New Kitchen - where do you begin?

[BaileysforBreakfast]

Help! We need to install a new kitchen and have no idea where to begin, which brands are any good etc. We have a pretty tight budget and would ideally like to have some bits covered by interest-free credit or low-interest (eg the units). We can pay some of the upfront costs, but not sure we can fund the whole thing. We've found an excellent builder/kitchen fitter who did work in the office where my daughter works. Obviously, we aren't expecting him to enter into any credit arrangement with us, so are expecting a hefty proportion of our cash funds to go to him. Wickes does credit but are their kitchen units any good? We haven't heard great things about Wren, have heard good things about Howdens, but I think everything would have to be paid upfront if we used them.

I have literally no idea to start with any of this, or what we should expect to pay for a kitchen. We don't even know what ballpark we're looking in. Our kitchen is 13 ft x 8 ft (approx) (4m x 2.5m). Has anyone had a similar-sized kitchen done in the last year or so? What did it cost?
Help! We're clueless!

Visit a few showrooms in your price range (sounds like Wickes, Howdens, Magnet, Benchmarx, Wren etc?), get kitchen measured up and designs done. That will give you an idea of price. There's lots of tweaks that can be made that keeps costs down eg basic units rather than lots of drawers and 'storage solutions'. Worktops and appliances add a lot to the cost so if you go for a cheaper worktop and can use existing appliances that helps. The suppliers also tend to have units in different price ranges - Howdens made it very clear which were which. Keeping plumbing and electrics in the same place keeps the price down too.

We had a Wickes kitchen at our last house and loved it, also found the designer the most helpful of the ones we approached (Wickes, Howdens, Magnet and Benchmarx). We have a Howdens kitchen being fitted at the moment as that's the supplier our builder uses. He gets a good discount from them so it's costing about the same as Wickes quite a few years ago but for a bigger space. But that's very dependent on your fitter and their account with them - ours does a lot of work using Howdens so gets a big discount!

I found with previous house I could drive round the showrooms in turn getting them to beat each other's prices for basically the same design! If you have time that's worth a try!

Double check what is included - is kitchen fitter doing everything or just the units? What about plumbing and electrics? Are any alterations needed? Don't forget things like splash backs, flooring, tiles, lights all add to the costs.

Thanks RidingmyBike! I'm hopeful that plumbing and electrics won't be affected, apart from possibly needing to run electrics to new oven position, but that would still be very close to existing supply (we currently have fridge and freezer where eye-level oven will probably go).
We like the look of Howdens but this (admittedly 7 years old) article was a bit offputting Howdens pricing. My daughter tried to talk to them to get help with design, but all they wanted to know was did we have a builder lined up. As I say, we literally don't know where to begin but they weren't exactly helpful in terms of what order we needed to do things in. I understand their kitchens are good though; however, because they deal with trade they don't have any credit arrangements. It's possible we won't need the credit, but I have literally not the first idea what a kitchen costs.
Would you mind telling me the size of your kitchen and what you paid?

If you already have a good fitter then I would use IKEA without hesitation. Great quality for the price. Very long lasting and hard wearing. You can do the planning in-store with them and as a pp has said, tweak the details to keep costs down.

Only thing I'd do is check what appliances they have these days. I once had a terrible oven from them, but I think it was just that model and you can always buy appliances separately.

Sorry, I'm not sure if they do credit.

Thanks Maggie. I hadn't considered Ikea, probably because they're pretty far away from us. I'll take a look.

Once you have a design, cross check it with DIY kitchens prices. Ours was way cheaper that way and you get better quality, not flat pack units delivered. So cheaper labour too, as don't need to pay some one to put flat pack together (or do it yourself).

You do need to order it yourself, but ask your builder to check the list before hand and they are reposive at replacing/ adding small bits to existing orders if needs be.

It's been a while since I used it so I've just had a look at the IKEA kitchen webpages... at the risk of sounding like a salesperson (I promise I have no connection other than having spent a lot of money there!)l it looks like you can do virtual planning appointments and they do interest free credit. So even if you didn't go ahead with them, you could get a design made up to benchmark pricing.

IKEA have a service where they will come and measure to take exact plans of your space for your kitchen planning appointment. The planning is free but I did have to pay for them to come and take the measurements. I can’t remember the exact cost but it was around £25-30 (def was within the last 2years)

and I’ve heard great things about diy kitchens.

didn’t use either because we moved but I wouldn’t have turned up my nose at either of them.

Go to Wrens. Get them to come out and measure and then have a design session with them. I had two hours with the designer and then went home and changed my mind and had another two hours and I haven't paid a penny yet. You can then tout your design round other fitters or go with Wrens. We probably will use them as two of out neighbours have and are very pleased.

our kitchen is not much different in size what we did was decided what look we wanted ,

got wickes to come and do us a measure up then went down to get a print out and qoute,

then took the plan to DIY kitchens as we live near enough to got to the showroom, we had more to do as our kitchen was forty years old and everything needed doing the wickes qoute was £5000 just for units, laminate worktops, sink and tap which was all we needed as using same appliances,

DIY kitchens qoute for better units and rest the same was £3000 so the 2k we saved going with them went towards the fitting, plastering, electrics etc

If budget is tight really recommend you have a look at DIY kitchens. Even if you don't go with them, their pricing is very transparent (as is IKEA).

It helps you to get to grips with which bits ramp up costs like the internal fittings. As well as the costs you might not consider initially like end panels and kick boards.

I liked IKEA but the unit sizes didn't work for my space. DIY had a better range of options.

The planners are quite fun once you start. I also stood in my space and pretended to open doors etc as it helps avoid making a tight corner by having a door the wrong way round.

Could you put the kitchen on a 0% credit card and pay it off that way to give you more options?

Haven’t read any of the comments apart from the original post but could you not go to your bank and get a loan from them and then pay it back that way? Chances are the interest will be lower.

I’m in the same position as you as we have recently moved and would like to remove the kitchen. Currently weighing up what we can afford and whether it’s worth just doing a refurb (door fronts and worktops) or whether we can afford a complete new kitchen. Our last kitchen was from B&Q a good 15 years ago. We had them design it for us and we bought flat pack units which we assembled ourselves to keep costs down and we had a kitchen fitter that did the units, oven fitting etc.

we’ve been looking at DIY kitchens and using their online planner but plan to go round some showrooms to get some comparison prices

Previous kitchen was Wickes and about £5k for the units, sink, tap, worktops, extractor. For approx 2.5m x 3m (Inthink smaller than this) space that was difficult as it also contained two doors, a soil pipe routing and a window! We had some more expensive 'solutions' in there for the corners to maximise space.

New kitchen is Howdens. Bigger but simpler - basically galley kitchen so no corner units. 1 approx 5 metre length on one wall and one 2.5 metre opposite. Units, sink, worktop, taps, extractor £6k.
Utility room is just under £2k for 4 wall
units, one base unit, 3 divider things for appliances, worktop.

All of those before VAT and not including fitting.

We had a wren kitchen and I can't wait to rip it out
The design was wrong.
The 'surveyor' who measured got it wrong.
The follow up with pushy sales, trying to send me a contract after changes that was just a signatory page was wrong
Don't get me started on their fitter, wrong items, damaged items and lying about electrical goods. We had a faulty microwave they insisted Neff fix under warranty even though it was less than 28 days out and should have been a direct replacement. Thankfully Neff refused when they realised and made Wren provide another.

I understand they seem good for the designs and interest free but it just isn't worth it for the stress and their designs are so often wrong and you don't know until someone is trying to fit it.
Look up independent kitchen company review pages on Facebook - there's a Wren kitchen nightmare one full of people celebrating getting a crap kitchen removed after a years battle

I'm in the same situation . I looked through the 'lessons learned' thread on MN and copy pasted info into my phone as I read interesting bits. A name that kept being mentioned was Karen at oneplan. So I found her on Houzz and sent a message last night. She's responded this morning at 8am! So that bodes well . Looks like she's booked until may already though. ( but I haven't booked a builder yet, so that's probably ok actually) so book ahead for all of your tradespeople. I know an electrician he's given me a list of builders to try. But most what plans to quote from. So book your designer first. Or get free plans done. Good luck.

Definitely look at DIY Kitchens seriously. We got our kitchen from there last year. Love it! Pricing is very transparent and they were much cheaper than Howdens and Magnet for us. Using DIY Kitchens with an interest-free credit card might save you more than using finance with someone like Wickes.

If I were doing it again, I would definitely use Karen from OnePlan (who is an admin on the DIY Kitchens Facebook page) as she really knows her stuff and her fee would have been offset by the cost of rectifying one mistake I made with cabinet height where we ended up having to order additional reduced height units.

As to where to start - see the lessons learned thread on here but I’d start by listing absolutely everything you want in a kitchen, very precise measurements of the space and perhaps a rough sketch of the existing layout and plug sockets. Does the space/layout work for you or not? What would you add and what irritates you? Then take this to a few kitchen places and see what they come up with.

Being candid, my experience of this was that designers tend to design what you tell them to, whereas I’d hoped they would be more like “ok, you can’t get more than 2 tall units in so what would you compromise on and have you considered X?”. I found playing around on the DIY Kitchens planner and bouncing ideas off others on their Facebook page was more helpful in some ways.

Hi I am doing this now. Similar size to yours. I am working with Ikea and had a handful of virtual appoints to design this. The cust service is very good. I also spoke to John Lewis but decided against as they like to come in and design the kitchen with you after a lot of different appointments. Also their kitchens seems too heavy for my kitchen. Finally am going to speak to magnet and see what they can do. I want Ikea but my partner is keen to explore a few options first. We will then put in a JL fridge freezer and replace the oven. Probably looking at £10k all in. Good luck

I’m pretty sure the ‘surveyor’ from Wren measured ours wrong too. Because some of the appliances are in the same place but we’ve got more stuff on that run than they’ve put in. Either that or they think we’re getting a 80cm wide fridge and washing machine.

but they wouldnt give us the plans or measurements or even reply when I asked!

Same situation here; posting for updates.

B&Q offer five years interest free credit.

Dont go to Wren, I’ve seen some atrocious work from them.

All I can offer @BaileysforBreakfast Is my DB and DSIL were on a budget . They had a Wickes kitchen and it looks lovely ( it is the smooth laminate type no door handles , so very simple ) but a lovely subtle colour - It looks so much expensive / better than the price it was. Also has lovely soft closing drawers. I don't know what other styles they do but they are delighted with it & I think it is lovely & seems just as good quality as my more expensive one.

I would agree with a PP check what interest rate Wickes are charging and it may be better to get a bank loan if you can get a better rate of interest.

i have often heard that the kitchen fitter is more important than the units. I had to replace a very dated kitchen in my rental property. Unlike many others, my fitter likes to work with ikea kitchens. The units are good quality, nothing fancy. But the fitter ensured everything was flush, straight, the worktop fitted beautifully etc. ikea was cheap too, about £4000 all in for a large kitchen with L shaped worktop, 2 runs of wall units and a mini worktop along a back wall, extraction hood, sink.

I have had various designs over the last 2 years, B&Q, Howdens, IKEA and 1 local company - none came up with a plan that was excited about parting with money for. I went to another local company at the end of Jan and am now in the process of getting new one fitted - they came out to measure and listened to what the issues were with the current kitchen and looked at solutions - was the first time felt as if I could part with money. To get kitchen and utility plus hob, oven, dishwasher and cooker hood fitted with all electrics, plumber, plasterer etc has come in just under £10k (kitchen is 4.5m long 3.5m wide and units are l-shaped, 3 single cupboards and larder unit in utility) - kitchen company has arranged and co-ordinated all the trades which is what I wanted. Will be financed by savings and loan.

My kitchen in my old house was MFI but we had been to Wickes for a planning appointment then just ordered everything from MFI. Wickes kitchens were the same quality but MFI had a buy two get one free on their kitchen ranges. The kitchen is 21 years old & when I last saw it on Rightmove it looked as good as when it was first done. First thing you need to decide is are you prepared to buy cheaper units so you can have better appliances or would you prefer cheaper appliances, is there any of the work you can do yourself, maybe stripping out as much of the old kitchen. Then make a list of things you must have, then things you would like but aren't essential. If you like the layout of your old kitchen work out a rough plan ,& then go to somewhere like Wickes for a planning session.