New Oven/Hob before new Kitchen?

quichelorraine

Hi,

We recently bought a flat, and being a complete novice at all this was wondering if people could give us some advice. We do plan to get a new kitchen fitted in the next 12 months, however for now the oven is a more pressing problem, as the handle has fallen off so we have to open the oven with an oven glove (we were aware of this before we bought the place.

My question is, if we buy a new oven and hob now, will this make it more difficult when we come to fit a new kitchen later, or are they generally a standard size? I don't want to buy a new oven and hob now, only to have to buy another one when we do the kitchen up!

cattie

If you know exactly how you want your kitchen planned & what kind of oven and hob you prefer, ie, built under or tower unit, then you could go ahead and buy now. However, once you've got a nice new shiny kitchen, will you regret not hanging on for a while to have your appliances brand spanking new too?

Also, you will need to take into account possible minor damage such as scratches etc that could occur when old kitchen is ripped out and appliances need to be parked somewhere.

I think if I were you I'd try to hang on. Either try to cope with the oven as it is for a while longer, or maybe see if someone on freecycle is getting rid of one you can be using in the meantime. Oh and have you checked if a new handle would be available for the oven to tied you over?

I think the only way I'd be tempted to get the appliances now would be if I saw a real bargain on the ones that I had in mind.

Jaynne

A hob and oven are two things I think you are pretty safe in buying. You'll limit your colour choices but a single oven will fit either under counter or in a tall housing. 600mm hobs are always going to it.

As cattie says you will obviously have to be careful when they are removed and stored but I don't think that's a major problem as both appliances are really easy to fit.

penguingirl

We bought new appliances when we moved into our house, including a new oven as the previous one was broken (and I doubt it had been particularly good when fitted by the builders 15 years before), although we haven't done the kitchen yet. I agree that to me ovens seem a fairly safe bet. We also found that replacing the oven took the pressure off replacing the rest of the kitchen so has given us a chance to really think about what we want, save up etc. and we have left it nearly 3 years now (but it will be done in August!)

quichelorraine

Thanks everyone - I don't think the colour will be a major issue as most ovens now are black/silver, and we will be getting a modern kitchen which would match. I guess it is just whether we can bide our time or not. Part of me wants to replace it now, the other part of me wants to just get a new kitchen now! We have the money for both, but just can't decide whether to do the kitchen straight away, or learn to live with it and put some money towards overpaying the mortgage. Decisions decision!