John P
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 04:52 PM |
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Where to get LoCost Kitchen Units?
We're thinking of re-fitting our kitchen primarily because it's rather dated and may well detract from enabling us to sell the property in
a couple of years time.
Problem is that it's quite large, about 17ft x 17 ft so there's a lot of units to replace.
We've had a look around the sheds and Wickes do some reasonably priced flat pack units but I just wondered if there were any more low cost
suppliers. (Due to the size it seems unlikely we could buy an ex-display kitchen and adapt it).
I've spoken to Howdens but their price for a 1000mm high line base unit was almost twice that of Wickes.
Any suggestions?
John.
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tegwin
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 04:56 PM |
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Cant make any suggestions.. But I fitted a Wickes "to order" kitchen (uses same basic base units as take-away range) just before
Christmas. The units/fittings etc all seem very well made, were fairly easy to construct etc..... I would have thought spending a decent amount on
good quality "guaranteed" kitchen cabinets would help the value of your house no-end... :-)
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Would the last person who leaves the country please switch off the lights and close the door!
www.verticalhorizonsmedia.tv
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INDY BIRD
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:15 PM |
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not thought of IKEA they area resonable and 25 year guarantee on units?
cheers
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RazMan
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:19 PM |
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I once went into a local kitchen showroom and made an offer for one of their display kitchens which they were about to take out - I think I paid £500
and got top quality units too!
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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BenB
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by INDY BIRD
not thought of IKEA they area resonable and 25 year guarantee on units?
cheers
I'm about to put in an Ikea kitchen. Major thing to be aware of is that the units are designed to go pretty much flush against the wall with
only a cm or so or space for wires. Waste pipes really need to go down then sideways (IE you can't run a 40mm waste pipe diagonally behind the
units). Which of course is what I needed to do in my last kitchen install...
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richardR1
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:27 PM |
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You could try Wren Kitchens. They are fairly new to the market but the guy behind the company has benn in it for years. I have fitted a number of
Howdens kitchens but get them at trade prices so compare very favourably with others. Wren are coming in under Howdens prices and are more geared to
dealing with the public than Howdens are.
MK Owners Club Member 1015
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daniel mason
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:42 PM |
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youd b better contacting local building firms/kichen fitters, and see if they are ripping out any old kichens. or better still,offer to take the
kitchen out for them! that way it saves them a job and saves you the cost of paying them to remove it!
and in a lot of kitchens we do now,especially ones your size,they dont have any wall units,just base units.it makes the room feel much bigger too! its
the appliances which cost the money these days.
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Guinness
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:44 PM |
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I'd agree with Richard above, typical "trade" discount at Howden's / Magnet will bring the cost down considerably.
However, as you are "doing up to sell", in all honesty you might not see a return on your expenditure, by the time you add in M&E
costs, new worktops and appliances, re-decoration etc.
You can just get new doors to suit old units, fit a new worktop and maybe a sink / taps.
Then at a typical "viewing" it'll be a case of "well we can live with it for now" or "it's not our style,
but it's not awful".
Just my 2p
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cliftyhanger
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 05:46 PM |
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I'll put a vote in for Ikea stuff.
Over the years I have fitted kitchens from most of the DIY sheds.
the Ikea stuff fared better than the others during my in-store destructive testing  and go together well. But I wouldn't fancy trying to claim
from ANY of the suppliers under a guarentee. They WILL have small print in there somewhere.
As mentioned before, only downside is they are flush to the wall, so take account of that in your planning.
For a simple but stylish kitchen I fitted the plain white doors (not the real cheapies, next range up) and it does look great, and won't date
fast. Plus easy to look after. That is in a student rental. It is doing very well indeed............
And to make it look flash, chuck in some contrasting doors or feature to break the lines up. We have oak doors at home, but big stainless drawers,
plus some wide but shorter wall units with glass doors. Makes a huge difference.
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jacko
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 06:07 PM |
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Can you just put new doors on the old units ? thats the locost way 
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norfolkluego
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 06:55 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jacko
Can you just put new doors on the old units ? thats the locost way
Weld up some new doors from a pile of bits you found in the garage, that's the real locost way, would look as good as that Salvager bloke on Sky
'and look, a beautiful designer table made from angle iron and concrete'
[Edited on 28/3/11 by norfolkluego]
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Liam
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 07:25 PM |
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Just wait till wickes have one of their 30% or whatever off sales. Can't get much cheaper than that. Also helps if the checkout staff miss one
of the double base units - I was devastated for them when I noticed that on the receipt 
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McLannahan
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| posted on 28/3/11 at 10:42 PM |
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Wickes takeaway kitchen for me! Cheap too in one of their many sales. Quality was quite good although I did glue all the units when I assembled then
for extra strength.
Bought decent countertop from EBay and I'm really quite happy with it. I did loads of quotes, Homebase, B&Q, Howdens, Wren, Focus, Ikea and
Wickes was one of the cheapest. As Liam said though, I chose a 30% off type deal they had on!
[Edited on 28/3/11 by McLannahan]
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Macbeast
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 06:26 AM |
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Cheap stuff will look tired after a couple of years when you come to sell. You CAN just buy new doors and drawer fronts but check sizes very carefully
- the doors I looked at were 1/2 inch smaller than my carcases.
I'm addicted to brake fluid, but I can stop anytime.
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JoelP
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 07:00 AM |
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b&q 1000mm base is £48 with the trade discount, and the doors are 10-20 usually. You might be able to blag the discount with someones postcode if
you felt lucky?!
If you pick a light coloured kitchen, then you can use the cheaper white bases. If you pick a dark one, it looks daft with white bases so you need to
spend more on colour matched ones.
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Irony
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 07:15 AM |
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If you can wait and you have a van then sometimes great deals can be found at trade shows. Wait until the Exxcel centre in London or the NEC in
birmingham have a TRADE furniture show. They are normally free and many suppliers are from other countries looking to sell to shops in large
quantities. Go on the last day of the show in the afternoon. You will often see signs saying 'stand for sale'. At the end of the end of
the show companies won't want to ship the items on the stand back to there countries and won't want to pay disposal fees to the venue.
This means if you've got a van you can get stuff mega cheap. Last time I go a nice solid oak dining table and six chairs for £100 quid.
Admittedly I felt a bit of pratt with a table tied to roof bars of my golf.
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RustyNuts
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 07:27 AM |
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Cheepest way I found
(IF you can spare the time)
Buy a few sheets of MDF/Plywood cut 'em up
and build your own. Then buy the doors the Missus like's
If your really clever you could build your own doors.
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Richard Quinn
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 07:59 AM |
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I thought that Howdens was supposed to be "trade-only" anyway or have they relaxed that after the demise of MFI? I always managed to blag
it by telling them that [insert local builders name] had sent me. They were a little bit dearer than Wickes and the B&Q cheapo range but the
carcases are pre-assembled and they delivered it free which saved me a lot of time and grief.
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montythemole
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| posted on 29/3/11 at 08:14 AM |
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Another vote for Ikea. Very strong and good units and if you keep to normal plinth and plain doors, cheaper handles you can get it done very cheap.
Their butler style sink looks like an expensive item and we've had no end of compliments on it when it costs not much more than Wickes charge
for an ugly stainless unit. Worktop is another area you need to choose cheapish (but get the bull nose where the covering material curves back under
rather than ends at a right angle and tends to peel).
I've fitted 5 for friends and family and a few Wickes ones as well and have to say the Ikea is far superior. Plus they've been keeping
the same design for years so fit the kitchen out, if you come to sell and note the doors are tired replace again for little cost. You should be able
to do a big kitchen on the cheap but not look like it and will still be a benefit when you sell.
Also as said above they are flush to the wall so running services is trickier but makes the cupboards so much bigger. They also do wall units in two
heights. A lot of cheap one's don't so you end up with this silly run of cupboards with a huge gap above.
There's often used Ikea kitchens on ebay, so can buy all second hand and then just choose new doors to suit.
1985 Dutton Phaeton Series 3 1300GT
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