Getting a new kitchen- advice please

[Ichangedmynameonce]

We are beginning to consider getting a new kitchen, will be adding to our mortgage to do so.

Our current one is 15 years old and from IKEA, it's a bit knackered

What do new kitchens cost? Can I get no obligation quotes and designs?

What's the best company in terms of quality and value?

Our current one is from IKEA and has been fine- but it was never well 'finished' IYSWIM, a few irritating gaps at the end of cupboards, worktops slightly overhanging etc.

I'd like to avoid that and I'd like a really 'finished' neat feel.

I'd also like to feel like someone who knows about this stuff could advise us on maximising the space we have and using it efficiently- our current layout has irritating things like dishwasher and sink together in most narrow spot, so you get squashed in trying to empty dishwasher, if someone else is using the sink etc (not massive I know, but if we are chsging it we might as well get what we want).

Would really appreciate ideas, advice and suggestions. I assumed a budget of 10k for average size kitchen but my friends have told me thats tiny 😖 I think we are more IKEA than Poggenpohl, budget wise!

Thank you

Watching with interest as hoping to use British Standard Kitchens as part of a kitchen extension but unsure about potential budget for kitchen.

If you’ve got a bit of common sense, some design flare and you’re not a brand snob, you can create something really cool with out going over 10k. No way would I spend more on a kitchen.

Thanks to everyone, this info is so useful for us!

@dointhedo thank you for mentioning oneplan- is this the same company?
www.oneplan-design.co.uk/
How does it work? Can they amend their design to any high street shop products? How did it save you money? Thanks

@Kerzehmet thanks for suggesting DIY kitchens. Did you visit the showroom? As far as I know there is only one, in pontefract?

@DellaPorter did wren come out and measure? Thanks

@AgathaMystery interested to hear the ikea service has improved. In what way? To be fair we were happy with the ikea kitchen itself- it was design and layout and thats our fault and builders

Thanks everyone

Yes, just the one showroom. I was able to visit but they didn't have the kitchen I wanted in the colour I wanted on display. So it was a bit of a gamble but I assume no different to if you were buying from wren etc. i just did plenty (hours!) of research online.

You can order door samples and they do smaller samples of colour swatches.

The design service has really improved and the actual kitchens are way better! I think we got our first one in 2000ish and there is no comparison now.

i also cannot believe the cost differences. I love howdens and I love wickes kitchens but ikea was literally thousands cheaper.

We got ours from DIY kitchens. Very good quality and easy fitting (had a joiner do it but not flat pack like IKEA).

The website is useful for learning about costs even if you go with another. Their pricing is transparent compared to Howdens or Wren so you can see what adds to the cost and where you are prepared to make sacrifices.

IKEA kitchens originally had no service gap at the back and could be particularly awkward in older properties with non square walls. A lot of the finish is down to the skill of the fitter. IKEA are great for the money and if it's a newer property you may not have the issues irritating you now.

I'd get an initial design done somewhere but take your time to think what you really want. For my smallish kitchen it was getting the microwave off the worktop and finding measurements that suited the corners. dIY had a bigger choice of unit sizes so maximised the space. IKEA measurements just didn't work. Wren put in four 20cm cupboards which are basically useless. One for a filler or wine rack, fine...but four! No thanks.

And really stand in your space and imagine opening them..the side doors are hung for example makes a difference between easy to use and stuck in an awkward corner

Thank you both.

@AgathaMystery I guess we could get a design from an independent and use for ikea ?

Unfortunately @Benjispruce4 I'm not great at design or common sense 😊

My kitchen fitter told me that as a rough estimate kitchens cost a thousand ponds a metre for everything. Appliances, flooring, units.

Well I had Wren design mine then I showed it to a friend who is an architect specialising in kitchens and he made a few tweaks.

if I could do it again I’d buy a better tap!!

Just redone my kitchen, local kitchen fitter charged £1800 to fit (included removal of old tiles, floors, kitchen and all installation) and recommended Benchmarx over Howdens, but said to get a quote for both.

Benchmarx was £2k cheaper for virtually the identical kitchen.

I had to have the whole kitchen rewired and replastered; total cost including this plus appliances (oven, microwave/grill, dishwasher fridge freezer, hob, extractor), all units, worktops, fitting was £10k.

Because it was fresh plaster, Ive not gone back to tiles (glass splashback for hob also included) and have painted the walls myself.

Ive had new Karndean floors too - this doesn’t include that cost as I've had the whole ground floor done.

just jumping on to placemark as we will also be doing ours.

@PicpoulDeMeNay interesting about your fitter recommending Benchmarx. I’ve fallen in love with a kitchen of there’s after accidentally venturing into an independent shop that stocked it. But, everything I’ve read says they are cheap and don’t last. I suppose we’ll only be in the house for 5 or 6 years after it’s fitted so doesn’t matter so much.

*theirs

we are nearly finished fitting an ikea kitchen in my mums house. It’s got job, oven, dishwasher, extractor included and was 4k. Am expecting to pay another 1+ k on a worktop from worktopsdirect as want Formica and thick plywood and it needs to fit in the windowsill too.

a local carpenter is fitting it.

I used the ikea kitchen planner and it’s much better than it used to be. Measured up and designed it myself. Then got a free online appointment with Ikea kitchen planner. She was ACE (shoutout to Beata) and told us all the workarounds and a couple of ikea hacks - and we changed around a few things on her advice. She took over the kitchen plan i’d done and showed us the changes as we spoke. She was creative and really not trying to upsell - we couldn’t find an ikea worktop we liked and she was fine with that.

she sent the plans and quote and we tinkered with it and then she set up an order to pay. A couple of things were out of stock Brexit/Covid and the rest arrived at a 2 hour delivery slot.

what’s not to like?

and yes my mum is 83 and no cupboards - all drawers including under sink and 2 carousels as 2 corners.

the hack is to have 2 wall units, slice the back of to have shallow shelves, and use them on the back of a peninsula to create the support for a low table height breakfast bar on the other side.

He’s even fitted one of their kitchens in his own house. He says the quality for the price is excellent and it always fits to plan and size.

That was good enough for me!

Sorry that was in reply to @Dearmariacountmein - obviously didn’t reply properly!

We went with howdens.they designed it and we used our own recommended fitter who had fitted a friends kitchen. I think the fitter makes a huge difference.it was new extension so builder put electrics etc in.

also got plans form 2 local kitchen companies one for a Lara Ashley kitchen and one for a German one. And from Magnet. Magnets quote was way above the others. We couldn’t be bothered to haggle them down.

we got a local firm to do worktops as howdens couldn’t do the length we wanted.

@Ichangedmynameonce yep that's the same person, Karen. I got the recommendation from here early last year.

There's a detailed questionnaire before you start - all logical stuff about who does the main cooking, left or right handed, do you have pets, is anyone very tall etc.

Our problem was that we had a small budget and blank canvas, and we couldn't work out how to maximise the space and light and get everything to work practically.

Karen gave us a design which opened the whole room out, is adaptable for our young family as it grows (and attractive to anyone buying in future), and was really considered in terms of what space was used the most etc.

I also don't like wall cupboards or joins in worktops, and she helped us to avoid both.

The cost saving came from simple solutions eg a single long run of worktop; a double door full height larder cupboard with pan drawers in the bottom half; holds the microwave and coffee machine at worktop height and reduced the worktop we needed.

Only thing I'd change is the tap (which we picked), and one of the broom cupboards didn't fit in the eventual utility room due to a change from the builders - we incorporated it into the main kitchen without any issues.

Karen was lovely, knew the DIY kitchen range inside out, everything was prompt and easy. Really helped DH who struggles to visualise things without seeing them in real life. I also preferred paying for the design and not feeling obliged to buy anything like with Wren etc.

Appliances from AO, sink from Plumbworld online. All great customer service.

We had a couple of designs - one from a local independent which was unimaginative to say the least. The other from Magnet was great, but their supposedly reduced price kitchen plus fitting was ludicrously expensive. The manager suggested removing the island worktop to save money when we went back to them. Not sure how he thought that would work.

In the end we recreated the Magnet design with DIY Kitchens spending about £8200 on units - we ended up adding some units because our builder put the island plumbing in the wrong place, which is why I can't remember the complete cost. We spent £1200 on a Tristone island top and around £2600 on fitting, but the fitter also fitted new skirtings for us in the kitchen and adjoining dining room.

A couple of friends have bought kitchens from DIY on the strength of seeing ours and I'd use DIY again. I'm actually wondering whether any of their units would work in a bathroom as bathroom vanity units, etc are stupidly expensive.

Thank you @dointhedo I think that would be great for us. Do they only work with DIY kitchens range do you know? Thanks

@Ichangedmynameonce I think we'd already narrowed it down to DIY based on price and recommendations on here; probably best checking with Karen directly on this.

I think for Ikea the “unfinished” thing is your fitter. £10k for average sized kitchen including everything (tiling, fitting, etc) is absolutely fine as a budget for something like ikea or b&q. You will get a lovely result if they are fitted well.

You can never have too many sockets.

’Shower’ panels are much easy to keep clean than tiles. You would have to have a fireproof panel behind the hob though

the last stainless steel hob we had ( two years ago,) is rusting and spotted, and it was not cheap. I would always have a glass one now.
good luck!

Pretty sure Karen at OnePlan can provide a breakdown of everything in a design so you can price it up anywhere for comparison purposes.

Also, when going in and getting the kitchen measured/designed/priced ask them what they can do with the price. Just had my new kitchen fitted and there was just shy of £3000 difference from initial quote to final quote (not inc labour). Also check what they are adding on & whether you really need and want. They put on 4 cutlery inserts which I do not need/want but all them bits do add up.