliances will be about 4k (2 ovens, 2 dishwashers, fridge/freezer, 80cm induction hob).

We are probably going to splash out on a silestone quartz worktop (their top group one, as I'm not a massive fan of the Ikea range) which will be another 4.5k.

So 13.5k but there is plenty scope to reduce that cost.

That is for for a LOT of kitchen (4.8m run, a 3.2m island and a 2nd 3.2m run of full height units), plus I am have pan drawers exclusively in 2 runs which adds considerable cost in fittings (especially when it is not an ikea kitchen).

If you work on the recommendation that kitchens need to be replaced every 10 years (and I don't care how well made it is, it will age and it will date) then a 43k kitchen = 4k a year! Thats nuts!

Ours is also from Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch (fitted three years ago). We have mostly drawers, only three wall cupboards (one is a plate rack) and a matching cooker hood. In addition we bought a couple of cabinets from them that DH added shelving to in order to make a large island, plus we purchased a massive vintage larder on eBay.

The cabinets, larder etc came to around £8k.

We painted everything ourselves using F&B eggshell for the cabinets. Our worktops (iroko) were from Worktop Express and we have solid pewter handles/knobs, a double butler sink and tap from Steamvalve Originals. Those bits came to a further £3k. The Bertazzoni range was another £2k (would've been more like £4k but got a new one for a bargain price on eBay 😉).

DH microcemented the island top - that was only a few hundred £££ inc timber to increase island size. Our splashback is tempered glass over wallpaper we already had. Cost under £100 for the glass. We kept the existing flooring - old cottage so quarry tiles - but in time I want to change this for Karndean or similar. Then a few hundred for an integrated dishwasher. The Smeg fridge freezer we already had.

We also had structural work done as we moved the kitchen from another room, plus rewire and new heating on top. Oh and an ex-display Dovre wood burner was £3k inc fitting.

Excluding all the structural stuff, but including timber, paint etc that comes to under £20k but we fitted it ourselves so saved £££ there.

No one has a clear pricing structure because it is in their interest to keep the cost of the kitchen from you. Measure your kitchen and plan it out at DIY kitchens on their online planner. They will give you the true cost of the kitchen because they don't do the bullshit Howdens "trade rates" - they do one rate, the same for everyone. They don't beat quotes they just sell what they have at the same price- and they will almost always beat other company prices.

Fitting is a different issue, depends what your want changed etc etc but shop around and find someone local and recommended whose work you have seen. All the big kitchen companies except for IKEA and DIY all work on the same hidden pricing model. Don't use them.

The other secret is: they're all pretty much the same. They're all melamine faced chipboard carcasses with different prices doors. That's where price difference truly comes in.

As a pp said, you seem to be projecting your own issues onto the expensive quote. Why the need to feel humiliated? If they are are quoting such a high price, ask them what is the difference between them and Howdens/DIY Kitchens/any other high street company. What have you got to loose? Why not ask them about the tiles?

Tbh I am gobsmacked they have quoted you this without asking you a budget. Every independent/small company I visited when designing my kitchen started with asking what my budget is. They then told me if they were able to cater to it or not. They all explained to me why their products are superior than high street/other designers at the first appointment.

After visiting a few designers (from high street to high end and independents), we were easily able to gauge what a reasonable price was. It was also very obvious what we were paying for when going to independents vs high street at this stage then we picked the person we felt we worked best with to get what we were after.

Imo a kitchen is worth some level of investment when I consider the amount I use it on a daily basis. We eat the majority of meals at home, usually made from scratch. Always take our own hot lunch to work and send packed hot lunches to school for children. We need something that can be used extensively for at least 15 years and were willing to pay to some extent for this

Yes the rip-off place asked my budget. £15k, could maybe stretch to £20k. He came back with £42k!

No matter. It has inspired me to look at the pricing much more closely and I am amazed at how my less DIY Kitchens is - I’m getting samples. Plus am getting builders to just quote for installation. I realise now I already have a design - my old kitchen - so just need to update it.

The rip-off merchant quoted £800 for a skip, local builder said £200. Just one example of massively inflated price. Door handles £10 a pop and he used 30 of them. DIY Kitchens £1.75!

At least I have realised that with my own research I can get a beautiful kitchen at the right price with a few extras I want too.

Out of interest.. mine will need doing at some point but I've never had a new kitchen and don't have a clue! Just feel it's a bit dated after 15 years and you all seem to know your stuff
Who would you look at if you just wanted new units and flooring? Appliances are fine, there's only an oven anyway
This is it, U shaped, not in the market for granite etc as it's a 130k property!

We got quoted £17k from a local kitchen shop, have got the exact same from DIY kitchens for £5k - both units only, appliances, tiles, flooring and worktops are all extra. Should be about £15k in total.

@QueenPaw if you're happy with the layout and units then you'd be a prime candidate for just replacing the doors, worktop, splashback and keeping your carcasses, which will cut down on purchase and installation costs.

The overall price will vary hugely according to the spec you want (as this thread will attest!) but it's the kind of thing you could do for £5k or less if you wanted to.

@QueenPaw there is a company near me that spray kitchens. If you are happy with style of cupboards that might be another option.

@Zinnia yes that's a good idea! The units are fine. I hate the bloody tiles (new build and tile colour already picked)
To be honest it's all in decent condition still but I'm wary of it looking old
There's just me so it doesn't get heavy use and probably helps no children either

Another vote for DIY kitchens here! Units £6.5k. 3k for Corian worktops and Iroko on the island. 1k for massive Belfast sink and tap. Total cost for fitting, new wood floor, plumbing, electrics, a new dining table and bar stools, just over £20k.