Any idea how much a kitchen can cost?
Discussion
UTH said:
DavidY said:
Just started playing around with this thing, I see what you mean by take a few hours, certainly looks like it'll take me a bit of time. I'm guessing you had all your measurements perfectly sorted, no room for error? Did you just spend ages choosing exactly what you wanted using this builder then pretty much clicked "buy" and that was your kitchen! Did you go and see anything in a showroom etc?
DavidY said:
I built it online (yes with exact measurements othwise its pointless), then because I wanted to feel the quality, we drove to sunny Pontefract one Sunday, this was absolutely worthwhile as not only did we get a better understanding of the unit configurations, but also its much better to see the colours in the flesh.
They have loads of PCs dotted about in the showroom, so you can go online and mod your plan there and then, we also had some assistance from their staff. We went for lunch in a local pub, £16 for Sunday Lunch and Drinks for 2, and then went back to showroom and bought 3 sample sections of doors, so we could see the colours in our own house (these eventually became my trial pieces for handle drilling tests, routing, etc!!)
Subsequently we made some mods to our plan, and with some telephone assistance added some additional panels, so that I could mount an end panel under the wall cupboards rather than have a pelmut and recess LED lights into it.
The units were delivered on time, and any issues we had however small were quickly rectified, a very good company to deal with.
(Sorry I forgot about £800 worth of sink and tap on that price schedule)
Very pleased for my first kitchen effort (and probably my last as I'm 57!!)
Picture before glass splashback added along far wall
WOW! That is amazing mate, thanks for sharing. It's certainly inspired me look into going down that route rather than wasting money on getting someone else to do everything....had no idea a 'novice' can achieve such good results. They have loads of PCs dotted about in the showroom, so you can go online and mod your plan there and then, we also had some assistance from their staff. We went for lunch in a local pub, £16 for Sunday Lunch and Drinks for 2, and then went back to showroom and bought 3 sample sections of doors, so we could see the colours in our own house (these eventually became my trial pieces for handle drilling tests, routing, etc!!)
Subsequently we made some mods to our plan, and with some telephone assistance added some additional panels, so that I could mount an end panel under the wall cupboards rather than have a pelmut and recess LED lights into it.
The units were delivered on time, and any issues we had however small were quickly rectified, a very good company to deal with.
(Sorry I forgot about £800 worth of sink and tap on that price schedule)
Very pleased for my first kitchen effort (and probably my last as I'm 57!!)
Picture before glass splashback added along far wall
Edited by DavidY on Thursday 23 July 16:25
Edited by DavidY on Thursday 23 July 16:41
Alex@POD said:
UTH said:
DavidY said:
Just started playing around with this thing, I see what you mean by take a few hours, certainly looks like it'll take me a bit of time. I'm guessing you had all your measurements perfectly sorted, no room for error? Did you just spend ages choosing exactly what you wanted using this builder then pretty much clicked "buy" and that was your kitchen! Did you go and see anything in a showroom etc?
UTH said:
WOW! That is amazing mate, thanks for sharing. It's certainly inspired me look into going down that route rather than wasting money on getting someone else to do everything....had no idea a 'novice' can achieve such good results.
Thanks, I've always been pretty handy with DIY, and I outsourced the stuff that I know I can't do (plastering, we moved a door, etc) , or didn't want to do kitchen worktop, glass splashback - but throwing a quality professionally fitted worktop on really elevated the kitchen.UTH said:
As an example I looked at this: https://www.wrenkitchens.com/kitchens/country-draw...
But it's not immediately clear to me if this is a case of no matter what size your room is, that's how much it'll be, or is that a guide for a certain number of units etc
Blimey. As there's an asterisk next to the price then usually the T's & C's will be at the bottom of the page:But it's not immediately clear to me if this is a case of no matter what size your room is, that's how much it'll be, or is that a guide for a certain number of units etc
*Priced kitchens relate to the frontal image and colour; and are for units only and do not include the price of any handles, worktops, appliances, sinks, taps, props, accessories or small worktop appliances. Must be purchased in the exact configuration as offered by Wren. No substitutions or alterations can be made. One per customer.
Subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. Representative example (based on 84 months Interest Bearing Credit). Cost of kitchen units: £8,738. Minimum 10% deposit of £873.80. The total amount of credit: £9,864.53, payable by 84 fixed monthly instalments of £117.43. Total amount payable: £10,738.33, 6.9% APR Representative. "XX% Off" refers to Wren's list price.
hotchy said:
Floor was probably the easiest DIY job tbh. Iv never done it before but I borrowed my dads chop saw and used a jig saw for the last full board end cuts. I did ruin 3-4 boards getting good at cutting with a jigsaw. Lidl has a table saw for £99 just now though haha. I'd buy that now if I needed to do it again. Litterly just click together, push down, knock with block and it's done. YouTube it. Easy as it looks.
'Easy' depends on your starting point. Laying the wood down isn't too bad, it's the other stuff which can happen - like uneven sub-floors needing levelling, trimming doors down, removing and replacing skirtings, moving radiator pipework etc. PositronicRay said:
I'd say budget £7.5-10k, fitted with appliances.
Regard anything less as a bonus, anything more a luxury.
This feels about right, for a wren/holdens types kitchen. Bit less for a homebase one, smidge more for a DIY Kitchens one..... But 3x or 4x that for a proper wood handcrafted solid wood jointed setup. Family member's is a thing of true beauty....tolerances involved are sufficient to make an engineer blush... But good greif twice the price & half the size of our kitchen! Regard anything less as a bonus, anything more a luxury.
UTH said:
When putting it together yourself is it just a bit like giant lego? I imagine the really skilled work is the joinings at the wall that the splash back covered done by a pro?
The diy-kitchen carcase units are prebuilt with doors, basically you just put them in position and level (top, side and front, then secure to wall and each other and build up the kitchen as you go. The feet are adjustable so levelling is reasonably straightforward - though time consuming.The doors need handles put on, but this is easy with a suitable jig - https://www.amazon.co.uk/KingSaid-Hardware-Measuri...
The harder part is trimming end panels, and making any filler panels, I used a router for this to get smooth edges, using another piece of material as a guide. - something like https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-shank-pro-flush...
I made life difficult by wanting flush lights on the underside of the wall units, which involved cutting holes and then routing on the top (hidden) side to route the cables. Poor picture
I also made life difficult by moving sink (slightly) dishwasher (a lot), oven units and fridge, and changing single lighting circuit to 4 switchable circuits!!
Nothing is too difficult as long as you take your time, and spare doors, extra panels etc are available within a few days from diy-kitchens if you make a cock-up!! I only made one mistake on a door and had to replace the panel, but given how much I saved by fitting it myself, I think I'm up on the deal!
It will vary depending on the quality of the units and worktop, and the spec of the appliances. Based on my experience of doing ours at the beginning of the year I'd say fitting around £3k, and maybe low range kitchen and appliances £5k, rising to maybe £10k or more for something nicer with better doors, quartz worktop and mid range appliances.
Get a few quotes and play the companies off against each other!
Get a few quotes and play the companies off against each other!
Andeh1 said:
This feels about right, for a wren/holdens types kitchen. Bit less for a homebase one, smidge more for a DIY Kitchens one..... But 3x or 4x that for a proper wood handcrafted solid wood jointed setup. Family member's is a thing of true beauty....tolerances involved are sufficient to make an engineer blush... But good greif twice the price & half the size of our kitchen!
Wren have 3 very distinct rangesBudget - very limited colours and cabinet range
Mid - base level carcases in range of sizes and colours
Top - large range of carcases/colours
Its quite cleverly marketed in that hardly any colours are shared, so if you like one colour or want a particular cabinet fitting you are often pushed up the range, and then with the interest free credit, it will only cost you this much extra sir.........
Their charges for fitting beyond the initial kitchen are quite eye watering, tiling/floors/plumbing/electrics etc.....and if you want a Wren supplied quartz worktop..........
Certainly starts to price them well above Howdens/diy-kitchens etc
Edited by DavidY on Thursday 23 July 18:01
Just fitted a 2nd hand kitchen to my utility room.
Actually quite straight forward, just measure twice and be bob on with the spirit level.
Would have been even easier if i could have got a rail for the wall units, had to use 15 little brackets instead of 2 rails.
Yes it's like giant lego, and plumbing is pretty easy if you just have at it. Only thing harder in a full kitchen would be the big electrics for hob etc, but since yiu're in the DIY forum imo kitdhens are totalky DIYable just be aware that end result and time taken felt like a very linear graph - get the cabinets within 1mm 10 minutes, 1/2 a mm 15, 20 mins of fiddling with 4 screws for cock on.
Actually quite straight forward, just measure twice and be bob on with the spirit level.
Would have been even easier if i could have got a rail for the wall units, had to use 15 little brackets instead of 2 rails.
Yes it's like giant lego, and plumbing is pretty easy if you just have at it. Only thing harder in a full kitchen would be the big electrics for hob etc, but since yiu're in the DIY forum imo kitdhens are totalky DIYable just be aware that end result and time taken felt like a very linear graph - get the cabinets within 1mm 10 minutes, 1/2 a mm 15, 20 mins of fiddling with 4 screws for cock on.
Thanks again guys for the replies, lots of food for thought. I'm probably a few months off completion and actually moving in, so good time to research and asses my options. I do love the idea of doing as much as I can myself, I'm by no means useless at DIY, but an entire kitchen might be a step too far.....finding myself quickly out of my depth sounds frustrating and possibly a disaster!
Don't underestimate how much it all adds up.
We got quotes from the usual places, plus some high end independents.
Prices ranged from £23k to nearly £40k
I decided to buy everything and PM it myself. This took a bit more work on my part, a week or two longer as I had built in a bit of float.
I spent £18k all in. That included re-plastering, full rewire including new DB in garage and 40m of 10mm cables to provide new supplies to the hob and ovens. Bosch appliances and an extract fan that is super quiet but really powerful and ducted to outside.
Quartz worktops and splashbacks. New spots, under cabinet lighting and colour changing leds on top. Removing a radiator and installing a plinth heater. MK USB sockets.
The units were from DIY kitchens.
I stripped the old kitchen out and did all the painting.
Oh and I might have bought a few new power tools too
We had no tiling on the walls and didn't do the floor.
We got quotes from the usual places, plus some high end independents.
Prices ranged from £23k to nearly £40k
I decided to buy everything and PM it myself. This took a bit more work on my part, a week or two longer as I had built in a bit of float.
I spent £18k all in. That included re-plastering, full rewire including new DB in garage and 40m of 10mm cables to provide new supplies to the hob and ovens. Bosch appliances and an extract fan that is super quiet but really powerful and ducted to outside.
Quartz worktops and splashbacks. New spots, under cabinet lighting and colour changing leds on top. Removing a radiator and installing a plinth heater. MK USB sockets.
The units were from DIY kitchens.
I stripped the old kitchen out and did all the painting.
Oh and I might have bought a few new power tools too
We had no tiling on the walls and didn't do the floor.
UTH said:
Is it naive to think I could choose my budget, go to one of the kitchen suppliers and get them to work to it and it won’t go over budget? Or is it like building works where everything goes well over budget and over time and nothing you can do about it?
Once you start any significant home project, you always uncover stuff on the way that either needs money to do it properly or some kind of bodge to get by. The choice is yours!!!The big players have lists of exclusions and additional works costs which no doubt they will readily apply at the drop of a hat.
A local fitter 'might' be more flexible on some of the very minor things they discover.
A sensible contigency is always the key.
As an example would the wall need re plastering after the existing tiles have been removed? You'll only know when the tiles have been removed! Same with levelling the floor, etc, etc
DavidY said:
Andeh1 said:
This feels about right, for a wren/holdens types kitchen. Bit less for a homebase one, smidge more for a DIY Kitchens one..... But 3x or 4x that for a proper wood handcrafted solid wood jointed setup. Family member's is a thing of true beauty....tolerances involved are sufficient to make an engineer blush... But good greif twice the price & half the size of our kitchen!
Wren have 3 very distinct rangesBudget - very limited colours and cabinet range
Mid - base level carcases in range of sizes and colours
Top - large range of carcases/colours
Its quite cleverly marketed in that hardly any colours are shared, so if you like one colour or want a particular cabinet fitting you are often pushed up the range, and then with the interest free credit, it will only cost you this much extra sir.........
Their charges for fitting beyond the initial kitchen are quite eye watering, tiling/floors/plumbing/electrics etc.....and if you want a Wren supplied quartz worktop..........
Certainly starts to price them well above Howdens/diy-kitchens etc
Edited by DavidY on Thursday 23 July 18:01
OP, I fitted ours myself, with the help of our joiner for a day to do the worktop (we were skint at the time and went for a white melamine top rather than stone) but the actual installation, including plumbing is just a case of fitting stuff together and making sure everything is level.
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