First time house buyer/upgrade seeking advice please

chrismcf1982

Hi Everyone, thank you in advance for any help offered or direction given, My brother and myself have recently purchased our parents 4 bed Semi in Liverpool and have funds to overhaul the place, we're seeking advice on where best to purchase a kitchen and bathroom, we're looking for modern designs with a good life span and aim to budget between £8-10,000 for both before labour, your thoughts please? Chris.

lisal0u

Hiya,

I vote Ikea for kitchens, really good thread here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3379962

I bought my bathroom from bathstore, it was a bit more expensive but much better quality then a lot of the DIY sheds. Here's a link to piccys of mine: http://lisaloushouse.blogspot.com/2010/02/bathroom-piccys-4th-feb-2010.html?m=1

Also you might want to come on over to the house renovation thread as there's loads of useful information and helpful people here:https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1186031

Lisa

MaggieBaking

A somewhat controversial topic on here as Howdens only sell to trade but we got our kitchen from them and we are very happy with it. I believe you can get your own trade account if you have a lot of renovations to do on your own property and they sell various things such as flooring, doors etc.

chrismcf1982

Thank you very much to you both, Howdens info has proved very useful and I'm having a good dig through them threads, any more opinions will be just as welcomed! Chris.

Leif

Do you intend to do the installation yourself?

Based on my limited experience of dealing with builders etc, I'd say you are best to deal with small companies where the people who bid for the work are the ones who do it. It is much easier to sort things out, and you are not paying a cut to a shed (B&Q) or a large firm for admin. If you get B&Q to fit, I don't think you have control over who does the work. Try and find someone recommended and reliable instead.

This kitchen price comparison might be useful:

http://www.advancedkd.co.uk/blog/comparison-part-1-how-much-does-kitchen-cost

Unfortunately a lot of firms live on discounts and rarely sell at full price hence they include 'hearsay' prices as well as RRP.

I work with a couple of people who have Ikea kitchens and they like them.

One issue now is that if you fit a new kitchen, you will I think need a fuse box and wiring that comply with recent regulations (Part P?) and that adds cost. You might also need to replaster. Ouch. And tile the floor. Eeek.