Kitchen Fitting Quote £3k.

eisbaer

Hi all,
Our flat is in serious need of a new kitchen as the cabinets are (quite literally) falling apart, however we are on quite a tight budget (we want something reasonably durable that will last a decent amount of time, but no frills or fancy cabinets, as tempting as they seem!).
We were hoping to save costs by buying all the units, laminate worktop etc. ourselves, probably from DIY-kitchens.com as I've read some good reviews about them on this forum and they seem decent quality for the price. Almost all the appliances (fridge, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher) are freestanding under the counter units and will be re-used as they are working fine, the oven and hob are built in but again these appliances will be re-used. 
We have therefore been looking for a local kitchen fitter to do the necessary fitting work. I'm quite surprised at the price I have been quoted and wanted to check if this is what would be expected.
We've had a quote of £3000 (inc. VAT). This price is for removing and disposing of the existing kitchen and fitting the new kitchen, but all the units, worktops, splashback, etc  will be provided by us. There are 9 kitchen units in total: 5 floor units and 4 wall units. 
This is our first home and first time having a new kitchen, so I don't really have any idea what to expect. However it seems a little steep to me especially since all the kitchen cabinets from DIY-kitchens come fully built, so there's no assembly of cabinets involved. I think our kitchen plans may have to be on hold for a little while if this is what I should expect to pay! Would love to know either way so I can decide whether to shelve the plan for a while or keep looking for kitchen fitters. 
Thanks everyone

mrs_slapshot

Morning - I was just coming on to search the forum for kitchen reno ideas and saw this! I've had a quote from my builder (rough price only) for fitting a howdens kitchen and worktops of around £2k. Don't have the plans in front of me but it sounds around the same size as yours, maybe slightly more units - and I am having mainly drawer units. We are Midlands area, not sure if that will make a difference?

I would definitely shop around for a quote, and go with someone that someone (or several people) recommend.

comeandgo

Can you not remove and dispose of the old kitchen units yourself and reduce costs further?

cattie

Doesn't sound too bad to me. I had a new kitchen fitted, ready built cabinets, about 7yrs ago & only have a smallish kitchen. I paid somewhere between £2500-£3000 then, so would expect costs to have risen over the years. Many people under estimate the final cost of a kitchen refit due to only really budgeting for the actual cabinets etc. & not the labour needed.

A  good kitchen fitter can make an average priced kitchen look costly, but a less than perfect fitter can make an expensive kitchen look pretty shoddy indeed.

eisbaer

comeandgo said:

Can you not remove and dispose of the old kitchen units yourself and reduce costs further?

I was thinking about that - we live only a couple miles from our local council skip, so hiring a trailer or van and doing the waste disposal ourselves could be cost effective. If we get someone in to safely disconnect the plumbed in appliances, we might even manage dismantling the kitchen ourselves, not really sure where to start but I'm sure there's plenty of videos on youtube