Kitchen rennovation

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EviLClouD

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#190783 12-Jan-2016 09:33

Hey, could you provide any advice on kitchen rennovations. In terms of budget, time etc?
Are there any recommendations in the Wellington region?
Also we might need the window moved/replaced, will this be done by the kitchen company or a different builder?
Thanks in advance

networkn

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#1468237 12-Jan-2016 09:44

How long is a piece of string!? Are you replacing everything? Are you re-using stuff? Are you including replacement appliances in the budget? Is it an old house, new house? Details will help.

3 Quotes will give you a ballpark, it's a starting position.

My advice, make sure you have enough cupboards. Think about your kitchen workflow. Listen to the people who offer you advice who do it everyday, they will think of things you don't even consider.

I couldn't imagine a complete remodel of a kitchen would cost <12K and I have seen a few kitchens >30K

EviLClouD

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#1468254 12-Jan-2016 10:08

Sorry for the lack of info.
Yes we will be replacing everything including appliances.
It's going into an old house and the current kitchen is quite small (probably 6m x 3m at a guess?)
So i would anticipate the new one to be of similar size.

SATTV

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#1468259 12-Jan-2016 10:12

Take your budget and double it.
Take your time line and double or even tripple it.

We are going through the process at the moment and it can easily get out of control.

I thought we could do demo and reinstall in under two weeks, the kitchen co said demo and cabinet install in 8 or 9 days, the builder agreed and explainded why it will take longer than we think.

As we are getting a stone benchtop and it will an atitional week.

John

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networkn

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#1468260 12-Jan-2016 10:14

Do you HAVE a budget? Ball Park? Do you know if you want Euro Appliances? Are you renovating to fix a specific issue? Do you want Granite benchtops and high end cabinetry? It's just so variable.

I think sit down with your SO, and decide on what you can manage for budget, what your primary aims are, and nice to haves are, and then work from there. I wouldn't even consider your project without 20K to spend, and probably 25K, unless you are going mitre10 cabinetry and cheap brands of appliances.

jonb

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#1468307 12-Jan-2016 11:06

I had a similar question six months ago, http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=173542, for a similar size kitchen. Everything took longer than anticipated. The DIY demolition is easy and fun, to save $500. As it is an old house assume there will be complications - get some quotes from a builder for the window work and kitchen alterations, with them booked in for enough days between demo and install. Moving windows can get expensive quickly. I was hoping to have demo done and units installed in two weeks, but took nearly two months due to rotten flooring and lack of builder availablity. If you aren't moving the location of major appliances and plumbing, can budget $500-1000 each for plumber and sparky. ~$1000 for floor tiling labour +tiles, minimum $6000 for cabinets and worktops, $1-2000 extra if engineered stone worktops. $200 for basin mixer, $200 for sink, $500 for extractor fan, splashback, $2000 for built-in oven and induction hob, $1000 fridge..

So it can come to over $15k quite easily.. My kitchen is approx 4x3m L shaped with additional corner pantry and fridge. Cabinetry was $7000 inc engineered stone benchtop (Magic Kitchens, Auckland). Everything else added up to $7000.

First arrange a few appointments with all-in-one kitchen design companies, who have the design knowledge and their own tradespeople. You'll get a detailed estimate and breakdown of costs. Then get a few quotes from a builder for just the building work, and the other trades, and a cabinets only company, to compare against the markup the all-in-one firm charges.

In hindsight I would have gone with an all in one company if the detailed quote was only a couple of thousand more than organising all the trades myself. Helps avoids situations where the tiler is complaining the floor is not level, and the cabinet installers complaining the walls are not straight :).

I'll update my thread soon with my experience and costings of the kitchen reno.

mailmarshall

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#1468335 12-Jan-2016 11:30

There are heaps of factors to consider as the posters above have mentioned. We used a kitchen company in WLG and my experience\learnings from doing this last year was:

- If you are using a Kitchen firm (high or low end), find out how busy they are. Once we had agreed the design, we were told it was a 5-6 month wait as the factory was busy. Long time to wait for goodies to arrive.

- The kitchen company we used had a relationship with a large appliance firm and which meant we got substantial savings.

- Measure and remeasure again from the finished floor. We have a multiangled ceiling which meant that the integrated look we were after needed careful checking.

- Install can takes ages (much more than what they will tell you). If you are coordinating a mix of your subbies with the kitchen companies make sure they both understand your requirements :)

- if you are doing any structural changes get professional advice!

As for budget someone told me you should spend between 5-8% of the value of the house on kitchen. My one was towards the 8% due to the appliances!

kingjj

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#1468337 12-Jan-2016 11:35

We recently replaced our kitchen in a 1950's ex state house (around 6x3), I don't have a break down of costs with me but it was something like:

New cabinets: $5000 (included soft closing cupboards, sink and a standard, non granite, bench top)
Cabinet install: $950 (included installing our appliances/extractor)
New electrical through kitchen/dining: $2200 (heaps of new power points/lights, new fuse board for kitchen/dining etc)
Plumber: $800 (prep old pipe work, install new pipework, fix leak in ceiling from header tank above kitchen)
Gibber: $2300 (half the walls were just plywood behind the cabinets [original kitchen] other walls had a tacky fake brick stucco feature from the 70's so it all had to go - demo, new walls/ceiling in kitchen[due to leak]/dining which is all one space)
Floors: $400 (carpet for dining area which is quite small, DIY sanding/sealing floor boards in kitchen)
Misc: $600 (dumping, new taps/curtains/extractor, unforeseen extras etc)

Total approx: $12,250

This doesn't include any new appliances as we bought those in the year proceeding the reno (another couple of grand). All the above is a best-effort memory based estimate.

We estimated 4 weeks from wow to go. Actual was closer to 6 weeks due to delays with the Gibber (useless fella who did a poor job) and delays with DIY portions (took a lot longer than we anticipated to do the floors/insulate/demo).

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networkn

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#1468339 12-Jan-2016 11:39

Find a kitchen place that makes suggestions on innovative ways to save space, and work more efficiently. Our FIL got a great person and my MIL is a happy lady, with things that made getting pots from cupboards easier etc.

kingjj

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#1468385 12-Jan-2016 12:49

kingjj: We recently replaced our kitchen in a 1950's ex state house (around ~~6x3~~ 7x3.5), I don't have a break down of costs with me but it was something like:

Total approx: ~~$12,250~~ Closer to $15K according to a previous post I made last year. Was a few short on the cabinets it seems.

zyo

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#1468416 12-Jan-2016 13:25

We just redid our kitchen last year, new everything, around 15k without appliances.

We managed to sell the old kitchen including an old double door fridge etc for 3k.

Also the material cost varies a lot, we have gone with a lacquer kitchen which is probably on the premium side :)

A lot of kitchen companies do not make Lacquer ones.

JayADee

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#1468594 12-Jan-2016 16:39

Do as much as you can yourself, like removing flooring, cupboards and so on. Tiling and that sort of thing too if you are handy.

networkn

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#1468595 12-Jan-2016 16:42

JayADee: Do as much as you can yourself, like removing flooring, cupboards and so on. Tiling and that sort of thing too if you are handy.

I respectfully disagree unless you are VERY proficient. Nothing worse than a 20K renovation made to look bad due to saving $500 by doing a poor job of painting or tiling.

My FIL did some of his own work in his new house. It's SO obvious compared to the high standard of the rest of the work. It's not SHODDY or terrible even, just noticeably less fantastic than the professionals did.

He saved 20K on a 800K project, but it looks like a 500K project.

bazzer

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#1468608 12-Jan-2016 17:11

networkn: He saved 20K on a 800K project, but it looks like a 500K project.

Did you tell him that?!

zyo

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#1468619 12-Jan-2016 17:30

bazzer:
networkn: He saved 20K on a 800K project, but it looks like a 500K project.

Did you tell him that?!

Guess not or it would be ex-FIL.

mdf

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#1468661 12-Jan-2016 19:55

What others have said above in terms of cost and time.

If you're in Wellington and looking for (close to) a one stop shop, Prime Interiors did my mum's kitchen. Pretty impressive job, but that was definitely a high-spec job (vinyl wrapping, stone benches, waterfall ends etc.).

Placemakers offer a relatively good (free) service to help you do the final design of your kitchen (Doug in Kilbirnie is really good), but you will need to manage a lot more of it yourself. Essentially, how good are you at tetris (or in more high-falutin' speak, how good is your spatial awareness)? If you can really envisage how everything will fit together and limit/make use of dead spaces this could be a good option. But there is a knack to it. "Kitchen work triangle" is a good starting point if you go down this route.