New kitchen - where to begin?!

PrincessIona

Just looking for some advice, brought a house a year ago which needs a good amount of work doing. I've decided the time has come to do the kitchen but I feel a bit overwhelmed at how to go about it and where to begin.

It's a smallish galley kitchen in a 30s semi, it needs the following:

Ceiling has patches from where water has leaked, might need redoing completely. Also has spotlights that don't work which would need removing/replacing

Walls need skimming

Some rewiring required - there is mini trunking and I want cables hidden in the walls

All new kitchen units

New windows

Radiator will need moving


Obviously I want to keep costs down as much as possible so I don't know if I should organise the individual tradesmen myself to do each job or should I get someone to just organise the whole thing?

Also with it being the kitchen I will want it done as smoothly and quickly (once started) as possible.

Any advice gratefully appreciated

catterlen

You could start by getting a free design from someone like howdens- they should come round and measure up and suggest a layout based on their units.
Take the design and price it up at various places you like- idea, b and q, magnet, wicked etc. check the quality of the units. I found the howdens base unit quality seemed good, as did idea, but we went for howdens in the end.
I sourced tiles, sink and appliances seperately from the Internet, as shop prices for nice tiles were ridiculous.
Then get a few builders or joiners to come and quote. Our joiner did everything apart from the electrics- I.e wiring in the cooker as he wasn't registered for that. He was recommended from a family friend and was excellent. He did say it was a bit of a headache though to have to piece together all the seperate bits I had bought, but he thought it looked good in the end.
I guess for windows you would need FENSA registered fitter and certificate?
You haven't said anything about accounting for new flooring, which you may need if you move a radiator, depending on where you move it?
It may be that you could get one person to do everything, but source most of the materials yourself to keep costs down. You could check with the tradesmen if they could get x, y or z any cheaper than you found it, and go with the best option.

andrewf75

There are companies which specialise in updating kitchens without ripping it all out i.e replacing the doors of the units but not the carcasses. I'd do that if I wasn't re-doing the layout.

onomatopoeia99

Electrical work will need channelling into the walls (impossible to say what might need doing in the ceiling - if it needs new plasterboard then you're going to need that doing early on) so should be first fixed before the plastering, then second fixed after. If you can get the plasterer and electrician to talk to each other and co-ordinate between them, this whole aspect will be much easier. When I did my kitchen (actually still doing) the electrician recommended a plasterer that he knew which worked out well since they co-ordinated amongst themselves to an extent. I still had to get involved to move things along, but it could have been much more painful than it ended up.

If you're replacing the windows I'd do this before plastering. Similarly moving the radiator, or have the radiator off while the plastering is done then re-installed in the new location after.

You haven't said anything about the floor. If you want to replace it, you will need to decide between covering the whole floor while the room is empty, or only covering the area where there are units, after the units are installed.

Installing the units, appliances and worktops comes really close to the end.

Getting individual trades in might be cheaper, but is likely to take longer as there's no guarantee each one will be available at the point where the work they are waiting to finish so they can start is complete. If you want it all to happen smoothly and quickly you might want to go to a kitchen specialist that offers a complete service including fitting.

I did completely the opposite, aside from the electrician and plasterer I did everything myself. Saved a lot of money, but at the cost of 18 months with a barely functional kitchen as I could only work on it when I had a free weekend..

deanos

andrewf75 wrote: »

There are companies which specialise in updating kitchens without ripping it all out i.e replacing the doors of the units but not the carcasses. I'd do that if I wasn't re-doing the layout.

yeah like Dream Doors, £5.5k to change some doors and worktops they quoted me :rotfl:

Have a look at Magnet Trade and get your own joiner , we just got our kitchen from them was 2k cheaper than Howdens for a similar kitchen

kah22

I recently updated my kitchen. I hired an architect who I knew thought outside the box. It cost me £350 for his ideas, suggestions, drawings and as he was self employed he stuck with me and suggest people and firms I might use

What surprised me was the final cost of the kitchen was less than if I had taken an off the shelf design from one of the big firms.

Ask around if there is an architect in your area who would fill this description

pichon

kah22 wrote: »

I recently updated my kitchen. I hired an architect who I knew thought outside the box. It cost me £350 for his ideas, suggestions, drawings and as he was self employed he stuck with me and suggest people and firms I might use

What surprised me was the final cost of the kitchen was less than if I had taken an off the shelf design from one of the big firms.

Ask around if there is an architect in your area who would fill this description

Very interesting. kah22, any chance you are in Southeast?
We will be in Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border area.
I know it's a long shot but I was wondering if by any chance if you are close by I could get information on your architect! Thanks a lot!

kah22

pichon wrote: »

Very interesting. kah22, any chance you are in Southeast?
We will be in Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border area.
I know it's a long shot but I was wondering if by any chance if you are close by I could get information on your architect! Thanks a lot!

sorry, wrong end of the pond, I'm in the wee North of Ireland

wymondham

PrincessIona wrote: »

Just looking for some advice, brought a house a year ago which needs a good amount of work doing. I've decided the time has come to do the kitchen but I feel a bit overwhelmed at how to go about it and where to begin.

It's a smallish galley kitchen in a 30s semi, it needs the following:

Ceiling has patches from where water has leaked, might need redoing completely. Also has spotlights that don't work which would need removing/replacing

Walls need skimming

Some rewiring required - there is mini trunking and I want cables hidden in the walls

All new kitchen units

New windows

Radiator will need moving


Obviously I want to keep costs down as much as possible so I don't know if I should organise the individual tradesmen myself to do each job or should I get someone to just organise the whole thing?

Also with it being the kitchen I will want it done as smoothly and quickly (once started) as possible.

Any advice gratefully appreciated

Are you good at DIY or know anyone good at DIY? If you can do it yourself it will go much more smoothly as you can go at your own pace and keep costs considerably lower. I did our kitchen - it took 5 months (!!!!) but the kitchen was only unusable for a day out of this..... save 50%.