New Kitchen, how much?

goodwithsaving

A few days ago I'd was panicking about the 10k I'd spent on mine but now it's in I'm so glad I didn't cut corners. It's exactly what I wanted, I didn't need to borrow for it, the building work to increase its size was money well spent and it makes the place a lot easier to sell (although I possibly wouldn't get it all back if I were to sell tomorrow, say). It pays to have a fitter you trust as well so you can go out to work and leave them to it.

trailingspouse

It's funny that lots of us on here have said how much we've spent on kitchens (£12,000 in my case) - but only the £34,000 kitchen was criticised. I wonder what the collective 'line in the sand' is. Is £20,000 OK? £25,000? £30,000? £33,999?

But lets think about it just for a moment - that £34,000 has been divided up between kitchen manufacturers (who employ people), sales staff, plumbers, electricians, appliance manufacturers (who also employ people), decorators, kitchen fitters, and the people who make those little spacers that go between tiles. Tell me again why you think £34,000 is too much to spend?

John_Lilburne_2911

trailingspouse wrote: »

It's funny that lots of us on here have said how much we've spent on kitchens (£12,000 in my case) - but only the £34,000 kitchen was criticised. I wonder what the collective 'line in the sand' is. Is £20,000 OK? £25,000? £30,000? £33,999?

But lets think about it just for a moment - that £34,000 has been divided up between kitchen manufacturers (who employ people), sales staff, plumbers, electricians, appliance manufacturers (who also employ people), decorators, kitchen fitters, and the people who make those little spacers that go between tiles. Tell me again why you think £34,000 is too much to spend?

What is a kitchen ?. Its a row of boxes screwed together with doors on. Then a worktop and of coarse appliances. If we forget about the appliances and worktops for a moment . I would say that kitchen would take me 5-6 weeks to make from scratch and about 5-7 days to fit (2 men). Materials wise about £2k , labour to make £7,200, fitting £2,450 so around £12k which leaves £22k for plumbing,electrics ,worktops and appliances and decorating.

Its a rough educated estimate but It wouldn't be way off the mark.:D

Davesnave

trailingspouse wrote: »

Tell me again why you think £34,000 is too much to spend?

Easy. It's too much if the amount of pleasure it produces doesn't match the satisfaction difference between it and a functional/lasting kitchen at a lower price point. Only the owner can gauge this.

We cannot all derive the same pleasure from something.

My friend has spent a great deal of money on a sports car, which he says gives him more satisfaction than a cheaper, modern vehicle. If I'd done the same, it would have been a huge waste of money, because I don't value the sports car. To me, it's just inefficient and uncomfortable.

trailingspouse

John Lilburne - that argument is like saying clothes are just pieces of material (I could knock a skirt up in 5 minutes, and it would cover your bum, which is really all a skirt has to do...). But of course clothes are much more than that. And so are kitchens.

I'm truly fascinated about this idea that it's possible for someone to spend too much, even thought they can afford it. When what they're doing is providing income to all the trades involved, from the designer down to the lad who sweeps the floor.

John_Lilburne_2911

trailingspouse wrote: »

John Lilburne - that argument is like saying clothes are just pieces of material (I could knock a skirt up in 5 minutes, and it would cover your bum, which is really all a skirt has to do...). But of course clothes are much more than that. And so are kitchens.

I think many people have an affinity with kitchens more than any other material thing apart from a car which lots of people seem to give their cars names etc. Let me explain my reasoning behind my post. Say for instance we compare a Ferrari with a Ford focus , I don't think anyone would diagree that the components of a Ferrari are far more superior to the components of a Focus . Its diffrent for kitchens in the vast majority of cases. Probably 90% of the components on a £50k kitchen (appliances aside) will be no better than the components on a £10k kitchen. People get blinded by kitchen designers/ companies into thinking everything i their kitchen is better and the fact is they just aren't. Hence my post about a kitchen being just boxes on legs.

My own opinion is if people want to spend £50k on a kitchen then its their choice , if it makes them feel good then why not but people should realise that much of that kicthen is bog standard quality.As one of my clients would say "All fur coat and no knickers"...............:)

I'm truly fascinated about this idea that it's possible for someone to spend too much, even thought they can afford it. When what they're doing is providing income to all the trades involved, from the designer down to the lad who sweeps the floor.

You make it sound like they are buying an expensive kicthen for altruistic reasons.:)

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

leveller2911 wrote: »

So 1 man 2.5 days then on top of that any plumbing work and electrical work. Ripping out the old kitchen would take half a day if it's roughly the same size as the Hygena 8 so £1500 is way over the top.

If the existing plumbing and electrics are roughly in the right place for the new kitchen layout I can't see it would cost more than £1000 complete job .

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

£1000 to screw some flat pack kit boxes together?

You're having a laugh.....

No wonder you're all for creating artificial labour shortages if you think those prices are reasonable!!!

OP - go to a nearby newbuild construction site and find a joiner that'll charge you the same rates for a homer that they charge the main contractors to assemble their flat pack kitchens....

£250 quid at most....

System

It's an interesting debate, I've worked on a good few kitchens in my time and I'd say 34k is too much for a kitchen, my reason being in that time I've seen some hugely expensive kitchens and some dirt cheap ones, I'd say 15-20k is the kind of sweet spot I've seen in terms of being spot on looks wise and still reasonable (to people that can afford it)
I've gone for an IKEA kitchen myself because I dont have enough money to get a very nice one, but I know my eye can use cheaper elements to good effect, I've also recently had a bulthaup kitchen installed for a client which cost more than my house - whilst it's nice, it's not significantly different to a handmade kitchen we had installed elsewhere for around 15k. The kitchen is one thing but getting a really good fitter is where you can make all the difference

Doozergirl

the_r_sole wrote: »

It's an interesting debate, I've worked on a good few kitchens in my time and I'd say 34k is too much for a kitchen, my reason being in that time I've seen some hugely expensive kitchens and some dirt cheap ones, I'd say 15-20k is the kind of sweet spot I've seen in terms of being spot on looks wise and still reasonable (to people that can afford it)
I've gone for an IKEA kitchen myself because I dont have enough money to get a very nice one, but I know my eye can use cheaper elements to good effect, I've also recently had a bulthaup kitchen installed for a client which cost more than my house - whilst it's nice, it's not significantly different to a handmade kitchen we had installed elsewhere for around 15k. The kitchen is one thing but getting a really good fitter is where you can make all the difference

I've had a kitchen go through my company this year. £74,178.50. That doesn't include our building work to make the room for the kitchen, the electric installation with tails, walls built to hide the units so they look inbuilt, specialist coving, decorating, flooring, washing machine or tumble drier.

I agree with you. There are some really stunning elements that won't be found elsewhere that cost serious money, but I'd still be inclined to use those unique features with something cheaper. Similar kitchen last year for the same client; same manufacturer, different design company - and that is actually a pretty disappointing design with some really annoying features (and a wee bit of bad fitting I had to call them back for; the bespoke nature seemed to mean that they hadn't accounted for the floor being uneven in a 200 year old house!).

There is a certain grade of cabinet that I will be very happy with and others that I'd be perfectly satisfied with. I can live without what is essentially draught excluding tape around the doors to keep grease out. This year, my job is to put in two kitchens on the same street for the same client but on a much tighter budget, which I will set. Let's see how these ones look. I won't be going over £20k.:o

moneyistooshorttomention

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Money.......not sure if you've already thought of this, but it's worth considering deep drawers rather than cupboards as your base cabinets. These are far more user friendly, imho as you don't have to get down on hands and knees as you do to reach into the backs of cupboards (said as a fairly fit 49 yr old) :D

!

A good point.

...and one I've already picked up on from comments elsewhere and duly decided that I'd better have drawers in those base units.

It is useful to gather all comments - as I'm sure I've already avoided various mistakes I could have made (ie by learning by other peoples experience).

Still pondering worktops. At the moment - I'm veering towards using Minerva. It currently only comes in one depth (ie 25 mm). There is a limited range of colours at present - though I notice they've recently increased from 7 colours to 12 (just as well - as it's one of their new colours I'm thinking about). I gather that one shouldn't see joining seams in this (which is something I hate) and it should be hard-wearing and it's possible to get a sink to match and have those designer "draining grooves" I like. It seems to be dearer than laminate - but noticeably cheaper than Silestone (and possibly easier/cheaper to deal with any damage?). One of the things I still need to check on that is whether it can be moulded enough so to say at the sink - as I've got visions of water on the designer grooves draining board being able to escape off the edge of the worktop onto the floor and, more to the point, onto the base cupboards.

Has anyone used Minerva? If so - what do you think of it?