Kitchen Costs

mr_eddy

Sorry bit random question - Especially on a bike forum but seemed as good a place as any...


Hopefully (fingers crossed) about to buy our next house - We are planning on keeping back £10k from our equity to sort the kitchen in the new place - It needs completely sorting from scratch. Wondering on fitting costs - Obviously it would depend on specifics etc but as a ball park figure assuming we bought the kitchen ourselves direct from Wickes / ikea etc (nothing fancy just wall units / laminate work top and built in oven/microwave/dishwasher) based on the below limited info any rough idea on cost (i.e £2-3k / £4k + etc)

So our (hopefully) new house has a kitchen that is a simple rectangle measuring just over 3m long by 4m wide, We would probably have 6 waist high units (1 would be a hidden dishwasher) plus 1 tall unit and another tall unit for the built in oven/microwave - so 8 in total. Nice laminate worktop maybe 4 meters in total (2m x 2m in a right angle).

We would also need the walls re-tiling so maybe 4 sqm of tiles and a nice vinyl tiled floor (a few sq meters).

Based on us buying all the stuff i.e appliances / tiles / kitchen etc ourselves can we realistically expect the above fairly modest kitchen to be fitted in terms of sheer labour costs for less than £5'000 ? Note I would want someone to do literally everything (fitting units / plumbing / electrics / gas for oven / fitting floor tiles etc). For the fitting costs I would want any little bits included i.e grout / piping etc.

I am hoping £8k should cover the entire costs but if that is way under then at least I know and we can look at maybe 2nd hand appliances etc to save on costs.

Initially I thought £3k max on buying the kitchen units / tiles / flooring / worktop /sink / taps and basic new appliances.

Ta.

kingstongraham

I don't know the answer to your question, but http://www.wickes.co.uk/pricelists

If you are looking at Wickes (and their stuff is nice), look at Benchmarx - it's the same parent company (Travis Perkins), so exactly the same stuff but sells to trade so apparently works out cheaper and you use your own installer.

TheBigBean

Check out DIY kitchens. You can price a whole kitchen. Fitting is extra though.

slowbike

To give you an idea - we bought 1 tall unit - 600x600x1.8m and 2 cupboards - 300x300 - one floor standing the other on the wall - with oak doors (end of line) with a few other bits and pieces - came to about a grand...

If I was doing a kitchen again I'd quite happily do the bulk of the work myself - but I'd get a pro in to fit the worktops and the sink (assuming it's going in a worktop) .. they're not hard to do - if you have the right tools - but to get the right tools is £££ ... and you need to get it right first time!

haydenm

A guy at work got an ex display from Wickes for about 40% off, don't know how easy a deal like that is to find but might be worth looking for. I'm keeping the idea of a new kitchen silent in out house so I remain blissfully unaware of the specific costs...

mr_eddy

Thanks - Issue is that I don't have the tools nor do I have the patience or the time - I HATE DIY so for me doing a kitchen myself is a no.

Simply put if I do this myself I WOULD rush and WILL f**k it up and the missus would tear me a new one!

Sometimes you just have to accept that certain things are beyond you and stuff like this is not my bag at all - I don't like the idea of paying ££££ to have a kitchen fitted (much rather use it on a new Colnago) but its the ONLY option.

I think there is some confusion I am mostly wanting to know how much fitting costs will be - The cost of buying the units is quite easy to work out but knowing how long it will take (and therefore roughly how much) is the tricky part.

i.e a basic small/medium kitchen are we talking 1 bloke for 7 days at £250 a day or is it 2 people for 2 weeks ?

can I realistically expect to have a 8-10 unit basic kitchen fitted along with tiling and flooring done for under £5k ? (just the fitting costs).

veronese68

mr_eddy wrote:

Sometimes you just have to accept that certain things are beyond you and stuff like this is not my bag at all - I don't like the idea of paying ££££ to have a kitchen fitted (much rather use it on a new Colnago) but its the ONLY option.

Having bought a kitchen and all the stuff and fitted it myself some years back I can confirm it wouldn't work like that, I didn't get a Colnago or any other bike.

ballysmate

If a builder quoted me 5k labour for such a job I would be telling him to FRO.
Missus reckons I'm tight though.

Ben6899

If you do start putting an itemised cost together, be aware that 2x 2m lengths of worktop at right angles is more than 4m total length of worktop. Unless you want top access to the corner cupboard.

surrey_commuter

a good handyman could fit that and would cost £150-200 a day with a max of 3 weeks work

try the likes of mybuilder.com

anything that reduces the amount of tiles/tiling will save good money

mouth

A mate of mine recently had an IKEA kitchen, also fitted by them, seems similar to what you describe - 8 or so units, new pipe work, tiling, full paint, new appliances except for 2nd hand cooker/extractor, cost him about 8k. They didn't have the floor done because the one down was really quite reasonable.

kafkathedog

i would have thought 1-2 weeks for everything would be reasonable, but it may depends on other factors.
I used to do kitchen fitting occasionally a few years back but it was getting more difficult to comply with all the regs.

Technically, if you need a socket moving you need a qualified sparky and strictly even to connect a gas hob or oven needs a registered gas engineer. All though of course you could get away with not doing this, it may come up when you sell the property and you haven't got the relevant papaerwork

So you may have to factor those in pricewise but a carpenter/joiner would do the best job of the units probably.

I used to charge £175 per day + materials FWIW

ravey1981

Find a good local tradesman and get a Howdens kitchen through him (they are trade only), as mentioned electrics and gas are the biggest headaches but reputable fitters will often have a go to electrician etc that will work with him.

JakeJ

ravey1981 wrote:

Find a good local tradesman and get a Benchmarx kitchen through him (they are trade only), as mentioned electrics and gas are the biggest headaches but reputable fitters will often have a go to electrician etc that will work with him.

FTFY

KingstonGraham wrote:

I don't know the answer to your question, but http://www.wickes.co.uk/pricelists

If you are looking at Wickes (and their stuff is nice), look at Benchmarx - it's the same parent company (Travis Perkins), so exactly the same stuff but sells to trade so apparently works out cheaper and you use your own installer.

I work for Benchmarx..

OP, What Graham said is right, Benchmarx is the same company as Wickes, owned by Travis Perkins, the main difference between them being that Wickes is retail and Benchmarx is Trade only.

With Wickes if you ordered your kitchen right now you'd be waiting as much as 6 weeks for your kitchen to turn up, and if something were to be damaged on delivery, it's another 6 weeks.
Benchmarx on the other hand, if you ordered your kitchen right now I could get it to you this Thursday morning & if anything were to be damaged the replacement would be with you within 24 hours.

Wickes do have their own fitters, although I cannot comment on their carpentry skills, I'm also not sure if they'll do all of the electrical/gas work you require?

Most if not all Benchmarx branches have a "wall of trade" where regular builders will put their business cards, although we're not technically allowed to recommend a particular builder, I'm sure anyone in the branch will be able to tell you who does good work. Most of our regular builders will do any work from floor to ceiling, including gas & electricity work.

Money wise, from what I've learnt here you don't have to spend a fortune to have a really nice, modern looking kitchen.
Whilst I can't tell you how much a decent builder is going to charge to do the work, I can tell you which kitchen ranges here are best bang for buck.

If you do happen to go into a Benchmarx branch take a look at the Soho range, which is a simple, clean, slab, gloss door with integrated handle, which looks great with integrated appliances. If the integrated handle isn't your bag then the Eton range is pretty the same but you'll have to attach a handle.

Another tip.. buy your appliances online somewhere, for whatever reason Benchmarx is really bad with appliance pricing and we usually work at a loss when selling appliances. As long as the appliances you buy are integrated ones, they'll fit, and at least then you aren't restricted to the 4 brands that we sell.

HTH.
Jake