Best way to afford a new kitchen?

[Elisabeth3468]

We want/NEED a new kitchen next year. My dad is a carpenter so will fit it so only need to buy the materials really. It's a small kitchen and have been quoted £5K but possibly could spend up to 10K with more expensive/better appliances.
But the question is the best way to afford it-
We are due to re mortgage the end of next year after having 5 years fixed term. So I was thinking of borrowing a bit more money and putting it on the mortgage ?
Or is a better option a bank loan?
I really am clueless. We can't afford to cash buy or a massive change in outgoings so looking at the cheapest route really.
If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.

Take a look at diykitchens.com. Cheaper and better quality than then likes of Wren / Howdens etc, and without any of the sales BS.

In terms of paying for it. Does a loan or mortgage give you the better interest rate? Look at the total cost of both options and go for the cheapest.

If you can’t afford a massive change in outgoings, why are you considering taking on debt to repay a kitchen? You should probably wait and try to save up.

Either one off Facebook, you can get some very cheap. Or ikea. We got ours 2 years ago with them and opted for the interest free credit.

For various reasons, we've had a budget shaker-style kitchen from Howdens for 6 years now and it's been brilliant.

We have a Howdens 1.5 sink. We bought a mixture of appliances online which don't exactly match but are fine. We have integrated as much as possible (fridge/freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, bins). We have Howdens square edge laminate worktops and pretty standard slate-effect laminate flooring. Got some quite high-end tiles. Nice lighting (spotlights, under-cabinet lights and a couple of lamps) which makes things flexible. Nice matching blinds on the windows.

The thing is it's REALLY well-designed and fitted. DH is a joiner and did it himself. Everything perfectly square and level, no awkward gaps or fillers. Nice handles. Everything nicely set out with a few plants/accessories.

We had NO money when we did it and it came in around £6k all up. It's still lovely.

Main reason we did this was so that if we extend in future we can reuse a lot of the cabinets and appliances.

So...

Don't discount budget products, the fitting is just as important

Find a good, reasonable joiner to fit it (your dad?)

Splash out on tiles if you want to. Plan the colours / finishes of your worktops, cabinets, flooring, walls and tiles before you actually do anything.

Integrate as much as you can for clean lines

Find clever solutions for awkward gaps and boxing in your boiler/pipes if they're in the kitchen

Don't choose anything too trendy or too shiny

I went with Howdens spent £15k all in but that was for everything in the kitchen, new boiler, new radiators throughout, new internal doors some plastering and fitting. I got a bank loan with First Direct when they were at 3.3% and pay back £200 a month which is manageable.

Watch out for things like my square edged worktop was more expensive than my parents rounded worktop and I wouldn't really have cared. The bin cupboard was extortionate but you can buy it fittings online for a fraction. I dad cleared their kitchen out too and removed tiles which saved them a days labour but if your dad's fitting you don't have that concern.

Mortgage might be lower interest but you would be paying it off over many more years so possibly more expensive overall. I would google for some kind of online calculator (on MSE maybe?). But personally I would save up. No one needs a new kitchen immediately. A new oven maybe, if it breaks, but not a whole new kitchen.

Look on FB Marketplace for secondhand kitchen units. Buy/accept (some are free to collector) whatever sizes you need.
Buy doors separately from wherever you like the style, and buy paint if you need to paint them.
Buy worktop wherever you like that's the right price for the quality you need (can often find lengths unused on Marketplace where folk change their minds)
Again look on marketplace for sink and taps or buy cheaply wherever you find what you want.
Get your dad to fit.

I did a huge kitchen for about 1/10 the cost this way (fitted myself, even all the tiling).

IKEA do interest free loans for their products so you could buy one of their kitchens and pay it back over the next couple of years with no extra expenditure.
We had an IKEA kitchen about ten years ago and it was very good.

Because we won't be in a position to save anything for years and need a new kitchen.

If you can’t save anything, taking on debt seems unwise.

Reused old (good quality/solid wood) kitchens in 2 properties. You just need to measure the space properly and rearrange the units according to your space. Way cheaper and they both looked amazing when finished. Worse case scenario you will need new worktops. But have a look at eBay/Facebook market place. You have the added if advantage of not paying for labour costs! My last kitchen cost me £600. Appliances can be sourced second hand, but for things you use daily (e.g. fridge freezer) it's best to buy new and get warranty with it.

I bought appliances from FB marketplace, it was all brand new. I also saw whole kitchens offered by people who were changing their kitchen for really cheap. Of course you would need to make sure that the units would suit you. Taking on debt is always going to be the more expensive option than trying to buy things cheaply in cash.

My IKEA kitchen last year was £5800 ish. Including oven, sink, taps and microwave. We had the most expensive units. I'm sure you could do it cheaper with one of their other ranges. Probably get the appliances cheaper on AO as well

I agree with @starrymidnight. It seems like madness to go into debt for a new kitchen unless you really, really, need one (i.e. your cupboards are rotten and falling off the walls).

I replaced ours last year cheaply by just replacing the doors the worktop and tiles.

The doors and work top from B&Q and tiles from Wickes.

If your dad’s a carpenter can he not make good what is there? If the cabinets are solid then it’s a case of him fitting some new fronts and a bit of a spritz? I imagine that is well within his capabilities. If looking new then he will get trades rates for many shops. Howdens springs to mind but I have a trade account at wickes which gives 10% off. If you’re going to borrow money then bank loan / store loan for sure. Don’t add to your mortgage debt as it’ll cost you more in the long term.

Interest free credit card?

My niece bought a second hand quality kitchen off FB and paid around £300
My DH who is very practical, reconfigured it for the space and fitted it for her. Five years later it still looks fantastic, even the tiler couldn't believe it was second hand!

Yes we remortgaged and took out an extra £12k to do the kitchen. The house had gone up by more than that in value since it was last valued so we had it revalued and remortgaged using the new value, took out the 12k and basically had the same LTV as before. Worked well!

We took a 1 year interest free with the kitchen company. Bur…we were able to pay it off early, and as with everything you do need to read the small print carefully and find out what the interest rate will be if you cannot pay it off in time.

0% credit card is the way to go.

How bad is your current kitchen?

I'm in camp, don't borrow money unless absolutely necessary. If you can't afford to save, how can you afford to pay it off?

If you must buy a new kitchen, I think adding to the mortgage will have the lowest monthly payment.

I would really strongly advise you not to go into debt for this.
Keep an eye on facebook marketplace or gumtree. There are so many people that move into a new house and rip out a really good quality sometimes new kitchen as it's just not to their taste. Along with your Dad I think you should be able to do this really cheaply and it will still look good.

It really needs a new kitchen including cabinets. They are starting to mould in the back. They are mega mega old! It's not a case of just fancying a new kitchen. It is needed.
We both work but have a young child and due a second very soon but getting a loan or adding it to the mortgage for a new kitchen would make a massive difference to our lives. We currently don't have a dishwasher and never have and it would make our lives so much easier if we had one. It won't be happening for a year anyway but just wondered the best way to do it. I think the mortgage option seems the best so far depending on interest rates. We havent got spare money to save as such so it would take years and years to save for a kitchen.

If the cupboards have mould in the back then you will probably find a damp problem behind the cupboards and will need to fix that before you put a new kitchen in. Damp problems aren't usually expensive to fix but can take time to work through.

A mortgage is quite an expensive way to borrow money at the moment and I think the rates are just about to go up again? Honestly a 0% loan is the most sensible and if you can't afford that then you probably won't be able to afford the larger payments on the mortgage either.

Back up plan, your dad/uncle can remove an existing cabinet and fit a dishwasher for you whilst you save up and work out where the mould issue is coming from?