Advice on kitchen facelift please!

ruthyjo

Hi -I don't normally venture onto this board so sorry if this is an inappropriate set of questions.

My OH and I are both rubbish at DIY so for anything bigger than hanging a picture we need to pay someone else to do the job. My kitchen was relatively newly fitted by the previous owners of our house and the kitchen units are expensive and okay. However the worktop and tiles thay chose are disgustingly old fashioned and the floor is manky green carpet tiles.

I would like to replace the worktop (about 12m worth), have the tiling replaced (5.5 square metres) and have the floor tiled with ceramic tiles (15 square metres). A tiler has quoted me £995 + vat for the job. This is to include all materials apart from the actual tiles and worktops i.e. grout, marine ply etc will be provided by him. He will either refit the existing sink or a new one if I provide it in the worktop.

Is this a reasonable price for the job? I live in west yorkshire BTW.

Is there a better (cheaper) source than b and q for the worktops? I'm looking at between £40-£60 for each 3m length from b and q and favouring a polished fake granite look.

Ideally I'd like to put a new stainless steel sink in and would need new tap(s) - where could I source these cheaply?

When I watch various property developing programmes they always seem to budget a ridiculously low amount for the kitchen but it looks like costing me about £2K just for a face lift. Can this be right?

bigdic

I'll try and help you out but it's just very general advice from my experiance.

1. I wouldn't have a tiler install my kitchen worktop, thats a joiners job especially if there's a join in it as that's a reasonably specialist task and you want it done right.

2. Think twice about the polished fake granite, it looks great in the shop but once you've used it for a while little scratches appear. Some people can live with it but nearly everyone I know who has/had it hated it, go for a nice matt finish instead?. B&Q are pretty competitive in my experiance for kitchen worktops.

3. The tilers price seems "ok" to me, but as I've never employed a tiler (do it myself) I can only go on what friends have paid for smaller areas than yours. Get another quote from another tiler though and try to get reccomendations from friends if poss.

I know what you mean about budgets on TV, they're always on the dirt cheap side.
Good luck

BobProperty

ruthyjo wrote: »

......I would like to replace the worktop (about 12m worth), have the tiling replaced (5.5 square metres) and have the floor tiled with ceramic tiles (15 square metres). A tiler has quoted me £995 + vat for the job. This is to include all materials apart from the actual tiles and worktops i.e. grout, marine ply etc will be provided by him. He will either refit the existing sink or a new one if I provide it in the worktop.

Let's not start that again, but is "marine ply" what you thought or what he said?

ruthyjo wrote: »

Is this a reasonable price for the job? I live in west yorkshire BTW.

Doesn't seem too ridiculous. He might be getting a joiner in to do the worktops as per bigdic's concern about cutting the joints. (Mason's mitres - usually use a jig and a seriously large router)

ruthyjo wrote: »

Is there a better (cheaper) source than b and q for the worktops? I'm looking at between £40-£60 for each 3m length from b and q and favouring a polished fake granite look.

Have a search back through this forum, it was discussed a few months back and I think ozskin posted about it.

ruthyjo wrote: »

Ideally I'd like to put a new stainless steel sink in and would need new tap(s) - where could I source these cheaply?

Think you just missed out on B&Q's January Sale when they were clearing some Franke sinks and taps. It's phone round and see what deal you can get.

ruthyjo wrote: »

When I watch various property developing programmes they always seem to budget a ridiculously low amount for the kitchen but it looks like costing me about £2K just for a face lift. Can this be right?

Probably yes. If you watch the details in the property !!!!!! shows they almost always spend a lot more than they originally budgeted for. You also have a large kitchen if you need 12m of worktop.

ormus

600/900 quid seems about right.
worktops are approx the same price at all the usual places. ie BQ wickes etc..
wait until the easter sales for the sink, you may get a bargain then?

lilac_lady

Maybe you could get flooring that's not ceramic tiles? There's lots available now that don't look like the old-fashioned types. I've seen some that look exactly like ceramic tiles. Also, it'll be warmer and if you drop something on the floor it won't break so easily (or break the tile).

morgani

Try a company called Howdens who supply MFI with kitchens.

Our Kitchen

MFI quote (flatpacked) £4890
Howdens (ready built) £1850

milkydrink

DON'T GET "FAKE" POLISHED GRANITE, I DID:eek:

It drives me mad trying to keep it nice. I've found a polish from lakeland or betterware (one of those) nearly 10 a can thats not too bad.

Screwfix direct do real granite at a reasonable price:D , I wish I had known/thought about it:mad: .

Ikea do a nice black worktop, but they don't do matching upstands & upstands do look really nice. Ikea also do a made to measure/order range, there is a black one with a modern wood edging, but it takes about 2 months to order & I couldn't wait that long. But for a made to measure/order range its very reasonable.

Think about the matching upstands too, they really finish it off.

smc-1984

Firstly B&Q worktops have an extremely low density of chipboard which when coupled with the paper thin laminate they use makes for a cheap and nasty worktop.

Try calling a kitchen fitting outfit local to you, each worktop mitre ( hockey stick joint, masons mitre ) should cost around £75.00.

I use a local firm https://www.clothiercarpentry.com is there web site, I asked them for a general idea on cost £ 550.00 for 2 x worktop mitres and worktops fitted inc. sink fitted and plumbed in. Tiling at £40.00 per metre. This includes the supply of the tops 2x 4.1m lengths.

ruthyjo

kimevans wrote: »

Screwfix direct do real granite at a reasonable price:D , I wish I had known/thought about it

Trouble is it would still cost us £998 for 12m worth which was really more than I had budgeted.

The screxfix laminates are comparable to the b and q ones - are they better quality?

milkydrink

This is my personal opinion only, if they are all in the same price range they are all probably similar quality.

I don't think there is anything wrong with B&Q, Homebase, Screwfix or any of the DIY stores.
Its the glossy stuff I wouldn't get again. You really wouldn't believe how easily it scratches - just tiny scratches, but scratches all the same. You wouldn't dare put keys on it:eek: & you don't want to be sliding things about on it like fruit bowls or kettles:mad:

Real granite or matt laminate

Lifeisbutadream

morgani wrote: »

Try a company called Howdens who supply MFI with kitchens.

Our Kitchen

MFI quote (flatpacked) £4890
Howdens (ready built) £1850

Howdens do not supply directly to the general public - you will need to find someone with an account.

Or at least they shouldnt sell directly to the public.