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I know the estimate I have in front of me is for 'Handmade Kitchens in Wood' but it works out at about £600 per unit! They're only wooden boxes - why??
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Wait until one of them has a 50% off sale. Same question re caravans. How can a chassis with lights and brakes, a small portacabin on it and full of MFI cheap stuff cost £thousands? BTW Moben/Sharps/Dolphin are in administration so there might be some Moben stuff cheap.
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>>Wait until one of them has a 50% off sale.
>>
Do not be fooled. Magnet seem to have a permanent sale but it is just off the carcasses.
All the trims , work suface etc adds up to another big bill followed by fitting / plumbing costs.
SWMBO wanted an instant kitchen so thats how I know.
Sub contractor / fitter who came, I had to "firmly instruct him" to RTFM re our boiler after " I know it all cos I am a CORGI !" response almost got booted out.
So labour costs are significant.
The bits I would could not takle are gas and joining wooden / chipboard work surfaces but the rest is IMO easy to DIY. If you want granite work surfaces that is a whole new cost.
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>>Wait until one of them has a 50% off sale.
That never seems to make any difference. And, yes, new kitchens are horribly expensive.
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My dad bought new kitchen units 18 months ago to fit himself in his spare time around work.
We finally put the last cupboard up this Easter and the floor's still not completely finished. There's a lot of work involved in getting a fitted kitchen "just so", and I reckon it's worth paying for to give someone else all the headaches.
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Alanovic will be along in a minute to tell you to go to IKEA.
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>> Alanovic will be along in a minute to tell you to go to IKEA.
Many of us thought that the price he quoted a while back was too cheap, but I don't think it was for a 'fully' fitted kitchen.
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Go to IKEA. ;-)
It was for a fully fitted kitchen, i.e. all units, and appliances, fitted. It did not include relaying the flooring (that's because we're having underfloor heating and they don't do that), nor the splashback (because they don't do the sort of tiling we wanted). But they did removed the old tiling from the floor.
We have a farily large kitchen, we have two built in ovens (one pyrolytic, one with steam function, so not cheapies), integrated microwave/grill, integrated dishwasher and washing machine, also an integrated tumble dryer, although we had to source that elsewhere - IKEA's team fitted it though. Induction hob, again not the cheapest option. Also an integrated fridge/freezer and another integrated under counter fridge. So a pretty big job with lots of appliances. £10k. I was happy. B&Q and Wickes wanted £20k, John Lewis wanted £22k.
A few snagging issues, which have been dealt with immediately and without quibble by the store.
Appliances are all own brand, but they're made by Whirlpool for IKEA, so I'm happy with that.
Also took advantage of 0% interest, and we got £600 back in IKEA vouchers, which the wife is spending on some new bedroom furniture today.
Last edited by: Alanović on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 11:13
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>> I know the estimate I have in front of me is for 'Handmade Kitchens in
>> Wood' but it works out at about £600 per unit! They're only wooden boxes -
>> why??
Because they can be, on the one-born-every-minute theory.
Say it's handmade and wood, and you're adding exclusivity and perceived quality. You can charge more. Usually though, only the doors and frames are wood, carcasses and shelves will be chipboard or similar material.
They may in the end turn out to last longer than cheaper mass produced kitchen units, but most people will be either moving or wanting to upgrade for aesthetic reasons at the end of the lifespan of cheaper units anyway. Buy a mega expensive hand crafted job and you'll be loathed to throw it out when it's getting tired, old fashioned, obsolete technologically, whatever else.
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I will keep Ikea in mind the next time I'm in the market for a new kitchen.
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For a house we nearly bought, we looked into IKEA kitchens and had it sort of planned out. They are good value and seem well made. I think their kitchen surfaces/worktops are guaranteed for something like 15 years or something, i.e. they claim the wooden ones will not split etc.
We didn't buy the house in the end and the kitchen in this house is pretty much what we wanted and new enough. Just need to swap the handles.
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I am an IKEA convert.
Recently bought several of the well known "Billy" book shelves and after seriously modifying some other IKEA units am very pleased with the outcome.
Also bought some very tall and very short kitchen cupboards for a awkward kitchen job. The carcasses were 18mm and were then finished off with cheap white doors and hidden catches.
If required the doors can be swopped for expensive varients at a later date but for now they look vey good. Due to time pressures I got the bespoke installation done for a days paid labour. I was well pleased all my measuring and planning worked out spot on. ;-)))
So much better kit than the old old MFI stuff.
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Im in the process of recycling my 80's kitchen - luckily it has proper wooden doors so £30 of posh new handles, a good coat of white gloss and some yet unsourced new counter tops and it will look much fresher without the silly costs - Im not expecting the total to be more than £200.
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It is usually all that is needed. My sisters flat has a horrible late 70'a/early 80's kitchen but the units all seem solid. All the landlords need to do is paint the units, fit new handles, new sink, new taps, new tiles and a new work top, the kitchen will look new and will cost well under £1k.
Our kitchen still has a 1950's unit, but you wouldn't know it.
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Quite right fellers, too many people chuck good things away when often all it needs is a bit of tlc.
Helps if the undercarriage is made of something decent and not the roughest cheapest chipboard possible though.
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>> Helps if the undercarriage is made of something decent and not the roughest cheapest chipboard
>> possible though.
And iut was properly installed and fixed, and not turned into a cracked loose or sodden mess.
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>> And iut was properly installed and fixed, and not turned into a cracked loose or
>> sodden mess.
>>
You had a 70'/80's MFI jobbie too then Z..:-)
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Our (my) kitchen has white (what seems to be) plastic cupboards, with granite (effect) wortops,
Not! my choice, and hardly cornish cottage, is it,
Every door is warped, how on earth can that happen, I've never seen that b4,
Previous owner sold kitchens I believe (probably Moben)
:)
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I've pulled one out Yeah!
Or rather it was kind of shovelled up and poured out the door!
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My FIL and I fitted the Kitchen in our current house. 4 days, between Xmas and new year - 12+ hours a day saw the base units in, worktop, sink, hob and oven fitted. Plumbing rehashed to suit, electrics fixed (ring main running on uninsulated choccie block in the stud wall anyone?), tiled the wall behind the worktop. I still had to fit the top cupboards, all the doors, cooker hood and new lights. Didn't repaint and floor was not recovered at that time. Grouting of tiles was taking place at close to midnight on the 30th Dec! It's a big old job fitting a full kitchen....
Ours is a B&Q kitchen, but has solid wood doors. Still cleans up OK after 5.5 years. Doing the worktop is not too bad - you can hire the jig and router and it's easy enough. It does make a HUUUUUGE mess though!
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You should ask Everest Pete. But I have no doubt that the answer is "because they can get away with it". And "because they are bespoke" so there's no sensible way of comparing prices.
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>>You should ask Everest Pete
Remember Everest Pete no longer exists!
When I moved to this house I refitted the kitchen myself using B&Q units and doors etc. Levelled and relaid the floor at the same time. But kept the utilities in the same positions so it was only the gas hob that needed certifying by an 'expert'. Took about a fortnight working on my own but the end result was pretty good.
However, in the intervening 6 years quite a few of the doors have swollen around the bottoms where steam etc has penetrated the poorly laminated edges. I am contemplating replacing them with solid timber at some point when finances improve.
And I guess that is where paying more for something with perhaps a 10 year guarantee might prove worth it. Who knows what the units that look great now will look like after a few years in a kitchen environment?
Still, the sort of prices I saw quoted for kitchens made my eyes water far more than any I quoted for windows etc!! And if you thought a double glazing home visit/quotation was bad, try sitting through a kitchen one......
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Our kitchen is probably 8 years old from receipts I've seen. It looks fine and is solid wood. I hadn't thought about poorly laminated kitchen doors failing due to steam etc. I wonder how the IKEA stuff fairs?
We've been told of a company that can spray paint kitchen doors - it would no doubt be a better finish than painting them yourself. I will look into it. The handles we'd like might be more costly than I thought unless I risk some online stuff. Anyone know of a good priced place near Manchester?
I remember when my brother fitted an MFI kitchen for my mum in the 80s. In the days before electric screwdrivers or battery powered drills.... he had a lot of blisters from screwing the units together. When we put together a lot of the new furniture in this house (me really), the electric drill used as a screw driver made a difference! Some of that was IKEA too. Impressed with the solid wood (but assembled) dining room furniture. Could seat 12+ around the table when fully extended.
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Room for a lot of meatballs then Rob? Think I've got a lamp called Thor and and a computer desk called Abba or Ulrika or something.
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Plenty of meatball room :-) With that fruity lingonberry jam.
Not sure what my computer desk is called. Or the other cupboard and shelves in the office ;-)
Not Thor though.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 19:56
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I can't go at the moment. No estate car y'see. Every cloud has a silver lining I suppose.
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we still have a spurt the mug around somewhere. Two billy bookcases, a sideboard, a dressing table, and some other stuff.
I hate the place. When dragged in there I have this urge to kill someone. Why does Nicole always want something thats in the Warehouse! On the top shelf!
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 20:20
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>> I hate the place. When dragged in there I have this urge to kill someone.
Me too, I'm not a violent man by any stretch but I do feel real psychopathic hatred for mankind in there.
If they had a toy called "Uzi" or "Kalashnikov" I'd gladly test it in the futon section...
:-)
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No excuse! I brought two 2.2 metre Billy flatpacks (only IKEA product I really approve of since they dropped Git shelving from the catalogue) home in the S60, by folding down the front passenger seat.
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You are all a bunch of IKEA amateurs until you need an estate car and roof bars. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 20:33
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There's always somebody at the loading bay who's bought something too big or more stuff than will ever go in their car!!!
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They now have a Budget van Hire at each store. The rates are astronomical compared to any other outlet ;),
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Captive audience and a business plan - free market economy..!
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Ikea makes me think of the type of shop that would have existed if the Germans had won the war...been there once bought a perfectly horrible hat stand and a a desk lamp....still got the desk lamp pressed into service as an inspection lamp in the garage (see threads passim). Hat stand failed to survive The Big Clear Out in 2009.
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 20:47
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>> Ikea makes me think of the type of shop that would have existed if the
>> Germans had won the wa
Well as the founder was an avid Nazi!
Shop through Joy!
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I think my kitchen was put in in '61. I cleaned it all up and painted the doors, replaced the worktop with some oak stuff, and a new bit of trim at the bottom. Good as new. I can't see the need for something fancy that costs thousands. It's only a room to make some grub and house a few appliances.
A trip to my local Ikea in Jönköping is a very pleasant experience. There's always tons of free parking spaces close to the door, and special long ones for when you take a trailer. Small queues at the check outs, especially the self scanning ones, and no chavs. It's the sort of place you don't mind going to just for a couple of light bulbs.
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>> A trip to my local Ikea in Jönköping is a very pleasant experience. There's always
>> tons of free parking spaces close to the door, and special long ones for when
>> you take a trailer.
Now that's the it they fail on in UK. The mouth breathers are allowed to park anywhere then when you turn up in a van the parking attendant points you to the multi-storey - with a 1.8m height limit.
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The one at Warrington is mainly full of astonishingly fat people who ironically enough mostly wear sports branded track suits and trainers... Eh?
:-)
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That's the only one, I'm glad to say, I've been to. It was chavless when I went there though some years ago. I wouldn't darken their doors ever again.
Last edited by: R.P. on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 21:15
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To be fair, I'd not park a newish BMW that close to Liverpool either...
:-)
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I'll have to take the bike to Warrington to be serviced next month......mind you it's next to a Porsche garage...
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Well, if it's at the posh end of town you might be able to find a sit-in pie shop.
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You stopped using BMW, Manchester, Pug ? You could get a tram from Cornbrook and come and have a cuppa here ! Only 150 yds from the terminus.
Only been to IKEA once, Warrington again, liked the meatballs but hated everything else.
Got my kitchen from Cooke and Lewis at B&Q a couple of years back. Did all the work in-house, I did the fitting, we took a chimney breast out from the roof down and put an RSJ in to support the bedrooms. Kitchen ceiling was awful so I put a new plasterboard one in 6 inches down which meant I could fit downlighters without any hassle upstairs. SiL plastered the whole room smooth and I tiled and emulsioned. Put a new back door and window in while I was at it.
Cost the thick end of £10K, I reckon, but cookery's SWM's main interest and I had to give something back after spending on cars, bikes and railway !
I have to say that B&Q were brilliant all the way through the ordering, delivery and snagging processes.
Ted
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>> You stopped using BMW, Manchester, Pug
I thought he got the bike here but Anglesey to here is further than necessary. I'd have thought Liverpool was closest. Assuming there's a dealer.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 30 Aug 11 at 23:51
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Am I the onlyC4 member who has never set foot in an Ikea store? And we have one just a few miles away.
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Lots of inverted snobbery on here about IKEA.
It's only a shop.
I treat it the same as any other retailer, if they have what I want, I buy, if not, I buy elsewhere.
What IKEA has done is change the face of furniture retailing in this country.
Previously, modern designer-type stuff was only available - at a price - from the likes of Heals and Habitat.
I enjoy an occasional wander around IKEA's kitchen utensils section, as I do the kitchen utensils section of other retailers.
The meatballs have been mentioned before, and the hot dogs are cheap and yummy.
Humph's local store may be full of fat chavs, but IKEA remains an excellent place for people watching, particularly those struggling to fit their purchases into the car.
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>> It's only a shop.
>> What IKEA has done is change the face of furniture retailing in this country.
HUH? the two are mutually exclusive.
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>>Humph's local store may be full of fat chavs, but IKEA remains an excellent place for people watching, particularly those struggling to fit their purchases into the car.
>>
I looked at the weight of some of the packs and NOOOO not for me.
Daughter made a list of all her wants - an awful lot of kilos - and paid for one delivery which IIRC was about £30.
Two sub contracted men and a van arrived with the order. " Wheres the lift mate ?"
" Sorry no lift. The flat is on the third floor" Two very sweaty guys left to go on their way and it confirmed what a good investment the delivery charge was. ( I did give them some ££s to celebrate a job well done.)
When ever I pass by our distant IKEA I buy their Orchids. Cheapest I have ever seen.
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>> Am I the onlyC4 member who has never set foot in an Ikea store?
No. I haven't either. As I don't know where one is local to me either, it's unlikely that I ever will.
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>>Am I the onlyC4 member who has never set foot in an Ikea store?<<
Wii used to go to the one in puerto de la cruz, tenerife (a lot!) but never bin two one in gran brittania.
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>> I hadn't thought about poorly laminated kitchen doors failing due to steam
>> etc. I wonder how the IKEA stuff fairs?
Won't be a problem for me. The doors on the eye level units are stainless steel.
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>> wonder how the IKEA stuff fairs
One of the things you have to watch with IKEA units is that they don't leave a gap at the back of them for pipework etc. so these have to all be cut into the units or run under them in the plinth space. They look ok, but can be a right pain to fit.
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>> One of the things you have to watch with IKEA units is that they don't leave a gap at the back
>> of them for pipework etc. so these have to all be cut into the units or run under them in the plinth space.
>>They look ok, but can be a right pain to fit.
>>
As opposed to the likes of Magnet where you loose the gap from storage on ALL the base units where there are no pipes.
On balance I prefer having the full storage but have pipes at the back of a couple of base units. I still had to run pipes through upper cupboards.
Not sure what happens with base units with just deep drawers in them.
The next kitchen revamp will have mostly deep drawers in the base units to avoid scrabbling on the old knees for some buried item at the back.
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>> Not sure what happens with base units with just deep drawers in them.
There is a shallow base unit with shallow drawers available from IKEA, for fitting in front of pipework. I know, because one of our new base units is just such a beastie.
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Because it's a fashion racket. Everybody has been conned into thinking they want a horrible fitted kitchen just because everybody else wants one. But all most people need is a large TV, a sofa, a microwave, and possibly a paper plate.
A cooler next to the sofa for the beer would be handy too.
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>> Because it's a fashion racket. Everybody has been conned
Well put CP, along with beige everything else, championed by those dreadful home improvement/selling programs, estate agent beige...yuk.
I had hoped to find a link for different and timeless free standing kitchen units that were sold by The Furniture Barn, Market Harborough, no doubt by others too, but TFB's (no association other than a satisfied customer) prices took some beating.
The range were solid oak, every part from base to worktop, wouldn't need securing down as they weighed very heavy, dressers and a whole range of base units and cupboards, large sink unit based round a Belfast sink particularly nice.
I've looked on their site but can find no reference, haven't been over there for a couple of years, but might be worth searching these things out or phoning if of interest to anyone.
Priced around the same as those veneered mdf and chipboard offerings, but little or no fitting involved.
I've also seen them at one of the modern and antique showrooms at Weedon, only wish i could remember the name of them, hopefully someone can find them and post a link.
A viable and classy alternative to be used with free standing kitchen appliances only, they would complement an individual(s) home.
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I'm curious to know what Mrs - or Mr - Alanovic intend to cook in their steam oven.
It's a fairly high-end piece of machinery - Gordon Ramsey's got one in his gaff in south London.
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Fish and vegetables, mostly. We do a lot of that as the wife don't eat no (land animal) meat.
Used it already, good results. Need to get used to cooking times a bit, but we'll get there. Enjoying it.
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...Enjoying it...
Which is reason enough.
Must be a dear way to steam, though, and I wonder if the results are so much different to a £30 plug-in steamer.
Or in a normal oven using a trivet in a closed dish with water in the bottom.
Or in a tiered steamer on the hob.
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It's the fact of having less clutter and cleaning to do that appealed. We had a tiered hob steamer, and I found I was often forgetting it and it was running dry, which isn't good. 5 pieces of washing up there too.
And a seperate electric steamer is just clutter, either on the surface or in the cupboard. And it has many parts, which need cleaning.
With the oven we can just bung it all in, even in a single dish, and set the timer. Bing.
As for it being dearer, well, hey ho. I don't boil every choice in life down to cost.
As we will get so much use out of it, it's worth it to us.
>> Or in a normal oven using a trivet in a closed dish with water in the bottom.
You know what? I hadn't thought of that. Good option.
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I agree the tiered steamers are too much clutter and washing up.
And it's difficult to get food in the top tier to cook as evenly and at the same speed as the food in the lower tiers.
...I don't boil every choice in life down to cost...
Very witty, nor do I.
As I said, if you enjoy the steam oven that's reason enough.
I'm pleased to hear you are getting plenty of use out of it.
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Why are fitted kitchens so expensive? - Meldrew
