Questions on planning a kitchen.

GSDog

Hi all.

I'm renovating a bungalow and am in the process of planning the kitchen.
My father, who owns a building company, got a brief quote for me today from Magnet who have quoted £3150 for the Ottawa cabinets with worktop, Candy double oven, Candy dishwasher and Elica extractor hood.

However, I've decided that I'd like to choose my own decent appliances and worktop from elsewhere (I'm looking at Bosch or Neff appliances with possibly Granite worktops).

How do I plan the kitchen when I buy the cabinets, appliances and worktop from separate places?
In what order do things need to be done?
For example, do I need to order the appliances first and then get Magnets or Howdens (who I'll be getting a quote from soon) to plan the kitchen around the dimensions of the appliances?

As you can tell, I've never done this before so I have no idea how it works.

Lastly, how difficult is it to fit a kitchen from Magnet or Howdens? AFAIK the carcasses are ready-built.

Many thanks in advance.

Doozergirl

Firstly, get a proper fitter! A good fitter can make a cheap kitchen look great. A bad job will make a great kitchen look shoddy.

You will need an idea of what size appliances you want, but they are standard sizes on the whole. eg. If you want a single oven, they will fit into any 60cm cooker housing. Do you want a single or double oven for example, will it be built in to a tall unit or built under with a hob on top? Or are you going to have a range cooker which stands alone - they will be 90cm or 100cm or possible larger! Hob - do you want a standard 60cm or do you want five burners?

It sounds daunting but the size of your kitchen often decides for you which is why it's a good idea to plan the kitchen, along with appliance sizes, with a designer first. Just ask them to quote you without any appliances or worktops, and then if they have any special offers for you on those items, produce a separate quote so you have clarity on how much each element is going to cost you.

Once you've finalised your design then I'd make a final decision on the exact appliances and get them all ordered around the same time. You fit your units and then if you want granite, you will need to have your sink, tap and hob bought so that they can template accordingly.

Just ask the kitchen unit providers to quote you on just units without any appliances or worktops, and then if they have any special offers for you on those items, produce a separate quote so you have clarity on how much each element is going to cost you. They will otherwise do their best to confuse you and the quotes by adding random stuff on to the unit quote. Kitchens don't come with pricetags of £x,000. Every item is individually costed, and that's how you want to look at it if you genuinely want to get the best price.

bobhawke

GSDog wrote: »

Lastly, how difficult is it to fit a kitchen from Magnet or Howdens? AFAIK the carcasses are ready-built.

Many thanks in advance.

i've been wrestling with my kitchen for the last fortnight. I bought from keyline so it maybe different but I had to assemble the tall units (like the ones that hold your fridge freezer) and corner units. I also had to put feet and doors on everything. After the first few I got the hang of building and adjusting them.
The small base units went in really easily. The corner units were the most frustrating for me.

GSDog

Thanks, that's cleared up a lot of confusion!

I'd like a double oven built under with a standard 60cm gas hob on top, so that should hopefully make things fairly easy.

I wasn't actually with my father when he got the quote earlier so there will be some big changes when I go there myself. I'll also be visiting Howdens hopefully this week and once I have all the plans I will play them off against each other and haggle the price down!

Doozergirl

GSDog wrote: »

Thanks, that's cleared up a lot of confusion!

I'd like a double oven built under with a standard 60cm gas hob on top, so that should hopefully make things fairly easy.

I wasn't actually with my father when he got the quote earlier so there will be some big changes when I go there myself. I'll also be visiting Howdens hopefully this week and once I have all the plans I will play them off against each other and haggle the price down!

Halfway there already

mahoney

I got my kitcehn from howdens and appliances from boots, The appliances will go in towards the end, so I got them to arrive after the kitchen units. The fitter will be able to tell you which delivery dates are appropriate. As said before, appliances sizes are standard really. I got the appliances to arrive quite late during the refit as they were in storage for less time then - there was enough disruption going on without a fridge in front of the telly