Never brought a new kitchen, what can we do ourselves to save? Non diyers

[ICanSmellSummerComing]

One thing is perhaps taking out the old kitchen?
We live near a tip... And it's a small terraced house kitchen?

We can't plaster or rewire but perhaps can save money on a sink?
Things like that?
Or any ideas for the project in general.

You can just replace the doors and the worktop if the cabinets are in decent condition?

Sell the old kitchen? Can get a lot if it's in a good state, but people also buy them for storage in garages, sheds, utility etc.

@chickensafari

You can just replace the doors and the worktop if the cabinets are in decent condition?

We did this. if the cabinets themselves are in good condition, you can just buy new doors and handles. People thought we'd had a complete new kitchen put in.

Some people will buy 2nd hand kitchens, so if you take pics and remove the cabinets carefully, you might be able to sell it.

Ex display models of kitchens can be cheaper, so look around

Sinks, taps and handles can be bought from screwfix, so don't just look at kitchen shops for the parts you need.

There have been lots of threads on MN about kitchens and how to save, so have a look at older threads.

Oh no its way beyond re sale sadly. I painted the 80s melamine years ago and even the melamine is peeling off! Hinges falling off the work top laminate is sodden and crumbling.
.

Buy one on eBay. But again, you'd have to do some work perhaps yourself. One of the largest costs in a new kitchen is the installation. Our last kitchen DH installed it with some help from a plumber and electrician. It was in fairness mostly just joinery and he did it in a week.

That allowed us to go for a much higher spec than we would have from DIY kitchens. You're not DIY'ers right now - why don't you take a look on YouTube and see if you can upskill yourself?

Consider free standing furniture rather than a fitted kitchen? For us the choice came down to a very standard (boring) fitted kitchen for £20,000 or finding free standing items on gumtree and Facebook, which look far better (imo) and only cost £2,000 in total.

We did get someone to wire in the cooker and plumb in the sink.

You can def do removal yourself.

If you’re having the plumbing and electrical in the same place you could do the installation yourself? If you have a simple installation of straight runs and no tricky filler gaps you could do it. Lots of stuff on YouTube for things like this.

Tiling is a ball ache (IMO) but it is possible to do simple tiling yourself or you could fit a splash back if the walls are in good condition anyway?

Fitting a laminate worktop should be possible if it’s a simple straight run.

You’ll have to spend on tools and time - but you could do it.

Sour, I would love a free standing kitchen, I have googled them and dreamed about cosy cottage styles but in our lay out I am not sure it would work with work tops etc.

The removal element alone seems like a fortune and also Ive been quoted over 1 grand for fitting doors

Definitely do the removal bit yourself. Very easy. I did ours completely in a couple of hours.

@SourMilkGhyll

Any chance of sharing some pictures? It sounds wonderful