Kitchens - cheap vs expensive

[bennno]

princeperch said:

Personally I think a 50k kitchen in 750k house would be excessive for the average house in the south east of England. I sold my last house for more than 700k and the new owners absolutely loved the kitchen. It was at that stage nearly 8 years old and wasn't in bad nick and was a 15k jobby for magnet.

Noone can tell anyone else how to spend their money obviously but, and I think this is especially true if you are involving an interior designer/architect, they are very keen to spend your money (and convince you to do so) when something a little less excessive would be equally as nice. I don't think id have got anymore for my house if it had had a 50k kitchen rather than a 15k one.

Sold two in that range. Both large kitchens were circa 15-20k including neff appliances inc 2x ovens, granite tops, Belfast sinks, franke taps, painted solid oak shaker kitchens - both kitchens sold the properties. I’d struggle with spending 50k to be honest, current property we are refurbishing is very large but again it was still about 20k for a kitchen.

[PrinceRupert]

princeperch said:

Personally I think a 50k kitchen in 750k house would be excessive for the average house in the south east of England. I sold my last house for more than 700k and the new owners absolutely loved the kitchen. It was at that stage nearly 8 years old and wasn't in bad nick and was a 15k jobby for magnet.

Noone can tell anyone else how to spend their money obviously but, and I think this is especially true if you are involving an interior designer/architect, they are very keen to spend your money (and convince you to do so) when something a little less excessive would be equally as nice. I don't think id have got anymore for my house if it had had a 50k kitchen rather than a 15k one.

Surely it is the same as buying a BMW or a Ford. The Ford is quite nice, but some people would rather spend more on the BMW.

I think ours ended up around 12k + 8k appliances/taps/sink etc + fitting/decorating + flooring (Amtico, 5k across kitchen/utility/downstairs bathroom) in a 500k house in the SE, FWIW.

bennno said:

Sold two in that range. Both large kitchens were circa 15-20k including neff appliances inc 2x ovens, granite tops, Belfast sinks, franke taps, painted solid oak shaker kitchens - both kitchens sold the properties. I’d struggle with spending 50k to be honest, current property we are refurbishing is very large but again it was still about 20k for a kitchen.

That seems pretty good going for 15-20k. As noted ours was similar but not a huge kitchen, quartz not granite, and painted mdf not solid oak.

[singlecoil]

montymoo said:

...We ended up sitting down with a lovely interior designer to try and come up with ideas that we like...

Worth bearing in mind with any interior designer is that if they are recommending a particular make then they are probably getting a commission from that company.

[princeperch]

For my money 20k on a 500k house is a little excessive but if you're going to be there for 10 years then perhaps it was a wise investment.

I've actually chronically underspent on my new kitchen for the value of the house. When the work is finished to the house it'll be worth about 1.1, perhaps a smidge over.

But I think I have managed to make a cheap kitchen look expensive and worth more than the sum of its parts anyway. I'll post pictures in a couple of weeks and you can all start the pile on.

I'd have liked to have spent more (and could have done so) but have shown some restraint. Ive got nursery bills to pay for a few years yet and life isn't getting any cheaper.

[PrinceRupert]

princeperch said:

For my money 20k on a 500k house is a little excessive but if you're going to be there for 10 years then perhaps it was a wise investment.

I've actually chronically underspent on my new kitchen for the value of the house. When the work is finished to the house it'll be worth about 1.1, perhaps a smidge over.

But I think I have managed to make a cheap kitchen look expensive and worth more than the sum of its parts anyway. I'll post pictures in a couple of weeks and you can all start the pile on.

I'd have liked to have spent more (and could have done so) but have shown some restraint. Ive got nursery bills to pay for a few years yet and life isn't getting any cheaper.

It wasn't an investment, in the same way as buying a new car isn't an investment, or a video console, or an ice cream at the beach. It was spending my hard-earned money on nice things because I want to.

It also didn't feel we were all that excessive. We could have saved three or four grand by going for cheap appliances over Neff, but equally could have went up to Miele/Gaggenau and spent more. We went mid-range DIY Kitchens - could have went up a range, or for Magnet/John Lewis which were both significantly more expensive. We could have saved money by not going for expensive things such as drawers, carousels etc. but that would make the kitchen materially less nice to use. In our view, the extra five or six grand we probably spent going a bit nicer was well worth it, and frankly we could afford it. Obviously if we couldn't, we would have went cheaper ...

[bennno]

PrinceRupert said:

That seems pretty good going for 15-20k. As noted ours was similar but not a huge kitchen, quartz not granite, and painted mdf not solid oak.

Howdens account / units, granite from local suppliers

[PrinceRupert]

bennno said:

Howdens account / units, granite from local suppliers

In retrospect we would have went Howdens, but the pricing opacity bugged me and we didn't have a fitter with a deep relationship with them.

[bennno]

PrinceRupert said:

bennno said:

Howdens account / units, granite from local suppliers

In retrospect we would have went Howdens, but the pricing opacity bugged me and we didn't have a fitter with a deep relationship with them.

It’s easy enough to get a business letterhead made up

[iphonedyou]

princeperch said:

Personally I think a 50k kitchen in 750k house would be excessive for the average house in the south east of England. I sold my last house for more than 700k and the new owners absolutely loved the kitchen. It was at that stage nearly 8 years old and wasn't in bad nick and was a 15k jobby for magnet.

Noone can tell anyone else how to spend their money obviously but, and I think this is especially true if you are involving an interior designer/architect, they are very keen to spend your money (and convince you to do so) when something a little less excessive would be equally as nice. I don't think id have got anymore for my house if it had had a 50k kitchen rather than a 15k one.

Did I miss the bit where OP was concerned re whether he'd get his money back?

We don't all think that way. Some people - lots of people - buy whatever they like.

[DT1975]

We're looking at kitchens at the moment. The house is worth about £670k, 5 bed in a good school catchment area. Its a large kitchen / utility 18' x12' with about 25 units. My budget is about £20k which I feel is probably the max for the house price. I'm happy with Bosch appliances.

I know the ultra modern handless look is in but the missus is leaning towards this with white quartz worktops. I know its subjective but any thoughts ? I'd say our house / taste is a little more traditional than contemporary.

https://www.kitchenstori.com/kitchen-collection/fl...

Edited by DT1975 on Tuesday 16th August 12:55

[iphonedyou]

DT1975 said:

We're looking at kitchens at the moment. The house is worth about £670k, 5 bed in a good school catchment area. Its a large kitchen / utility 18' x12' with about 25 units. My budget is about £20k which I feel is probably the max for the house price. I'm happy with Bosch appliances.

I know the ultra modern handleness look is in but the missus is leaning towards this with white quartz worktops. I know its subjective but any thoughts ? I'd say our house / taste is a little more traditional than contemporary.

https://www.kitchenstori.com/kitchen-collection/fl...

That honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. You're not going to use the kitchen and derive pleasure from the price you paid for it meeting some arbitrary kitchen / house price ratio. Buy what you want and will enjoy using.

[PrinceRupert]

DT1975 said:

We're looking at kitchens at the moment. The house is worth about £670k, 5 bed in a good school catchment area. Its a large kitchen / utility 18' x12' with about 25 units. My budget is about £20k which I feel is probably the max for the house price. I'm happy with Bosch appliances.

I know the ultra modern handleness look is in but the missus is leaning towards this with white quartz worktops. I know its subjective but any thoughts ? I'd say our house / taste is a little more traditional than contemporary.

https://www.kitchenstori.com/kitchen-collection/fl...

Suspect 20k won't go very far for a large kitchen from an independent when you factor in fitting, flooring, decorating, appliances, lighting etc.

[princeperch]

iphonedyou said:

Did I miss the bit where OP was concerned re whether he'd get his money back?

We don't all think that way. Some people - lots of people - buy whatever they like.

"Our house is a three bed end terrace in an unfashionable London suburb which we will probably be in for another ten years maximum"


I would suggest it was a consideration, even if it has become less important as the process continues.

I mean I don't give a st how he spends his money. I suspect his position is he has purchased a house which is significantly below his socioeconomic status and therefore has considerable excess liquidity to spend as much money as he wants on it.

And why not, good for him.

But most people buy a house vaguely up to their income level and have to exercise considerably more care (and rightly so imo) when renovating. They also won't get a shock when they come to sell (whenever that might be) and be told their expensive kitchen in say an ex council house in a slightly dodgy area hasn't significantly increased its value.

Everyone has a right to spend their money how they want.

[bennno]

DT1975 said:

We're looking at kitchens at the moment. The house is worth about £670k, 5 bed in a good school catchment area. Its a large kitchen / utility 18' x12' with about 25 units. My budget is about £20k which I feel is probably the max for the house price. I'm happy with Bosch appliances.

I know the ultra modern handleness look is in but the missus is leaning towards this with white quartz worktops. I know its subjective but any thoughts ? I'd say our house / taste is a little more traditional than contemporary.

https://www.kitchenstori.com/kitchen-collection/fl...

Howdens Chilcomb Navy. Really don’t like quartz but lots of nice white granites around.

Handless look good when not used or grubby with any fingerprints or scratches.

[DT1975]

iphonedyou said:

That honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. You're not going to use the kitchen and derive pleasure from the price you paid for it meeting some arbitrary kitchen / house price ratio. Buy what you want and will enjoy using.

I think if it was our last big move I wouldn't worry, however I can see us moving on in the next 5-7 years. There's plenty I could do to this place to increase our enjoyment (at great expense) however I'd argue our street probably has a price cap no matter how much you throw at it and that includes the kitchen.

[Chamon_Lee]

bennno said:

princeperch said:

Personally I think a 50k kitchen in 750k house would be excessive for the average house in the south east of England. I sold my last house for more than 700k and the new owners absolutely loved the kitchen. It was at that stage nearly 8 years old and wasn't in bad nick and was a 15k jobby for magnet.

Noone can tell anyone else how to spend their money obviously but, and I think this is especially true if you are involving an interior designer/architect, they are very keen to spend your money (and convince you to do so) when something a little less excessive would be equally as nice. I don't think id have got anymore for my house if it had had a 50k kitchen rather than a 15k one.

Sold two in that range. Both large kitchens were circa 15-20k including neff appliances inc 2x ovens, granite tops, Belfast sinks, franke taps, painted solid oak shaker kitchens - both kitchens sold the properties. I’d struggle with spending 50k to be honest, current property we are refurbishing is very large but again it was still about 20k for a kitchen.

I’d say 15-20k is about right for a 750k house. 50k is extremely excessive.

Considering some of the new builds that go up I doubt they have even 10k spent.

[ben5575]

montymoo said:

Hello , hope you don’t mind if I jump on this thread.





Anyway was hoping for any advice

Well you've asked for advice, but I've spoilered in case you are of a sensitive disposition...

I read it that you're spending £50k on a kitchen. Personally I think that's mental but each to their own

Never trust an interior designer who puts bar stools at a breakfast bar
Brown/Cream looks nice, but was big in 2016 before blue kitchens became a thing
I don't know the dims of the room, but looking at the capture, the space between either wall will be over 1600. Anything over that and you have to take multiple steps to cross the floor to do anything.
Workspace is the most important commodity in a kitchen. Looks like to may have 1200 or so between the hob and sink. When you're cooking and have pans off the heat and measuring jugs around the sink you'll have around 600 useable worktop.
That worktop is encroached on by the shelving whoich as other have pointed out is behind the hob
When you're fighting hot/dirty pans whilst chopping veg and making gravy you wont care about your £kkk oven.
Talking of which you'll need to take the chicken out of the oven and put it somewhere, then carve it. On top of your veg, gravy and dirty dishes??
I don't need to say anything about the wall units/extractor

You mention that it's an independent builder and you can tell - there is no design in the original floor plan - you don't put patio doors in the middle of a kitchen.

What's in the other half of the room? Is it a kitchen diner? Is there a window opposite the patio doors? If so I would consider re-orientating everything with the kitchen at the other end and the diner by the external doors. At the moment you're living the consequences of the poor 'design' decisions that the independent builder made on day.

[Pintofbest]

DT1975 said:

We're looking at kitchens at the moment. The house is worth about £670k, 5 bed in a good school catchment area. Its a large kitchen / utility 18' x12' with about 25 units. My budget is about £20k which I feel is probably the max for the house price. I'm happy with Bosch appliances.

I know the ultra modern handless look is in but the missus is leaning towards this with white quartz worktops. I know its subjective but any thoughts ? I'd say our house / taste is a little more traditional than contemporary.

https://www.kitchenstori.com/kitchen-collection/fl...

Edited by DT1975 on Tuesday 16th August 12:55

I put a blue kitchen in my house last year - half way down here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Units were £17k for all of those plus everything else obviously.

[rossyl]

PrinceRupert said:

I have to say I really would not recommend DIY Kitchens to anyone.

Firstly, the carcasses are not that well screwed together and it has made fitting a bit challenging.

Secondly, they seem simply incapable of sending undamaged plinths, pelmets or end panels. I would estimate 80-90% have been sent back as damaged, and even replacements have been sent back as damaged. Each time it takes a week or longer to sort, and my fitter is having to fit things more than once due to it, and it means we haven't got our fridge up and running as we haven't yet got an undamaged decor end after two attempts. This morning a length of plinth arrived that is outrageously poor:





Yet despite this they still won't give me a full refund for the wrong sized cupboard that they mistakenly transposed incorrectly from the plan.

Edited by PrinceRupert on Friday 17th June 11:16

This isn't good!!!

Has the situation improved at all? Fingers crossed it has.

Thanks

[PrinceRupert]

rossyl said:

This isn't good!!!

Has the situation improved at all? Fingers crossed it has.

Thanks

We eventually got enough undamaged panels to fit the kitchen, and now have a whole host of leftover damaged bits. I didn't get a refund for the wrong sized cabinet.

We have noticed one of the big decor end panels appears to have a paint imperfection that only shows up in certain lights - a bit like a paint splodge / run the size of a hand. The decor end panel is fitted though and so will need to live with it ...