is replacing the doors on a kitchen so hard that no-one wants to quote for it?

macca

I want to refurb my 80's kitchen without changing any of the layout, so need new doors, drawer fronts, worktops and some cornices etc removing.

Nearly everybody i have had round wants to rip the whole thing out and replace the lot carcasses and all stating that its almost as cheap - although when questioned further they admit to it costing actually £2K more - a lot of money when its being done in order to aid the sale of my house.

Have been given a quote of £10k for a new kitchen from Howden's and this is with their October sales prices, this does include fitting. Kitchen is large 25 drawer fronts and about 15 cupboards but even so.............

speaking to a few joiners in the next week so am still holding a bit of hope, anybody any useful suggestions?
Cheers

olias

If you keep checking, you can regularly get drawer and door fronts for a couple of quid each from b&q in their sales. Try having a go yourself. If you can undo a screw you can change a door or drawer front!

Olias

Doozergirl

We've done it for the first time this week and it was really, really easy but it was an older MFI kitchen that we replaced with Howden's doors so they were bound to be compatible. We used our chippie for the drawers but he was already in the house! I think the question is around whether where the hinge sits on the doors/units are the same from company to company. I've never checked but this is what concerns me - would I affect the integrity of a new door by having to create new rebates? Equally or moreso of 20 year old carcasses.

For a brand new kitchen, do you really need that many drawers? Is that Howdens price from your fitter? It's really high, especially if you are replacing like with like. My last full kitchen had granite and Neff appliances and didn't cost that much fitted! If you want me to look over that Howdens quote, I'd be happy to.

dander

Changing doors is easy, even if you have to alter the hinges slightly. Recently put some of those £1 doors that Olias mentions on an MFI kitchen. Hinges were in slightly different places, as Doozergirl says, but I just put the rebated bit on the door in the existing place and moved the hinges inside the cupboards slightly. I could reuse one of the existing screw holes for each hinge. Kitchen door hinges have a lot of adjustment capability in them, so it makes it very easy to get everything to line up.

Meepster

Just bear in mind that kitchen doors are different sizes from different suppliers. The standard UK size is 720mm, but some companies (and obviously foreign ones) use different sizes...

macca

not sure where my kitchen was from originally but its a good one from the documentation I've found left by previous owner, but its limed oak so v dated. The fitter didn't give me a breakdown of the Howdens quote - think he was put out because I wasn't happy to pay that amount of money.

Would you believe another bloke told me to watch out that as my kitchen is this big he said that people would add a mark up to the quote because they thought I could afford it! Then he went on for ages how he was the best around everybody else was useless etc etc
he thinks I need:
- 3 base units
- 4 wall dresser units
- 28 doors and 22 drawer fronts
- Plinths x 5, Cornices x 3 and Pelmets x 2
- Base end panels tongued & grooved x 2
- Tall end panels tongued & grooved x 2

suppose I just to need to find that elusive good joiner.

saxonrosecliff

I also bought some of the £1 doors from B&Q and put them on myself. Quite an achievement for a girlie with hardly any DIY experience. It took me two days to do the whole kitchen (10 cupboards and 7 drawer fronts) but was pretty straightforward . I did have to move the hinges but I did this by attaching the hinge to the door, holding the door against the cupboard and drawing round the hinge onto the cupboard. My brother-in-law put new worktops on with me assisting and that turned out really well as well and he's not particularly qualified. I got what looks like a new kitchen for less than £100!

A major tip though if you decide to have a go yourself - door/drawer handles are a lot cheaper on Ebay than they are in any shop that I went in (Homebase, B&Q and Focus DIY and even Wilkinsons)!

hethmar

use the mybuilder site - enter job description and then interested workmen add their info.

You can then check their reviews from other customers and have a few quotes.

majjie

It's not hard to replace the doors and drawer fronts ... but it is a lot more work (for a kitchen designer or kitchen supplier) than just replacing the whole lot. And it has a lot more potential for things to go wrong. If, for instance, a piece of melamine facing breaks off the carcasse, when drilling new holes ... or there's a problem with one of the drawer runners ... the customer tends to blame the supplier/fitter.

Replacing worktops is the same - a lot of kitchen suppliers won't do it. There's so much potential for chipping wall tiles and other mishaps. And I've heard of a dispute arising from the old carcasses not being strong enough to support the weight of new granite worktops.

If you don't feel up to doing it yourself, then I'd say your best bet would definitely be the joiners ... or an independent kitchen fitter.

And, as Doozergirl says, if you do go for a new kitchen ... don't have drawer-line units; just have a couple of sets of drawers - it'll be cheaper. And you may be able to re-design the kitchen to have fewer units altogether.

samphe

We hoped to update kitchen doors, drawers and worktops too. But having scoured several stores we couldnt get doors to match in size. Our house is about 10 years old and the kitchen was put in by the builder so its not that old. Instead we painted the fronts, changed the handles (they seem to be a regular size) and are having the worktops and sinks replaced today.

This has made a big difference to the whole appearance of the kitchen, its almost like having a new one with less hassle and less cost.

dizzybuff

There are loads of companies pne particularly that a few freinds of mine have used is

http://www.cupboardlove.co.uk/

But if your no where near here ...opps