Buying a house without a kitchen

[sleepyhoglet]

Help! We are conveyancing on a house which we love but it doesn't have a kitchen! I'm also due to give birth soon so will likely be moving in with a young baby and another child. Possibly not ideal. I wondered if anyone had experience of fitting a kitchen (wren or Howden type) and how long it takes from starting the process (getting an appointment to design the kitchen) to finish. I think we could move in around March and then I could manage for a month or two but not much longer!

We used Wren, I can’t remember how long it was in total and ours was during lockdown which might have made a difference but I think they can go as quick as you decide really, apart from waiting for parts-but you need to start now getting designs done, or at least as soon as you can, the actual fitting took about a week in total. In the meantime you could get one of those compact kitchens for you to use, you really will struggle without one having a newborn, don’t do it to yourself!!

Are you getting a mortgage? A lot of lenders won't lend if there is no kitchen.

I managed to get a B&Q kitchen ordered and fitted within about 2 weeks but joiners etc are very busy at the moment so you could be looking at a few months.

Does the mortgage company know? You’re probably breaking the terms of your mortgage, they usually don’t lend on houses with no kitchen.

Do you really mean no kitchen as in the room, or just that the kitchen has no fitted cupboards etc?

My friend just ordered a kitchen through wren and they are booked to fit it in May. Things have quite a long lead time at the moment.

What do you mean by this? We are moving into a house that has no working oven, no appliances etc but we will just resolve that when we get there

Fully fitted kitchens seem to have a decent lead time plus fitting. You can knock together a basic kitchen from ikea to load up and take with you on the day. Not a long term prospect, but get you going quickly.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/sunnersta-kitchens-48985/

We got a kitchen designed while waiting to complete on our house (vendor allowed someone from Howdens in to measure up)and had it fitted about 3 weeks after we moved. I’m assuming there used to be a kitchen and the utilities - water and waste pipes etc - are already in place. But we were lucky in that the joiner we used had just taken on someone new so had space - you will need to get everything lined up sooner rather than later. I honestly can’t remember when we arranged measurements etc but it can’t have been more than 3 or 4 weeks before completion so we managed to get it all arranged and completed within about 8 weeks. That was pre-COVID though!

The IKEA idea is a cracking one... Allows you to have something while waiting what will realistically be 3 months or more for fitted kitchen

Quick check the terms of the mortgage!!

And when that’s sorted then IKEA is fab

When we bought our house, the kitchen consisted of a folding table, an oven with an overhead grill and only two working rings, and a fridge that smelt of dead things. We survived for a couple of months with a slow cooker and one of those novelty branded drinks fridges while we did the electrics and structural stuff, but we were newlyweds with no baby on the way.

I’ve moved into houses where the only thing in the kitchen was a sink.

Yep the mortgage and kitchen thing is definitely a thing.

@EmmaC78 yes we are planning to get a mortgage. If there is a problem we will go back to the vendor and ask him to fit something. There is a utility room with a sink etc and the kitchen has the pipes etc ready for kitchen. We are in the process with the mortgage. There is an annex on the plot which has a kitchen so we will have to use that in the meantime but it's in a separate building.

To clarify- the kitchen is an empty room but with the electrics and pipes ready for a kitchen. The vendor renovated the property and built a two storey extension but doesn't have enough funds to put in a decent kitchen so decided to sell without. Our mortgage broker is aware and is looking through the options based on the situation. If it doesn't work our we will ask what is required Eg a cooker and sink and ask him to fit at a basic level .

@Fleur405 did you have to pay anything? We could definitely do this but don't want to put down money on a kitchen/designer until we have exchanged contracts.

@sleepyhoglet have you ready got your mortgage offer?! A house without a kitchen is classed as uninhabitable so most high street lenders will refuse a mortgage on these grounds. You need yo speak to them ASAP and absolutely do not exhange before you have just in case or you will be liable for 10% of the purchase price.

I think an electric cooker socket ( as electric cookers simply have to be plugged into a cooker socket not a normal socket) and a sink with running water is the definition of a kitchen, this could be sorted in days a fully functioning kitchen could not

Not long in my area, my design was done in September and modified, my builder wasn't free until 1st November, it took about 10 days (including weekends) for my Howdens kitchen to be usable. I had electrics moved, a new boiler and plastering done too.

@MalbecandToast we only had offer accepted a couple of weeks ago and have been in contact with the broker. She needs information like building regs and warrenties on the extension first and then she looks through what lenders will accept in terms of a kitchen. I'm fairly relaxed as we wouldn't exchange until we are happy and have another viewing in early January to chat to the vendor and get my stepdad to check it out (he will probably fit the kitchen for us). It's not ideal but house buying never is! I pulled our of a dream purchase 5 years ago because I got anxious and scared and I really didn't need to. What will be will be but obviously I would like it to work out.

Also if the lender accepts a sink and oven as a kitchen, have you got the cash to pay for the kitchen? If you are planning to finance it they will factor that into affordability and kitchens are 50% more expensive at the moment. I just had my mid-sized one done, originally was going to be £18.5k but with materials costs going through the roof it was £26k in the end!

@MalbecandToast when I told my mum about the situation she announced that she would pay for the kitchen and step dad would fit it. They live 200 miles away but I was overwhelmed by the support. Not sure if she knows the cost, but any help is appreciated. We have kept back £20k of savings for stuff like kitchen, wardrobes etc which probably won't go far but will mean we have something until I am back at work. I was going to take extended leave but will probably do 10-12 months now.

[quote sleepyhoglet]@Fleur405 did you have to pay anything? We could definitely do this but don't want to put down money on a kitchen/designer until we have exchanged contracts.[/quote]
I’m in Scotland so system is different. We did have to pay to order the kitchen but we absolutely did not do this before the contract was concluded (which is the equivalent of exchanging in England). I’d say the first thing is to find a joiner with availability as that is going to be the thing most likely to have the longest lead time especially at the moment.

@MalbecandToast that's more than we wanted to pay!! Eek. Where was it from. The wall length for cupboards is about 18ft and then we wanted to have an island breakfast bar (but probably no sink in or electrics as the flooring is down and don't want to mess it up).

Ikea, and probably some other manufacturers, make kitchenettes that are quite good for temporary use. They have some base units with a sink built in and space to put an induction hob or similar. Some friends used one for a couple of months while waiting for the real kitchen to arrive.