Replace Kitchen or Not??

[SisterImpera]

So, we WERE planning to put the house on the market by the end of Sept and all our decluttering and household jobs are more or less on track for that.

Last night, our oven broke down. It’s pretty old so not worth repairing and not a massive surprise but a bit gutting just before we’re about to sell.

I’m proposing we just get a new built in oven, like for like replacement, as cheaply as possible. However DH has not been happy about trying to sell the house with the current kitchen and now wants to completely replace the wall cupboard that the oven is in and get a stand-alone cooker instead, and add a couple of other cupboards elsewhere!

The kitchen IS rubbish and will definitely be the worst part of the house (by the time we got around to plan replacing it, we decided to move). But I think a combination of new units and old units will be much worse!

So we have these options.

1. Like for like replacement for oven. Kitchen as a whole remains crap.
2. DHs plan - rip out a few cupboards and add some elsewhere to accommodate a stand alone cooker.
3. Replace whole kitchen as cheaply as possible to look attractive to buyers. Make DH do it as punishment for coming up with silly ideas.

What do you think?

A free standing cooker wouldn’t look great, I know, I have one.

EA told us not to bother replacing kitchen.
We replaced in our last house and definitely didn’t get the money back we spent on Kitchen, windows & doors - and that’s ok, we did it for us to live in- but EA said for this house that it would be a waste of time /money.

1 (amended)
Replace oven but make sure advert says “brand new integrated oven”

I don’t like 97% of kitchens I see, so chances are, whatever your DH chooses I wouldn’t like anyway, so that wouldn’t encourage me to buy it. But knowing the oven is brand new and will do for now would be a big selling point for me.

I hate stand-alone ovens (60cms). Not big enough for big trays like a range cooker, not high and convenient enough to clean like an integrated. Often, if they have a separate oven/grill, it’s just a lie. All the oven does is grill, so everything you put in there burns.

They are the worst of both worlds and I actively avoid houses that have them.

I would replace just the oven with a decent looking second hand one

Don’t do it - if you put in a cheap kitchen the buyers are likely to want to replace it and will price their offer accordingly anyway. So you might as well keep the crap kitchen and save the £10K in replacing it.

And the second option is just ridiculous.

Unless your house is big and expensive definitely 1. No point putting in a kitchen that may well end up in a skip after new owners move in.

A new kitchen that wasn't to my taste would actually put me off buying a house. I'd rather buy one with an old kitchen that I wouldn't feel bad taking a sledge hammer to.

Definitely #1, just a waste of money otherwise.

Agree with the above. A new kitchen would put me off as I’d feel guilty about ripping it out. Get a secondhand oven, there are loads that people want to get rid off when getting a new kitchen!!

I doubt whether you will get the money back on sale if you install a new kitchen.

I would spend the minimum amount of money making the existing one look as good as possible. Normally you can spend a few hundred quid replacing the worse bits that make the whole thing look a lot better.

Whatever you install, buyers will likely rip it all out anyway! Do you need the oven? Could just leave it as it is. Or, get a used one. I snagged a Miele for £50 - still going strong today😀

I would do the like for like replacement.

Option 1, replace the oven and leave the rest how it is. I wouldn't buy a house with a stand alone oven as I feel they don't look very nice.

Number 1

Don’t replace with a cheap kitchen. We dismissed lots of houses because of the kitchens and it was usually because the my were fairly new but we didn’t like them. Didn’t want to replace them as would seem wasteful but wouldn’t want to live with them either.

as long as the price of your property reflects the state of the kitchen it’s fine.

The same thing happened to me. I had an oldish kitchen put in before my time. I replaced the integrated double oven painlessly in less than half an hour with full removal and installation by AO. Cost about 400 - 450 quid. Viewers / buyers happy, new oven was mentioned in sales ad. I got a very good price for the house - it's a real waste of money to replace kitchens and bathrooms before sale. Go the painless route I'd say.

No 1. What is it with men coming up with these ridiculous ideas!!

Thanks everyone, I knew you’d be the voices of wisdom but I’m surprised (and pleased) there’s such a consensus! New oven has been ordered and will arrive very shortly.

By the way, really good point a few of you made about a new kitchen potentially being a bit off putting. As I’m window shopping Rightmove I quite like seeing a rubbish kitchen as it lets me think I can make it exactly how I want in the new house. But it never occurred to me that could apply to our viewers too!

Definitely just replace oven.

We were put off some of the houses we viewed which had had new kitchens put in because they were so not to our taste or lifestyle but I would have struggled to justify ripping out something brand new.

An old kitchen that can be lived with for a while whilst new owner decides what they want or saves up is far preferable.

You did the right thing

your DH needs therapy!!

Good Luck selling & finding something you want to buy

I prefer to plan my own kitchen so a slightly shabby and dilapidated kitchen is actually a selling point to me provided the house is priced accordingly. (Am I alone in this?)

When our oven died while we were on the market and we bought refurbished second hand one which fitted in. Decent brand etc but not £££. House sold to quite a foodie couple so I guess it did the job.

Oh sorry - didn't rtft I see you sorted it. Good news ! (and I'm not alone in being put off by new kitchens)

Definitely just replace oven. Or maybe spend an extra couple of hundred fixing up any chipped edges etc so the buyers know it's liveable until they can order a new one.