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We've been in our (1930s) house for 20 years, and the kitchen was quite old when we moved in. It could be 30 years old and is unsurprisingly falling apart.
Got some money put by for a new one. I hate dealing with big chains / sales people with a passion, so got a quote from a local family run business that get excellent reviews. All chats with them have been confidence inspiring and my gut feel is they'll do a good job.
Our kitchen is 4.6 x 2.4 metres. The units from this firm are all built bespoke by a local company (so sized to fit) and seem very good quality. Work surfaces are Neolith which appears to be bomb proof. Quote includes new ceiling (for spotlights), all plastering, tiling, and new flooring. All electrical goods are NEFF. It also includes moving the washing machine and dryer down to the cellar with associated plumbing / electrics. They project manage the whole job and supply all tradespeople. They have said to allow 4 weeks for the job.
Appreciate more info would help, but.... quote has come in at just shy of £30k. I was thinking / hoping nearer £20k, or am I hopelessly naive? We are in Bristol, relevant because as well as house prices, general cost of living seems not far off London levels.
So, no concerns with the company concerned, but as a ballpark figure does that quote sound reasonable? Thanks
Jeebus!
I can renovate a whole 4 bedroom terrace including new kitchen, bathroom etc for around £25k
Get a quote from Benchmarx and a local builder
£30k does sound like a lot but it all depends on quality, size etc.
Can you look at other work they've done?
If you are left thinking 'that's expensive but bloody good!' go for it, if you are left thinking '£30k for that?!' don't
Mine was £2k but is small and I DIYed it, my parent's was over £50k but that is huge and included an extension to put it in...
I can renovate a whole 4 bedroom terrace including new kitchen, bathroom etc for around £25k
Wanna come and do mine? (-:
The units from this firm are all built bespoke by a local company (so sized to fit) and seem very good quality.
That's your problem.
£30k for a 11 m² kitchen? Yeah, that is a ridiculous price.
No reason you couldn't do that for under £10k depending on how spendy you get with units and appliances. Units from diykitchens or similar, and a local joiner to fit. Joiner would normally have someone to do plastering, plumbing and electrics.
Very much depends on the cost of the bits used. You can for example easily rack up thousands in taps and sinks - or spend £50 on them.
Also are you paying full retail for all the appliances? Fancy range cooker etc?
to me that is outrageously expensive - 5x what I would consider a good price but then I bargain seek, I project manage the trades myself and am capable of doing much of the work myself
I recently refurbished an entire one bed flat basically gutting it. New kitchen, new bathroom, internal rearrangement, new central heating system etc etc all up to top standards for £12000
£10K? Not with the OPs spec... the worktop will be thousands for a start.
We had a rough quote for similar work, stripping everything back to brickwork and a Howdens kitchen fitted. He said to allow for 15-18k for this work.
This is in Birmingham so thankfully not London prices.
£10K? Not with the OPs spec… the worktop will be thousands for a start.
yup - thats the issue.
How much is that fancy worktop worth to you? is it really worth thousands of pounds more than a perfectly functional high quality laminate?
tbh you've done well to find someone to come and quote at the moment. Decent tradespeople round here (N/W Yorks) are booked up for >6 months and prices are double what they were 2 years ago.
Following the standard procurement question, what did your other quotes tell you?!
I would wait till things normalise a bit. We had a roof done and had to wait a year, I got on well with the roofer as I am buying a house nearby, he said all the trades are flat out and pricing jobs accordingly.
30k for a kitchen is a bit toppy, I would get a builder to do the jobs you cannot, and buy the bits yourself. Last week I bought an induction hob for 300, list was 500, just shop around to get the prices down. The new ikea kitchens look good but many are out of stock, just add decent worksurfaces and appliances you would never know they were ikea.
Having ours fitted as we speak - similar size to yours, local firm with bespoke cupboards to fit awkward spaces, built in dishwasher, double oven and 5 ring hob but bog standard worktop, flooring.
£20k, including stripping back to bare walls and floors, plastering, overboarding the artex ceiling, all plumbing and electrics.
We got a quote from Wren, based on their middle of the range units, was £13k without the extra for ceiling walls and floors.
I wouldn't assume 'custom built' carcasses is anything special. some family members had one (similarly expensive) and the fit of e.g. the doors is *terrible*. fitters of standard size units can fill any small gaps left from standard units easily using infill panels.
3 years ago we went with an independent local kitchen place who sourced large wall units (circa 1.2m high) but all 'standard' off the shelf bits and that came to 11.5k fitted inc all NEFF appliances (5 gas hob, dishwasher, oven, fridge-freezer built in, sink etc...)
Depends on how your area is configured with quantity of wall/base units, ours is about 4.5 x 4.5m
Another 'designer' local place was nudging 30k for the same kitchen effectively. actually it would have been worse as they wouldn't do the full height wall units even custom made as their 'door supplier' didn't go that high.
shop around....
We're in the process of internal reconfiguring our 1930's house with new kitchen and moving other internal walls around, requires steels and lots of extra building work to make good etc and yes we have chosen high end finishes, so costs are in these items such as worktops and appliances.
You could go down the route of 'trying' to find a local kitchen fitter/builder and go down the Howdens route, I would be surprised you find anyone able to fit this in for H1 2022 and you would need to have a full spec list of what you're wanting/trying to achieve i.e. most of the design decisions done to a level where trades don't need to think too hard about what to do, my word of advice is get this nailed as once you start it adds extra complexity in and project management becomes untidy.
Also if you want a high end quote, get one from Neptune and you'll really see what 'premium' quotes start to look like.
We went Neff with all our appliances, never again! Save yourself a few hundred straight away with an alternative to them!
Sounds a lot, but custom units, posh work tops and some tricky plumbing moving stuff into a basement could easily push that cost up.
Add in a touch of Covid tax and the fact that you're paying a local firm that you like and it's not horrendous.
Doing this at the moment and in your area. Quote of 30k all in is ballpark based on your description taking into account bespoke units and composite stone tops.
Of course it would be cheaper with standard units, or laminate tops, or if you did parts yourself, or if you blah blah, but that was not the question.
Kitchen Partners on Whiteladies Rd did ours. We got quartz tops from Jamie @ granite & Stone in Avonmouth (Trade) tops were a fraction of the Silestone quote we already had.
Trades are all busy at the moment but that does sound expensive to me. Paying for “project management” is a bit of a joke ime. You end up chasing around after them anyway!
It's not Woodstock Kitchens on Stokes Croft by any chance, is it?
Anyway, I am midway through a similar thing, also in Bristol. It's involved knocking out a stud wall, locally made solid wood units, no NEFF appliances and no major plumbing movements, but it's under 20K. (I don't know how much your worktop costs but it sounds expensive!)
Paying for “project management” is a bit of a joke ime. You end up chasing around after them anyway!
Our guys are charging us £120 a week for 'project management' costs.
As far as I'm concerned it's the best value thing I have ever purchased in my life.
Following with interest (or horror! 🙂) as we’re looking to do the same next year in our 1890s terrace. Kitchen is roughly twice the size and when we got a ballpark price for bespoke units a year or so back they estimated 19k! Might be the year after next with some saving.
RM.
Thanks all - useful input, keep it coming!
@Doris5000 - no, JMI Kitchens & Bathrooms in Brislington.
Thing is, I can find the money if I need to from savings, but really hadn't planned to. I do think the finished job will be top quality though from what I have seen / heard. Asking to look at some of their recent work is a good idea - we did that with the builders who did our extension - that was pretty much stress-free which is what I want here.
Sounds a lot, but custom units, posh work tops and some tricky plumbing moving stuff into a basement could easily push that cost up.
Add in a touch of Covid tax and the fact that you’re paying a local firm that you like and it’s not horrendous.
+1
Think I spent £3k on units and worktops from Magnet and DIYed, but that was 20 years ago......
Thing is, I can find the money if I need to from savings, but really hadn’t planned to.
Every building project falls into that category!
Of course it would be cheaper with standard units, or laminate tops, or if you did parts yourself, or if you blah blah, but that was not the question.
Its really two separate questions IMO
1) is that a ridiculous amount for a new kitchen
2) it that a ridiculous amount for a kitchen built with that spec
the question for the OP IMO is " is the apparent quality worth many thousands over a more basic / average kitchen to you?"
Also, ask yourself is the house worth a £30k kitchen?
But like any home development. Are you staying there, will it add the value back on the house. If you are staying then obvs this is different.
Its really two separate questions IMO
1) is that a ridiculous amount for a new kitchen
2) it that a ridiculous amount for a kitchen built with that spec
This for me. You'll get an ikea kitchen and Bosch appliances (or similar) for around £10-15k. Is it worth the extra to you for something fancier. It definitely isn't to me but it's not my money.
As lots of people have said your costs are going into the worktops appliances and bespoke units. Did they give you a breakdown on the quote?
Changing your appliances to Bosch will save some cash, as will a cheaper worktop.
People saying it's expensive compared to a Howden or IKEA kitchen need to take into account all the extra work; ceiling, plastering, electrics, flooring and the plumbing for downstairs. Now appreciate you're not talking 10's of thousands but it will add up.
I installed an IKEA kitchen with oak worktops, new ceiling, tiled floor and did pretty much everything myself a few years back. Probably cost about 10k all in, with only a new gas hob.
BIL has a company making bespoke kitchens and they are from 30k, but that's for a bigger size than yours. Don't forget cost of materials is crazy high at the moment.
Overall I'd say it is quite expensive and you want to get some comparable quotes.
Don’t forget cost of materials is crazy high at the moment.
....if they're available!
We had to change our choice of flooring at the last minute, as some styles were on ridiculously long lead times. And our dishwasher too, although that was only to the next model up. So have some second choices ready to go...
(had to do the same with a hifi earlier this year. loads of stuff is very limited ATM)
Yeah needs the costs broken down really to see if anything looks like it's being over-charged
When I had my kitchen fitted about 30 years ago the local firm charged getting on for twice what a Wickes, Magnet or whatever would have been. A great deal of thought went into their design work, it was far higher quality than any of the chain store stuff (e.g room measured accurately for out of square then a one piece worktop with no ugly jointing which goes around 3 walls, lovely soft close drawers, all beautifully installed and finished) and has been an absolute delight to work in.
As with everything else, depends what you fancy spending your money on.
We had our kitchen done late last year and eventually finished in Jan this year.
This included so structural works knocking two rooms into one big room of 7m x 2.85m
* removing original outside wall and supplying beams
* moving entrance into under stair cupboard from one room to another
* new ceilings
* new electrics and plumbing
* whole room plastered
* Supply and fit Hacker kitchen
* Supply and fit quartz worktops
* Supply and fit Karndean flooring
* All white goods (Mix of hotpoint and neff)
This cost us £23.5k
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@renton I appreciate this is a bit random but, what bin is that? I've been trying to find one for ages which a) fits into a specific space and b) isn't shit. That looks like it could fit the bill.
Its this one but in black:
https://www.simplehuman.co.uk/products/rectangular-liner-pocket-step-can-55l?variant=32718177960041
quote has come in at just shy of £30k.
£5k of that is VAT for a start.
I did ours, except for a bit of electrical and a joiner to do the work tops. Also re-did a few walls, the floor and an endless set of other tasks. Used high-quality wood door IKEA kitchen etc.
£30k is the price they've quoted, and it sounds like you've gone for upper-end quality - where it's easy to spend £2k on a fridge/freezer. They'll also be adding a bit for 'contingency', especially if they're doing utilities and building work.
Sounds a lot, do you have a breakdown of the costs to see whether there is a premium put on a certain item/s that could be swapped out? We went down the route of a local firm who brought in a 3rd party to fit. We didn't pay top dollar for the units but they were not cheap, over time (5yrs) they have deteriorated badly with water ingress and delamination to the point where we just ended up spending 3k on having it all sealed and resprayed. So based on this we wish we had paid a little more for the units to get longevity. I still feel that 20k max would have got us where we would have been happy but 30k seems very high unless you are going top end everything
Cheers.
Washing machine in basement make me think there will need to be a Sabi flow or similar. Then custom units, then the electrics, new circuits, other high pec stuff. It is expensive but "I can do a 4 bed for 30k" is irrelevant unless it's to the same standard I. A similar city.
As ever multiple quote to get the feel
Taking the piss i would suggest...
Break out the appliances cost and the electrical/plumbing work and any tiling.
check out DIY kitchens and find a kitchen fitter, sparky and plumber separately... bet it comes in at 15 to 18k at worst.
Seems a little expensive, I planned to DIY our kitchen but ended up getting people in.
Units from DIY kitchens, + worktops and bits like cornice, plinths etc.
Stripped walls right back and moving the doorway.
New electrics Inc fusebox, for downlights + sockets.
Plastering
Decorating
New laminate flooring (quickstep sublimal messaging worked there, but very nice, was going to have LVT).
Plumbing for sink and dishwasher.
New dishwasher, fridge freezer, oven hob and hood, highly recommend zanussi induction hob.
We also had brickwork for the boiler and pipework that needed sorting.
Approx 12k all in Inc labour.
Good point all Inc VAT
£5k of that is VAT for a start.
Do we know that? If the bill comes in and they then add vat it'll be even more of a shock. Not adding vat to quotes isn't uncommon and very annoying
I have a 25m2 kitchen in our new house - this includes 7 double-height units along one wall, 5 counter-height and 2 full height along the other. Units were from DIY Kitchen and cost £5k. 3m quartz worktop and splash back was £1.5k. All built in appliances from Bosch, AEG and a Neff oven (slide and hide door is great) from AO for £3k. Can get a bit silly if you go for boiling water taps , Bora extractors and the like, Unless have have a really weird-sized room, not really a need for custom-built carcasses - who will notice?
Look on Wickes's website. I did our worktops, sink, and units for less than 2k.
Hard to tell, but seems like you’ve gone for great spec, and if the rest of the work is finished to that sort of high spec standard i.e. no other work required, I can easily see the costs hitting £30k.
As others say, if you were to spec non-Neff (or source the kit yourself from somewhere like this Appliance City link
then you can shave off maybe £1-£2k easily on appliances alone.
Likewise, as others say, shop around for worktop suppliers. Cutting out middle men can save +20%.
We’ve done a few kitchens and used local buiders who came recommended.
They were happy enough with us sourcing stuff like taps, sinks, apliances and even worktops as they were really only interested in the margin on the installation and associated works, so worth trying some of that yourself to save maybe £2-4k?
And the project management is worth a decent amount, possibly more depending on how you value the hassle of arranging sparks, inspectors, deliveries etc etc.
So, whilst it sounds a lot, it could be perfectly reasonable. And if the builder will see it through, and comes recommeded, then IMHO probably worth a premium.
If you’re getting a good gut feel, and you can see some other jobs (and the feedback from the customers) then I’d be inclined to go with it to save the hassle of trying desperatley to hit a budget during turbulent times. Save some cash sourcing stuff yourself if you’re inclined. Could get you a bit closer to £25k.
We did ours a few months back, it’s a bigger area than OP, about 8m (full width of house) and ranges from about 2.5m to 3.5m in depth. The materials, incl appliances, lighting, flooring, all from Howdens came to about 17k, selecting mid range stuff. Installation, which included a couple of new radiators and a load of wiring and lighting, brought the total up to just shy of 30k.
This is in a 20yr old house and we previously replaced the original kitchen 7 years ago with a basic IKEA one, installed by a disappointingly poor fitting company and it was quite literally falling to bits. That one cost about £15k all in.
2 yrs ago we got a quote for a bespoke kitchen that came in just shy of £35k including everything ie appliances, sink, lighting etc
The company is called Kenton Jones and they make it all in Welshpool.
Expensive yes but to be fair you could easily see the difference in quality from off the shelf stuff
We didn’t go ahead though and are going to let the existing kitchen fall apart first. We know that cost £21k in 2011.
For me that's a lot of money, I'd be trying not to rush it and spend a bit more time doing some research and comparing a few different companies, I'd also try to search out some of their previous work and check who exactly would be turning up on the day to do each job, then try and check individual Google reviews etc
What grates at any price point is when you're left thinking the work should have been better for the price paid, I don't work as a kitchen fitter, I work as a product designer, but I know I go in and deliver to the best of my ability and take pride in my work. It's hard to tell until the jobs done that the guys doing all the work will deliver the same (which you'd expect at that price point!)
If they sub-out to a variety of gangs, with a variety of workmanship it's difficult to know what you'll get until the jobs done and the moneys spent, I'd be trying to cover that off as best I could.
I've just had some electrical work done, the chap I spoke to was very professional and gave a good price, on the day a gang of lads turned up, did the job but were messy, tramped in and out many times and left me with numerous cans of Monster to clean up...I also had a parquet floor fitted last year, same thing, business owner was great, initial gang who came in did such a bad job they had to rip it all up and re-do it.
For 30K I'd want time served craftsman of each trade, not a bunch of lackey's.
FWIW I'm fitting a small galley kitchen in mine next year, trying to do as much as I can myself, fitting, flooring etc, new wiring and plastering done where required by pro's, to fit a budget of £4-£5k, the house is a decent old terrace but I may not be here that long so just needs to be clean, tidy and functional.
When you look at a kitchen what do you see ?. Unit fronts(doors) and a work top, and some nice modern shiny electrical units, oven, hob, usually fridge,freezer and washers are built in and hidden behind further unit doors.
The units themselves are mostly hidden, and pretty much a standard bit of cabinetry, so you can look to get pretty much anything and from anywhere, its just down to the overall layout design and the choice of colours - Grey is popular at the moment.
Doors are fitted, and it's a case of either handles or push to open fittings.
So you can get the back units which are easy to assemble, and the door fronts and use a reputable carpenter or fitter to put it all together, and that shouldnt be costing £30K.
Wedid our small 4x4M kitchen this year. Initial quote from a showroom £30k immediately "discounted" to £20k.
Ended up going with a recommended fitter. Total was £11k. For 13 Howdens units. Neff hob, double oven and microwave. £750 AEG fridge freezer. Lamininate counters. Rewired kitchen. New LED lights i ceiling and under units. Tiling. Good quality flooring. Cost included removing old kitchen.
Thanks for all the input - good stuff!
The quote is all in and includes VAT. All the work is done in-house, not subbed out, and under the supervision of the main guy who gave us the quote.
Following @TheDTs post we went into The Kitchen Partners on Whiteladies Rd today. Had a long chat with the woman in there and left with a good feeling - they are coming out to quote us in the week. We discussed ballpark figures and it seems their quote is likely to be around £30k too.
It’s a hell of a lot of money and if it were all my hard earned I’d baulk at paying that much, I’d buy stuff in myself and get someone to fit it as many have suggested. However I recently received an unexpected inheritance of £16k, which is why I’m considering this.
We will downsize and move elsewhere when adult kids have flown the nest, the house is too big for 2 people really, plus it’ll free up some cash to supplement the pension. I reckon we’ll be here about another 10 years though so we’ll get the use of the kitchen.
Sounds fair for a well spec'd and built kitchen in a busy area. Particularly as you're effectively getting a utility too.
We happened to go freestanding, the only thing fixed in place is the sink and one worktop. If we moved we could take about 85% of the kitchen with us. Mostly done for the freedom to change the layout as our needs change.
Dont ever go for only one quote.
Get at least three, with full cost breakdown.
Only then can you be sure
We just had a quote of 75 grand, yours is a bargain 😂