The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

burtha

Hi all,
Reading along ,just really busy at the moment, thousands of thing going on , kind of day off today ,but still ran around like a headless chicken ..hey ho
Dh 50th today , thankfully he seams very happy , dispite nothing whatsoever from any of his blood relation's , really could say a few choice words about them , but I won't ... If nothing else I do look at my eldest kids who are 'technically' dh step kids and thankfully and very happily can say that they have turned out into wonderful adults who love us both .. equality ..as parents ... With the ups and downs along the way ...
so mixed emotions today
Rant over lol

Back to the real world tomorrow ,youngest ds has football , hopefully him and dh will have fun ... fingers crossed it's not to cold

right must try and get some sleep , at the minute bed time is about 4 am and alarm time at 7 ..
must try harder

x

moneyistooshorttomention

Oops...I'm mentioning the "k" word myself - ie kitchen.

I thought I'd saved a link to that thread on MSE Old Style forum re peoples kitchens - ie a very long one in which different people have posted photos of their kitchens. But I can't find it. Does anyone know which thread it was and can give me a link please?

It was very easy to select which kitchen I'd have. There isn't exactly a big choice. I checked out the Homebase pages on kitchens. Instantly rejected the ranges with only 5 or 10 year guarantees on them. That leaves two ranges - 15 year guarantee (which may not be quite enough for someone in their 60s) and 25 year guarantee range (ie that would "see me out") and it's German. Choice made as to range then and quick check on styles and one of them is an obvious for my tastes. Done - in about 15 minutes flat.

As to how to lay out the kitchen - that's a different matter. I've got one of those badly planned kitchen rooms - ie with doors in the wrong place/oddly-shaped/etc and it matters (because the kitchen is a "normal" sort of size, rather than large). That's where I'm going to need to put a lot of thought into it....

jaybee

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Oops...I'm mentioning the "k" word myself - ie kitchen.

I thought I'd saved a link to that thread on MSE Old Style forum re peoples kitchens - ie a very long one in which different people have posted photos of their kitchens. But I can't find it. Does anyone know which thread it was and can give me a link please?

It was very easy to select which kitchen I'd have. There isn't exactly a big choice. I checked out the Homebase pages on kitchens. Instantly rejected the ranges with only 5 or 10 year guarantees on them. That leaves two ranges - 15 year guarantee (which may not be quite enough for someone in their 60s) and 25 year guarantee range (ie that would "see me out") and it's German. Choice made as to range then and quick check on styles and one of them is an obvious for my tastes. Done - in about 15 minutes flat.

As to how to lay out the kitchen - that's a different matter. I've got one of those badly planned kitchen rooms - ie with doors in the wrong place/oddly-shaped/etc and it matters (because the kitchen is a "normal" sort of size, rather than large). That's where I'm going to need to put a lot of thought into it....

I think it's called Where the OS Magic Happens.

moneyistooshorttomention

jaybee wrote: »

I think it's called Where the OS Magic Happens.

That's the one. Thanks:T. I can feel a lot of reading coming on....

Floss

Money quite a few people considering a new kitchen take advantage of the free planning services offered by most retailers.

moneyistooshorttomention

That's what I'm thinking of doing - but need to make sure I've got my ideas pretty much worked out in advance.

A friend of mine had one of these firms (B & Q) plan their new kitchen for them and the firm got it wrong and they had quite a palaver to get them to sort it out.

My father planned my last kitchen for me (ie a cheapie flatpack one appropriate for a starter house). He chose one of the units in the wrong size - so I had to have it ripped out and buy another unit instead and also the doorhandles on a couple of cupboard doors were in the wrong place for "time and motion" purposes (ie more awkward to open than they should have been). I was surprised to see that that level of kitchen was only deemed to last for 5 years anyway (which would have been okay if things had gone according to plan). When I moved out finally nearly 30 years later it was visibly falling apart - so it had gone way past expected lifespan.

Can't afford to make mistakes like that on a kitchen I'm expecting to last 25 years - ie the next time it gets done is by the next owner some point in the 2030's presumably.

CRANKY40

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Hmm....the "k" word - as in am trying not to think about kitchens at the moment as the kitchen my house came with left a lot to be desired when I bought the house a couple of years back. Time hasn't helped...
ie signs of deterioration in what is basically a very cheap kitchen badly planned and badly installed.

Now I might - possibly - surely not? have been googling as to what I think new kitchens cost. I'm not going to go for built-in fridge or freezer - I've got perfectly good/recently bought ones and my washing machine ditto. So - quick count of present kitchen units comes to only 5 of them. So the positive side of this is I'm checking out sample kitchens with 8 units (rather than those with lots of units). I think this means I should be able to get good-quality units and repainting and new vinyl for the floor and I might include built-in cooker and fancy hood for around £5k?? I'm hazarding a guess at "worst case analysis" being up to £10k? for a kitchen that I will like and that will "see me out" (ie last 25 years).

Lots of financial calculations going on here as to when I can get it....

I had mine done in January. £1.5k for new units from Howdens (they come as ready built carcases not flat pack) and that included the planning service. Two double base units and doors, two single base units and doors, one double wall unit, one single wall unit and new doors for the unit that houses my boiler that was altered but didn't need replacing. It included a new sink and taps. £1.5k for my kitchen fitter friend to put it in as I wanted it (he's a genius who can make any small adjustments so he was worth it) and £2k for new appliances (got rid of the built in fridge and freezer as they were tiny and no use, also replaced built in single oven with free standing normal double oven and hob gas cooker). Tiles cost £80, tiler £80 paint £35, painter £60. I could have painted it myself but he did it in a day and I was past caring at that point.

Hard_Up_Hester

I have a Howdens kitchen too, it's been in 10 or 12 years and is still in very good condition.

ivyleaf

(((HUGS))) Softstuff, I hope OH is healing well.

Belated Happy Birthday to Mr burtha!

We too need a new kitchen.. We took some stuff to the tip on Friday and I saw a couple of stainless steel sinks which had been discarded; they were in far better nick than ours, in fact they looked new!

You know those nights when you have a succession of strange and unpleasant dreams, then when you eventually wake up you still feel as if you're dreaming for several hours? I had one of those last night :eek: I felt very odd this morning, as if I wasn't really here, but told OH that I must go to church so that I was doing something normal (well, normal for me!). It did help.

camelot1001

Well, all the kitchen cupboard doors have gone, the chap was actually very nice and seems to be over the moon, he will come back for the units tomorrow and take them as the builders remove them.

Cranky, yours seems to have been a bargain, my units are costing considerably more than that and then I have the walls, floors, electrics, lighting, sockets, etc to get sorted. I can't see much change from 10k.

All the fun starts tomorrow, I'll keep you up-dated!