Kitchen costing?

[jackbran]

We are looking at a new kitchen, probably from B&Q or similar - our budget isn’t huge but I can see an affordable kitchen that n their options. I will be using their fitters as o cannot be dealing with having to arrange separate trades but will really double the overall cost to do this?

We went with DIY kitchens in Pontefract basic 12 units in gloss sink in stainless steel, and duropal laminate worktops this came to £3000 , wall plaster fell off when we took down the old units so another £500 for a plasterer, new electric board and additional plug sockets was another £300, tiled flooring and fitting was £1000 , and fitter for the units was £1000 , so even a budget kitchen can add up if it all needs doing like ours as the kitchen in situ when we moved was 40 years old

Fitting is often more expensive than the materials, it would definitely be cheaper to find your own fitter. It’s the same amount of work & cost to fit an expensive or cheap kitchen. NOt sure if it’s still the case but we had a very large kitchen and utility room fitted by B&Q many years ago, they sub the job out,so they are paying fitter and earning out of the fitting. It’s the easier option but also the most expensive. We had a lot of issues, with damaged parts etc. ended up getting compensation.

Fitting is much more expensive than the cost of the actual kitchen.

My kitchen cost under 5k, but I was 16k to get it fitted, but the kitchen needed taken back to bare skeleton due to the age/condition of the plasterboard and floor under the existing tiles.
Also, included in that cost was rewiring, connection of gas, new ceiling & lighting, laying new hardwood flooring throughout all of ground floor (5 rooms & hallway), new outdoor tap, new outdoor electrical sockets, removal of part of a wall, disposal of old kitchen and appliances, new skirting, removal & architrave and all painting/decorating.

Cut costs where you can with the type of units (drawer units cost heaps! As does any 'storage solutions' for corner cabinets), handles and worktops.

I sourced my unit handles from Etsy and my solid oak worktops from Worktop Express due to wanting specific sizes (longer than 3M) but it worked out cheaper than B&Q?

My range cooker was from AOL as they did a model I liked much cheaper than other places.

I used a lovely Polish fitter that I had used previously for my bathroom, who I knew did fantastic quality of workmanship. This can be better or worse than using a companies own 'fitters'?
Sometimes it works out cheaper, but if there are any issues or unexpected problems they're likely to say nothing & just put the units in anyway? But if you've got no wall/ceiling/floor issues then it may be the best option?

Basically, shop around, but expect to pay a lot in comparison to the price of the kitchen to have it fitted.

(I used to design kitchens, so I knew exactly what was required, which helped a lot.)

Years ago in a different house we had a kitchen quote from B&Q that included fitting. I can't recall the exact price but the fitting pushed it up ridiculously. We actually ended up using an independent kitchen company who made their own cabinets and DH fitted them - the total we paid was less than half the price of B&Q's quote for a far superior kitchen!

At our current house (a Georgian cottage) we have a fairly small kitchen and even smaller budget but I wanted something that imitated deVOL. I managed to source some good quality used in frame units for under £300, but I've given them a deVOL makeover by painting everything an interesting colour, adding their 'butler's knobs' and a reconditioned black lacanche range...which pushed the price up.

Additional savings include a second quality Whitebirk sink for a tenth of the retail price, iroko worktop from Worktop Express, black french drawer fridge freezer and integrated dishwasher from AO outlet and real marble splash back using car boot sale tiles (£30). It's not finished yet but total spend is looking at around 7k.

I love shopping around though and both DH and I have backgrounds in design...not everybody has the time or inclination!