Kitchen dilemma. Will I won’t I ?

The way that we use our kitchen is very different from the way we used the one we had put in 18 years ago.

Way back then we had children still at home, we could access cupboards much more easily, we had dogs who had to be allocated space.

Now, it's just DH and I with occasional visiting hoards so the space is all ours, deep pan drawers are a boon and the cats don't need space for their beds - they sit on the chairs or window seat.

And, as notspaghetti said, the bwautiful design makes me happy. That's good for my mental health.

We had our kitchen/diner, 5/4m gutted and replacedthree years ago, the existing was at least 25 years old. The budget was £15k, including new karndean flooring, electrics, new table and chairs, granite worktops and appliances. It cost £14, 250, a lot of the cost was labour, it makes up me happy every time I go in there.

Would you mind sharing which company you used, Jaxjacky? I have been quoted more than that to change the doors and worktop and move the dishwasher and washing machine to the other end of the kitchen. No new floors, tiles or decorating - we'd need to sort that on top.

A friend's son is a carpenter/furniture maker. He has recently fitted a new kitchen in a rich person's yacht. It cost in the region of £200k.
He doesn't get all that though as he is employed by a company.

I’m in this dilemma now but still working need to do it now before I retire. I’m

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Thanks. I'll see if there is a local one and get a quote from them.

That looks lovely - you must be very pleased with it.

LauraNorderr

If you think a nice new kitchen would give you lots of pleasure then go for it. Do it for you because you want it not because your family think you should.

Exactly!

kittylester

The way that we use our kitchen is very different from the way we used the one we had put in 18 years ago.

Way back then we had children still at home, we could access cupboards much more easily, we had dogs who had to be allocated space.

Now, it's just DH and I with occasional visiting hoards so the space is all ours, deep pan drawers are a boon and the cats don't need space for their beds - they sit on the chairs or window seat.

And, as notspaghetti said, the bwautiful design makes me happy. That's good for my mental health.

Yours sounds lovely, kittylester - do you have a picture?

Like Jaxjacky we had a complete kitchen refit several years ago as part of an extension project. Our costs came in at a similar level to hers.

We sourced our own units from a company called DIY Kitchens www.diy-kitchens.com/, who sell online but have a showroom near Doncaster on one of their factory sites. We then got a local kitchen fitter to fit the kitchen and do all the electrics, tiling etc. They have a price comparison table on their site and they compare themselves with Wickes, B&Q, ILEA etc. We haven't had a moments regret.

Jaxjacky

Doodledog Howdens, thé fitter is someone we know, as is the electrician and plumber (we had a radiator moved and replaced too.
Before and after of one end (flooring not down).

I think you've posted all your gallery too, Jaxjacky
It's very small but you might want to ask GNHQ to delete it.

Socialmedia70 do I now replace the full kitchen which is perfectly acceptable but tired looking. The quote for my new kitchen will use up half of my life savings. My kids say do it but I have always had a safety net of savings which are going down steadily and are not being replenished.

Savings matter, to us. If you won't be back at work and have no means to replenish savings, it seems best to not spend. You may need care later.

When we had the back of our home extended, years ago, part to kitchen was in the extension. We didn't change out a thing, all we did was add a wall of lowers, had wood floors knitted. I sanded and painted after the fitting and applied the handles. We also sand and oil our old worktop yearly.

The islands on the new sections are granite, I apply sealer yearly.

As you may be able to tell, we have quite old on the inside wall (solid walnut, Austrian, my GPs had it accomplished in the 50s). When we extended we had solid wood units built in place, that I sand and re-paint white occasionally. Lucky us, 2 tone is now in style, though style is not my bother.

Perhaps you could sand & paint, sand & seal the worktops?

I don't believe you'd ever recover the cost of a kitchen, it will be re-done at sale/ purchase of your home, in my opinion.

I don't believe you'd ever recover the cost of a kitchen

No. You'd have to do it for your own pleasure, not resale value.

all we did was add a wall of lowers, had wood floors knitted
How do you knit a floor, Norah?

Thank you Callistemon done.

👍

Shinamae

Hmmmm…

Shinamae has done the same

You might want to ask it to be deleted, Shinamae although the photos are very. tiny, they are there!

Callistemon21

^I don't believe you'd ever recover the cost of a kitchen^

No. You'd have to do it for your own pleasure, not resale value.

all we did was add a wall of lowers, had wood floors knitted
How do you knit a floor, Norah?

I don't know how the wood workers "did" the knitting, however that is what they said they were doing as they applied new wood next to the old, removing bits, adding lengths. All appears as the same wooden floor after it was completely sanded and refinished.

I've never heard that before.
😃

Aveline

We have a corner turntable and it's very useful. Saves space.
DD is having an extension built so her old kitchen was removed. I was surprised to hear that it had been bought for a reasonable sum. Must be a market in second hand kitchens. There's a thought for bargain hunters

I'm sure there is.
A friend of mine bought a whole kitchen with lots of units for her new home.

Maybe that's an idea for you SocialMedia70.
Get your children on the case to help you track down a good one.

It's not all about getting the money back though. Home improvements are about making the place you live comfortable and attractive to you. What that means obviously varies, but it doesn't have to be an investment. We recently spent a fortune on bespoke fitted bookcases knowing that the chances are they will be ripped out by whoever buys the house when we leave it, books being out of fashion, but we live there, so want the house to please us, not future buyers. I doubt we'd get the money back on them - in fact they might deter people if they see them as a hassle to get rid of - but we don't care.

My current kitchen won't have people queuing to buy the house, but it's not for sale, and in any case as people keep saying buyers often prefer to fit their own, and that's not why I am considering changing it. Mine is a nuisance to clean and the layout would be better shuggled around a bit. The only way to solve the cleaning problem is to change the doors, but changing the layout is probably going to mean a whole new kitchen, as given that the predicted cost of just changing the doors is a lot higher than I'd expected, it seems to make sense to spend more and get it right. Doing it 'on the cheap' would still mean living with the things we don't like, and it's not actually cheap at all.

I have seen lovely makeovers where people have had existing units painted, and (apart from the layout issues) would have been happy with that if my doors were smooth instead of having the carved bits you can see in the picture, which is just an idea of what I mean - it is not my actual door.

Callistemon21 Knitted wooden floors. nearest from new white painted trim

Fleurpepper Not that its any of your business but the longest we;ve had a kitchen is around 7 years .I DONT THROW ANYTHING AWAY! Neither do I sell them they get passed on the same as all the other furniture etc that I also change regularly.My money MY choice ,I dont fly or cruise around the world and like to keep my home modern and fresh ...oops in between new furniture the house is usually redecorated from top to bottom.
Been in this house 33 years had 5 kitchens ,the recipients of all the stuff we change are all very happy to have it and often ask if we're due a refurb for the next stuff .
How is your carbon footprint working out?

Well that's you told Fleurpepper! In her inimitable 'charming' way.
I'm tempted to say 'calm down' paddyann but I suspect she'd combust!

Of course it is none of my business- but this is a conversation, and you volunteered the information about having new kitchens regularly. And it did made me think. 5 kitchens at about 30.000 - that is a LOT of money, for most people.

How do you 'pass on a kitchen'- I'd be interested to know.

Your money, of course- but I reserve the right to comment- on an open Forum- that I personally think it is just incredible- 6 years per kitchen, at that huge cost. My opinion, my choice ;)

I’ve lived in my house for nearly 50 years. The first ‘fitted’ kitchen was hardly that: just a few melamine cupboards. The tiles are terrazzo and actually quite good but I keep hoping they’ll come back into fashion one day. We had a new kitchen fitted @ 30 years ago. Solid wood doors but the sort of pine that yellows with age. The worktops are beige and stain horribly. The extractor fan over the cooker is very dated. It was the first thing in the house that my ex allowed someone else to fit: prior to that he did everything himself which took weeks, months, sometimes years. I’ve never forgotten the thrill of having a whole new kitchen in just one week! Annoyingly the wooden doors had pretend woodworm chiselled into them to make them look dated so I can’t really paint them! Although the doors are solid wood, the sides of the cupboards are synthetic… not sure how they’d paint. Like Fleurpepper I’m afraid I think twice about replacing anything if I can avoid it. I save all sorts of things and when the wonderful village handyman fixes or refits anything he’ll go through what I’ve got to see what we can reuse. I’m also having a guilt trip about paint that I’ve had to throw away and my new resolve is to be more careful when buying and storing paint. As with the fashion industry decorating is causing a lot of pollution. It’s fine if things are passed on but it’s heartbreaking to see things just thrown into skips: that happened to an empty house in my street. A van turned up one day and took loads of stuff away. We all said ‘bet that ends up in a ditch somewhere’.