Kitchens are a bloody rip-off, tips please

[SuperHangOn]

I just want to bolt in an inoffensive, clean looking kitchen for a house sale.

I get quotes for up to 5 grand for what is essentially a pile of nasty chipboard and mdf. To give an example Wickes "Base E/Wg curve 300"... £536. Over £500 for a chipboard cuboard. And thats apparently half price! How do they get away with it?

Any thought on how to lessen the blow?

A trawl of ebay has found solid wood worktops for next to nothing, franke s/s sink for £62.50 delivered, various cheap taps.

I still need units (annoyingly B&Q are the cheapest of the usual suspects), oven, hob and extractor.

Are there any deals going or tricks I can use to get this done cheaply without it looking obviously cheap n nasty? Thanks!

[SuperHangOn]

AmitG said:

I'm about to go down the B&Q route and I'll update this thread with my findings.

Me too, ordered from B&Q kitchen in the end because the whole process was getting too boring! Went for the cheaper IT cupboards with cooke & lewis white gloss doors, came to about £1500 (units only). Could have bought a decent MX5 for that.

Will pick up the worktops, sink etc on ebay

[SuperHangOn]

If I was doing the kitchen for keeps I would have gone for the Ikea Varde freestanders. I reckon they could look great with a bit of jigging around and very hygienic as you can clean underneath. Solid beech too.

Not sure what buyers would have made of them though so I played it safe with a boring white fitted.