New kitchen: must haves or what to avoid?

*~Zephyr~*

Finally finished planning my Ikea kitchen yesterday! We're having the grey Bodbyn. It's a sizeable kitchen - there are 24 cabinets, and it's coming out at £4300 including new dishwasher and the cooker hood (ranger cooker coming from elsewhere).

Installation is £2500, but that includes them ripping out and disposing of the old kitchen, plus all moving of the plumbing works, hard wiring of the lighting (in the cabinets, under the cabinets and in the drawers!).

I'm so excited now. It's taken me 4 years to get to this point!

rosie383

Enjoy Zephyr!
I suppose the installation costs are worth it if you can't do it yourself. We are getting the builders to do the little bits of plumbing and electrics, but I am going to take out the old kitchen myself (try and flog it for even £50 as it is still pretty solid) and we are definitely installing the new one ourselves.
All of the Ikea kitchen people say that fitting it is an absolute breeze because of their genius support rail. £9 for 2m and the units just click onto it.

*~Zephyr~*

rosie383 wrote: »

Enjoy Zephyr!
I suppose the installation costs are worth it if you can't do it yourself. We are getting the builders to do the little bits of plumbing and electrics, but I am going to take out the old kitchen myself (try and flog it for even £50 as it is still pretty solid) and we are definitely installing the new one ourselves.
All of the Ikea kitchen people say that fitting it is an absolute breeze because of their genius support rail. £9 for 2m and the units just click onto it.

I did consider installing ourselves, but then realised that:

a) Whereas an experienced fitter can do it in 3-4 days, it would probably take us two weeks and I'd go insane that long without a kitchen!

b) Whilst putting cabinets together is probably a doddle, I'm really not confident about cutting and joining worktops - especially cutting for the sink unit.

c) If the installers botch anything, they will have to replace the botched item themselves - if we put something together wrong or cut the worktop wrong, we will have to replace it ourselves, which could be costly if we make a pigs ear of it!

I'm nowhere near as brave as you are!!

FrugalinShropshire

The first part of my new Ikea Bodbyn grey kitchen has arrived. We are moving the kitchen to a different room, so have endured 2 years with a table top cooker and a camping gas stove. I am now the proud owner of a Rangemaster cooker in the kitchen to be and I have everything else in the old kitchen. We will be fitting the sink, dishwasher and corner unit first then save up for the run of drawer units and worktops. I am so excited as I have never had a dishwasher either.

rosie383

Sounds exciting! And two years without a proper kitchen! Sounds as if you really deserve your new kitchen after such a long wait.
Half of my kitchen will be gone in the next few day, but the builder will be leaving me with the end with the sink, cooker, fridge and a couple of bits of worktop for as long as possible while they do a lot of the other work to the extension.
We have sourced a quartz worktop for a price within our budget and they will do the necessary cut outs for hob and sink. Still planning to fit the kitchen ourselves. Hubby will take a few days off work, and I will do as much beforehand as I can, like putting drawers together, and putting hinges on doors etc.
The layout of the kitchen has changed numerous times, but now that the walls of the extension are now complete, we have been able to go out with tape measure and chalk and decide for definite what is going where. The electrician came to do all of the wiring the other day, so now that is done, we can't change anything else, which is a bit of a relief TBH.

bossymoo

Mine is all booked in too - how exciting! It's some weeks away but still!

I'm having glass splashback to add colour I just need to decide what that colour is, lol.

Also needs new radiator...

rosie383

We are going for a bright orange splashback with the dark grey units and light grey worktop and floor tiles. Just getting perpsex rather than glass just in case we feel the desire to change the colour in a few years.
Not sure what colour for the rest of the walls. Something pale and neutral methinks.

Clutterfree

Is your kitchen ordered or installed yet, Rosie?

lessonlearned

Love the sound of the Orange splashbacks.....

Am starting househunting now so have been following this thread with interest.

A decent sized kitchen diner is one of my top priorities ......

noonesperfect

I would not get a Bristan easi-fit kitchen tap again! It already came off once spraying water everywhere. Once refitted I no longer have confidence in it not doing the same again. As it's a swivel tap this is annoying as every time I want to move the tap from side to side I have to hang on to the base of the darn thing!