The Everybody is Doing a Kitchen Thread

Yeah it adds up, it was £30k for the units...

We have a full wet system, floor was a bit of a nightmare. when the builders dug it up it was 1/2 suspended, 1/2 concrete. Everything got dug out and a new concrete base was laid. All in the floor cost us an extra few £k with all the prep. But we had no idea until we started what we would see. We also had to put in a full steel frame as typical victorian build means its just spread foundations...Now though the kitchen is one of the warmest rooms in the house. It was a heat sink previously, 3 external walls with no insulation meant that was damn cold (single digits one winter). Along with the floor the ceiling got insulated as well as the new doors providing more insulation. Add in the UFH and the units on each side and its toasty...

I'm not impressed by their kerning or that epic space after the ampersand.

that's it, rip the whole thing out

I've spent £2k on appliances and units, other than fridge, from IKEA. I'd love to be in the #40kkitchen club but I'm not gonna lie, if I had £40k going spare I'd use it as a mortgage overpayment.

My current spend is estimated around £6.5k including new floor to the kitchen and hall, electrician and plumber, and decoration. I'll post a price breakdown after I'm done if it would be useful. I'd certainly have benefited from seeing it (although I'm not far off my own estimate)

I'll post a price breakdown after I'm done if it would be useful.

Please do, I'm planning on starting one with about that budget so it would be very useful

I think I can spot 3 kettles in this.

Cool. Will do. I've got a Google spreadsheet with the planned costs, will be showing planned vs actual. Will dig that out.

Nice work on the re-furb. What's the flooring used - the variety in the colour works well.

We went with Amtico, I know it’s not real wood but with me , two kids, dog, cat and clumsy wife it’s pretty amazing stuff. Wipes clean and does not stain, also works well with the underfloor heating in the kitchen.

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Hmmm that’s interesting. As we’re doing an all out of the house, I’m going to look into getting the floor up.

The plaster is coming off anyway got a damp proofing injection.

The list of extras for our builder continues to grow.

If you do choose Amtico make sure you get it installed correctly. A few on here hate the stuff as it was badly installed. The floor needs to be prepped perfectly flat before it’s laid. Ours was prepped with ply screwed to the boards then a screed was applied, this was sanded flat and re-screed where needed. Then bonding and tiles applied

The screed in the rest of the house is going with a laser level for exactly that reason.

I’ve put engineered flooring down on a patchy surface and it still gives me nightmares (and continues to creak).

I'm not "doing a kitchen" but my parents have just re-done theirs, and have a load of cupboard/door/drawer handles on ebay if anyone's interested:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schreiber-kitchen-unit-handles-x22-Brushed-steel-effect-Used/154161630386?hash=item23e4bfccb2:g:R18AAOSwCP9faNKT

I'm trying to shoehorn a bit more countertop space in what is currently the washing machine and boiler cupboard. It's about 1.2 x 1.2 metres on plan, but has a window so it's a shame for it to be filled by the washing machine.

Here's my rough plan. The washing machine comes out and is going in the main kitchen. The cupboard becomes a mini walk-in pantry. The shelves should get replaced and probably will, but that's a future job - current priority is get the electrician and plumber's scope right to make sure it all works and complies with code. (Note: I have no idea if the markup shown here is feasible to code - I am using it to ask the question of the trades!)

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Here's the latest budget tracker @dt and anyone else who may be interested.

We've woefully oversailed the budget. But I do expect the outcome will still be nice and relatively inexpensive compared to other examples upthread (no offence intended; if I could I would!). My one piece of advice at this stage is for anyone considering tracking their budget: update it every time you spend something! That way, you won't make the mistake I did which was add a Very Expensive Thing to the project when you were already overspent.

(If anyone's wondering, I'm not a Project Manager or a Quantity Surveyor so if there's anything unusual about how I've recorded this, that's probably why).

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• 2020-08-23 kitchen cost plan - Cost summary.pdf

Another way of viewing the cost tracker is to say the only things we didn't overspend on are those whose final cost is TBC. Fuuuuuuuuuuu etc

not largely out of line with what I spent on my tenement kitchen tbf. 3k ikea cabinets, worktops and appliances. 1.5k fitting (including electrics). 1.5k marmoleum floor supplied and fitted. 6k total. add in dining table (£200), chairs (£50 a piece, £400 total). tiling £400. £7k. not massively off yours

Good to hear.

I'm trying to record everything, and deal with any issues from the previous kitchen (dodgy plaster and skirting being the main things so far).

We did an extension a couple of years back and ended up re-doing the kitchen at the same time.. although not planned.. Units were simple enough, just painted to match a farrow & Ball colour.. Worktops were Corian and the floor ended up being tiled in herringbone pattern.. had to be double ply'd due to bounce in the old joists.. some before and afters.. Bay window is roughly where the sink was.. Kitchen was just over 10K inc appliances.. bake-off oven and Quooker tap..

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Is there some sort of method to buying a sink? Why are stainless steel sinks anything from £50 to £800

The SS sink I got from ikea has scratched and is already looking tatty as a few months of light use (we have a dish washer) however the Frankie sink I had previously remained scratch free for many years. The price difference was negligible and the ikea sink has a bad waste design.

Jealous of Quooker tap. I dislike kettles, they never look good....

Different stainless scratch at different rates. Strength and thinness is hard to achieve. More square (bottom edges and corners) is harder to manufacture so more expensive whilst more bowl like is cheaper to manufacture.

My kitchen people were largely "whatever you find is fine" and I ordered a Dornbracht as the reviews on the anti-scratch were good and it matches the tap I bought. I was also sick of a 2 sink thing I have today and just wanted a single large under counter sink that I could soak baking trays and large pots in.

Ended up ordering this one: https://www.waltonbathrooms.co.uk/Our-Brands/Dornbracht/Dornbracht-Water-Units/Polished-Stainless-Steel-Kitchen-Sinks/Single-Sink-Under-Mounted,-On-Top-Or-Flush

But also had to add the plug and overfill thing... as that is optional (because you can choose electronic plugs if you want to add daft electronics to your sink... i.e. to unplug the sink by waving your foot under the edge of the counter)... I went for "it's a plug, entirely manual operation".

only just seen this - thanks. Still planning mine, going to do it over the easter holidays if I'm allowed to ship the rest of the family away for the two weeks

Best thing we did.. along with the 4 recycling bins in a drawer..!!