Freestanding kitchen - is this a problem if we sell?

[7catsisnotenough]

Hi all, not looking to sell in the immediate future, looking at our 5 year plan to sell up, move area and downsize.

Our house reflects us, it's Mid Century furniture with vintage bits and pieces but decorated in muted modern colours (duck egg, cream etc). I recently saw a thread about someone being denied a mortgage because the house had a freestanding kitchen.

Is this really the case? Should we be looking at replacing our vintage freestanding kitchen before we consider listing? Our original thinking was to offer to include the kitchen as is (very collectible and expensive IF you want it) and to offer to to install a basic modern kitchen/ reduce our price if that wasn't what the buyer wanted.

Having read about it possibly causing issues with raising a mortgage I'm interested in people's thoughts and experience in this situation. Should we go ahead and install a modern (basic) kitchen to sell or should we hope someone loves ours and it's mortgageable?

I guess it's two questions!

Is a house mortgageable with a freestanding kitchen?

If there's no issue with the mortgage-

Should we replace the kitchen when we're looking to sell with a basic modern one or go with the freestanding one?

All a bit apples and oranges I guess, some people like one and not the other!

More concerned about the mortgage situation for buyers if anyone has any recent experience please?

I don't understand.

Isn't the kitchen sink properly plumbed in?

Isn't the cooker wired in and not plugged in?

I think you need to have a plumbed in sink and the right electrics/gas for an oven.

Our cooker is plugged in, not wired. A lot of modern ones no longer need to be wired.

We have a fitted gas cooker, a plumbed in washing machine, a tall fridge freezer, a fitted sink (in a vintage unit) plus plumbing for a dishwasher.

Our wall units are vintage 1960's and we have freestanding base units to match.

It's a completely functional kitchen but it's not "fitted" - if I get bored I can move the base units around....

I love free standing kitchens

I'm not keen on them and many people are not but a few seem to love them. Mortgage offers are made on a functioning kitchen so I guess you'd be ok. Possibly less people interested in buying though.

I find fitted kitchens utterly depressing and uninspired, in almost all houses, and I can’t be the only one.

We have a fitted gas cooker

a fitted sink (in a vintage unit)

Then you you have a fully functional kitchen.

It's just unfitted.

I think a freestanding kitchen will negatively impact interest levels. Especially as it sounds like you expect to charge a premium because of it.

You can’t get a mortgage without a kitchen. But different banks have different opinions of what constitutes a “working kitchen”. Some will accept as little as a sink with running water and sockets to plug in appliances. Others will consider a property uninhabitable even if it has a fitted kitchen which is too shabby and unusable.

When we extended the last house we had to have a sink with running water (Facebook market place in our case £20) and 1st fix electrics for the cooker in place to meet the mortgage criteria for the second phase of funding. The unit wasn't bolted to the wall and the surveyor was happy.

@HundredMilesAnHour , sorry for any confusion, we wouldn't be looking to charge a premium for the kitchen. I was trying to get across that it is a lovely, restored, good quality kitchen, not an ancient wreck from MFI iyswim?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone, I'm feeling much more positive about it now 😊

We just had a sink, some worktop attached to a wobbly freestanding unit and a microwave and our mortgage was approved.

It's a fully functioning kitchen so I can't see how there could be any issue with mortgages. I certainly wouldn't replace it as buyers might love it or want to put in one of their choosing.

Just bought a house which has a plumbed in sink only ( no hot water feed though), I got a mortgage no problem.
I'm creating a free standing kitchen, I love them and it would be a selling point to me compared to a poorly fitted kitchen.

OP your kitchen sounds lovely - photo please?

I would prefer it. I dislike most fitted kitchens I see, so the job of fitting my own would be a bit easier.

I too would like to see photos please.

I love free standing kitchens - especially in the right property.

I really don't get why they are not more common. Far more economical than fitted kitchens, less wasteful when things need replacing, easier to make changes to keep up with fashion and easier to adjust to different needs as families grow etc.

Has there been a misunderstanding/over-zealous applications of the lender's rules on functioning kitchens, do you think?

Personally I think your place sounds great. I wonder if many buyers are like me: scarred by years of renting places with broken-down MFI monstrosities that the landlord wouldn't replace or allow them to rip out, and consequently vehemently opposed to fitted kitchens :). Something similar seens to have happened wrt fitted carpets.