Majjie's Blog

I've been asked this quite a few times ... and I've often replied that they aren't! But it is true that kitchens are often more expensive than people imagine they're going to be.

If I visit a couple who expect to pay £10,000 for their kitchen, then the actual cost is often £15,000. And if my clients expect to pay £30,000 for their kitchen, then the cost, for exactly what they want, is more likely to be £45,000.

I don't think there's any one reason, though. It's a combination of things. For a start, you tend not to buy a kitchen very often ... so, your ideas about the pricing may be out of date. It may also be that you have expensive tastes ... it stands to reason that unusual finishes, specialist appliances, non-standard units and great accessories (the ones which provide those finishing touches you see in the glossy magazines), are going to be expensive.

It's perhaps easier to look at it the other way round. In order to find a cheap kitchen, you need to look for:

second hand or ex-display units (I've designed a kitchen with units taken out of a new property and sold on E-Bay ... because the new owner didn't like them)

your own accessories ... not the ones made by the kitchen companies to go with their units (they're often very pricey). Look at glossy magazines for ideas - but only go for ones that aren't part of the kitchen furniture

a supply only kitchen ... from the internet, for instance. Organising fitters and project managing are a lot of hassle and take a lot of woman - or ok, man - hours. Mind you you'll need to do those bits yourself.

a kitchen supplier that doesn't provide "free" designs ... because they're not free of course (the designers have to be paid - and it has to come from the price of the kitchens that are sold). Design the kitchen yourself. I just happen to know where you could get a good guide to designing your own kitchen (cough! cough!)

a kitchen design which doesn't use too many units (no wall units, for instance) and which uses the largest units possible ... two large doors are cheaper than three smaller ones

a kitchen with white carcasses; 15mm will be cheaper than 18mm (but, unless you're having white doors too, try to get one with coloured tape which can be fixed to the front edges ... otherwise you'll see the white, between and around the doors)

a kitchen without adjustable legs - each unit has it's own plinth and you just butt them up to each other and fix them together (although all those joins look horrible)

a flat pack kitchen, not one with rigid carcasses - but beware of the fitting costs being higher.

ordinary melamine edging tape to all the shelf and carcasse edges (ABS or pvc edging - which gives some protection against chipping - costs more)

flat laminate unit doors - this is the cheapest style of door available ... and they have the advantage of being very tough too.

a range of kitchens with very little choice in size and type of units. Many of the cheaper ones have only one size of drawers, for instance ... and may not have tall doors for a larder. This helps with keeping the plan simple - but can cause headaches when trying to fit everything in, especially for smaller kitchens.

a contact who has an account with a trade supplier and will let you have the trade discount

an appliance warehouse that sells end of line and "graded" appliances (but look at them carefully and ask why they've been graded - is it a chip in the enamel - or has the appliance been sent back and repaired?)

instructions as to how to fit the kitchen yourself. I mentioned a good guide the other day. Don't even think about doing any electrical work or gas connections yourself, though.

good strong friends, who could at least help you to remove the old kitchen (so you don't have to pay the fitter to do it) ... and an unmarked van to take it to the municipal dump, as domestic waste (so that you - or your kitchen supplier - doesn't have to pay landfill tax).

a kitchen company that doesn't belong to any guarantee scheme (to protect your deposit in the event of their demise). Those schemes cost money.

a kitchen company which doesn't really know what it's doing, works on a very low margin, uses poor quality fitters and relies on "free" designs from other kitchen companies (brought in by customers)... but make sure you get your kitchen before they go bust!

OK, I'm getting silly now ... but I think you probably get the point.

I'm more than happy to work with cheap units (or, as I said, second hand units) ... and I certainly don't want you to pay out a lot of extra money for a "big name" brand (unless you think it's worth it for the snob value) ... but there are good reasons why some kitchens are more expensive than others.

It can be quite difficult to walk that tightrope between very good value for money and cheap (maybe risky) tat. If you're in any doubt at all ... then I'd save up a bit more and go for the best quality you can afford.