# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  Kitchen renovation - kitchen company or flatpack?

## Kitchen junkie

:Smilie: Dear Forum members 
We have been wanting to renovate our kitchen for awhile and have had 3 kitchen companies give us quotes which I think have been over the top pricewise. The quotes have been between $35k to $45k without appliances. The last one quoted us $26k for the cabinetry alone, its beyond me that they can be THAT expensive, they are cupboards after all, I could buy a car for that money. Conclusion I've come to is that kitchen companies are the most expensive option. Have looked at IKEA and I'm told that they are good quality but the whole design thing seems a little fraught with difficulty. A good cabinetmaker I think is the way to go, I see that someone recently recommended Markaren in Thomastown and I will contact them however any thoughts others can provide on the way to go would be appreciated. Thanks!

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## bobsmith

That is a lot. How big is your kitchen? 
My workmate, whose dad is a builder got in some time at a factory and cut out his kitchen for approx $900, excluding doors and benchtop. They measured it themselves. Quoted cost was $18,000 from a kitchen place. This is an extreme case of doing it cheaper though. 
I'm currently in a dispute with a custom kitchen place. Be very careful dealing with them even if they seem nice. Assume that once you plonk down the money they don't want to know you, so pay as little as possible at each stage. Try not to get too enthusiastic about the whole process too, as they see people come in through the door every day, and know how to make easy bucks off them.  
Maybe post a copy of the quotes you get and let members comment on it. 
There is a bathroom place (registered building practitioner) up in Greensborough, who may be able to recommend a kitchen place if you want to go custom. Bathroom Renovations - Novus Renovations Pty. Ltd. - Greensborough. I like the guy and he is always really busy. I wish I got him to do my renovation  :Frown:

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## Terrian

we have just about finished our laundry,  we used Bunnings bought cabinets & doors from their kitchen range, the benchtop is about the only thing not from Bunnings  :Smilie:  
Quality is as good as the custom kitchen we had 15 years ago (and the kitchen cabinets are as good as they were when first bought) 
Both Bunnings & Mitre 10 have online kitchen planners, if their standard cabinets will fit with what you are wanting, go for it, otherwise custom made may be what you have to go for.

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## Bargain Hunter

I have used a company in Sydney called Paradise Kitchens they make standard kitchen arrangements and sells them either cash or auction however I do not know any of these in Melbourne. I have however heard good things about Grays Online Auctions which has a presence in in most states. Check out the new kitchens here:  http://www.graysonline.com/ 
I install myself but have a specialist come in to cut granite tops and plumbing.

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## waterbombe

I got my cabinets from a company in Melbourne that I was very pleased with called Kitchens U Build in Moorabbin. They design it with you and everything was delivered on time and with no errors and went together perfectly.They do benchtops and doors as well and you get a good selection - much wider choice than Bunnings or IKEA. Oh, and they use Blum hinges - very important. My whole kitchen cost about 4 grand for cabinets, doors and benchtops. I don't have any pics of it completed but I'll post a pic of it almost done so you can see size and style etc. I'd go back there everytime. We put it together ourselves but next time I'd hire someone to do it, it's tricky work and took us ages. I think you can get someone to put in a basic kitchen for about $1500 - it's certainly worth that!  Btw you can get great appliances off eBay which can also cut the cost down...you hve to be careful who you buy from but there are lots of people into the latest thing who throw out really good Smeg and Miele appliances for a few hundred dollars. They generally live in Templestowe and Brighton  :Redface: )   just a tip...

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## waterbombe

ooohh... figured it out!  :Doh:  
First pic is an early one, before the splashback was tiled....taken from the back door...the back-door side of the bench is the laundry - the washing machine goes in the middle with cupboards either side. Second pic is the kitchen end of the U -s hape...this pic was taken a bit later, when we had splashback done and the sink and cooktop installed. Third pic is taken looking towards the back door on a slant....it shows the oven and the 1200mm wide bench, which is brilliant...kitchen is one side, laundry is under the other...that was my daughter's design, and its really functional. We use that wide bench for heaps of things...cooking, cutting out sewing patterns, framing paintings, whatever...it's very useful.

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## waterbombe

and another one...this gives the best perspective of the whole thing. On the wall you can't see (to the left) is a narrow pantry, running the entire length of the wall. I made it from 30cm deep bookcases from IKEA (Billy) with glass doors, and put glass shelves in instead of white, so I can see everything in the pantry at a glance. We attached the bookcases to the wall for stability.

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## julescar

I managed to create a "designer" kitchen and bathroom with Ebay, Grays on line, and http://www.xsstock.com.au/  and our local Quokka ( its like a free classified weekly newspaper) i picked a few brands Miele, Smeg and Grohe, worked out the models I wanted and then looked for the items. All of my applicances still had warranties on them ! the Smeg combi oven/ stove was $800 - new its over $3000 and on Xsstock I managed to get all Grohe taps that had been in their Brisbane showroom for peanuts!  It took time but the effort was worthwhile.
Best of luck

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## Andy T

Kitchen Junkie - $40K sounds a bit steep to me. I have just got a new kitchen installed by a kitchen company for just over half that price (ex appliances). You need to know exactly what you are getting for the price and the company should provide a detailed quote with everything itemized. I am extremely happy with the kitchen company that did my kitchen. It was a smaller company with personal service and attention to detail. Whilst slightly more expensive than larger companies, the workmanship was superb and included blum fittings, solid plinth bases with solid back carcasses (important if going for stone benchtops), two pack finish and stone benchtop. All depends on how much you can or want to do yourself and your budget. Organize your own appliances, some kitchen companies will try and sell you italian no-name junk included. 2 pack doors will be more expensive than shrink wrap.  
Determine your total max budget and what you would like - you will have to compromise somewhere. There are so many variables in finish, benchtops, appliances, etc. Kitchen companies will be the most expensive option and if you are capable and prepared to do some yourself you can save a bit. If you go down the kitchen company path, get recommendations from others and don't rush in too quick. The market is fairly competitive.

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## Kitchen junkie

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated - just needed a sanity check to make sure that I wasn't the only one that thought the quotes I'd had were exhorbitant.  Thanks to those who made recommendations on Bunnings etc plus a couple of cabinet makers which I will check out.

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## pb02

> I got my cabinets from a company in Melbourne that I was very pleased with called Kitchens U Build in Moorabbin. They design it with you and everything was delivered on time and with no errors and went together perfectly.They do benchtops and doors as well and you get a good selection - much wider choice than Bunnings or IKEA. Oh, and they use Blum hinges - very important. My whole kitchen cost about 4 grand for cabinets, doors and benchtops. I don't have any pics of it completed but I'll post a pic of it almost done so you can see size and style etc. I'd go back there everytime. We put it together ourselves but next time I'd hire someone to do it, it's tricky work and took us ages. I think you can get someone to put in a basic kitchen for about $1500 - it's certainly worth that!  Btw you can get great appliances off eBay which can also cut the cost down...you hve to be careful who you buy from but there are lots of people into the latest thing who throw out really good Smeg and Miele appliances for a few hundred dollars. They generally live in Templestowe and Brighton )   just a tip...

  I'll second this. We have just finished our kitchen which we built from Kitchens U Build in Moorabbin. The staff are great and very helpful. We had been quoted the Mitre10 flat pack which was about $13K, we got the same finish (Polytec) and the same style kitchen through Kitchens U Build for a little under $10K. 
If you want any pictures of the kitchen I can email them to you to see how they are. We are about to order a flat pack laundry from them this weekend.

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## Black Cat

I bought the Bunnings $750 kitchen kit, twice. Then added two more cabinets (which cost almost as much as the original kit). As a result I have a lovely spacious kitchen, plus cabinets in the laundry, have used the lot up and it cost less than $2000. Admittedly, having bought the additional cabinets, and added space for a dishwasher, the original countertops will not cover the total area, but I only have to buy a short length of additional counter to finish the job of nicely. I will put new laminate over the lot to get a uniform finish and add a timber trim along the front to finish it off.

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## ScroozAdmin

> Have looked at IKEA and I'm told that they are good quality but the whole design thing seems a little fraught with difficulty.

  I've done a few of these and am installing one as we speak, there probably as good as it gets in the flatpack world, just go in with your room sizes and they'll design it up for you or you can download there planner and do it on your own pc. 
Its mostly all on the shelf so you can take it home same day and you get 90 days to swap anything if you change the design, as I have several times  :Rolleyes:  
Very slick service.

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## MGOwen

I had fun doing flatpacks (though it took forever). Total price was about 3000 all up, including cheapo appliances. 
(I used both ikea and bunnings, wrote 3 posts about it on my blog, if anyone is interested: DIY Kitchens: Ikea or Bunnings Flatpax? (Part 1)  M. G. Owen  )

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## parkside

Did you us a Kitchens U Build installer?

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## MGOwen

> Did you us a Kitchens U Build installer?

  ?  
No, as I said I did it with ikea and bunnings parts (myself).

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## seriph1

Our kitchens start at around $20,000  -  guess that makes me a rip-off too .... or maybe the concept of value depends on information?  :Biggrin:

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