When is a cheap kitchen not a cheap kitchen?
Buying a kitchen is a major investment, and it’s natural to try and find the cheapest. However, buying a cheap kitchen isn’t always as cheap as it may seem.
Look at the materials used on a cheap kitchen
If you go to one of the high street chains, you may be impressed by how cheap the units are. However, there’s a reason why they’re cheap. The reason is they use the lowest quality components.
For instance, their backs will be between 3mm and 8mm thick rather than being 18mm thick & solid. The backs have to bear some of the load, and anything less than 18mm thick will soon start to bow.
Similarly, most of the doors will be the low-quality PET, PVC, foil or vinyl wrapped type. The problem with wrapped type doors is they peel. In contrast, If the doors were the high quality lacquered or acrylic type, they’d never peel.
So, although these kitchens might be cheap to buy they’re not built to last and will cost more in the long term. So, After 3 or 4 years they’ll look tired & soon need replacing. As the old saying goes: “buy cheap, buy twice!”
“buy cheap, buy twice!”
Who’s going to fit the kitchen?
Whether you get a chain store to fit your kitchen, or try to save money by turning to a local builder, their experience in fitting kitchens is likely to be very general. Different brands of kitchen, though, each have their own individual problems and solutions.
Installation should take between one and two weeks to complete, depending on the complexity of the job, but a local builder may take as long as six weeks. Besides the disruption, that means more time having to pay out for takeaways or eating out.
Who’s responsible if something goes wrong?
The lowest-cost option might seem to be shopping around for a cheap kitchen supplier and a cheap kitchen fitter, but this can be a false economy. If something goes wrong, you could find yourself stuck in the middle of lengthy wrangling between supplier and fitter over who’s responsible for putting it right. At best, you’ll be left with a half-finished kitchen for longer than you anticipated. At worst, you could be left footing the extra bill.
The solution
If you go to a good local showroom, you’ll find competitive prices for both supply and fitting, even if not quite the very cheapest. For this, you’ll get a cheap kitchen made with high-quality materials, fitters who spend all their time fitting the brand you’ve bought, and one company that will put right any faults almost before you’ve noticed them.
Of course, the problem is finding good local showrooms, and that’s where I can help. With years of experience in the industry, I can recommend the best value showrooms in your area — and that’s how to find a genuinely cheap kitchen.
Our FREE service recommends the best value kitchen suppliers in your area.
We’ll recommend local showrooms who are much better value than places like Howdens, Wickes & Wren.
We’ll recommend local showrooms whose luxury German kitchens cost similar to places like Howdens, Wickes & Wren.
All showrooms offer free, no-obligation quotes & are within 30 minutes drive.