New kitchen, have £10,000 to spend

[DisforDarkChocolate]

I'm totally lost trying to buy a new kitchen. The one we have is falling apart (new house). I had an appointment with Howdens and it was very disappointing, it was just so dull. The colour choice is really poor unless you can afford the custom colours.

Any suggestions? I looked at Wren and wasn't convinced by the quality. Our fitter doesn't fit IKEA.

I really want warm and inviting, must have handles and if there is a grain it needs to not feel not add a weird grey tone to the cabinets (like Howdens pink which I quite liked).

Have a look at DIY Kitchens, they get a good write up. There's a really active Facebook page too.

Definitely DIY Kitchens, we used them and they were great. Much cheaper than Howdens for us.

Thank you @CatStoleMyChocolate and @PetulantWummin

I've joined the DIY kitchen Facebook group but I can't imagine buying a kitchen I haven't seen the quality of (we're a couple of hours from the showroom).

I think I need to pay a planner, the guy from Howdens seemed totally bemused by my liking for colour and didn't make any attempt to do more than fit as many units in as possible.

Agree with DIY kitchens - you can order samples of the doors to see/feel quality, style and colour options. You then return them when your kitchen is delivered. The quality was excellent and so much cheaper than other retailers.

Was just about to say you can order samples of the doors from DIY Kitchens.

I have a kitchen from there & definitely recommend them!

Great customer service, loads of unit styles & sizes . Very happy with mine!

I wonder if my husband would like a birthday trip to their showroom? It is his 50th.

Schmidt

Has that £10k got to include any appliances or fitting as well?

@LightCameraBitchSmile the only appliances I need are hob, oven and extractor.

I've no idea how much fitting costs. I have another £2K that so £12K in total needs to cover everything.

It's not a big kitchen at all. Is my budget unrealistic?

I don’t think £10k will buy you a new kitchen, that was our budget too but we have had to up it immensely 😬 the fitting alone was 8k and new white goods another £3k before we even get started on the units.

DIY have a new showroom in Oxford if that’s any better. We had a kitchen from them last year. Can’t fault it/them. The delivery might cause some people a few issues - they give you a slot of a week then text with 48 hours to go with the day. We paid around 8.5k for cabinets and some appliances. Can’t help with fitting costs as we needed a lot of building work.

How big was your kitchen @Favouritefruits?

Another vote for DIY and avoid Howdens and wren based on friends' experiences.

It's worth the trip to their showroom, we did a longer drive up there.

It's not hard to plan, start with how you want the sink, bin, dishwasher, hob and fridge laid out then work from there.

Depending on the size of your kitchen, you could end up with money spare. I expect your fitter could help you with the planning for a few extra quid.

8k for fitting?! Where in the uk are you and how many units did you have? That's a crazy amount.

OP- ours was £10k from howdens and included a utility as well. I did a huge amount of research beforehand and DIY kitchens did truly seem to be the best option but for various reasons we had to stick with Howdens but if I could do it again, on our time frame, I'd have gone DIY. They colour match any colour for you if you're wanting something a bit different for your units. If Howdens have done a design you like (albeit not the colour) you can send this to DIY and they populate your basket for you with everything you need to match it. Definitely worth a visit to their new show room!

We are in midlands and spent £16k total (howdens also price match DIY kitchens) but that also included our quartz worktop and all white goods. The kitchen is a fair size, with some extras so I'd say yours is a realistic price range definitely.

simplydutch.co.uk/pages/kitchens

This place is the bees knees. I got a great solid oak kitchen for 6.5k 4 years ago.

That's only about 60 miles from me @Summerhillsquare. I may have a look, I've been in but not for a couple of years.

I had a horrendous time with the delivery from DIY Kitchens. Please check out their delivery policy and the poor reviews before deciding to commit. The kitchen is great but I would never ever use them again, their customer service aftercare was just crap too it was like we have your money and now we don't give a shit.

I spent 10k on mine 5 years ago, inc appliances and fitting. Kitchen was 4 units by 2. So depends on size?

We drove two hours to the Oxford showroom of DIY. Well worth the visit - we ended up completely changing our plans and are about to order a kitchen (also free drinks!).

Our kitchen is tiny (2.5 m x 2.5 m) but the units, worktops (laminate) and appliances will be around £6k. DIY wasnt quite as cheap as what mn lead me to believe. We had a quote from b&q but the quality just isn't as good and I wasn't very impressed with the salesman or fitter they sent round to quote.

Some of the fitting costs (plus floor and painting) we've had have been ridiculous, one fella was £10k(!). We are contemplating doing everything ourselves and just getting plumber and electrician in. I'm Surrey BTW.

I’ve moved house quite a few times and bought a few kitchens. I can recommend MKM who sell symphony kitchens. Great planning service although I planned my own with the joiner who was fitting it as it had to fit in a tight space and we had measured it very carefully this time
I have had the standard carcasses which I was very happy with but this time had the best ones as I wanted a certain door colour. Im
staying in this house for a few years.
Lots of taps sinks etc to choose from.
I chose the exact same worktop I had in my last house as I liked it so much. It’s all great quality and hard wearing
For the sink, taps, 3 base units, two wall units, worktop, kick board and top trim was £2300

You don’t need to worry about the quality of DIY kitchens. They are superior quality to what you’ll get at the big name suppliers AND are cheaper.

I got a kitchen priced up from Howdens once, which came to £8000 for flat pack units. The equivalent from DIY kitchens was £4000 AND were delivered fully assembled. My fitter said he was impressed by the quality and couldn’t believe the price I paid. It was the first DIY kitchen he had fitted.

Also with DIY kitchens the price is the price. None of the silly games used by the other suppliers, who try to work out what you can afford, and charge you as much as they think they can get away with.

We had a good experience with wickes but this was about 6 years ago now

So, today I had a look at Simply Dutch @Summerhillsquare. Some were very nice but not quite right for this house.

I also dropped into my local MKM @Autumn1990. A much better expérience than Howdens so we'll see what the quote ends up as.

If you’re keeping everything in the same spot as your old kitchen, the installation shouldn’t be too expensive. I was really impressed with the free design I got from Wren— the designer was fantastic.
Also, check Facebook Marketplace for ex-showroom kitchens or pre-loved solid wood ones that you can paint yourself. I found my solid pine kitchen on there for just £450. I painted it myself, but the installation was £4000 because I had to move the pipework to a different room.

A massive diy kitchens fan here. Ours was fitted 5 years ago and still looks new. Painted shaker solid wood door, lovely kitchen.