Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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So I just bought a house and the issue we have at the moment is that we either need to buy appliances (oven, hob, washing machine, dishwasher) or we need a new kitchen and just do it all at once. The kitchen is in a worse condition than I thought on closer inspection and it will need done in the near future at least if it wasn't to get done now. So I decided to get some prices and I think because it's not something I had expected to do I've been a bit shocked with how much it's going to cost! So I wanted some 2nd opinions from you guys who have had kitchens done on whether I'm being blind to the realistic cost or if it can be done cheaper (without getting a cheap kitchen that's going too fall apart)
This is what I have currently. The fridge door is exposed as the doors were simply bolted to the fridge doors in the bodgiest way ever and didn't shut the fridge properly so I took it off. The fridge freezer are just normal appliances boxed into a cupboard. Not what I would call integrated!
And these are the plans someone I know drew up for me
We love the plans it looks a million times better. We specced it with Zanussi slimline dishwasher, Zanussi washing machine, double oven, hob, extractor hood, fridge freezer, 1 & 1/2 sink, the corner cupboards have the cages that come out with the doors, 900mm pot drawers, all draws & doors soft closing. Gloss cream fronts, solid walnut worktop.
It came to 9k lol. He discounted it too 6k as I know him but that is literally 3 times what I was expecting. Clearly I am being unrealistic!
So we took out the cages as they were £200 a corner, dropped the appliances to Neue which is Benchmarx own brand which apparently is Zanussi just rebranded and it came out at £3950. Then apparently the doors are quite high spec so If we dropped to a Matt cream it would be £3250.
It's a good kitchen that will serve us well for many years I'm just in a state of shock as it wasn't a cost I expected to incur. So I wanted some 2nd, 3rd & 4th opinions on what I've been quoted as I've seen a few nice kitchens on here so you'll all have more of an idea of real world costs than me!
Sorry for the essay 
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Chris x
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Registered: 11th Sep 08
Location: Bexhill
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£9k! 
My kitchen cost me £4500 and that was with the £1500 range cooker. That's with the cook and lewis kitchen from B&Q which is suppose to be there top of the range one. I had two corner cupboards which are about 3 times as much as a normal cupboard, fancy top and bottom trim bits plus the cupboard separators. Got 40 mm solid oak worktops from them, but good quality ones can be picked up on eBay for a fraction of the price.
I managed to blag a trade card which got me a bit off. Wickes said they would match B&Q's price plus an extra 10% off, which B&Q matched. Went with B&Q as they were offering 0% finance at the time, so my money was better off earning interest in the bank (obviously spent it else where now! )
Can you get the appliances else where?
Hard to tell the size of your kitchen compared to mine so maybe not a fair comparison.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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What do you think of the Cooke & Lewis stuff then, all good? As we went into B&Q and a guy is coming out Monday to quote us. They also mentioned getting a trade card :-)
We've not shopped around yet as to be honest I haven't the first clue about what I'm looking at! That's why I thought I'd get a quote from a company that supplies everything then I have mates that are kitchen fitters so they said they'll fit it for me which saves a bit there and I know they'll take a bit more time & care a bit more than a company might
The kitchen is 3.6 x 2.4m
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Ian W
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Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
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I ripped mine out so it was a bare room, from the ground up to a fully working completed kitchen cost me about £1650 using a wickes kitchen and buying my cooker / hob seperate.
Granted it's smaller than yours
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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Think my kitchen cost me about £3k - that was with all the cabinets, a new fridge freezer, oven, induction hob and washing machine. Everything was from Ikea and the quality of it all is excellent.
Excuse the pic, don't seem to have any completed ones so it's just to show you the number of units and things.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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I presume these prices are just the price of units & appliances and you both fitted it yourself?
So if you were to do it again you wouldn't mind using Wickes/Ikea/B&Q stuff? It's clearly not as bad as some people try and make out!
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Ian W
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Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
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Yep, me and my dad fitted mine, only thing I paid to get done was the worktops as everyone said it was a pain in the arse and it only cost me £120.
Here is a before
And an after (wasn't 100% finished at this point)
Can't argue with the wickes stuff, really simply assembly, comes with soft close doors and was really well priced.
[Edited on 10-10-2014 by Ian W]
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by Graham88
I presume these prices are just the price of units & appliances and you both fitted it yourself?
So if you were to do it again you wouldn't mind using Wickes/Ikea/B&Q stuff? It's clearly not as bad as some people try and make out!
Mine was for the units only, I hired a builder to help me fit it (cash in hand for him on the weekends, so pretty cheap). I'd definitely go for an Ikea one again, the builder commented on it being 'really good' too, though he said his job was refitting kitchens on council properties after they've been wrecked by the occupants so they probably use cheaper stuff?
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VegasPhil
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Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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Mine was about 3k I think all in. Smaller than yours though.
It was b&q it range. Would have it again of I moved. It's been good 
Pics etc in my house thread.
[Edited on 10-10-2014 by VegasPhil]
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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andys sxi
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
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Just shop around, you will always find something cheaper, but not depends if you want cheap or quality stuff. My brother recently had a kitchen fitted from wren which is really good quality
April 08 feature car
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smcGSI16V
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Registered: 26th May 03
Location: Farnborough Drives: Thurlby 888 CDTi No.98
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That's benchmarx for you. That design they done is also terrible.
Shop around. If you can wait, hold out for a mainstream diy store sale.
Do not just go for a howdens or benchmarx kitchen.
Ensure you check out the actual spec of the units and accessories with each company.
I work for a kitchen manufacturer, have designed about 7000 kitchens over the last 7 years. Having also compared our product to our rivals, not 2 kitchen manufacturers/sellers are the same.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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What sort of specs?
For me, i'd want soft close doors, shiny handles, gloss white doors and wood worktops.
Everything else is a bit namby pamby.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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What makes you say the design is terrible, smc? I have decided I am going to wait now as I bought an oven & washing machine today. I need to shop around more and not rush into doing the kitchen as I don't want to have to do it twice.
It was soft close doors/draws, sort of shiny but Matt handles, gloss cream doors & solid oak worktops Ben
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Dave
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Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
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The problem with "trade" places like Howdens/ Benchmarx (Travis Perkins) is they seem to work on heavy discounts so you have to be buying regularly to get your discount % up, your average man off the street is going to be paying top whack.
DIY store kitchens are no better/worse than the trade stuff IMO, I know a few lads now who, despite being in the trade, have used B&Q as they were way cheaper than Howdens.
One thing I would do is spec up on the drawers if it's an option, they always seem to be the first thing to fail. Also check how much they are adding for soft close doors, all they are is a piston that clips to the hinge or is fitted to the edge of the cabinet.
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Pop
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Registered: 8th May 03
Location: Reading
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There's kitchens out there for all budgets.
We went round several places and got them to give us a design. Once we had the design we liked we got them all to quote.
We went with Howdens in the end as we thought they represented the best value for money based on quality and price.
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smcGSI16V
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Registered: 26th May 03
Location: Farnborough Drives: Thurlby 888 CDTi No.98
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Plus the discounts for the person are different per store, they are not set up nationally.
As for that design benchmarx done where do I start.
Why locate the hob and oven there with what looks like 150mm to one side and right by a door. No sink?
And again, the spec or it. Are they 18mm or 15mm carcasses. Rigid carcasses glued and dowelled or cam and dowel flat pack. 5 mm rigid back panels or 3mm. 90 degree hinges or 170, Blum or shitty cheap Chinese ones.
So many options/variables when specs are compared/costed
Do shop around, is all I will say.
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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Yeah I agree with the oven/hob. Crap place for it.
I"d move it to the left side.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Oven location is simply because the current one is already there so that was for fitting purposes. This can be changed obviously but to be honest I don't think anywhere else would suit. Sink is on the side with the integrated appliances, under the window , it wasn't shosn in the pic for some reason.
Cheers everyone for your input it's given a good insight into specs you can have.
I would go it like Pop once I know what I want I'll get them all to quote for exactly the sand kitchen or as close as they can get and go from there
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Carl
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Registered: 9th May 04
Location: Jimmy Bennett's la la land.
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I've had some Cooke and Lewis drawers in the bedroom, they seemed decent but lasted about 18 month as the sides bowed which caused the drawer to start dropping off runners, that was a chest of drawers but I'd be wary if I bought from them again.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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B&Q quoted us today, won't be going with them. Almost exactly same spec as Benchmarx and was £6,888. I say almost because their corner units are pretty shit in shape so we had less space to play with and instead of 1 infill with the benchmarx there was 5 with B&Q. I'm quite dissapointed really as I was hoping to at least have the choice to go for the cheaper option if need be. Was a nice kitchen again though
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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Try Ikea, seriously!
If you don't fancy fitting it then post the job up on here: http://www.mybuilder.com - I can't remember if that's exact site I used, but it looks similar. I think Ikea have a directory of local fitters in their stores too.
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Aleex
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Registered: 21st Jul 09
Location: Plymouth
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b&q kitchens are horrendous.
i went with wickes, original price was like 7.5k, i managed to get them down to 4ish with all appliances etc etc - they have room to barter
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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I'll give them a try Ed 👍
That's an impressive bit of bartering Alex, certainly one to bare in mind!
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Dave
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Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
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quote:
Originally posted by Graham88
Oven location is simply because the current one is already there so that was for fitting purposes. This can be changed obviously but to be honest I don't think anywhere else would suit. Sink is on the side with the integrated appliances, under the window , it wasn't shosn in the pic for some reason.
Cheers everyone for your input it's given a good insight into specs you can have.
I would go it like Pop once I know what I want I'll get them all to quote for exactly the sand kitchen or as close as they can get and go from there
Are you saying the dishwasher/washing machine are going in the same location as the sink?
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Stuarrrty
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Registered: 26th Dec 13
Location: Northern ireland
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Never buy a kitchen from bnq used to have contract fitting there kitchens they tell you its top of the range even through all of the base units are the same weather uve went for a budget one or one of there more expensive ones. They use shitty 15mm chipboard and the granite worktops are only 20mm think then packed with mdf and front edge put on to make it look thicker. Go to ur friend thats not dear
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